“The man leading the band of soldiers is Moise Kabila,” Emmanuel told Max. “He is very, very bad. We call him le diable. The devil.”
Max and her CMI team were sitting around a small campfire with the kids from the village. Everyone was super impressed with Tisa, Siobhan, and Max for standing up to the outlaws. They were also glad that two growns, Charl and Isabl, were “chaperoning” the team.
“The devil and his men fought with the rebels for many years,” Emmanuel went on. “Now they work for the mining company. They are the enforcers. The ones who beat you if you do not dig fast enough.”
“They need new outlets for their entrepreneurial energy,” said Tisa.
“To do what?” said Siobhan. “They’re thugs.”
“For now,” said Tisa. “In Kenya, my father has worked with men who were very similar to this Moise Kabila. Given a choice, many eventually turned to more legitimate business—provided they could make enough money to help their families.”
“Maybe that can happen here,” mused Max.
“And maybe, one day, the devil will install air-conditioning,” said Emmanuel.
“Ah,” said Keeto. “But first he’d need electricity.” He turned to Klaus. “So where was your security detail?”
“Same place as yours. Up in the hills. Looking for bad guys.”
All the kids laughed.
“Guess we found them, eh?” cracked Siobhan.
More laughter. Max was proud of her team. They’d gone through something truly terrifying together and survived. That’ll build camaraderie. Fast.
Everyone was pitching in and pulling together for a common goal: bringing electricity to the people of Kasombumba so their future would be brighter than their past, especially if Tisa’s father could work his “entrepreneurial” magic, too.
Given the intellectual brilliance of the kids on the CMI team, no one was spending the night under African stars telling ghost stories or making s’mores. Instead, Vihaan shared some of his ideas for building a quantum computer.
“I don’t understand these things,” said Emmanuel. “But they sound fascinating.”
“It also sounds awesome,” remarked Keeto. “A computer that fast would put all the big boys in Silicon Valley out of business. Promise me one thing, Vihaan.”
“What’s that?”
“When you start your computer company, I get first dibs on buying stock. A quantum computer could make us richer than the benefactor.”
“You got it, dude,” said Vihaan, trying his best to say it like Keeto would.
They knocked knuckles on their deal.
Around midnight, Charl, Isabl, and Yahav strolled over to the campfire.
“Hey, no growns allowed!” said Hana.
“It’s getting late,” said Isabl, smiling softly. “You kids have a big day tomorrow.”
It was true. The arrival of the warrior bandits had slowed them down. The team would finish wiring Ms. Dayana’s house first thing in the morning.
“I studied the wiring diagrams,” said Emmanuel. “I would like to help.”
“Are you sure you want to stay home from the mines again?” asked Max.
“Oh, yes. In fact, I hope to do so every day for the rest of my life!”