Over dinner, Xander quickly learned that Afua was no ordinary woman. In fact, she was what Earthlings called a prophetess. She could tell past, present, and future events by the power of God. She was also the reason her father was not dead yet. Because of her extraordinary gift, Afua had been able to let Badru know when danger was coming.

“Have you been in a lot of danger?” Xander asked when Afua went to wash up the dinner dishes and let Nasiir back inside.

“Yes.” Badru nodded as he led his guest into the cozy living room. “Every since your parents died, I have been in life-threatening situations at least once a year. It used to be more when Elexander and Juna first died to the point that I was actually afraid to leave my house at times.”

“That must have been awful for you,” Xander said, sitting on a brown half-moon-shaped settee in the middle of the room. Badru sat on the beige one directly across from him.

“It was awful for all of us, my wife and daughter included. Over time it started to slack off. So much so that I began to let my guard down. But then when my wife Daisy suddenly died in that hit and run accident when she happened to be driving my car instead of her own, I realized that danger was just going to be a part of my life. I’ve been overly cautious ever since.”

“Could your daughter not sense danger near your wife?” Xander asked.

Badru’s voice lowered. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Yes, she could. But at the time, Afua was going through a rebellious stage. She was a teenager and she hated everything about being different from her peers. She tried so hard to fit in with the popular crowd.” Badru paused and took a calming breath. “When Afua had the vision of her mother being hit by a car, she was at a wild party. Although her conscious wouldn’t allow her not to call at all, she procrastinated. By the time she did call, her mother, my wife was dead.”

Xander nodded in understanding of many things. He understood Afua’s need to fit in with those around her. He also understood Badru’s grief at having lost someone very special to him. “I am sorry for your loss, Dr. Karson.”

Badru received his consolatory words with a nod. “I never blamed my daughter for her lapse in judgment. After all, I, too, have made mistakes in my life. Unfortunately, Afua blamed herself and still continues to do so even to this day. The only positive thing that came out of all this was the fact that my daughter finally embraced her calling. She stopped trying to fit in with any crowd and instead focused on living the life that God destined for her to have.”

“It is commendable that she was able to learn from her mistakes and become a better person. Perhaps she will allow herself to receive the forgiveness that the Creator has for her one day.”

“I pray so,” Badru replied quietly. 

Then Xander thought of something else. “Have any other associates of my birth parents met with accidents? I discovered that almost all of them are dead, but not all of the reports reveal how they met their ends.”

Badru nodded. “Yes, all of them died in freak accidents. For a while I thought the whole project had been cursed. That was until I used deductive reasoning and realized that not all of us were dying or experiencing deep despair. As a matter of fact, one individual in particular was excelling with each passing year.”

“Jay Horrell,” Xander supplied, coming to the same conclusion. “I detect that he is a very wicked man.”

“You detect right,” Afua said from behind them. She was standing near the dining room stairs with Nasiir at her side. They both seemed quite comfortable near each other, though they’d only just met today.

“Are you also prophetic?” Badru asked Xander. The young man did seem more perception than the average person.

Xander shook his head. “No, since I can not tell past or future events. However, I would describe myself as discerning since I am able to detect a living person’s essence, diseases in the body, and angelic beings.” He frowned and added, “I can also detect dark spirits at times, but I loathe seeing them.”

Afua laughed. “I loathe seeing them, too. Maybe one day you will let me show you how to make them leave with the Word of God.”

Xander smiled at her. “I would like that very much since I have not exercised myself in that technique yet.” He also would like to hear her laugh again since the very sound of it had brought joy to his heart. Yet Afua had other things to do in the back of the house. She’d only come into the living room to show Nasiir where the others were.

~~~ >< ~~~

After answering even more of Dr. Karson’s questions about his birth parents and about the research that had been preserved and made better by the Katanians, Xander asked his own share of questions. He wanted to know what had happened to his birth parents from Earth’s point of view, why Badru was blamed for it, and who could possibly be behind the wickedness that had transpired with the whole Nico-1 mission.

Halfway through their discussion, Afua returned to the living room. She had drinks for everyone, including a bowl of fresh spring water for Nasiir. Afterwards she had a seat in the brown recliner near the door and listened quietly to the lengthy discussion. When it was over, Afua took that moment to reveal a few things herself.

“Now that I’ve heard what you all have to say, let me share a few things that I heard in my spirit while you were talking.” When Afua was sure that she had their rapt attention she continued. “First of all, the person behind the whole Manning tragedy was Jay Horrell.”

“I don’t think any of us are surprised about that, baby girl,” Badru said. He and Xander had said as much during their discussion.

“Yes, but you may be surprised to learn that there were three evil plans swimming around in Jay’s heart the year the Mannings went to space. These plans were all tied to the Mannings’ mission. They were all rooted in jealousy and bitterness[ii],” Afua prefaced, before telling them exactly what those three plans were.

Plan 1 was to plant a smart virus in the spaceship’s computer system in order to kill the Mannings in space. If that plan had not worked and the Mannings had made it back to Earth safely, Plan 2 would have gone into affect.

“In Plan 2, Jay would have killed Juna and Xander in a mysterious hit and run accident, much like the one my mother was in,” Afua continued, despite the fact that her eyes were glistening with tears. “A grief-stricken Elexander would have slowly lost his mind, especially after Jay escaped justice for killing his wife and child. Becoming so engrossed with the past, he would have blamed the space program for his misfortune and eventually devised a way to destroy it and himself.”

“Do you know how?” the scientist within Badru had to ask.

Afua nodded. “Elexander would have done something ingenious to the satellite systems. Unfortunately, he would have miscalculated a few things in his deep despair. Things that would have triggered a horrific chain reaction on Earth and in space.”

Despite her captive audience, Afua had to pause long enough to blink away her tears and take a deep calming breath to regain full control of her emotions. They were trying to roam all over the place with this prophecy.

“When Elexander finally pressed the button to destroy all space centers, including the one he hijacked, and every satellite ever made on Earth, satellites both near and far would gone haywire, too. This includes the satellites still hovering in the Andromeda Galaxy. Those satellites would have hurled towards nearby planets, dragging meteors of all shapes and sizes with them. Those meteors would have caused worldwide devastation to every planet they hit.”

“May the Creator be praised for revealing the deep and secret things!”[iii] Xander exclaimed, humbled by Afua’s spiritual insight. He also felt righteous indignation because there was no doubt in his mind that Katan and Hekima would have been affected by those meteors.

Nasiir deduced the same things as Xander. As a result, he was now pacing back and forth in the wide hallway on the west side of the living room.

“You mentioned three plans. What is the third one?” Badru prodded, feeling anger like never before. Now he was convinced that Jay had had his wife killed, possibly the rest of his former colleagues, as well.

“Plan 3 is the one that Jay is working on now. That plans includes him becoming president and eventually taking over the whole world. After that, he’s going to fund a more aggressive space program whose main goal is to take over other planets. If Jay is not stopped, him and his wicked associates will take over the planet we call Nico-1 first, enslaving its inhabitants. Then they will eventually make their way to the planet of the peace-loving people that raised Xander,” Afua concluded. Her essence was literally sparkling with brilliant light now as the long prophecy came to an end.

“I will go kill this Jay Horrell immediately. He will never put my people in captivity! Never!” said an angry voice that only one other person in the room recognized.