The helipad has to be cleared of bodies before they can land, and the pilot asks her to be ready to fight if need be. Waiting for them, tiny revolver in her right hand, is Femi Alaagomeji.
The dead don’t appear to be enemy combatants, or even trained fighters of any stripe.
“Who are these people?” asks Alyssa.
“I don’t know,” says Aminat. “Stay with me.”
She does not say anything until she is a foot from Femi, then she slaps her superior officer hard across the face. Femi falls to the ground from the force of it, although she does not drop her gun. On her cheek there is an imprint of Aminat’s palm.
“I’ve done a lot of strange things over the last few days, so I guess I deserved that. I have no idea what your particular problem is, Aminat, but that will be your only freebie. Touch me again and—”
Aminat kicks her in the ribs. It’s half strength, but with her sporting background, Aminat knows how powerful her legs are. Femi winces.
“You were saying?” Aminat is ready to hit again.
“Baby, leave her alone.” She looks around. It’s not a voice she recognises, but it is clearly addressed at her. One of the “dead” is staring at her.
“Who…?”
“Your boyfriend,” says Femi. “He’s possessing people now.”
“Just reanimates,” says the body talking to Aminat. “I’m on my way. Stop beating on Femi. She’s tricky.”
“She almost got me killed.”
“Yes, more than you know, but please stop kicking her. At least leave some for me.”
“Kaaro, you asshole, those people weren’t sent to kill you. They were sent to escort you,” says Femi. “We need your help. Just stand down and come in to talk.”
“We’re talking now.”
“You need to talk to the mayor. He calls the shots.”
“You sent people with guns to my house, Femi.”
“For your protection. We might not be the only ones looking for you.”
“Fine, I’m on my way in. Just be sure that no harm comes to Aminat.”
Alyssa says, “I thought the woman was your boss.”
“She is,” says Aminat. She wants to say she will quit, but she thinks of her brother and knows she will not. “She is.”
The reanimate on the ground becomes limp again and Aminat can tell Kaaro’s presence has left it. She helps Femi up, prepared for retaliation, but none comes. Femi can be like that, mind on the task, at times above human emotion. It is unclear to Aminat if this is an advantage or not.
She hopes there is running water.
Whatever violence was going on has finished, and armoured soldiers drag corpses to pile up and set fire to. They’re well paid because their equipment is top-of-the-line and they don’t search the bodies for valuables. They are not Nigerian Army, then.
The strip of the dome she can see is mottled grey and black, and aside from a variegation she has never seen before, there is no inner glow.
“Your skin tastes funny,” whispers Kaaro.
“Then why aren’t you laughing?” asks Aminat.
“Will you both keep it down? I swear, it’s like I never trained either of you,” says Femi.
They are in a meeting to which Aminat isn’t invited, but Kaaro insists that where he goes, she goes. Jacques, his bodyguard, his military strategist, his assistant, Lora and Femi are present, but Alyssa is elsewhere.
“We’ll keep this short. I have a city council crisis meeting.”
“Kaaro, you are here because the dome is not functioning and we think the alien is sick. Your job is to find out what’s wrong and enlist the creature to our cause.”
“And what is that cause, again?” Kaaro asks.
“Survival. We need to survive what’s coming. If the alien is dead, there is no point. We might as well surrender. If you don’t succeed then we try to barter Alyssa. Which brings us to Femi. You take a team to your headquarters in Ubar, and you sequester Alyssa there, at the same time run the necessary experiments to separate her alien parts from her human parts.
“We have to do this fast. We’ve received word that high-altitude bombing will start within the next twenty-four hours. Robot border excursions have already occurred, and the ganglia did not fry them. We have to set up the defence of the city. Any questions? None? Okay, then. Begone.”
Jacques gives orders in his silky voice with a face that is reassuring, despite his body language communicating high alarm to Aminat. She tugs on Kaaro’s sleeve.
“You killed people,” she says, sotto voce.
“So did you,” he says. He sounds casual, but she can sense pain underneath it.
“I guess we’re both going to hell.”
Kaaro shakes his head. “Heaven loves those who defend themselves. If motherfuckers come to my house with guns, they get what they deserve. You know I hate guns.”
Aminat has time to touch foreheads with Kaaro before the first bombs detonate.