"Mr Fadeyemi?" Mr Aliko raised his eyebrows.
"Yes sir" Mr Adeyanju replied.
**The NPLC is also onto this?**
"That's interesting" Mr Aliko had a strange glint in his eyes.
**Well then, what are the results of your investigation?** One of the holographic figures inquired.
**Yeah, how do we get back the cube?**
"Well, for starters, we know that captain James lives with his wife and two daughters in the west region of the country" Mr Adeyanju cleared his throat before continuing.
**So? How does that help us?** One of the holographic figures spoke impatiently.
"Coincidentally, we came across a fortuitous anomaly" Mr Adeyanju stated.
"Captain James actually has three children, that is, a son and two daughters. We discovered that his first and only son has problems with him and packed his things out of the house a year ago and is currently living on his own"
**And so? Isn't that just normal family problems? I still don't see how that is going to help us**
"Are you talking about bringing his son on board as a chess piece?" Mr Aliko inquired.
"Something like that" Mr Adeyanju said.
**So what are you saying? We are gonna use his son as a Trojan horse to take him down from the inside?** One of the holographic figures inquired.
"Yes that's the plan but we still have to take something into consideration" Mr Adeyanju said.
"Take what into consideration?" Mr Aliko inquired.
"Well, Tisane James is a young boy of 21 years of age. He's still prone to eccentricity and youthful exorbitance" Mr Adeyanju massaged his forehead as he complained.
"You're talking about his flaws" Mr Aliko pointed out.
**That's not really an issue. He just needs to be tested** One of the holographic figures suggested.
**Yeah throw some challenges his way, just to see how much stamina he's got** Another holographic figure opined.
**And if he doesn't live up to expectations? If he fails?**
**Then toss him aside, never to be seen or heard of again. Moreover, he has siblings doesn't he? We can use them**
**What do you say Mr chairman?** One of the holographic figures threw his question at the quiet figure of Mr Aliko.
Seeing all attention was back on him, Mr Aliko directed his gaze to Mr Adeyanju.
"Mr Adeyanju, from this moment henceforth, let it be known that captain James and his family are all under the full surveillance and manipulation of this table. You are to use the resources at your disposal to make sure that we get our hands on the God-Tech cube"
Mr Aliko leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as his expression became much colder than a ghost.
"Don't fail me Mr Adeyanju"
Mr Adeyanju felt a deep sense of danger while staring at those eyes and listening to those words. Glancing around the table, he noticed the holographic figures glitching in reaction to the pressure released by Mr Aliko's immediate countenance.
**********************
Tisane stood in front of his apartment building and waved as the transport vehicle carrying his sisters drove into the distance.
'I wonder what the look on my parents' face would be when they hear what my sisters have to tell them about me' Tisane thought while smiling to himself.
'Especially my father' Tisane had the urge to go home and bask in the admiration that he would receive from his parents.
He couldn't wait to resume Monday morning as his first day at work. Though he was nervous, he was quite excited to work in a place such as the NPLC!
If it was a dream, then Tisane was praying hard never to wake up. Walking back into his apartment, Tisane's eyes glanced through his room as he held a determined expression in his eyes.
'Time to make some changes around here'
Starting from one section of the room, Tisane swept and sieved through his properties as he began to throw out anything that he felt was useless to him. Soon enough, he came across a metallic object which had a square like shape.
"What the heck is this?" Tisane stared at the object in surprise.
'I don't remember owning such an object ' Tisane proceeded to pick it up while staring at it curiously. The object was extremely smooth with a mirror like body.
While Tisane was moving his hands over the object's smooth surface, he felt a certain part of the object sink down slightly due to the pressure from his touch.
Then something so sudden and shocking happened. The entire object lit up in blue light. Tisane was dazed for a few seconds before throwing away the object in haste. But much to his surprise, the object froze in midair as it kept glowing with a gradually increasing blue light.
"What the---?!" Tisane was now beginning to freak out. The glowing object kept increasing it's intensity as the entire room was enveloped in blue light. Tisane's shock and fear was already reaching the climax as he watched the object's encompassing blue glow begin to pulsate rapidly.
~Wyum wyum wyum wyum~
After almost a minute of sci-fi freakishness, it was as if the object itself became a vortex as it sucked in the blinding blue light completely.
Tisane could already feel his legs losing strength, while his body perspired greatly. His eyes was fixated on the object which was still floating in midair and pulsating slowly with a bluish glow.
"This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream"
He closed his eyes tightly and muttered nervously, hoping to be only having a bad dream.
~Master~
~Master~
~We need you master~
"....!!" Tisane felt like there was something wrong with his ears. Was he hearing actual voices from the floating object?
~Master we need you~
"Heuk!!" Tisane collapsed in paralysing fear as he put his hands over his mouth.
'Ghosts!' He was about to have a mental breakdown. Tisane grew up in a country where superstitious beliefs were a part of daily living. In that sense, seeing a floating object which glowed and could utter strange ominous voices on its own was enough to cause an array of superstition.
And right now, Tisane's thoughts were in a mess. He had heard about people who had strange encounters with ghost like entities and what all this stories had in common, was that they never ended well for the said victims.
At this juncture, his survival instincts kicked in as he had only one thought in mind, to leave this place as quickly as possible!!
As he made his resolute decision, he began to rise up slowly while glancing at the door. In the few seconds of calm and quietness, when time seems frozen, when you are about to take an action due to your decision; Tisane found himself at that very spot. As for his action, it was swift as he sped towards the door.
Unfortunately for him, when he was about to reach the door the floating object moved in a flash and slammed into Tisane's moving figure.
Bam!!
The collision was enough to send Tisane flying backwards and crashing into the wall.
-----------------------------
Tisane slowly opened his eyes as he felt aching pains all over his body.
'Dammit' Tisane immediately noticed that his surroundings had somehow changed. What he saw around him were rocks. Both big and small rocks. In other words, his was in the midst of a rocky landscape.
Slowly standing up, Tisane could feel the popping sounds of his joints as he quickly supported his body on a short rocky up shoot.
'Where am I?' Tisane looked around his foreign environment.
'The last thing I remember is a flash of light and....and the floating box'
Tisane alertly glanced around him trying to look for the weird box. All he could see was rocks and more rocks. No box or blue light.
Looking up at the clouds, Tisane pondered at the strange looking clouds which were as if they were dyed with ink. Tisane glanced at his surroundings again as he was trying to make sense about what was going on.
He had read a lot of fantasy novels, sci-fi mangas and watched a lot of supernatural movies, but none of those ever prepared him for what he was experiencing now.
"Is there by any chance that I was abducted by aliens?" He wondered aloud.
"Or am I in the land of the dead?" The scary thought sent chills down his spine.
~Skrrr~
Hearing the strange sound, he froze. Turning his head slowly towards the source of the sound, from the corner of his left eye, he caught a glimpse of a monkey like animal, which was standing on the flat top of a protruding pillar of flat stone.
~Skrrr~
Tisane noticed how strange this animal was. With big oval black eyes, hairy face and rabbit ears. Was he looking at an actual alien? Tisane was still completely clueless as to what was going on and where he was, but he was also an open-minded guy.
He was still a bit freaked out but his mind was already quite settled, which was making him to develop a bit of curiosity towards his foreign environment.
Tisane took a few steps forward to have a clear view of the creature. As if sensing his curious intention, the monkey like creature also moved forward as it's big black eyes were staring at Tisane.