On the train
3/4/2030
7:00pm
The train conductor bot just announced the next stop. All three children sat together holding hands. Discouraged and exhausted, their wet and red rimmed eyes had people staying away from them.
What if they had the Virus, they thought.
Not long after, they slept, having troubling dreams of their own. Alpha stayed alert, silently watching over them from Dayo's Celo.
Ovic Incorporation
4/4/2030
12 noon
“So are you going to do it or not?”
Sharon observed as Yomi set Third to abuse her husband physically and verbally, and yet Dayo didn't budge from his mute position. Her heart tugged at the sight of bruises all over him but she couldn't do anything. She had to pl
Ovic Incorporation4/4/20304:00pmOnlineHer eyes pried open and met with light. It was not blinding at all. Everywhere was just bright.Who was she? What was she? What was her name?A man stepped into view and bent over her. He was bald and appeared to be in his mid forties. She focused on his face. She did not recognize him but knew him.“Third,” he said.She immediately registered that as her name. Third. She was One Nine Two Point Three, also known as Third. She remained on the flat cool white surface which she registered as bed. She could not move. Her body was not hers. She felt a dark wall in the corner of her mind preventing her from thinking too much or making actions.“Who is your Creator, Third?”In a robot-like clear voice, her lips moved, “My Creator is the powerful and cunning Doctor Yomi.”“Go
“Sharon?”Glassy and wavering eyes met his. Her brows knotted in confusion for awhile. Her lips parted to speak but only a wail escaped. Racking sobs came from her as she raised her hands to touch him.Dayo felt himself pulled back before she could.“No, no. We can't have our genius doctor infected before we can have the cure. Shut up, woman or I will make you never speak again,” Yomi said. Immediately, Sharon pressed her trembling lips together and held back cries.Dayo felt a cold air blast at him from head to toe. This was the new sanitization protocol.“Much better,” Yomi said. “Welcome back from the land of the almost dead, Sharon. We were just talking about you. Weren't we, Dayo?”Dayo ignored him. He did not take his eyes off his wife. He observed as her chest rose and fell at a quick pace. He saw the twitch of her fingers and the sweat that grew on her fore
Well, things could be easier now. Right? Elijah thought.“How are we going to get an auto to the Port now?” He heard Ire ask.Elijah silently cursed himself for hoping things could be easy.“We hotwire one,” Temi simply said. Elijah noticed how she answered so calmly. What was going on in that small head of hers?“Could we find a way to change our disguises first?” Elijah asked.“You have to manage this for now,” Alpha replied. “I can't change your appearance right away.”“All right then. We steal a car,” Ire said. He brought his finger to his lips and bit the nails. Elijah fought the urge to slap his finger away from his mouth.“Are you guys going to stand there all day or let me direct you to a car to steal?” Alpha asked.“I'm just surprised we are discussing this so causally.” He fell in line with the others, reading the words i
Port Harcourt5/4/20307:00 amThe automobile sped across the streets like any other vehicles. Temi drummed her fingers on her lap, observing the cars and the buildings.“Could we get something to eat first?” Ire asked.Elijah's stomach growled in agreement. Embarrassed, he chuckled. She let a smile draw on her lips as she watched him.“There is a restaurant up ahead. What would you like to eat?” Alpha asked.“Jollof rice!” The two boys exclaimed.“With fried chicken,” Ire added.“Fried Turkey for me,” Elijah said.“What about you, Temi?”“I'm ok. Water, perhaps.”She felt Elijah's eyes on her. Ever since he knew her secret, he treated her like an egg. Just like Dad. She was extremely grateful when Alpha had changed his appearance. Seeing Dad after so long had her tearing up.
Port Harcourt7:30 am“Let us never do that again,” Ire said.Elijah nodded in agreement before letting his breakfast ride back up from his stomach. He retched, heaving and coughing.They had just narrowly escaped one of the worst type of death.Just when Ire thought the train would climb over them and crush them to pieces, they were on the other side of the road. They had managed to cut off the police by risking their lives. Alpha had drove them to a mall's parking lot.“Man up, you two,” Temi said.Ire and Elijah glared at her. It's moments like this that made Ire realize that death would not mean anything to her.“Miss Personifid, we are not like you.”“Yeah, I noticed.”“Come on, you three. The bus would soon leave,” Alpha said. The AI stretched out his hand towards Ire. In it was his father's Celo. Ire collect
Port Harcourt6:00pmThe sun had begun to set. Ire had left the shack for some 'fresh air'. Temi and Elijah sat side by side, waiting for their boat to arrive. The shack smelt like sweat, fish and urine. Other people clung to themselves or their partners, minding their own business.“Guys,” Ire exclaimed as he entered the shack.“What is it?”“The boat to Cameroon just arrived.”“Finally,” Temi got to her feet. The three of us exited the shack and went straight for the boat.“There,” Ire pointed to the man who got off his boat and was greeting his fellow men. Some men were rolling nets into their boats.“Good evening o,” Elijah greeted.“Good evening, are you people going to Cameroon?” The man said. He wiped sweat off his forehead and sniffled.“Yes sir,” the three of them said.“Y
Ovic Incorporation6/4/2030“Scorpion!” Dr. Yomi barked.“Sir," he answered.“I want that place burnt down!” He pointed at the screen depicting Dr. Johnson's lab with contempt. One of his men who worked in Aso Rock had given him info on Dr. Johnson's lab. How could the place be right under his nose all along?“Bring anything useful to me,” he added.“Yes sir.”Osun State7/4/203011:00pmThe three children got off the auto-trans yawning and stretching. After hours of hitching rides, they finally arrived where it all started. Osun. As the auto-trans sped past, Temi got a good look at her new disguise. She was a young girl of 16 or 17 years with a Bob haircut and dark skin. She had a pretty face resting on her slender neck. Elijah and Ire were given new disguises as well. They were twin brothers
Osun State8/4/20308:00 am“You seem pretty close with that guy.”“Who? Tobi? He's really nice,” Elijah said, a smile playing on his lips.“I don't trust him,” Ire confessed. He felt uneasy since they met those four the previous night but what could he do? Besides-“You don't trust him and yet you ate the meal he gave you the night before,” Elijah uncrossed and crossed his legs.Ire watched him from the top bunker, resisting the urge to throw a pillow in his face. Elijah was right though. The roasted plantain tasted really good.“To be honest, I feel uncomfortable too,” Elijah confessed, with a small sigh.Ire tried to contain his surprise and failed. Elijah was the confident one who knew how to adapt and who to trust. It was shocking that
The President's Private VillaAso RockAbuja“Is she awake? Did it work?” The President leaned forward to look at Third.Ire found it hard to address her as Fola since she tried to kill him a lot. The neurologist they knew as Dr Adams watched as the President bustled about like a mother hen.Third roused awake and looked at the President with a blank stare. She blinked twice and sat up. “Stephen?”The older man burst into tears. Ire grinned and nodded to Dr Adams. They were fixing Yomi's damages one by one. While there was no clear evidence aside from Temi's testimony, General Otunba remained Chief of the NSS. They locked scorpion behind bars, and Yomi turned up dead one night. Temi had been frenzied, calling it injustice, and Ire agreed. Ire met Temi on his way out of the Villa. “No news?”Temi shook her head. For the past year, they searched for their parents and Elijah. It was like they vanished from Earth. Perhaps they did if Elijah used the teleportation device. “They are goin
Ovic IncorporationAbuja“How about we recreate the vaccine you made?” Elijah suggested.“No. There is no time. We need to destroy everything here except for the footage of the truth about Ovic and its leader.” Dayo hacked a cough. He had put his wife back on the bed.Elijah leaned back to avoid getting infected.“I am sorry,” He said and cleared his throat. “There is a self-destruct button for emergencies.”“What sort of emergency protocol is that?” Esther asked, bewildered.“Have Nok set it on once the recordings are complete. Elijah, I need you to listen to me careful and remember the vaccine formula.” He listed them out, and Elijah repeated it with him.“Can we go now?”“I can't.
The United Nations headquartersNew York.The doors glided shut behind them as Temi trudged with Scorpion into the lobby of the UN. The structure of the building looked like a book, but larger, taller, and more sophisticated.Scorpion and Temi took to the route meant for tours. Yomi had instructed Scorpion to linger before bringing Temi up to the General Assembly Hall.Temi eyed each mini flag with false curiosity. She identified a familiar green and white flag and exclaimed, “Nigerian flag.”Every person around gave her an amused look. Well, except Scorpion. He grunted and pushed her along.Temi let him push her across the hall. A chattering group of people walked towards us. If she could run through his people, she might find somewhere to hide. There was nothing to distract him with. The people were coming closer.She turned to face Scorpion. S
The Davidson ResidenceAsokoro1 at noonIre sat under the tree, unable to concentrate on one issue. On one hand was his captured family and on the other, his friend.After Elijah explained the truth to him, he left the room without another word. Elijah had killed those people. His friend was a psychologist and had nanoparticles running in his veins.Ire did not know what to do. The one who had helped him and his sister a lot was more dangerous than a thermonuclear bomb. There was nothing he could do except stand by Elijah's side, just like he did for Ire and his family. Besides, Elijah was family.A shadow stood beside his seating one. “I am sorry.”He lifted his head to look at his sad friend. “It is okay.”Elijah looked at him with surprise. “It is?”Ire rose to his feet and nodded. “It is. You are family. Let's go rescue Temi,
The Davidson ResidenceAsokoroTeleportation.Elijah had joked, but Ire took it seriously. Now, his friend searched for all theories on teleportation.“If my dad could bring my sister back to life, I can create teleportation,” Ire had said.His fierce dedication terrified Elijah and silenced him. He, Esther and Richard (and the Artificial Intelligence, of course) helped in any way they could.“The Bermuda Triangle is a splendid example!” Ire continued to blubber. “The earth's natural magnetic field interfered. This is because of hexagonal clouds creating 170 mph air bombs full of wind.”“So are we going to get ourselves a hexagonal cloud?”“No, silly,” he continued to read from the screen Alpha conjured. “If matter can go through magnetic fields at a fas
The Davidson ResidenceAsokoro“We have to get them out of there!” Ire yelled. He struggled not to burst into tears. Didn't they understand? It was his entire family in that man's control.“And we will,” Elijah said in that annoying, reassuring voice. To his chagrin, he felt himself calm at the sound. “We need a plan. If you just barge in there, we will end up in a worse situation.”“What do you have in mind?” Ire asked, concentrating on his friend, who laid his head on the table.“Figure out what Yomi wants to do with them first.”“He needs the cure to the Sevil Virus from them,” Richard spoke up. He leaned forward in his seat and steepled his fingers.“Which is Temi. But no one knows how he created the Personifid.”&ldq
Press ConferenceAbuja14/4/203010:00am“Yes, and thank you. Our finest contractors would complete the project by the end of the month.” Stephen finished with a charming smile.“Wait!” A reporter called, waving her mic in the air. Having got Stephen's attention, she said, “Mr President, you have made no comment concerning the accusation against you. Did you beat up Dr Yomi Adedeji?”Every person in the room hushed and regarded him with anticipation. This action unnerved him.“Do you think I would do such a thing?” He asked with a gentle smile.The people looked more confused than before. They whispered to one another and curiously eyed him with a raised brow. If he told the truth, they would believe it in a heartbeat without understanding his reasons. If he
Ovic IncorporationAbujaAfter he had patched up the incision he made, Yomi ordered Third to take Temi to her Dad. Halting in their steps, they faced a white door. Temi had never felt so nervous in her life. She was only meeting her father after a long time. The thought swirled around her mind, making her scared.If she told him all that happened in his absence, he would not be proud. He would frown and look at her in a disapproving manner.She trained her eyes on Third's black contact boots and not in the least fascinated by it. But since it took her mind off her father's disappointment, she would continue to stare. The shoes moved, and quietly Temi followed it.A loud crash and loud squeaking drew her attention. On the floor laid a syringe. “Temi?”“Dad.” She dared not look him in the eye.“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to—”
AsokoroAbuja11:35amThe ride to Asokoro had taken longer than Elijah expected. He took notice of the aristocratic structures that grew outrageously bigger and fancier with every building the auto-trans passed.It finally pulled to a stop some metres away from the Asokoro Island. Elijah trekked the rest of the way and stopped in front of the large silver gate. The plaque on the gate assured him he was in the right place.“How may I help you?” A soft, robotic voice asked.It dawned on Elijah that he did not know what name Ire called himself undercover. If he replied with Ire's name, he might get exposed. What was he going to do? Unless someone expected him to say Ire's name and have him locked up? This might really be a trap.Elijah backed away from the gate. How was he supposed to contact Ire now?“Things did not go as you planned?” Alpha asked.&n