by Nzondi
Dad continued, “So I expect all the ladies in the group to excel.”
“If I get this right,” Kofi said.
“You better get this right,” Dad said.
“I was trying a go at being humble,” Kofi said. “It didn’t work. So anyway, what I meant to say was that you all will be able to gain access into anyone’s neural implant.”
“And see what they see, through their eyes,” Shaw said.
“Sort of be a fly on the wall,” Dad said. “Hear their conversations.”
Durga grinned. “Shit, dude. This is better than any surveillance technology because it’s undetectable.”
“Let me be clear, though,” Dad said. “I don’t expect that to happen tonight. That will take quite some time and guidance, but in the future, trust me, you’ll be able to optimize your senses.”
“What exactly is about to happen, Dad?” I asked. “This is ridiculous. We can’t pull this off. We’re—we’re…teenagers. Why are we even doing this?”
That must have pushed a button because Dad snapped at me. “We’re doing this because our people are being exterminated. If you don’t have it in you to stand up to genocide, then you can leave, right now.”
I didn’t say a word.
He continued, leaning in closer to me. “And you’re not the brave daughter I fell in love with time-and-time again, like when you brought home that pink fairy armadillo or the countless days you rescued injured baby aye-ayes and begged me to help you nurture them back to health.”
“Dad, you remember that?”
“Of course, I remember that,” he said. “They’re memories that kept me going when I was in that bed dying and feeling alone. It taught me to see past science and believe in something even when I didn’t have the facts to base any investment of thought toward a positive outcome.”
“Trust me,” Kofi said. “You are all far better than we ever could imagine. It took years and years of placing impossible obstacles in front of you in the House of Oware game.”
“Right,” I said. “They were games. No fear of death or having a diaspora of people either gaining or losing on a single decision we may or may not make. This is real life!”
“You need to relax, Xo,” Durga said. “You’re killing my high. I think we’re about to experience hacker history in the making. Mr. Xo! Whatever you throw at us, we’re going to slice that bitch up like a butcher in a meat shop.”
That relieved the tension in the air, and we all laughed, even I let out a chuckle. Dad didn’t utter a sound, but his eyes spoke to me in a way that a parent communicates to his child, disappointment and hope, simultaneously.
“Dude,” Tanaka said, “What’s taking so long?”
As if on cue, the white elephant, butterflies and beautiful gardens disappeared, reshaping into the inside of a military installation war room, six hundred and ten meters below Mount Afadja. Like a big corporation’s conference room, there was a long oval table with leather conference chairs encircling it. Glasses of bubbling carbonated blood, along with pitchers of ice sat on the table. There were note pads and pens in front of each chair.
We all found a place at the table. Dad stood at the end of it in front of a hovering digi-board. Seated around the table were Tanaka, Shaw, Durga and me.
“Hey,” Tanaka said. “Why am I not in my avatar form?”
“Kofi disabled those forms,” Dad said. “Now that you have all been formally introduced in the real world, there’s no need for deception regarding your physical appearances.”
“Okay, first things first,” Dad said.
“Is there anyone else who started investigating the case in real life besides my daughter and Samora?”
All of the other girls shook their heads.
“Okay,” Dad said. “Feeni, send me a memory link of everything you’ve encountered from the time you and Samora met each other until the time you met me.”
“You can leave out any personal memories like taking a wee, or anything that might make us vomit on sight,” Kofi said.
“I don’t know how to filter memory links,” I said.
“Send them to me,” Durga said. “I can do it in no time, and then pass it on to your father.”
“Uh, okay,” I said. “Searching…and…sending.”
“Got ’em,” Durga said. “I’ll have them to you in a jiffy, sir.”
Dad nodded and said, “Terrific!’
“Done!” Durga said.
“Done with what?” Kofi asked.
“Filtering the memory links, dude. Sending them you, now, Mr. Xo.”
Dad smiled. “I love your tenacity, my child. Annnnd I have them. Great! Scanning…and information received…Just like in the Oware game, I did my damnedest to replicate everything in our real world so that the spa could upload it into this VR world. How else do we expect to catch up to the African Crime Network who have made their modus operandi to be one step ahead of authorities at every turn?”
“The House of Oware game is not perfect,” I said, “I admit because I don’t have full access to all of the GAF’s database, a lot of things are programmed on best possible sources of information I can get. Yes, sometimes I get genders mixed up, or ethnic backgrounds because I can only go on public sketches, and you know that isn’t always accurate, but for the most part, it allows for us to find the clues we need based on the data input into the software.”
“It’s perfect to me,” Dad said. “I’ve prepared all of you masterfully. Now it’s time for you all to understand why I have so much confidence in you all.”
He walked around the table, stopping behind each one of us. As he gestured to each person, he complemented his argument with a hologram via corneal stream transmission of the subject discussed. Each was in action, performing their duties. I must admit, I was impressed, having only seen Lamp in action and not the others. We were, more or less, a dream team. For the first time, I had confidence that I could actually do something in the world, something important.
“My daughter is arguably one of the best investigative pathologists in Ghana,” Dad said, allowing us to absorb the holographic images displaying over the center of the conference table before moving to the next person. The hologram showed me performing autopsies. I’d been doing that via the game since I was six years old, for a little under eleven years.
“For that matter,” Dad said. “I couldn’t ask for a better actuary and computer geek than Durga.”
Durga’s avatar was shown compiling impossible statistics and making a tense decision to pinpoint a location out of many that allowed Ghana Allied Forces to find a missing girl held captive before the trafficker returned to make of his promise to kill her because authorities clapped back on his ransom demands. I remembered reading about that case in a newspaper clipping while trying to solve a case in the game. I remember thinking how brave and invaluable someone like that was to the police force. From the corneal stream, however, I didn’t see the girl’s face.
Dad tapped his hand on Reiki’s chair. “No one is a better con that this woman.”
Reiki was shown singing in geisha form, distracting a group of men with her seductive dancing, while stealing their wallets.
“Shaw does not only have the knowledge of a medical doctor but is the best damn driver and pilot on the planet.”
The hologram of Shaw was like watching a movie trailer from an action film. First, we saw her treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone before we saw her skimboarding on the waves of Hawaii, downhill mountain biking in Colorado and snowkiting on Norway’s most northern Varanger peninsula.
“What are you?” Durga asked. “A fucking female James Bond?”
“Chikuso!” Tanaka said. “You’re my WCW and today is only Tuesday!”
That made us all erupt in laughter.
“Well,” I said, “since you put it that way, I stand corrected.”
Dad waved his hand in front of the digi-board which was neurally-activated and worked incongruent with the controller’s co
rneal streaming and neural transmissions.
“Okay, so here we go,” Dad said, and got up. It’s time.”
“Whoa-ho!” I said. “Are we finally going to get out of this boring conference room and make a difference in this world.”
Dad pointed at me. “And that’s the kind of spirit that I love to see!”
He went to the door and opened it. The hallway that we came down was gone. In its place, was a police station, bustling with GAF officers going about their business.
“Follow me, ladies. Kofi is going to stay put in the conference room. He shouldn’t be moving around much.”
“He’s our cloaking device,” Tanaka said. “He has to concentrate.”
“Affirmative,” Dad said, and rushed through the large holding area.
There were suspects getting processed, women shooting the breeze with fellow officers by the water cooler, a couple of loud-mouth scantily clad prostitutes complaining to the chief about their pimp, and a gang of teenagers dressed alike, handcuffed in the holding area.
“This is spectacular,” I said. “And all of these people are real?”
I tapped an officer filing a report at his desk on the shoulder, and he turned around and said, “You got a problem, miss?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I thought you were someone else.”
“Well, I ain’t,” he said. “So keep your hands to yourself.”
Dad headed toward the front entrance of the station, and we followed behind, keeping up with his brisk pace.
“Mr. Xo,” Tanaka said. “How is this possible?”
“This,” he said, holding his hand up in the air, “Is nothing more than the program. But this upgrade, this amalgamation of the House of Oware game and the holoroom,” he said, and he walked outside, “Is something I call the Oware Mosaic.”
24
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We went through the doors of the police station and walked outside to a beautiful sunny day in Ghana.
“So what, the night turned into day,” I said. “We just saw a white elephant morph into a conference room. This is the virtual spa. We get it, they’ve figured out a way to create matter to make the experience real.”
“Ah,” Dad said, holding up his finger. “The difference is, with the help of Kofi, I’ve built software that piggybacks on real programs.”
“Like the way a malicious virus replicates itself to spreads to other machines, wreaking all kind of havoc for the host?” Durga asked.
“In a way,” Dad said. “But this,” he said and snapped his fingers. “Gets in the mind of neural implants, any person we want to target, and bring them into our world.”
Suddenly, we were on a hillside overlooking Bete Sibaya’s massive complex. Next to each one of us was an Uno one-wheeled motorcycle.
“You’ve got to be pulling my freaking leg,” Durga said.
“Oh, wow,” Tanaka said. “Very nice! But I don’t ride.”
“You do now,” Dad said. “We’re in the Oware Mosaic. All I have to do is program your features and abilities and it’s a done deal.”
“Yo, look at our duds,” Durga said.
I hadn’t even notice, flabbergasted with my father’s brilliance. “We all look like badasses.”
Shaw said, “Long leather coats, black clothes. All we need is a pair of…”
“Look inside your jacket,” Dad said.
We all did and pulled out a pair of shades.
“Okay, guys,” I said. “I hate to rain on the party but we’re not here to have fun. Real people have died, tonight, and from the looks of it, more may die.”
“So why are we here?” Shaw said.
Dad said, “I’m glad you asked. This is the—”
“Dad,” I said, interrupting.
“Hold on, Otsoo, let me finish.”
“No, Dad, listen. I gave Kenya my number and told her to call me if she had any information.”
“Yes, I know,” Dad said. “I remember seeing that when I skimmed the memory links you just sent.”
“Well, she just wrote me back.”
“And?” Shaw said.
“Okay, first, for the rest of you girls, here’s what we know,” I said. “We spoke to Frankie’s father a few hours ago.”
“Frankie is the girl who played hooky at the water plant the day of Jinni’s murder, right?” Durga asked.
I pointed at her. “Correct! So when after we spoke to the father, his name is Thomas, he called Lamp back and told her that Frankie and Cadence, who goes by the name of Kenya now, were together in the water plant, skipping school.”
“They were lovers?” Tanaka asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know that if in eighth grade they were technically dating, but yes, they were a couple.”
“So cut to the chase,” Durga said.
“Anyway,” I said. “Thomas said that he was worried about his daughter, and after the pandemic, the alleged terrorist attack on his village, he’s worried that somehow, Kenya had something to do with it.”
“Why would he say that?” Dad asked.
I said, “He said Kenya was always mixed up in trouble, and always got him stuck in the middle of her craziness, tried to arrange a meeting with a man heading the fishing slave ring.” I stopped talking, my corneal stream flashing, alert me of incoming data. “Ooh, you have to hear this,” I said. “She’s sending me a lot of messages.”
“Well, that’s what we’re waiting on, Xo,” Shaw said. “Spit it out, girl!”
“Okay, so the first thing she hit me with is that, yes, she and Frankie were there at the water plant cutting class together, but that she hadn’t seen her after that day.”
“What?” Tanaka said.
“Yeah, you sure?” Shaw said.
“According to what she’s saying. Kenya says that she saw a man kill Jinni, that she and Frankie had seen her only once or twice in the street over where a lot of the GAF officers drove by and paid for sex, over in the Nkonya village.”
“That’s the Volta Region,” Shaw said. “Where a lot of human and anti-species trafficking is high, especially, slave trade for the fishing industry.”
“What else?” Dad said.
“Well, here is the kicker,” I said. “After that day, she received a lot of anonymous threats that she better keep her mouth shut or she and her parents would be killed. That’s why she changed her name, and moved away, so that her parents would be safe.”
“How did you say her parents died?” Shaw asked.
“I didn’t,” Dad said. “But they died in a…” His mouth dropped agape.
“Hold up. Don’t tell me a house fire,” Durga said.
“Yes,” Dad said, and rubbed behind his neck.
“Hold on,” I said. “Dad, you and Mom died in a boat fire…”
It hit me what dad was implying earlier. I fought with your mother on many occasions, he told us. Had I known it wasn’t safe for you to be in contact with us, Otsoo, I would’ve put you in foster care myself. But I was too naive to believe anyone would go to the lengths they did to stop our progress on gene coding and recombinant DNA technology. There are many people who didn’t like the work we were doing.
“The killer likes to get rid of people with arson,” I said.
Auntie Yajna was in an alleged arson incident, I thought, but the thought dissipated before I gave it a second thought. She was too loving and kind to be a killer.
“Are you saying that you’re a clone?” Tanaka asked.
“Yes,” Dad said. “Is there anything else Kenya wrote you?”
“No,” Kenya said, surprising us all when she came up behind us, from behind a tree. “Frankie is here! The guard won’t let her back here, into the spa, but she’s here. She’s here, and she says she going to make me pay for betraying her. I’m scared. I didn’t call the police because I don’t know what she can do! She’s such a great hacker. She could tap into our electrical systems and make this place burn down or something!”
> “You’re safe, Kenya,” Dad said. “You’re safe with us. Frankie won’t be able to hack our defenses because Kofi is creating an impenetrable firewall. It’s probably why, if you tried, you couldn’t see what we were doing.”
She nodded and swallowed hard. “Now, I get it. Okay, well, there’s one last thing, and it didn’t bother me until just now.”
“What’s that, hon?” Shaw asked.
“When I moved here, I just wanted to leave the past behind. I was doing amazing in neuroschool, and developed new friendships, here, and even had a nice girlfriend for a while, but Frankie just wouldn’t let me go.”
“You guys kept seeing each other?” I asked.
“God, no!” Kenya said. “But that didn’t stop Frankie from mind-texting me fifty-sixty times a day. And the more I ignored the messages, the more threatening they got.”
“But you never responded?” Kofi asked.
“No, never! I swear,” she said. “And then she went through this phase, or at least I thought it was a phase.”
“What kind of phase?” Tanaka asked.
“A suicidal one,” Kenya said. “Going on and on about not being able to live without me, and then she said that if I didn’t come back, she was going to kill herself. After a while, it all stopped. And I know that this sounds really cruel, but even though I thought she might have actually gone through with it, I was relieved.”
“You were relieved because you could move on with your life,” Tanaka said.
Kenya shook her head. “No. I was relieved because I thought that she had finally found peace. Always being troubled, learning about being an illegitimate child, and I’m sure you met her parents, Thomas and Meredith. They’re no walk in the park.”
“That they are not,” I said. “So why the change of heart? Why tell us all this now?”
“Well, after about six months of not getting any more messages, I started getting this weird visitor.”
“Who?” Dad said.
“Well, funny you should ask, Mr. Xo,” Kenya said. “Because she said she knows that big guy you came in here one time. The one with the hieroglyphic tats on his neck.”
“Major Grunt?” I said.