Nnedi Okorafor - Lagoon

Father Oke smiled shakily, trying to look serene and pious when he felt like tearing out of that basement screaming. He didn’t know if he believed in aliens or not. He’d never considered the question. If there were aliens, they certainly wouldn’t come to Nigeria. Or maybe they would. He spread his hands and addressed the creature who was and was not his mother. “I have seen the news,” he said. “I believe all that was caused by you, when… when you landed here, you coming here, it is all an act of God. I know you love God. Even if you are, ahem , from another place.” As he spoke, his confidence grew. Speaking publicly always had this effect on him. It was why he had become a preacher.

“See it as… a personal race,” he said, now truly smiling. “All of us have sinned! Human and… alien. No one on earth or in the cosmos is good or righteous. Hence God gave his only son to die for us!”

Adaora wanted to tell him to shove his nonsense up his ass. The man was the worst kind of charlatan. But Agu, now standing beside her, elbowed her to stay quiet.

“What?” Chris asked, perplexed. He’d come for a witch-hunt, not a baptism. “But that doesn’t—”

“Chris, can’t you see?” Father Oke said, now completely enthralled by the sound of his own voice. He was on a roll. “I have been chosen to bring this creature and all of her kind into the light !”

Ayodele watched him, blankly. Father Oke took her silence as affirmation. He was getting through to her. He had the gift of the gab. He could get through to anyone , even an extraterrestrial, such was the power of his faith. “Do you understand what I am saying?” he asked, certain that she did. His mission was clear; divine. “God, the Almighty, he is in control. Give yourself up to the Lord and any help you need to survive will be given to you. My church. My church is a good church. Come join my flock and we will be truly great.” He held his hands out to Ayodele. When she didn’t take them, he just kept talking. She was scared. Understandable. She was a blank slate, untilled alien soil. “You can shape-shift. That is a God-given ability,” he said. “Maybe you can become one of my sisters in God. Join me on the pulpit and you and I will pull in a flock to be reckoned with!”

“See this man,” Adaora said quietly to Anthony, “he’s just trying to use her. So one-track minded. Even in the face of an extraterrestrial, sha. ”

“That was obvious to me from the start,” Anthony replied.

“If you join us, we can best protect you from the evil forces of these lands,” Father Oke continued. He smirked knowingly. “In this house, anyone can come for you. It is not safe.”

Ayodele opened her mouth to speak but Father Oke held up a hand. “Don’t,” he said. “Just think about it for now. We will come back to hear your answer later today.”

Ayodele shrugged and said, “OK.”

Father Oke nodded, slowly backing toward the stairs, grinning. He motioned for Chris to follow.

“Oh,” Chris said softly, as if waking from a dream. “OK.” He scurried past Father Oke, up the stairs.

“It was wonderful to meet with you, Ayodele,” Father Oke said. Then with a wave, he whirled around and followed Chris up the stairs.

Adaora let out a breath of relief. “Can you imagine?”

Ayodele was smiling. “This place is fascinating, o,” she said. “ Na wao . That man, I could see all his ideas!”

Adaora noted how Ayodele was even picking up slang. She frowned as she said, “You’re not seriously—”

“We need to get her out of here,” Agu interrupted. “Soon.”

Anthony nodded vigorously. “My father was a preacher,” he said. “I know that man’s kind. He’ll return with his entire congregation. Oh chale , of all the people your husband could have brought…”

“I know,” Adaora replied darkly. “Once word gets out, the kidnappers will start arriving, too.”

“Mama?” they watched Father Oke slowly ask.

Despite what he had just seen, Moziz snickered. He knew Father Oke. The man sponged plenty of naira from his grandmother every Sunday, leaving her with barely enough to buy gari and bags of “pure water”. When the footage ended, Moziz clicked replay on Philo’s mobile phone to watch it again.

Philo smiled. Back at her employers’ house the children were still asleep and she’d chanced leaving for a half hour to come to see her boyfriend Moziz. It was worth the risk; she loved to see Moziz happy. She loved Moziz. She looked around his sparse one-bedroom flat. Nothing but a computer on a desk, a chair and the mattress they sat on. He didn’t have much, but he kept his flat spotless. Damn near sterile, from the smell of disinfectant it always carried. Moziz hated roaches and this “face me, I face you” building was full of them.

A struggling medical student forced to take the year off due to strikes, Moziz was the most educated guy she knew. He was quite dark-skinned and short (neither of which suited Philo’s tastes) but he was articulate, ambitious and crafty. At the moment, he was making most of his money from 419 scams on his computer, but Philo knew this was only temporary. She was certain that Moziz was meant to be somebody, just like his name implied. The actual spelling of his name was “Moses” but he’d changed it because he thought it sounded cooler.

“Eyyy!” Moziz exclaimed as he watched Ayodele change again. He laughed hard. “Look at Father Oke! De man wey dey do gragra before see as he dey shake like waterleaf! He don nearly shit for him pant!”

Philo smiled. She loved that he was an educated man and he spoke like a man of the streets.

“Baby, dis ting na real? Abi na film tricks?” he asked.

“I say I take my two naked eyes see de thing as e happen, just like two hours ago,” she assured him, dropping into Pidgin English, too.

He pinched his smooth chin pensively with his fingers. Philo could practically hear his brilliant mind working. He really was the smartest man she knew. She loved that about him.

“True true, you say dis woman na from space? You say she come from space?”

“Na so she talk. She say no be only her come, she come with many others wey still dey for inside dem ship wey land inside Bar Beach.”

“OK o,” Moziz said. “Well, if dem get flying ship, wetin again dem get wey we no sabi?” He narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we fit tell am to print original naira notes for us, o. Yes na, if she fit change herself, na him be say she fit do other things, too! Miracle! Heiyaaa! Na so na! Na so universe law be, o, no be mek de law.”

“Maybe,” Philo said.

“In fact sef, no be even naira we go ask am to make for us,” he said. “American dollars! Or even euro. Euro cost pass dollar, so na euro we go tell am to make for us!”

Philo shrugged and laughed. “If she fit do am na, dat one no be problem. But I no sabi if she fit do am, o.”

“ Kai , dis one na something, o,” he said, now grinning with all his teeth. “Baby, dis one na something. You do well show me dis video.”

Philo giggled as he caressed her cheek. His hand slowly made its way to her left breast. “You fit get me inside dere?” he asked, his voice lusty in her ear.

“I go try, baby,” she whispered. She lay back and as he climbed on top of her, his computer beeped the arrival of a new email. He paused, looking at the monitor.

“Mek una wait! Mek una wait! Eh? All of una wey be email fit wait for now!” he said, turning back to Philo.

“Kola, Fred, out,” Adaora snapped, noticing them peeking into the room from the top of the stairs.