Nnedi Okorafor - Lagoon

Jacobs needed to spend more time with his younger sister. In the last month, he hadn’t even had the time to stop by her apartment. Not that she’d have been home. Fisayo was rarely home. After all the crazy events in Lagos, today was the first chance he’d gotten to see her.

He’d met with Moziz, Tolu and Troy earlier, so he’d only briefly heard Fisayo’s bizarre story about what she’d seen on Bar Beach when the boom hit. And that conversation was via mobile phone. He’d said nothing about the footage Moziz had shown him and the others, or the plan to kidnap the alien. Not yet.

“Yes, I think things are going to get weirder, too,” he said. “That’s why I don’t want you on the streets.”

“Bar Beach is closed anyway,” she shrugged. “My regular guys won’t even know where to find me.”

The executive members of the Black Nexus, Rome and Seven, stood up when Jacobs and his sister entered the empty classroom. Rome was immaculate, as always. Tall, lean and as statuesque as a runway model, he wore dark blue skinny jeans and a loose white blouse. His tiny gold hoop earrings perfectly accented his closely cut hair. Even without make-up, he passed as a beautiful woman. Though he never outright said he was one, most people on campus just assumed. Seven was only an inch shorter than Rome. She had the curves of Osun the Yoruba goddess, a shiny bald head, and eyes so expressive she barely had to speak.

The two were the presidents of one of the only LGBT student organizations in Nigeria, the Black Nexus. Though most of its members were out or semi-out, the group still only met secretly once a month, in the dead of night. This was not one of those meetings. It was the afternoon and this meeting’s purpose was more specific.

“Hi there,” Rome said, giving them each a hug.

“It’s good to see you,” Seven added, her voice low and husky. The hug she gave Fisayo lasted much longer than the one she gave Jacobs. Fisayo shyly stepped back. She was in no way attracted to women, yet Seven always made her want to giggle like a schoolgirl.

Seven didn’t have to invite Jacobs and Fisayo to have a seat. They could read it in her eyes. Seven and Rome sat on desks across from them.

“OK, man, what’s so important that you dragged us out when Lagos is on lockdown?” Seven said, leaning forward. Her eyes added, And it better be a good reason .

“It’s a good reason,” Jacobs said, bringing out his mobile phone. “Come close. It’s better if we all see it at the same time.”

Jacobs had a nice phone, so the footage was even clearer than it had been on Moziz’ cheap disposable one. Jacobs had watched it at least fifty times and it still blew his mind. She was a young woman, then she seemed to turn inside herself to become a smoky, metallic-looking cloud, then she turned inside out again to become a completely different woman who was old and bent. She’d even spoken with an ancient sounding voice. And Jacobs knew the man the shape-shifting thing was talking to; he was the bishop of his mother’s diocese. His mother had gotten Jacobs to attend service with her once, three years earlier.

That day, Father Oke happened to be giving a sermon on the “evils and filth of homosexuality”. Jacobs had had to sit there beside his mother in his suit and tie, itchy and miserable with embarrassment and sweat as the bishop equated homosexual activity with bestiality. Afterwards, the bishop had come up to him and said that Jacobs’ mother had told him all about Jacobs’… habits. Jacobs experienced a moment of complete panic.

He had seen Father Oke slapping the hell out of those he disapproved of and calling them “the foulest devil ”. And when the bishop slapped, he slapped you hard. The receivers of the front or back of his hand were usually women but, once in a while, he slapped a man, too. Jacobs knew that if the bishop “slap delivered” him, he’d punch the bishop in the face. But he also knew that, if he did, the bishop would never forgive him; he would out Jacobs and run him out of the city, or worse.

To his relief, the bishop only shook his hand and congratulated Jacobs for taking the first step toward “healing his soul in the name of Jesus”. But Jacobs felt so humiliated that he couldn’t bring himself to tell the bishop (or his mother) that he wasn’t gay at all. He just liked wearing women’s clothes.

He loved the colors, the feel, the material, the creativity, and, oooh, the fit. A year later, he joined the Black Nexus because they were the only people who accepted his ways. If anyone needed the help of the Lord, it was his sister Fisayo, who was too smart and sweet to be out hustling her body.

“Whaaaat?” Rome whispered, bringing his face close to the high-definition images on Jacobs’ mobile phone.

“Play it again,” Seven said, grinning. “Is this for real? Even if it’s not, that’s a person changing into another person! Would’ve been better if it changed from a woman to a man but this will do. We could have some fun sending this around.”

Fisayo was quiet, biting her nails.

Jacobs replayed it. “My boy Moziz got this from his girlfriend Philo,” he said. “It’s real. No Photoshop or anything.” He turned off his phone. “Philo says that this woman… man… whatever is an alien who is at the house of the people she works for.” He thought about mentioning the kidnapping plan but held off. He needed to get out of his parents’ house and he needed money for tuition when the university reopened. Kidnapping an alien would solve all of that. Yet…

“Hey! We should go see her. Get her on our side,” Rome said. “The Black Nexus can come out of secrecy for this . Who better to understand than a shape-shifter?”

“My exact thought!” Seven agreed, breathless with excitement. “This is what we’ve been waiting for, o.”

Fisayo raised an index finger and frowned. “Wait… wait just a minute,” she whispered. “Last night, I saw…” She looked at Jacobs. “Did you tell them?”

Jacobs shook his head. “Thought it would be better if you did.”

Fisayo got up. “I was on the beach talking to a guy when I heard the loud booming noise.”

“The one they are all talking about on the news?” Rome asked. “You were there?”

Fisayo nodded. “Everyone was looking around, all scared. The guy I was with ran off to check his car. A lot of windows shattered from the noise.”

“That man left you alone?” Seven said, looking disgusted. “ Anuofia! ”

“He wasn’t gone for long,” Fisayo replied uncomfortably. “Anyway, before he returned, I was just standing there looking at the water. It looked… it was moving strangely. The waves had kind of lost their rhythm and the water was rising. I saw what I am sure was one of the creatures come out of the water! It looked like smoke at first, like smoke that bubbled out of the sea.” She paused, bothered by her own recollection. “Then it was a woman. That same woman in the video. She dove back in the water and seconds later I saw a huge wave go after these three people on the beach, one woman and two men, I think. I couldn’t see them that well. They ran, but the water…”

Fisayo frowned and pressed her lips together. When she spoke again, it was in a whisper. “There… there weren’t any other waves, just that one. It splashed over them and pulled back into the sea… with them. They were gone! Stolen. If you’re saying this woman-thing is an alien, then that must have been what took them! They’re taking people! Maybe eating them or something!” Tears squeezed from her eyes. “Like in that old American movie… I forget the name. When are aliens ever not evil?”

“ E.T. ?” Rome said.