You're looking so queasy. You've never travelled through a computer before?

Really? You haven't? Wow, I never would have guessed.

What's your name? Oludele? What type of name is that?

Don't act so offended, I'm just playing with you.

What's my name? Oh, my name is Nimisha.

Hian, why are you laughing so hard like that? If there's anyone that should be laughing, it's me. Why would a person be named Oludele? It's so... 2000!
Nimisha is actually a popular name around here.

Where's here? Oh, I thought I already briefed you. We're in the future.

You know, for someone who has such a serious face you sure laugh a lot. Also, there's spinach in your teeth. Don't look so embarrassed sis, we've all been there. It seems like a stubborn piece of shit though, all that computer travelling and it's still stuck there.

I see you're trying to change the subject but okay. Why don't you believe you're in the future? I mean, you passed through a computer for goodness sakes. How do you think that happened?

Magic tricks? What? You've got to be kidding me. You believe in magic but not the fact that you might be in the future?

Anyway, can we please focus on the matter at hand?

What is the matter at hand? Okay! I'm going to explain some things to you and when you go back to your time, you are going to stop a war.

Yes, a war.

What war? A war between the government and gay people.

Are you seriously laughing right now? What's funny? This is a serious thing!

It doesn't seem serious to you? You must be mad. Don't act so shocked. You must be, to be honest.

I should send you back home? Why? You haven't even helped The Prides yet.

What are The Prides? More like who are The Prides. We are people. Gays, lesbians, transgenders, name it, we are The Prides.

LGBT? Yeah, that was what we used to be called in the early 2000s, we changed it in the year 2100 or thereabout.

Why are you screaming for fuck's sakes?

Because I said year 2100? Ha! Is that what's so shocking to you?

Wait, wait... What year do you think we're in?

2021? Sis, that's your year, the year I pulled you from. We're in the year 2300.

Now, I just feel like you're using your laugh to mask the fact that you know, deep down inside of you, that I'm right.

Come, come stand next to me, let's look outside the window together.

Okay! You see those people going inside those glass tubes? Watch them very closely.

Haha! Yes! No, no. They did not disappear, they teleported. Those glass tubes are called teleporters.

Yes nau, we're still in Nigeria. Now, look to the left. You see the houses floating on air and the stairs leading up to them? You do ask a lot of stupid question o. Of course they are real! Are you not seeing it with your two eyes? They are real.

You see the flying taxis? You see the Ankara-clad women floating up to them? They are standing on an invisible board called the Anti-grav. It's everywhere now, you know.

Where are the women going? Oh, isn't it obvious? They are going to an owanbe party. Some things never change.

They are many things that have changed though, especially in Lagos.

For example, there are now teleholograms, those things you call telephones are now things of the past. You press a button and boom, the hologram of the person you want to talk to is right in front of you.

Invasion of privacy? No, no. It depends on whether the person allows it or not. See, I don't know how to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand.

Now, do you believe that you're in the future?

You do? Took you long enough. Now, let's go to my office.

Where is my office? Oh, it's upstairs. Stairs? Stairs are old-fashioned. Just sit on the chair. Don't slouch! Sit up straight! Do you want to fall? How will you fall? Haha! You'll see.

Don't scream, do not scream. The chair is perfectly safe. It's floating? Well, if you haven't already noticed, everything does around here. Now, sit tight. We're about to land.

Now, no need to look like that. We're not going to float anymore, at least not for a while. What? Right now we're going down to business. What business? You'll see.

Oludele Raymond. You own a paper, am I correct? It's called The Observer? You are also a prophet, you own a church? How do I know? Oh, I've done my research on you and your obituary kinda covered everything.

Yes! You died! You don't expect to still be living till the year 2300, do you? You were only 33 years old in 2021? How does that even matter? When do you die? I can't tell you that, it's against the unwritten rules. How do you die? See, I don't know. I do but I don't want to tell you. Can we please get down to business?

What business? Ehn ehn! I am glad you asked, finally. You write for your paper, I heard. I also heard that you write nothing but the truth, am I right? You do? Hmm, they all say that.

Anyway, I need you to warn Nigerians, the Nigerians in your time. About? Many things! Many, many things! They probably won't listen but you have to do your best, Oludele.

What do I want to warn you about? Well, I can't warn you about everything but I have to do the little I can. Let me start from the beginning.

                                  ~°~°~°~

In 2025, there was a war between two neighbouring countries abroad. The countries that fought were Belarus and Russia. Why did they fight? It was not said.
Jealousy? Show of power? We don't know. No one knows why all these things happen, to be honest.

Anyways, one thing led to another and World War Three happened. Yes, yes. It was horrible. Billions of people ended up dead. Nigerians flew back home from America, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and a whole lot of other places.

Was Nigeria affected? Well, no bombs were thrown at us, but we were affected. Not during the years the war went on but immediately after it ended. Wait, let me explain.

In 2032, about three months after the war had ended, the United States of America begun a research called 'Super Human Research Programme'. Pretty stupid, I know, but that was what they called it.
They thought of giving humans super powers so we could be ready if World War Four ever happened. Yes, super powers.

They urged for volunteers from all over the world. Even Africans! Some South Africans went, plenty Zimbabweans, Togolese, you name it! I guess the Nigerian President did not want to feel left out so they sent some "willing volunteers."

Yes, of course I'm being sarcastic! Nobody was willing, they were forced. They just took people! They raided clubs, churches, fuel queues, etcetera, etcetera. If you were outside by 11pm, boom, you were taken. It was horrible but it was what you would have expected in a country like this. You even wrote about it. Hmm-mm. You did.

Anyways, people were sent to the USA to be researched and tested on and that was when the real trouble started.

When the volunteers came back, about seven thousand of them, everything just took a turn for the worse.

The new Super Humans were stigmatized by their families, their friends, society, even the government, the same government that had sent them abroad to be researched upon. Everyone felt threatened. Imagine the people you knew before coming back with claws and two heads and legs so long that you could not have helped but wonder where they began and where they ended. They came back with powers they could not control. Everyone was confused as hell.

Some of them would get angry and then there would be a heavy downpour of rain, another would shed a few tears and the earth would shake. Nigerians were overwhelmed. To them, those people were not Super Humans, they were witches, amosu, obanje, whatever. They could not live with them and eat in the same restaurants as them, they could not act like everything was normal. It could not work out that way.

You even said so in one of your articles. You hated the Super Humans, loathed them. You said they destroyed things. What was that? It doesn't sound like something you'd say? Well, you did.

Not long after, a war started. A civil war, if you will. A war between Nigerians, Super Humans and humans. It was a bit comical to read about, now that I think about it.
Humans wanted the Super Humans gone, the Super Humans wanted a safe haven so that they could be protected. The government and media sided with the humans. And then, you could guess the rest from there.

                                   ~°~°~°~

What happened to the Super Humans? They got killed. Poof! Most of them wiped out from the face of the Earth, just with the snap of fingers or should I say with guns and bombs? Soldiers raided their houses, clubs, you know, the same things they had done when they needed people to send. They were jammed up into a van and the ones that were taken were never heard from again.

What did you say? What about the Americans that had done those things to them? What did they do? What could they do? They did nothing, nada. They just watched us as we killed ourselves, laughing over coffee at the barbarians.

They had the same problems too though. The problem of stigmatization of the Super Humans but they handled it better. They built safe houses for the Super Humans and they reproduced and... well, they multiplied, I guess. Now, if you go to America, your waitress may have four eyes and there'd be nothing you could do about it.
No, no, I'm not being spiteful, I am just telling you.

Did all the Nigerian Super Humans die?

Hmm, I would like to think not. I think a few of them escaped because I still see some of them around, you know, the descendants. Their only saving grace is that their 'super humanness' is not physical. That means that they don't have eight legs or twenty fingers, instead they have powers of mind and weather manipulation, telekinesis, and whatnot.

Hm? Of course we feel threatened! We'd be stupid not to. Many of them are criminals, I mean, that was why you hated them so much. Some of them are killers, theives, terrorists, name it.

Why? Oludele, it is because they are only human. They are bound to get corrupted by that kind of power. The only person that should have those type of powers is God. Good! I'm glad you agree with me.

Well, enough about the Super Humans. Let's move on.

                                     ~°~°~°~

In 2297, Nigerians went mad!

Sure a lot of things happened between 2039, after the Super Humans saga, and 2297 but we don't have time to get into those things right now.  It's a lot! From the diseases that killed only black people, to the tribal killings, the kidnap of the president and governors of each state, the hanging of the first non-binary people in Nigeria, the drugs that turn you white, very expensive might I add, and then the first black woman to lead a Super Human revolution in Congo. There is not enough time! So I have to tell you the important ones or the ones that I think is important. Do you understand? Thank God.

The year 2297 was horrible! The Prides, people you call LGBT, decided to come out publicly in 2297. You know, all the gays, transgenders, you know, carrying banners on the road and speaking on national television. Yes, in Nigeria.

Yeah, I know. You were very critical of them in your time. I've read your articles you know, like I've said a million times now. You called us unspeakable names, why? Your beliefs? Oludele, you're not God, and also we are humans first, you need to remember that when you go back because we need you on our side. Okay? Good.

So in 2297, when people decided to elect robots as the presidents, governors, and into the entire body of the house of Representatives, it did not seem like a bad idea.

Yes, robots! No need to scream. You scream a lot for such a tiny person. It's okay, it's okay.

Robots... We were tired of men ruling us. They were all corrupt, even the females that came into power later. All of them, corrupt!
We, all the Nigerians, thought that it was because they were of flesh, because they were bound to be corrupted. It's in the Bible y'know. Yes it is. Are you not a pastor? Then why are you arguing with me?

So, anyways, after all the protests and bad thinking on our, the civilians, part, we  elected robots into our leadership spots. I know, I know, we were stupid. We did not think, we did not stop to think for a second, Oludele. If we had, we would have realized that robots were only that... robots. We would have realized that they would have glitches sometimes and let's not forget that someone was controlling them, humans. We did not think about how it would affect us, The Prides.

Let me backtrack for you, okay? When The Prides had come out of the closet in 2296, someone had suggested that we get matching tattoos, not exactly tattoos, more like a brand, something that could not even be removed even by those latest laser surgeries that they have now, something that would distinguish us. Another bad idea but at the time, it had seemed perfect.

Did I get the brand? Of course I did. We all did. Do you want to see? Here it is. Just right above my left breast. Is that blush? You're blushing? You've never seen the top of a woman's breast before? You're funny.

Anyway, trouble hit the fan when men... when men started acting like men. When we came out of the closet and nothing happened, women started leaving their husbands, their boyfriends, you get the memo.

They claimed that since they were out of the closet they could not keep up the pretence that they were in love with penises. No! The women wanted vaginas, and they were free to want vaginas. They could go on dates with women publicly, they could get married to women publicly. Men kissed men in restaurants, transgender women or men could use the restrooms of their choice and the screams of the 'real' women or men telling them to get out were damned to hell.

But nothing wounded men's maleness more than the fact that some women no longer wanted them. They could have focused on the 67% of women that still liked men but no, never! They could not do that, especially the men who had been married to some of the closeted women. They could handle the fact that their wives were seeing men in private, even leaving them for men but when their wives left them for women, their egos were hurt, destroyed. The ultimate insult to the fragile thing called manhood.

So the men controlling the robots set them on us. They set the robots on The Prides and it was so easy because of the brand, they just programmed them to destroy anything that had the brand on it. Thousands of us were killed, even people who were not part of The Prides. Millons killed for nothing. But that's what happens during a war, am I right?

~°~°~°~

That's it. Everywhere you turn, there's killing. Today may seem fairly calm but who knows what disastrous day it might turn out to be. Nobody is safe, nobody. I'm part of those fighting for The Prides, the fucking General of my squad and I'm supposed to be fearless but I'm not. In truth, everything scares me. This country, this world, it's something else Oludele. No, no, I'm not crying, I have something in my eyes.

You know, I lost my girlfriend to this war and it was all my fault. She did not want to get the fucking brand but I forced her to. I told her The Prides was something to be proud of. Ha! What a stupid joke.

Huh? Yeah, I suppose you're right. Perhaps even if she had not gotten the brand she would have been killed. I read about a boy on the news-tablet who had been crushed by a car that had tumbled down on him.

Yes, the car was thrown by a robot that had been looking for one of our members. They are really destructive. Once they get sight of the brand, they tear down houses just to get to that person. They even disintegrate people who stand in their way. Innocent people. We are all innocent, I know, but you know what I mean.

So Oludele, you have to warn Nigerians! Preach it in church, write about it in your paper, just do anything! I know you have famous pastors as friends, tell them you had a vision or something, that you died for a few minutes and Jesus told you, just tell them anything.

Yes, no one will believe you at first but you must not give up. Once you get home, preach or write about the war first. Once people see that it actually happens, they will take you more seriously. You hear?

Warn them not to go to America for that God damned research! Tell The Prides not to come out of the closet! Warn them not to elect robots! Do your best Oludele, we are counting on you.

You die? Oh, yes, I forgot. Find someone you trust, someone who won't call you crazy when you tell them about this. Someone young, someone that you can trust with your paper when you die. You are a smart woman Oludele, act like it.

It's amazing that we talked, or rather I talked and you listened. You're on our side, Oludele, remember that and God be with you.

Stand near that tube, I will press enter and you will be teleported back home, back to the front of your computer, back to the exact time that I had pulled you in. How? I don't know. I don't make the rules.

Huh? What about me? What will I do?

I will fight, Oludele, I'll fight.