"‘Cordyceps is a genus of endoparasitoid fungus,’ she said, thinking aloud. ‘It targets insects…anthropods…’ She was talking very quickly now, pacing up and down. ‘Have you heard of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis? It’s a fungus that affects ants; they call it the zombie-ant fungus. This is crazy!’"
"Nigeria had become extremely attractive to investors from the year 2020. It was partly due to an attractive tax regime and the uninterrupted power supply that the nuclear plants provided. The tax laws limited the burden of double jeopardy of taxation and substantially reduced taxes for companies that agreed to establish headquarters in Nigeria. Since 2019, there had been literally no export duties charged on finished manufactured products. The country was admitted into BRICS, which in 2022 was changed to BRINCS to accommodate Nigeria. Young vibrant talent moved back home from their bases abroad. Dr Izima was one of them."
"Being offline from Orisis, my artificial intelligence mother governing Pinaa, the inhabited moon of Mahwé, means I am unable to find a solution or explanation for this scenario. I cycle through microseconds of data, yet even with a world of knowledge built into my system, along with a billion iterations of an action, I cannot find a reason for my abduction mere hours ago."
"When children in my region completed their schooling, they left to live and work at The Centre. Other children in other regions went to the ships to lay undersea cables. In the poorer regions, they went to work underground in the lithium mines. In some parts of the world, we were told there were Centres located underwater, and even some in outer space. But I couldn’t imagine my people living under the sea or up in the sky. We were people of the land, and our memory was in the soil."
"The campaign was slowly yielding fruits, with the whole village collectively involved in fighting the epidemic. Then, a company calling itself Pest and Germ Control Corporation came up with a new method. It had modified the genes of the anopheles and created a new species that does not carry malaria parasites. It called this breed Miss Doe. It asked the government for a trial site. A powerful politician influenced the Ministry of Health to choose Abedo. He thought the project would bring employment to his people, and thus increase his popularity. Genetic scientists from PGCC then camped in the area, and introduced Miss Doe. Their plan was to out populate and replace the naturals with the disease free bugs. A simple plan. A great plan."
‘"Apologies for disrupting your top twenty countdown.’ The DJ’s smooth, deep voice was more suited to dropping sweet nothings than issuing fake apologies. ‘Our friends at the Zambia Meteorological Centre have sent out an amber warning for an incoming dust storm. All areas of Lusaka are affected. That’s a dust storm, bantu banga. Stay in, stay safe."’
'She pulls a face. “Language and hidden histories matter. It’s from Kora, the tongue of the First People of the Cape, the now extinct Khoe. It means sweet water for all. The First Name for this place.”'
‘“Trees dey talk o,” she would say. “Dem dey talk about bad-bad things wey go happen for future.”’
Set in New Delta, a city rebuilt on drained swampland in former oilfields, the protagonist, Chioma, is expectant and is caught up in labor during a violent, unpredicted storm linked to bioengineered periwinkle grass.
The futuristic city becomes a utopian gaze, setting the stage for us to rethink and see urban planning as an intrinsic aspect of climate justice.