21st June 7:30 PM; MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
The Kresge Auditorium at MIT was full. Today was the convocation day for scholars of the university. The scholars wearing academic robes were waiting for their names to be called out for receiving their doctorates. Their parents and well-wishers filled the seats in the auditorium.
Fathima Khan looked around the hall. She was feeling overwhelmed. It had been a difficult journey for her, from a small town in Pakistan's Baluchistan province to the hallowed portals of the top university in the world. Five years ago, after graduating from QAMS University, Lahore, she had got a scholarship for a Ph.D. at MIT. Today, she was receiving her doctorate.
Her parents and younger brother were back in Pakistan. They had not been able to come for the ceremony. Just before the ceremony, she had talked to her Ammi, who was very excited that her daughter was getting her doctorate. She told Fathima that they were arranging a big feast tomorrow to celebrate her achievement. "I will call you as soon as the ceremony is over," Fathima promised before heading out to join her friends at the auditorium for the ceremony.
"It gives me a great honour to confer this doctorate on Dr. Fathima Khan for her pioneering work on Controlling outer shell electron dynamics." The whole convention hall stood to applaud as Dr. Fathima Khan went up to the podium to receive her doctorate.
22nd June 4:00 AM; Jalalabad Base, Afghanistan
The drone operator checked the coordinates once again. He looked at the screen. The target compound was in sight. The compound was in the outskirts of a village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. It was the base of operation of a terrorist cell. The drone's infrared camera had transmitted the images via satellite to the control centre.
The terrorist cell was being tracked by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the premier intelligence agency of India. The cell was training terrorists to be sent across the border to India. For the last few years, Indians and Americans had been sharing information regarding the terrorists. Many terrorists had been neutralised and the attacks stopped by this mechanism. RAW had given CIA inputs regarding the location of this cell. It was decided to target and destroy the cell in a drone strike.
The operator pressed the button. The missile from the Predator Drone streaked across the sky and hit the target. There was a massive explosion. "Target destroyed," the operator said to the commander. "Good work," Commander Henry of the 5th brigade congratulated the operator.
21 June 10:30 PM; MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Rring... Rring... The phone rang for a long time. That was strange. Usually her mom picked up on the first ring. And, today, she would have been expecting this call. Fathima was about to disconnect when the phone was picked up. "Hey, Ammi, I got my doctorate," Fathima said in an excited voice.
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