Farima: An Afrofuturist Sci-Fi Adventure (The Homo Maximus Saga Book 1) Page 2

  “Millions of supporters isn’t so bad. It will come in handy one day. I’m sure of it.” She says out loud.

  The stomach-pleasing aroma of eggs, pancakes, and buttery croissants tickle her appetite. She whips around in the smell’s direction.

  “I figured you’d want breakfast after crushing the machines again. I wanted to avoid any kicks to my dome by you. So I decided to cook for once.” Adan chuckles.

  Why does he keep bringing that up? Natia is distracted by what he has brought her.

  Adan Greenheart, her husband, stands with a plate of steaming food in front of her. He toys with her as he moves it around her nose. His braided hair smells of coconut oil and shea butter as he stands in front of her, shirtless and in shorts.

  “You read my mind.” Natia grabs the plate out of his hand.

  “Today’s your big day. Many workers choke once they’re at the Great Forum. You ready?”

  “I hope so. Everyone gets a voice at least. The Great Forum humbles many people. Me? No.” A smile arches across her face.

  Looking to the horizon, Natia tries to spot the eight towers of the Endonis Collective Industrial Complex through the darkness. The tallest buildings in New Manden command her respect. “I will not pass up the chance to speak to the seven Nodes. You’re in the Investigator’s Enterprise. You know the ECIC is the center of power across every major Jena isle in New Manden.”

  She points into the dark drizzling breeze as red glowing leaves blow past her brown-skinned face. “That’s where I must go. To tell every voting member of The Collective that our Node, Node One, should keep majority control of the ECIC.”

  “Manden City made me, Node One raised me, Manden City aye, aye!” Adan dances and gyrates to the popular Node One chant.

  Natia laughs as she tries to keep the food in her mouth.

  “Not only that, but Project Maximus. We’re so close.” Her mind races with righteous ambition.

  “About that.” Adan’s tone dries. “You sure that’s the way? There’s a faction of Mandenites who believe the level of genetic engineering in the project is a bridge too far. I mean, changing plants and trees is one thing, but we’re talking about major changes to our code.”

  “The Collective allows minor genetic alterations as it stands. Look around you Adan, the planet the Elders talk about from the 2020s before the war has changed. This storm has lasted so long, the entire Isle of Manden hasn’t been able to collect enough sunlight during the day. It’s clearing now, but this entire island is solar-powered. Recharging isn’t optional.” She takes a deep breath. “My point is, it may get so bad that we may one day have no choice.”

  “I know. You tell me every day the time that we may need to evolve to survive. You think The Collective still believes enough to give you the votes you need?”

  “Once I bring them the voices needing this technology? I hope so.”

  Adan sighs and places his hand on her tight stomach. The touch sends sensations up Natia’s spine. “Maybe we could put that genetic tech to good use. We could use a super baby, or any baby around here. I do my research for the IE from here in this home. I’m on the AugNet every hour and could watch the baby while you work.”

  “Yes, I know. Soon, Adan. Just let me finish Project Maximus. Trust me, I want to have a child. I can’t get distracted at the moment. Not while I’m so close.”

  Adan frowns and nods. It was worth another try, at least.

  “Besides, you should want me to finish the project first. I’ve had these dreams that I will fail. For days now, I thought they’d go away, but they’re persistent. That’s been motivation for me hitting the gym even harder.”

  “Many people will come after you and your team if The Collective sides with you. I’ll have your back no matter what.”

  “Oh, I know.” She grabs Adan around the shoulders and pulls him in close. They share a sweet kiss as the Sun at long last cracks through the dissipating storm clouds.

  A fresh morning has come.

  Chapter 2

  Project Maximus

  Node One—Manay City, 2082—Isle of Manden—Trail 7 Between the 1st and 3rd Rings

  How does one balance the noble pursuit of discovery with the drive for progress at all costs?

  Dr. Natia Greenheart ponders on the philosophical question as she jogs along the winding trail.

  The stark blue sky shining from above brings out a multitude of people. More than normal given the weather and significance of the day. With over three million supporters on LyfeZone, Natia needs space to breathe. Away from the denser masses in the solar city.

  Natia will never abandon the Isle of Manden, because it’s where she was born. It is the original Jena and a source of a possessive obsession for her-and everyone. When she was younger, she didn’t grasp the significance of why the Elders got on both knees to kiss the soil of the island itself. Now she can see.

  The Isle of Manden is a worker-built colossus constructed in the frame of six concentric circles over nine miles in diameter. Like a nest tucked in a glorious tree, the surface sits atop a submerged vessel that teams of sailors steer through the sea. The capacity of each vessel depends on the girth of its surface. There are Jenas that are enormous and complex, others are small and limited.

  The odd-numbered circles are an earthy mixture of lush green gardens and pastures. The even circles are where Mandenites live and work. Many thousands of homes dot the second and fourth innermost circles. The center circle houses the eight towers of the ECIC. Dozens of twisting roads, pathways and trails thread through the circles and connect them in a chain of activity.

  Activity that Natia wants to evade but can’t. She waves at smiling faces as she jogs by passersby.

  “We have your back, Natia!” One woman yells from a flowered field. Another man holds up his Orunmila to capture her jogging. She waves. He bounces up and down like a bunny with his friends as they catch it for LyfeZone.

  Natia enjoys the company of her allies. Getting anything accomplished in New Manden requires stable support of The Collective—the powerful men and women in the nation. The multitude of people across every Jena.

  Natia pulls up her Orunmila and calls for her car, still parked in her driveway. It’ll be awhile before it identifies her position and self-drives its way to her, going the quickest way possible. Natia will never forget the time when she took too long to call her car during the Maurie Festival. The Isle of Manden was so jammed with revelers, Natia and Adan had to walk from one side of the island to the other. Without getting sucked into the island-wide festivities. Something they didn’t do and so didn’t make it home until sunrise.

  So she stops at her favorite enclave of stores as she lingers. It’s a modest little place tucked away in a grove of twinkling green pin oaks.

  Broad varieties of smells tickle her nose. She maneuvers her way through a dense crowd, watching citizens from every Node in the nation. Today is the day of the Great Forum, everybody converges on Manay City to observe when this day comes once every season. She looks at the familiar blue headdresses worn by the women of Node Four. The oiled, bushy beards of the men of Node Two sit below their painted faces.

  The women of Node Five wear little, like the men, except for what they perceive is essential. While you’ll be lucky to spot the skin on the wrist of anyone from Node Seven. Even when the Sun scorches the Earth, Natia sees no one from a single isle of Node Seven not wearing their long tunic.

  “Natia! Natia!” An aged voice yells out through the bustling crowd of colors. It’s her favorite shopkeeper. She prances over and embraces the Elder who’s black and gold Mandenite flag waves on the fence behind her.

  “I don’t care what these other Nodes say, I’ll be voting for your referendum today. I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for Node One and your breakthroughs in gene therapy. Endonis Technologies has been here from the very beginning. One of the main reasons we’re so healthy is because of Endonis. Now other Nodes want to defund its most important project?
They’re crazy. What time is your Dialogue set for baby?” The little woman with braided hair asks.

  “Later this afternoon. I had to calm my mind first, you know?”

  Natia notices the woman is selling a fluffy cotton cape that causes flashing images of her mother to emit in her mind. Gold and red idiosyncratic patterns dance throughout the long flowing garment that feels like clouds to the touch. The tassels smack into each other along the bottom as she clutches it.

  “I have to have this! It smells just like lavender! It’ll match well with the outfit I’m wearing to my Dialogue later.” She pulls up her Orunmila and accesses the Aje blockchain. The shopkeeper’s crypto token is performing well on the decentralized market. “Since we’re friends, I’ll purchase one thousand of your tokens off the crypto exchange and lock half in escrow for six months.”

  She nods in excitement. “Value for value! You better follow that Buhari Principle sister!”

  They giggle together.

  Natia’s Orunmila beeps and informs her that her car has arrived nearby to return her home to get ready. “That’s my ride.” Natia smiles and grabs her new garment.

  “I’ll be watching from right here, Natia!” She waves as Natia makes her way to her car.

  Natia’s car weaves its way with ease through traffic. She takes a deep breath as the towering skyscrapers of the ECIC and the Ebony Coliseum come into view. A solar-powered building, the Ebony Coliseum resembles a bowl-shaped stadium with imposing sides. It encloses an extensive botanical garden within its airy interior that flows throughout. The Great Forum is accessible and free to every citizen within The Collective whenever they wish to use it. Per availability of course.

  “Always impressive.”

  Natia’s eyes grow in admiration of the tremendous building that now rises above her forever in judgment. She grins at the alluring hues of the solar panels. They fade back and forth between shades of brown caramel and gingerbread to her thrill. During the day, it diverges between a spectrum of soft brown shades as it harvests the quanta from the sunlight. While at night it glows a radiant golden-yellow.

  The car comes to a stop. Moments later Natia hears tapping on the passenger door. “Shall I open Natia?” Michael the autonomous A.I. that runs the vehicle speaks through the speaker.

  “Yes.”

  The door opens and Natia extends one leg of her lengthy six-foot frame into the world. She pauses before going out, “Michael, I have an answer to the question we were debating on our way here. The balancing the ethics of discovery and progress-remember?”

  “Yes! Your resolution is ma’am?”

  “It is only wrong if your purpose is unjustifiable. So the ends can at times permit the means as long as your endgame is desirable. So says The Buhari Principle.”

  “Noted Dr. Greenheart. Now go show them who’s boss.”

  Natia steps out of her car and straightens her red tunic before shaking the hand of the man who knocked on her door. “Comms are getting shorter these days.” She watches the top of the man’s head.

  The red and gold cotton cape she purchased earlier blows in the wind behind her as she sees a crowd of onlookers bumping shoulders to get a clearer view. The presence of members of the local Manden militia sets her at ease, allowing her to breathe. Her lungs expand only slightly more than before.

  She follows him through the crowd of observers with cameras and journalists. Media from the seven Nodes are present. Behind the cameras, Natia knows her mentor Khalil is watching. She hopes his name doesn’t come up at all but something tells her to not let herself get caught sleeping.

  Once inside, smatters of cheers and claps erupt. Natia smells the fresh earthy aroma of the coliseum as she follows security to a private waiting room. Everyone turns to gaze at her, something she expects. The Mandenites watching her, with plenty following her for sure, are too shy to hold eye contact if she looks at them. They snap away at once. It amuses her when she sees them sneak a glance back at her like a sneaky puppy dog.

  Natia has given interviews before, yet nothing like what she will soon endure. They disseminate the Great Forum across the entire AugNet; its referendums are voted on by millions. Yet she can’t obsess over that, that’s what chokes the others. She has one task, and that is to persuade enough of the citizens of the nation to keep funding going for Project Maximus.

  Khalil has prepared her for the grueling intellectual war of Great Forums since she was ten. The Elder of Elders – and one control freak of a man.

  Being able to engage in intellectual combat is why you have this position. She thinks before spotting a mentor to her left barking orders to his learners. Just don’t make yourself sound like a fool knowing Adan is watching. Everyone is watching. Don’t be the impassioned idealist.

  They continue following the path after the abrupt halt and move into a less populated tunnel. Natia’s parents and Khalil educated her about how it’s the duty of every Mandenite across the Nodes to engage in governance. Her parents taught her the value of solidarity with each other, as long as the growth of the young nation is the goal. To be a Mandenite is to assert your power granted to you by The Collective to advance the nation directly. Mandenites don’t want the fat that comes along with other state governments, they honor their own intuition. The virtual and decentralized AugNet is how they interact and debate. It’s such a precious piece they need to be autonomous.

  Any citizen has the choice to make their case at the Great Forum on the date of their referendum vote. If they so dare.

  Natia dares.

  They round a corner and there it sits; Natia can see the stage from a distance. Massive and imposing, much grander than she realized. She looks into the eyes of the backstage workers and can see their augmented reality contact lenses shifting colors. Likely recording and live streaming over AR social media sites like LyfeZone. Shouting from the audience rings out. Her interviewer-Node 5 native Justice Samuels, is wrapping up his introduction of her.

  “Make no mistake members of The Collective, we will discover the truth today. Everyone in attendance is working to keep the nation secure. We need to know about the allocation of our wealth and what our wealth will develop in our name.”

  Here we go. Natia calms her mind. She’s as ready as she’ll ever be. While she appreciates the work Justice does as an Investigative Enterprise reporter, the man is too glib and she just heard him beginning to speak.

  She flashes a reassured grin and thinks, “There’s no way I’m failing on this day, not with Adan watching at home.”

  “For four years, Dr. Natia Greenheart has served as Project Manager for Endonis Technologies. Since 2078, she has used her credentials in genetics and genomics to treat everyone in New Manden. With Endonis scientists, our nation has held the edge on disruptive technologies. We dominate in fields stretching from bio-nanotechnology to genetic engineering.”

  Justice extends his arm toward Natia’s location backstage. “Let’s welcome to stage one of the highest-ranking scientists at Endonis Technologies. The woman who says she’s cracked the code of evolution, Dr. Natia Greenheart!”

  Natia walks out onto the stage, taking each step with authority. The crowd cheers and rises to their feet. Flashing camera lights dance throughout the coliseum, which holds over two hundred thousand people. Natia and Justice meet at the center of the stage and exchange a polite handshake. They turn and wave towards the audience for the ever-important photo-op.

  Justice’s hand gestures towards the seat across from his own. A short mahogany table stands holding two glasses of water between the two of them and one Wi-Fi headset for Natia. She sits into the chair and places the headset underneath her long, braided black hair. The small microphone hangs to the side of her mouth. She clears her throat and nods, signaling that she is ready.

  “Thank you for joining us today, the Great Forum welcomes you. Even the popular Endonis Technologies of Node One, nicknamed Manay City, must come before The Collective.” Justice starts off with light commentar
y.

  Natia at once begins measuring the man. “It is my duty Justice and thank you, the Ebony Coliseum, and IE for playing your roles. Without everyone in attendance and those watching across the AugNet, none of this is possible. Across the Isle of Manden and all the isles that makeup Node One, or Manay City. Our true democracy is why I’m here right now.”

  “Before we begin, I’d like to direct everyone’s attention to the live decision tracking poll projected above us.” Justice points towards a three-dimensional bar graph displaying in AR. It hovers in the air above the stage, its results visible in every direction. “The poll shows that fifty-five percent of The Collective doesn’t support the continued funding of Project Maximus. Seeing that I am part of that percentage, tell us why we’re wrong…doctor.”

  Natia senses a hint of contempt in Justice’s voice. “I can’t say I like your framing Justice. False information has spread across the AugNet by our detractors in other Nodes. Project Maximus is the most disruptive project funded by The Collective. It’s the most important project of the Endonis Collective Industrial-Complex.”

  “So disruptive that the research isn’t open-source? One wonders if it’s worth the trouble…”

  “Yes, it’s worth it. It always has been. Abuse accompanies secrecy in governance, we understand that. We’re still young and building to expand on the gains made after the Great New Deal of 2030. The people of New Manden are proud to say they live in the most transparent nation on Earth with transparency etched into our constitution.”

  “Yet the inner workings of this project stay a mystery?”