“I checked the cable again, and I then uninstalled the printer driver, then reinstalled it. The printer still would not print. Therefore I updated the driver, but the printer still would not function. I swapped out the cables, with no success. I cycled the power on the printer, but still the printer would not print.
“Finally, out of desperation, I uninstalled the operating system, and reinstalled the OS from scratch. And then the printer worked as if nothing had ever been wrong.
“Dagmar, my solution made no sense and was completely inelegant. What am I to understand from this adventure?”
“Persistence,” said Dagmar, “also has merit.”
She looked at the last line and gave a weary laugh. She read it aloud to Ismet and Uruisamoglu, and they both thought it was funny.
CONSTANTINOPLE1453, she thought. She was going to have to change that, and soon.
She opened a can of beluga, and they ate caviar and hard-boiled eggs all the way to the airport, where the Gulfstream waited, glowing in the sun as if it were made of precious metal, its engines already turning over.
The Niva drew up to the stair that waited in front of the Gulfstream’s door. The two cabin attendants were visible at the top of the stairs, waiting with identical white smiles on their faces. The man from customs was in his Honda, and Babur stood waiting for his hundred-pound notes.
Peace oot, Dagmar thought, and reached for her passport.