Lagoon

by Nnedi Okorafor

  “I want to help,” he said to Ayodele. “Can . . . can you show me?”

  Ayodele cocked her head as though considering Oke’s offer.

  “Don’t!” Adaora said, rushing back over. But everyone heard the sound of metal balls on glass. Ayodele’s skin was already re­arranging itself. On the stairs, Philo gasped, still holding up her recording phone.

  Ayodele had turned into an old woman with dark papery skin and runny blind eyes. Chris scrambled backward, whimpering.

  Father Oke’s face melted into something like grief and joy all at once. “Mama?” he whispered. He made the sign of the cross.

  “I am not a witch; I am alien to your planet; I am an alien,” Ayodele said in the voice of Father Oke’s recently deceased mother. “We change. With our bodies, and we change everything around us.”

  “Ewo!” Father Oke exclaimed. He made the sign of the cross again. Philomena clapped her phone shut, and everyone turned to look up at her. “Sorry,” she said, shooting to her feet. She ran up the stairs.

  Father Oke smiled shakily, trying to look serene and pious when he felt like tearing out of that basement screaming. He didn’t know if he believed in aliens or not. He’d never considered the question. If there were aliens, they certainly wouldn’t come to Nigeria. Or maybe they would. He spread his hands and addressed the creature who was and was not his mother. “I have seen the news,” he said. “I believe all that was caused by you, when . . . when you landed here; you coming here, it is all an act of God. I know you love God. Even if you are, ahem, from another place.” As he spoke, his confidence grew. Speaking publicly always had this effect on him. It was why he had become a preacher.

  “See it as . . . a personal race,” he said, now truly smiling. “All of us have sinned! Human and . . . alien. No one on earth or in the cosmos is good or righteous. Hence God gave his only son to die for us!”

  Adaora wanted to tell him to shove his nonsense up his ass. The man was the worst kind of charlatan. But Agu, now standing beside her, elbowed her to stay quiet.

  “What?” Chris asked, perplexed. He’d come for a witch hunt, not a baptism. “But that doesn’t—”

  “Chris, can’t you see?” Father Oke said, now completely enthralled by the sound of his own voice. He was on a roll. “I have been chosen to bring this creature and all of her kind into the light!”

  Ayodele watched him blankly. Father Oke took her silence as affirmation. He was getting through to her. He had the gift of the gab. He could get through to anyone, even an extraterrestrial, such was the power of his faith. “Do you understand what I am saying?” he asked, certain that she did. His mission was clear; divine. “God, the Almighty, he is in control. Give yourself up to the Lord and any help you need to survive will be given to you. My church. My church is a good church. Come join my flock and we will be truly great.” He held his hands out to Ayodele. When she didn’t take them, he just kept talking. She was scared. Understandable. She was a blank slate, untilled alien soil. “You can shape-shift. That is a God-given ability,” he said. “Maybe you can become one of my sisters in God. Join me on the pulpit and you and I will pull in a flock to be reckoned with!”

  “See this man,” Adaora said quietly to Anthony, “he’s just trying to use her. So one-track minded. Even in the face of an extra­terrestrial, sha.”

  “That was obvious to me from the start,” Anthony replied.

  “If you join us, we can best protect you from the evil forces of these lands,” Father Oke continued. He smirked knowingly. “In this house, anyone can come for you. It is not safe.”

  Ayodele opened her mouth to speak, but Father Oke held up a hand. “Don’t,” he said. “Just think about it for now. We will come back to hear your answer later today.”

  Ayodele shrugged and said, “Okay.”

  Father Oke nodded, slowly backing toward the stairs, grinning. He motioned for Chris to follow.

  “Oh,” Chris said softly, as if waking from a dream. “Okay.” He scurried past Father Oke, up the stairs.

  “It was wonderful to meet with you, Ayodele,” Father Oke said. Then with a wave, he whirled around and followed Chris up the stairs.

  Adaora let out a breath of relief. “Can you imagine?”

  Ayodele was smiling. “This place is fascinating, o,” she said. “Na wao. That man, I could see all his ideas!”

  Adaora noted how Ayodele was even picking up slang. She frowned as she said, “You’re not seriously—”

  “We need to get her out of here,” Agu interrupted. “Soon.”

  Anthony nodded vigorously. “My father was a preacher,” he said. “I know that man’s kind. He’ll return with his entire congregation. Oh chale, of all the people your husband could have brought . . .”

  “I know,” Adaora replied darkly. “Once word gets out, the kidnappers will start arriving too.”

  CHAPTER 9

  MOZIZ

  “Mama?” they watched Father Oke slowly ask.

  Despite what he had just seen, Moziz snickered. He knew Father Oke. The man sponged plenty of naira from his grandmother every Sunday, leaving her with barely enough to buy gari and bags of “pure water.” When the footage ended, Moziz clicked replay on Philo’s mobile phone to watch it again.

  Philo smiled. Back at her employers’ house the children were still asleep, and she’d chanced leaving for a half hour to come to see her boyfriend, Moziz. It was worth the risk; she loved to see Moziz happy. She loved Moziz. She looked around his sparse one-­bedroom flat. Nothing but a computer on a desk, a chair, and the mattress they sat on. He didn’t have much, but he kept his flat spotless. Damn near sterile, from the smell of disinfectant it always carried. Moziz hated roaches, and this “face me, I face you” building was full of them.

  A struggling medical student forced to take the year off due to strikes, Moziz was the most educated guy she knew. He was quite dark-skinned and short (neither of which suited Philo’s tastes), but he was articulate, ambitious, and crafty. At the moment, he was making most of his money from 419 scams on his computer, but Philo knew this was only temporary. She was certain that Moziz was meant to be somebody, just like his name implied. The actual spelling of his name was “Moses,” but he’d changed it because he thought it sounded cooler.

  “Eyyy!” Moziz exclaimed as he watched Ayodele change again. He laughed hard. “Look at Father Oke! De man wey dey do gragra before see as he dey shake like waterleaf ! He don nearly shit for him pant!”

  Philo smiled. She’d bagged an educated man and he spoke like a man of the streets.

  “Baby, dis ting na real? Abi na film tricks?” he asked.

  “I say I take my two naked eyes see de thing as e happen, just like two hours ago,” she assured him, dropping into Pidgin English too.

  He pinched his smooth chin pensively with his fingers. Philo could practically hear his brilliant mind working. He really was the sharpest man she knew. She’d chosen well. With him, she’d surely have a good, easy life.

  “True true, you say dis woman na from space? You say she come from space?”

  “Na so she talk. She say no be only her come, she come with many others wey still dey for inside dem ship wey land inside Bar Beach.”

  “Okay, o,” Moziz said. “Well, if dem get flying ship, wetin again dem get wey we no sabi?” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we fit tell am to print original naira notes for us, o. Yes na, if she fit change herself, na him be say she fit do other things, too! Miracle! Heiyaaa! Na so na! Na so universe law be, o, no be mek de law.”

  “Maybe,” Philo said.

  “In fact sef, no be even naira we go ask am to make for us,” he said. “American dollars! Or even euro. Euro cost pass dollar, so na euro we go tell am to make for us!”

  Philo shrugged and laughed. “If she fit do am na, dat one no be problem. But I no sabi if she fit do am, o.”

 
; “Kai, dis one na something, o,” he said, now grinning with all his teeth. “Baby, dis one na something. You do well show me dis video.”

  Philo giggled as he caressed her cheek. His hand slowly made its way to her left breast. “You fit get me inside dere?” he asked, his voice lusty in her ear.

  “I go try, baby,” she whispered. She lay back and as he climbed on top of her, his computer beeped the arrival of a new e-mail. He paused, looking at the monitor.

  “Mek una wait! Mek una wait! Eh? All of una wey be e-mail fit wait for now!” he said, turning back to Philo.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE PLAN

  “Please, all of you, come,” Ayodele said, sitting beside Adaora on the right side of the sofa.

  They couldn’t leave now. There would be checkpoints. And checkpoints were potential trouble; Agu knew this best. Ayodele didn’t seem bothered.

  “Kola, Fred, out,” Adaora snapped, noticing them peeking into the room from the top of the stairs.

  Philomena came rushing down, out of breath. “Sorry, Madame,” she said. She took Kola’s and Fred’s hands. “I was . . . I was in the bathroom. Kola, come. It’s time for lunch.”

  “Mommy, we want to see the alien,” Kola demanded.

  “How do you . . . ugh, Kola, go!” Adaora snapped. “Upstairs, now!”

  The startled children snatched their hands from Philo’s and ran up the stairs. Philo followed.

  Adaora shut her eyes and sighed, tired. Agu plopped on the left side of the sofa, looking equally as exhausted and far more physically battered. It was around two p.m. and none of them had gotten even an hour of sleep. The television news droned on about the rising water, how the government still did not know who was attacking Nigeria, and how government offices and facilities were closed for the day.

  “You three were chosen,” Ayodele said. “You made sense. I know we’ve made the right choice.”

  “Wharreva,” Anthony drawled. He was sitting on the coffee table, his long legs stretched before him. He seemed more interested in the chaos on the news than in Ayodele.

  “Adaora, you understand water,” Ayodele said. “You’ll soon also understand something about yourself, and what’s to come. You can explain.”

  “Myself ? Meaning? And will you people affect the water?” Adaora asked. She remembered what she’d seen when they were under the sea. In the surrounding glowing water had been a riot of bright yellow butterfly fish, clown fish, sea bass, eels, shrimps, urchins, starfish, sharks, stingrays, swordfish, barracuda, a bit of everything local; some from the deep, some from the shallows. She’d never seen such a thriving coral community in any of her dives off the coast of Lagos. Would they come out of the water?

  Ayodele took her hand and Adaora instantly stiffened. Ayodele’s hand felt warm and remarkably . . . human. “Agu, soldier,” Ayodele continued, looking into Agu’s eyes. “You come from a family of yam farmers, they are the salt of the earth to you. They represent the heart of Nigeria. You joined the army to protect them. Now you understand your army is corrupt. You need a people to join.”

  The clear truth of her words warmed every part of his body and left him speechless.

  She smiled. “And you have a direct connection to your country’s leader, your president. Your superior is his relation and can reach him quickly.”

  Agu and Adaora looked at each other, uncomfortable. Agu wiped his eyes and began to explain. “Yes . . . but our president is . . .”

  Adaora shook her head and Agu shut up. Ayodele didn’t seem to notice. “Anthony,” she said.

  “What?” he snapped. “Haba, what about me?” He turned away.

  Adaora almost chuckled, marveling at the fact that he was nothing like his public persona. He was actually rather reserved. He certainly hadn’t bulged his eyes and randomly screamed, “Anthony DEY CRAZE!” once since she’d met him.

  “You are a communicator, like us,” Ayodele told Anthony. “You spent the most time with the Elders. You’ve heard their song. Even I can’t imagine what you’ve learned.”

  Adaora and Agu both looked at Anthony, who backed away. Tears started to roll from his eyes. Helplessly, he held up his hands. “I . . . I don’t want any part of this,” he said, his voice quivering. “Okay? I just want to leave.” His lower lip trembled. “But I can’t stop hearing it.” He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Chale, it . . . it is beautiful. I was hearing it during my concert, too. That’s why I needed to go out for some air afterward.” His wet eyes grew wide. “I was seeing trees grow between the crowds. . . .”

  He sat down hard on the sofa, breathing heavily. He wasn’t going anywhere.

  “This house is a good location. You will draw a crowd here,” Ayodele said, smiling.

  Anthony untied the veil from around his neck and wiped his face with it. Agu stood very stiff, gazing at the fish tank. And Adaora looked at Agu’s hands, wondering if they’d changed size when he’d punched his superior into unconsciousness.

  “Anthony, you understand, correct? You must call the people to you,” Ayodele told him. “The way my people operate, we need a gathering, first.” She turned to Agu before Anthony could ask why. “Agu,” she said. “Go to your ahoa superior. Explain things to him. Take Adaora as your expert. You know what you must convince him to do.” And both Adaora and Agu knew very well.

  It was time to find the president.

  CHAPTER 11

  WAHALA

  Moziz took a deep hit from the joint Troy handed to him. “Pass am give de others, e still plenty,” he croaked as he held in the smoke. Troy, Tolu, and Jacobs, also students forced to “take time off” because of university strikes, had just arrived, and he wanted them to be relaxed when they watched the footage on Philo’s phone. He let them smoke.

  They were outside at the old table under the tree behind his apartment, a nice quiet spot. He squinted at them through dry red eyes, knowing that they were waiting for him to speak. He’d sent urgent texts to each of them saying it was a matter of lots of money. Still, right now, they knew not to rush him.

  Philo looked at her watch. She could make it back to the house in about five minutes if she ran. And today Sir and Mistress were so preoccupied that they didn’t even notice when she was gone, and the children didn’t mind her absence. For now, she leaned against the tree, her arms around her chest. She was nicely sore from the early afternoon with Moziz. He’d made her a thousand and one promises in the dark, including marriage and a big, big house. All would come true once he got the creature to do what he knew it could do. She felt a tingle of arousal between her legs as she watched him eye his friends.

  After they’d seen the footage, Tolu, Troy, and Jacobs stared at the phone. None of them knew what the fuck to think. Moziz’s girl Philo wasn’t smart enough to make up something so extraordinary, and Moziz had no reason to. And that meant what they saw could only be real.

  “E get anybody here wey no still believe wetin e don see with him own eye?” Moziz asked, after Tolu, Troy, and Jacobs had watched the film another three times.

  Tolu handed the phone back to Moziz. He held it out using only his thumb and index finger, as if it were contaminated.

  “Lagos don scatter for confusion sake of say dem no fit know wetin dis kine wahala come mean,” Moziz said, getting up. Like Father Oke, Moziz knew when he had people wrapped around his finger, and he reveled in it. He sat on the table before Troy, Tolu, and Jacobs. “We know wetin e be. And one of them dey my girlfriend oga house. Una don see am unaself. Na from space dem come. Dem get ability to change dem shape and dem body as dem like. Now, na only imagine person fit imagine all de many many other things dem fit do.” He leaned forward. “Una know wetin we fit do if we kidnap them? Tink am well well!” He held up a fist for emphasis. He leaned back. “Ol’ boy! If we no act and move fast now, na our chance we don miss be dat, o.”

  When none o
f them said a word, Moziz continued, “De first thing we go ask am to do na to print money for us. Naira, notes, American dollar notes, euro, even sef, pound sterling! My people, nobody go rich like us! We fit even tell am to enter online people bank accounts too. Fuck all de 419 rubbish, we go bypass dem middleman dem and go direct to the money.”

  Troy asked, in a small but worried voice, “If danger come dey all this plan, nko?”

  Jacobs and Tolu murmured agreement. Moziz gave Troy a very foul look. “No worry,” he said. “Na woman de ting be, o. Look am.”

  Troy frowned at this. Something wasn’t right about what Moziz was saying, but he wasn’t sure what it was. But he felt Moziz was right, what he’d seen in the video was just a woman. She looked like a slightly older version of his sister, even. She had to be harmless. She’d be easy to kidnap.

  Tolu liked the idea of kidnapping the alien well enough, but more importantly, he didn’t want to cross Moziz when he was in one of his moods.

  Jacobs didn’t like the idea at all. If the woman was an alien who could shape-shift, she wasn’t just a woman. And maybe that made her dangerous. However, Jacobs did like the idea of getting rich. It was about time. He’d been a struggling university student long enough. He took the phone from Moziz and watched the footage again. He glanced at Troy and Tolu. Both were looking intently at Moziz, and Moziz was enjoying their attention. Discreetly, Jacobs sent the footage to his own phone.

  “See,” Moziz said. “We catch am, carry am, come my place. We go rich before sun go down. Na who no ’gree? She just woman; she no dey harm.”

  They were all in. Moziz glanced at Philomena, blew a kiss, and then flicked his tongue at her. Philomena smiled shyly, glad that no one could see the ache between her legs and the hopeful dreams in her head.

  CHAPTER 12

  MAY THE LORD CONTINUE TO FAVOR YOU