Chapter 29

Luyanda found Nomsa at the student centre, waiting for her study group members to arrive. He collapsed into the seat beside her and groaned.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

“I just went and made a fool of myself in front of the Dean.”

“What happened?”

Luyanda had hardly opened his mouth to respond when Gina came hurrying up.

“Hey, have you guys heard what happened to Uru?”

“Heard what about Uru?” Nomsa asked. Gina leaned in conspiratorially. “Apparently - and this is top secret - so everybody knows, but don’t tell anyone it came from me —” she paused dramatically.

“What?” Nomsa pressed. “What’s the news?”

“Hey guys,” Emeka came up and dropped into the empty seat beside them. “Have you heard that Uru’s up for a disciplinary?”

“Oh, come on Meks,” Gina said. “You stole my shine.”

“What?” Emeka asked defensively. “Everybody knows.” He caught the shocked expressions of Luyanda’s and Nomsa’s faces. “Wait. You mean you guys didn’t know?”

“They do now,” Gina answered. Imtiaz walked up to them. “Sorry I’m late, I stopped to get the latest on the Uru disciplinary.” Gina rolled her eyes.

“Hang on,” Nomsa said. “What I want to know is, how did this get out? Isn’t this stuff meant to be absolutely confidential— Hey, Lu? Where are you going?”

Luyanda sprinted out of the student centre without so much as a glance backwards. He ran straight to his department building, up the stairs and down the passage to Keita’s office. He paused at the door and knocked, gulping down mouthfuls of air.

“Come in.”

He found Keita trickling drops of water onto his pot plants. Soft classical music filled the room. Keita looked up over his glasses and smiled when he saw Luyanda’s puzzled face. “The music helps the plants to grow, or so they say. Whoever “they” is,” he added with a chuckle.

Luyanda closed the door behind him. “Have you heard?”

Keita raised an eyebrow. “Heard what?”

“About Uru’s disciplinary hearing.”

Keita leaned in closer into one of his plants and peered at its leaves.

“I trust I have,” he said. “After all, it was I that initiated the process.”

Luyanda dropped into a seat like a piece of lead.

“Why did you do that?”

“Why not? It had been bothering you for a while and we had agreed on twenty four hours, right?”

“But why didn’t you tell me this was your plan all along?”

“Because it wasn’t.” Keita answered. He sat down opposite Luyanda and gazed at him intently. Everything snapped into place for Luyanda in a sudden wave of realisation.

“It was you,” he exclaimed.

Keita frowned. “Yes, I initiated the process,” he said.

“I mean the evidence. It was you that stole the evidence - all the genetics tests records that I found and wanted to use to bring Uru down. It all disappeared last night. It was you behind it, wasn’t it?”

“Guilty as charged,” Keita replied. “I’m not going to deny it.”

“But why? Why would you do that?”

“So that I would have all the evidence I would need to initiate a disciplinary procedure against Uru. Isn’t it obvious?”

“And to stop me from doing it myself?”

Keita shrugged.

“You told me to leave it alone,” Luyanda continued, “and to stay away from the whole thing. Why would you then go ahead with it?”

“Because,” Keita replied, rising to his feet and crossing over to his geraniums, “I have far less to lose than you do. Trust me. I think I gave these too much water yesterday.” He picked up the flower pot of geraniums and placed them on the window sill. “Aah, that should do.”

“What makes you think I’ve got more to lose than you do.”

“For one thing, you’ve got more years of life ahead of you than I have.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Everything. You still have a long way to go on this journey before it ends.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Don’t I?” Keita levelled him with a stare. “Free will makes the future uncertain. In this case, however, your hot-headedness would tilt the scales of certainty towards Uru’s side.” He opened the window.

“I think they also need some fresh air. I’ll have to remember to move them in the afternoon,” he added, peeking at the sky.

“How did you steal the information? I thought the database was secure.”

“If hacking into a university database was simple for you, you can imagine how much easier it was for me to break into your personal files. I wouldn’t leave my keychain in my backpack anymore if I were you.” He shot a glance at Luyanda’s backpack. Luyanda stuck his hand inside, fished out his keychain and hung it around his neck.

“You gave me the idea,” Keita added, his eyes twinkling.

“Yes, I realise that now.”

There was a knock on the door. Luyanda and Keita exchanged a look.

“I think our time here is up,” Keita said. “Just remember one thing. Should you be called upon to speak at the hearing, do not mention your gifts. Or Nomsa’s. Or anyone else’s.”

“But would they want me to speak?”

“Yes, because you already mentioned Uru to the Dean.”

The knocking came again, more insistently this time.

“Come in,” Keita said.

Dean Musa stepped into the office. His eyes settled on Luyanda, then shot across to Keita.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” he asked.

“Nothing at all,” Keita said, closing his window. “We were just in the middle of a consultation. Which I think we’ve concluded, haven’t we, Mr. Michaels?”

Luyanda nodded and rose to his feet. “Thank you, sir,” he said, and headed towards the door.

“Just a minute, Mr. Michaels,” Dean Musa held up a finger.

“I don’t know if you know but we are about to initiate a disciplinary procedure against Dr. Uru?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Yes, but-” Dean Musa shot a worried glance at Keita.

“He didn’t tell me about it, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Luyanda remarked. “Some of the other students told me.” Musa shook his head, deflated. “You can’t keep anything secret nowadays. What’s the world coming to?”

“These things spread like wildfire,” Keita said, with a shrug. Musa seemed lost in his own thoughts for a moment. He recovered himself and cleared his throat. “Aah, yes. The hearing. I wanted to ask you, Michaels, whether you wouldn’t mind coming before the disciplinary panel and answering some questions?”

Luyanda was stumped. He shot a look at Keita. Keita averted his gaze. “Er- sure, Dean. No problem. When were you thinking of—,”

“Tomorrow morning, half past eight.”

“So soon?”

“Yes. It’s better to get these kinds of things over and done with as soon as possible. I hope I won’t have to subpoena you?” he added with a nervous giggle.

“No,” Luyanda shook his head, “You won’t. May I be excused?”

“Yes, yes of course. Thank you. Remember, half past eight tomorrow. Sixth floor of the admin block, in the boardroom. I’ll send you the address.”

“Thank you, sir. I will see you there. Do I need to prepare anything?”

“No, nothing at all. Just show up.”

Luyanda nodded and stepped out the door. He hardly noticed the people walking past him as he made his way to the next class. How did Keita know that Luyanda was going to be called in as a witness? Had he orchestrated it? And why didn’t he want him to mention any of their powers? His stomach churned at the prospect of sitting before a panel of stern, be-spectacled professors. He started to realise how unprepared he was for the whole thing, and how poorly he had thought things through earlier. A wave of gratitude swept over him. Keita had shouldered a load which he would have undoubtedly been unable to take.