She woke to the sound of clanking metal. After she had slowly and agonizingly propped up her body, she realized that she was on top of a building and a very tall building. Her astonishment, however, was more than exceeded, ruthlessly exceeded by her agony, emotional, physical, spiritual.

There was Richard’s helicopter. It lay in rubble on the rooftop as the wind buffeted a piece of dangling metal, perhaps a seat belt, against another steel surface. This clanking only added to the harsh reality. Richard was dead. She was alive. True, she had been hurt considerably when Richard pushed her out of the helicopter. This heroic act would always have a place in her heart for even as she fell to the cement, the helicopter exploded. What was left of it now lay on top of the tallest building in the world, Burj Dubai.

She didn’t try to search the rubble for his body. She knew that she could not bear to see the mangled remains. She couldn’t even carry out his last wish. The Midas Device had either been blown to bits or fallen over two thousand feet to the city beneath.

The sound of rotors drew closer and closer. It wouldn’t matter if they found her now. There was nothing more that she could do. She simply watched as the helicopters landed and soldiers poured out onto the rooftop. Finally a figure in a white suit and a cowboy hat stepped towards her as she found herself too weak to stand.

“I’m so glad I found you,” the Texan spoke in an eerily charismatic tone.

“You almost didn’t have the pleasure and by your own actions,” she paused, trying to contain her anger. “If I had been blown out of the sky by your missiles like Richard, you certainly never would have seen me again.”

“You seem tense,” the man commented facetiously. “Now, let’s be serious. Why in the world did Richard come here?” He asked, becoming more brisk and irritated by the second. The brave woman opposing him did not answer. “He wanted you to destroy it. Didn’t he?”

“I have no reason to answer you,” she yelled at him.

“That’s true. Since the device is gone anyway, you’re not protecting anything. You’re certainly not protecting that dead loverboy of yours,” the man added.

She glared at him for a moment but ultimately sighed in resignation. “Yes, he wanted me to destroy it. He knew that here, the modern Babel, was the only place of sufficient density, conductivity and elevation to initiate the decomposition sequence. So, no more will men like you have the opportunity to turn less valuable items into gold.”

“Gold? I’m thinking more along the lines of Black Gold, oil, maybe Uranium, Iron Ore, and maybe even ozone if I ever grow a conscience,” he laughed.

She felt something in her pocket. Sudden realization was hers as she remembered that Richard had, in fact, put something in her left coat pocket seconds before he pushed her out the door. She waited for her perfect opportunity.

“Hell, that device can turn anything I want into anything I want,” he laughed again.

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about growing a conscience,” she tried to humor him.

“You’re a little bit delayed on that comeback there, missy. But I guess I’ll be a gentleman and help you stand up.” He paused and reached out his hand. “Then I’ll kill you.”

She lunged at his outstretched hand. All she had to do was lightly touch him with the device and the transmutation took place. He screamed in pain as his entire body was gradually changed into shimmering gold.

“You’ll always be the great King Midas,” she yelled. “But a gentleman is one thing you’ll never be,” she said as she stood back and watched him quiver until the very last hair on his head was gleaming in the moonlight. Symbolically man’s best friend and greatest enemy. Now the things he enjoyed most were, ironically, his executioners.

This woman entered the self-destruct code and threw it as hard as she could off the edge of our Babel and a few seconds later an explosion rang out deafeningly, high above the city. No more Midas but still so much Babel.