2055, November 12th

Collapse + 6 years

"Wait," said Naema. "So you stole an exemplar's powers?"

"That's right," said Josephine. "Remember when I told you about how the queen turns powers into strange drawings? Those are inside those big tablets of theirs. They call them plaques, and all you have to do is hold one."

"Then why don't you still have it?"

"Because the Lakiran queen is paranoid."

Naema, Josephine, and Tan were walking back from their exemplar outing. Tan lingered behind like a teenager embarrassed to be seen with his parents. They were passing through Port Harcourt. The markets swelled with afternoon business. Music played from speakers perched in windows. People danced in the streets. It was almost like the Nigeria Naema remembered as a girl; almost.

Josephine talked as they walked along. "Victoria puts an unbelievable amount of failsafes in her exemplar's plaques. If those things go more than ten feet away from the exemplar they're assigned to, they give a warning beep. If they're not back within range in one minute, tiny explosives inside the plaque destroy those drawings. So if Tan and I want to use those plaques, I have to stay within ten feet of the exemplar."

"Why don't you open it and remove the drawings."

"They've thought of that. Trust me. They've thought of everything. If it opens, pop. If it loses GPS for too long, pop. If the exemplar goes somewhere he's not supposed to, pop. The tablets even have a detachable battery that the exemplars are supposed to yank out if they think they're about to be taken hostage. It kills the powers immediately. And I think the empire can remotely destroy them too if they suspect anything fishy."

"Why so much?"

"Those tablets were the biggest advantage the Lakirans have over the Chinese and the EDA. Exemplars could pick out spies, sense hidden troops, interrogate prisoners of war. No one else can do that, and the Lakiran's will hold onto that advantage at any cost. Do you remember how the empire launched this huge assault into Britain?"

"No."

"Oh. This was about four years ago. No one understood why the empire came to Europe so early. It really overstretched them. I heard it's because the European Alliance had managed to get their hands on one of those plaques. The entire early invasion was started just to get it back. I don't know if it's true or not, but the empire definitely came to Europe before they had a good handle on North America."

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"Maybe the queen is just greedy."

"Maybe. Anyway, Tan and I were able to get an exemplar's plaque from him, but not for very long. It really helped us work on each other's powers, but we can't do that for you if you'll just break anything we bring near you."

"Okay."

Josephine glanced at her. "You don't seem very bothered by that."

Naema shrugged. "I guess I would be if I had mind reading or something. What do I do? Nothing. I break other people around me. Or so you say. I'm still not sure it isn't all just a big joke you're pulling."

"You saw the exemplar."

"Yeah... I guess so." Naema saw the exemplar thump his tablet, then Josephine pulled her away. Disregard Tan and Josephine's word, and there wasn't any other evidence of her power.

They walked through the market until coming upon dividers blocking the road. Beyond, a Lakiran construction project was underway. An aerial crane floated over a deep pit. It had three prominent bulges along its bottom in a triangular shape which no doubt contained high capacity repulsers. They stayed aloft using the same invisible tripod technique the citadels used.

Cables dangled from the crane. Construction workers guided prebuilt pieces into place upon a structure in the pit. Soldiers stood guard around the site, and spaced around the crane were aerial watchtowers suspended in the same fashion as the crane. In each, a soldier behind a railgun was ready to rain hell upon troublemakers.

"They're building a grid node," Josephine said. "Told you. They're moving in."

Naema didn't disagree. Lakirans already had nodes installed throughout Nigeria, but those were the temporary kind, above ground. They'd float the nodes into position, then bolt them down. It allowed the Lakirans to drop in their orbital drop response teams, but not much else. This, though, was higher capacity, a permanent installation placed underground. They couldn't pack this one up and leave if the Nigerian occupation didn't pan out. Naema had seen pictures of cities with shuttles cluttering the skyline. This was the first step. Pretty soon, Lakirans responding to trouble would be coming from local stations, not ships coasting the upper atmosphere. That meant faster response times.

"But look on the bright side," Josephine pointed at one of the watchtowers. An exemplar was gazing over the crowd. "Looks like Tan wins two to zero, and we get to test again."

"Won't the Lakirans wonder why two exemplars had trouble today?"

"They might, but it's too late. Look." The exemplar was already frowning at his plaque. "It's definitely broken. Do you want to watch this time? I don't think we need to be careful. The soldier's aren't turning away spectators here." They watched while the exemplar fiddled his plaque, turning it over as though looking for the on switch.

Tan came up beside them. "We go."

"Patience," Josephine said. "This is a better test. Nobody is going to notice us here. Naema, are you convinced yet, or do you still think I'm making your gift up?"

"We go. Now." Tan sounded more insistent.

"It's not that late. Just a minute."

"I have bad feeling."

The change in Josephine's demeanor was stark. Glancing around, she took Naema's arm. "Okay, let's go." They worked backward through the crowd. Josephine and Tan kept glancing back as though expecting someone to call them out. Naema glanced, but nothing seemed wrong. Tan's bad feelings seemed to carry particular weight with Josephine.

Somebody yelled. It was distant and in French. Then came a scream.

Then came the gunfire.