“This was a Sunflower Initiative Solar Farm before the Red Eye started,” Dolapo said. “The power tower was at the center of these mirrors but it was blown down long ago.”
“It’s a total dead zone now,” I said.
“Has been for a while,” Dolapo said. “The Oracle Solar Complex wanted to harvest the parts but—”
I gasped. “We’re at the edge, aren’t we?” I said. I could see it. Literally see it. The digital shield of the anti-aejej. To my new senses, it looked like billions of tiny pink jelly-like things wriggling about to form the shield. It was making a soft hissing sound. And beyond were the swirling violent winds. Force stopped the car right where the road continued into the storm.
The four of us sat there, silent. The four of us knew. “Okay,” DNA finally said. He got out of the car. I turned to Force. “They get you, you’re done,” he said.
“I know.”
“You have something that scares the shit out of them,” Force said. “You threaten their existence. You just exposed them to—”
“All of West Africa,” I said. “On mobiles, TVs, tablets, oh, why’d I do that? Why’d I—”
“Do NOT second guess yourself,” Dolapo said.
“Agreed,” Force said. “Own your actions. Always.”
DNA slapped a hand at the window. “We need to do this,” he shouted. “Come on, AO.”
I jumped as sirens started to sound.
“Force,” Dolapo said, looking at him with wide eyes. Force didn’t seem surprised at all.
“AO, go!” he said.
I looked and I saw it flash in my mind, a symbol in the shape of infinity. Dolapo was shouting in Yoruba. She’d let go of her nose and blood was dripping out and still she shouted at Force to hurry.
“Code Red,” I said. “Force, what’s Code Red?” The symbol was bouncing all over the Hour Glass’s local network as a text message.
Ignoring both me and Dolapo, Force leaned out of the truck. “DNA, you have my anti-aejej?”
“What?” I said. “Anti-aejej? What’s going on?!”
“I do,” DNA said, grabbing it from a back pack I’d never seen before. “Wish we had masks, too!” All I had was the water bottle I’d been carrying in my pocket before this all happened. Deep pockets will always be the best thing about clothes.
“I didn’t think it would be like this! Turn it on! Turn it on!” Force said, clicking his seatbelt. “Go! The Hour Glass anti-aejej is about to shut down!”
“Are you crazy?!” Dolapo shouted.
Force looked at her with eyes so full of rage that Dolapo immediately shut up.
“What?!” DNA shouted, rushing back to the truck.
“Force,” I said, grasping the car window. “Wait, wait, why?!”
“Because I sent the command! In five minutes. It’ll stay down for exactly four minutes. That’s enough time to send a bunch of those damn soldiers to a flying death or trap them where they can’t come after you. You’ll have a head start. But you need to get moving!”
“Will you be all right?”
“No!” Dolapo shouted. “We’ll be—”
“This car’s weighted to withstand the winds,” he said, but the look on his face didn’t convince her. “We’ll be okay. We always are. Everyone knows to go underground if they hear sirens. And the shelters are all over, it’s hard to be far from one. Some of the soldiers will try to follow people in; there are going to be fights.”
We moved back as he wildly turned the car around. He stopped and waved to us. “Make all this count, AO. Go!” he said. “Before you can’t.” Then he and Dolapo were off, sending up a huge wake of dust.
I turned to DNA. “I don’t . . . people are going to die! I can’t have that on my conscience. The Hour Glass is run by an AI; Maybe I can—”
“Don’t, AO!” DNA said, his eyes wild. He grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me to his face. “Are you trying to kill yourself? I’ve been wondering this for a while now!”
“I’m not,” I said, staring at him. My dead arm nearly slipped out of the sling. “I just—”
“Did you already forget yesterday!”
The dust from Force’s car still floated around us. The sirens blared. It had been a week since the morning I’d left my apartment to go and buy ingredients for a quiet dinner.