RB Chapter 44 Black Diamond Group
A somewhat large cavern had entered the boy's eyes. Bright light from its ceiling suggested the use of electric lights. The lights somehow mimicked the light of the sun. Right now it was as bright as midday.
At the sides of the road, a few weird plants, if you could even manage to figure that out, were growing.
A few were walking among them and picking out a few things from them.
The boys were curious about it but they were scared of asking Baguma. He looked to be deep in thought as the car sped along.
It looked like this entire field of plants was surrounding a building which looked like a warehouse in the middle. It was colored green and a logo was emblazoned on it. The logo was not familiar to the two boys and it didn't resemble any of the ten clan's logos.
It was in the form of a diamond, but black! The same color as the strange plants.
The car stopped in front of the building in a designated parking lot. There were other cars and even cargo trucks.
Baguma and the two boys headed towards the two massive doors of the building. There were no stairs and the marks left in front indicated that even cars could enter the massive building.
A green beam scanned them and the doors opened with a creak.
Security was tight making Eric come to the conclusion that this facility was important. But then it led to more questions.
Who was the owner? Who were the beneficiaries? What was produced here?
Those questions plagued Eric as he followed the two into the building.
What welcomed them was a massive space with the path they were currently on separating the massive space into two sides.
There were a bunch of equipment which the boys knew nothing of, running. Some had technicians in white clothing managing them while others didn't have. Some people were loading boxes onto a truck. The boxes had the black diamond logo on them too.
"This is one of Black Diamond group's subsidiaries. It produces carbon nano strings from crude oil." Baguma's voice cane from in front of the boys. He was explaining without turning around.
"The plants outside are genetically engineered to take in crude oil as nutrients and then produce pure carbon by way of flowering and growing fruits." He continued before stopping.
"Who owns the Diamond Group?" Eric boldly asked the question.
"The ten clan leaders are the owners. All of us have a 10% stake in the group." He explained calmly.
'It looks like I have been underestimating the ten clans.' Eric gave birth to such a thought.
"Diamond Group is a secret, but we have our hand in almost every product in Kampala city."
"Almost?" Eric queried. Unlike Elec, he was curious about things. Knowledge is power! Elec was simply curiously looking at the various equipment without a care of the ongoing conversation.
"There is someone who competes with us! It must be Elder Muti!" He was very certain when he uttered that name.
'It looks like that pioneer guy isn't simple!' They didn't drag their feet even as they held such a conversation. They were heading along the middle towards somewhere unknown.
"Is elder Muti truly a pioneer?" Eric asked. It was one of the questions he wanted answers to. Since Baguma was in a chatty mood, there was no better time to ask.
"He's just lucky. He came upon something revolutionary and claimed to be the one who discovered it...anyway that is just the conjecture we came upon. But his reputation has grown, so refuting it in front of the public won't damage him."
'Oh! And here I was admiring him.' Lamented Eric.
'This boy is better than my son, good thing I changed the plans for him.' Baguma thought as he turned his head a little and saw the actions of the two boys in the corner of his eye.
Eric was deep in thought mulling over something, but Elec was simply admiring the equipment. He might have even raced off to take a closer look if he didn't fear him.
"Eric, what do you think are the chances of that association winning if it clashes with us?" Baguma posed a question as he once again resumed looking at the front.
"I don't have all the information about the two parties, but, if we go by appearances, the ten clans would win-of course, that's theoretical." He added.
"Why would you reach such a conclusion?" Baguma asked.
"The general public and that association don't have the experience related to fighting. Even though the ten clans also lack experience on battles between humans, their slaughtering spirit alone will cause the general public, who have been holed up in this city for decades, to collapse." Eric explained rationally.
"You are right!" Baguma nodded strongly.
"But elder Muti must be behind that association. That MAN must have made him come out from behind the curtains with his schenanigans." Baguma's teeth grinded as he remembered that Man!
"So, you are saying that he was part of the association from the start, but, put on a show of begging to join it?" Eric asked bewilderedly. The old coot was becoming someone terrifying in his young eyes!
"Yes! You should learn one thing, adults hide their true selves in front of others! Don't take what you see as the truth!" Baguma said sternly. He was like a teacher in Eric's eyes.
'Why is he talkative, could it be that even he is worried about that association and just wanted to talk to somebody about his worries?' Eric was puzzled.
"Father, how does the process of getting carbon nano tubes from crude oil work?" Elec gained courage upon listening to the two talk and asked.
"The plants you saw outside are called Fulumya. They look like short trees but they have a very long tap root, over ten times longer than the plants themselves. The root is the first thing which grows and digs until it reaches the crude oil. At first, it survives on water and the minute carbon and carbon compounds in the soil." He started patiently.
"After the root reaches the crude oil well, it produces a shoot which grows into what you saw outside. Those black little trees. After they take in crude oil, they produce two things. Sulphur and water as byproducts. Sulphur accumulates under their bark. The carbon is stored in the fruits they produce." Baguma continued earnestly.
The boys were paying attention. Even Elec who wasn't a fan of studying! Leaving Eric and Baguma to wonder about his motives.
"The carbon is brought into this place and fed into a 3D atom printer which prints the carbon atoms into various configurations including carbon nanofibres and tubes." He finished.
"Ohhhhh!" Elec was surprised.
'I bet I tricked them!' He was smirking in his mind.
They reached the end of the long building, and on the right side, a simple building appeared. It was white, the same color as the interior of this massive building.
The door was open and Baguma led the two boys inside.
The interior of the room was white contrasting with the black furniture.
Behind a black desk, sat a woman. She had black hair cascading down her back, two glistening brown pupils which had lit up upon rising from a document and catching sight of Baguma.
She was dressed in what looked like a doctor's overcoat.
"Baguma! It has been such a long time!" She almost squealed as she raced over to stand in front of him.
Eric stole a look at the tag at her chest. It read...
"Summer Njovu."
"Oh! She is from the Njovu clan!" Eric's mumbles appeared to have been heard as she focused her eyes onto him.
"So, you are that clone I have heard so much about!" She hugged Eric out of excitement causing a puzzled look to appear on his face.
'"I have always wanted to meet you! Would you be kind as to allow me to use your body for experiments?" She asked with glittering eyes.
"Hah...!" That was the only sound which managed to exit his mouth.
'Is this woman crazy!?' He moved backwards about ten steps and gazed upon her with a disgusted look on his face.
"Summer! Don't scare the boy!" Baguma berated. But he also had an exasperated look in his eyes. It looked like even he couldn't handle this woman.
'Who is she, that even Baguma, the eternally stoic man, can't handle!?' Eric wondered as he once again moved forward to stand at Baguma's side.
'How can she ignore me for a mere clone?' Elec was fuming in his mind. This woman saw the clone as more important than even him. Even after teasing Eric, she merely gave him a cursory glance! How could she! He was Elec, the son of the current clan leader of the Masanyalaze clan, while the other was just a disposable clone! Their statuses were in the difference between heaven and earth!
He put on the most polite smile he could as he regarded the woman.
TRIVIA
The Diamond Group; the one cooperation that can give Elder Muti's many partners a run for their money. But, for some reason, they don't have any subsidiary which handles grown foods!