Chapter Six

A sleek black carriage pulled up at Westminster alleyway, the door of the carriage opened and it's occupant, a gentleman step down into the cold English morning, he waved a dismissive hand towards the manservant hurrying to his aid.

His red jacket inlaid with polished brass buttons introduced him as an officer in the imperial army. He moved briskly up the stairs to the manor to the already opened door where he was ushered in by a tall smartly dressed butler.

"Lord Rawlings is expecting you captain." He said, The captain's grunted in reply and allowed himself to be led down the hallway towards the manor lord's study where a portly elderly man sat waiting.

"Captain luggard, please have a sit" he coughed over his pipe smoke as the young captain saluted. "My apologies for summoning you in such short notice my boy but i see the need to see you before you sail from our shores, I do hope you are looking forward to your assignment." Lord Rawlings said as he shooed away the butler.

"It is an honour to serve my king and country your grace." The captain replied.

"And I have no doubt that you'll excel, not a doubt at all." The older man paused to puff at his pipe before continuing. "I brought you here because of a matter of utmost importance which to me supercedes your primary assignment."

"With all due respect my lord what could be more important than the expansion of the British empire and stopping the French from annexing all of West Africa."

Lord Rawlings chuckled in reply, "captain how much did you know about my report to the house of lords on my return from exploration?"

"Not much your grace, some hocus-pocus and superstitions about some native idol." He smirk was cut short at the serious look on the older man's face.

"Hibbie jabber you say, I assure you captain my idiotic colleagues from the parliament may have turned a blind eye on the discovery from this so called institute but I tell you boy, the real power has been handed over to them, more valuable I say than the resources we derive from these colonies."

"I'm do believe my mission is to amalgamate the native tribes into a British colony my lord and not to meddle in the affairs of private trading companies."

"Bullocks my boy, where do you think the sudden rise in technological advancements come from, asides from the fact that these companies are meddling in affairs we know nothing about, they own no allegiance to the empire and may choose to offer trade partnership to the french. During my sojourn in Africa, I have seen shamans that healed near fatal wounds to call it shinanigans, mystics that defiles the very logic imbued on us by civilization, which I believe you will see for yourself as soon as you land, there are powers we know nothing about that could implode and swallow us all and it is in the hands of these companies." Lord Rawlings leaned back on his chair as if the long speech was draining as he stared at the bemused captain.

"What do you need from me."

"To be our eyes and ears down there, I know you may not believe everything I've said my boy but I implore you to look into it as soon as you get to these shores, see things for yourself and get back to me, our future depends on it."

Long after captain luggard left lord Rawling's manor, he believed the old man's head cooked from all the African sun during his tenure as governor of the west African colony.

"I had another dream today." Omotola said, her therapist simply grunted, not taking her eyes off the notes she was writing.

"Everybody has dreams dear, it's a normal phenomenon."

"I think they're are real, I think it has to to be events that are happening or has happened, it seems to be quite vivid, do you think it's my power manifesting? Maybe I guess."

"Hmmm." was all the woman said as she scribbled away. "present her to the labs for further testing, miss Katie, the doctor finally said, ignoring Omotola as if she wasn't there. "if there's any new changes with her metabolism, the results will see to it."

Omotola bristled and nearly told her about her other dream of the tortured man to see her reaction but wisely held her tongue, she remembered D-44, a 4th generation cyborg that was taken away to the labs and was never seen again for knowing too much.

People tends to disappear whenever they break doctor Mugabe's rules, the old head mid-wife for example, she was responsible for naming all the children, before that they were identified by numbers, by the time they began to answer to these names and nothing else, it was too late, she was gone by the end of the week.

A lab attendant who began to take a shine to Orchid was summoned before the doctors and poof he went. Only the full duty staff were allowed to talk to the children, not even all the workers in the institute knew they existed, after all they weren't the only things developed in the building, they were kept on the most restricted of floors. Once a wandering staff found their floor by mistake and saw the children eating in their mess hall in all their winged glory, she fled screaming like someone pocessed and of cos she went poof as well and was never seen again.