Chapter 4

In a few minutes, Luyanda spotted the off-ramp to the University of Azania City. He came off the highway and onto the main road. It led straight to the campus gates. The hover’s windscreen chimed and lit up.
“News and Navigation, Lu?”
“Yes, please, Msiza.”
“You are now driving past the main entrance of the UAC. To your left is the Plant Sciences building. The parking bays behind it are full, and I recommend going further up. You may meet a bit of localised congestion, but three spots are opening up about a hundred meters from here.”
“And the news?” Devon asked.
“UAC welcomes its first-year students for Orientation and Registration today. Also, the University Rugby League kicks off with a game between the UAC Knights and Rainbow State, at 3 p.m.”
“Oh, my goodness. We can’t miss that match.”
“There’s no use watching it, dear. You know the Knights always lose the opening game of the season.”
“It wasn’t like that back in my time.”
“Yes, it was. You just choose what to remember.”
“In my freshman year, we played in the finals.”
“But you still lost against Rainbow State.”
Msiza interrupted. “Devon H. Michaels. You have overdue books at the library. Due date: 12th February 2080. Total Fine: Eight hundred and thirty-seven afris.”
“What?” Devon gasped. “They kept my records for twenty years?”
Luyanda chuckled.
“Luyanda, let this be a lesson to you. Don’t be like your old man, okay?”
“Hey!” Devon twisted round to face her. “Who are you calling old?”
Maddie just looked out the window.
“But how did you manage to hang onto them, dad? Did you hack the system or something? Weren’t they returned automatically?”
“No,” Devon cleared his throat and squirmed in his seat. “They were hard copy books. There were still a few making the rounds back in my time. It wasn’t easy to take them out, but I managed somehow.”
“And that’s why libraries don’t let people take printed copies out anymore,” Maddie added. “You can thank your father for that.”
“They were collector’s items,” Devon mumbled.
“And you decided to collect them.”
“Hey, no one was going to read them. They’d gather dust and mould and get destroyed. At least I look after them.”
“And, where are they?”
Devon’s face went blank. Luyanda laughed.
“See what I mean,” Maddie sighed.
They found a parking bay at the spot where Msiza had said they would.
“Where do we go now?” Maddie asked, as they stepped out of the hover.
“I guess we just follow the crowd,” Devon answered. “Come on.”

They made their way along a wide tree-lined avenue. As they walked past a banner, a hologram appeared in front of them. A young lady in jeans and a t-shirt beamed at them.
“Welcome to the UAC Orientation Day. Where would you like to go?”
“Where are the activities happening?” Maddie asked.
“Take the next left and keep going straight. You are almost there. Will that be all?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The hologram disappeared with a faint chime, and they kept walking down the path.
“These holograms are so invasive. Look at how they’re popping up in everyone’s way,” Maddie said.
Luyanda scanned the area. Sure enough, groups of visitors were being accosted every so often by the hologram assistants. He was however glad to see that he wasn’t the only one facing the embarrassment of being accompanied by his parents. Everywhere he looked, students just like him were making a determined effort to walk as far away from their parents as possible.
The avenue led onto wide, sweeping green lawns. Behind the greenery, a set of imposing columns reached high into the sky. This was the main building of the university. The plaza in front of it was chock full of holograms. As Luyanda stood there wondering where to go next, his PAD vibrated.
“Incoming call from Jabu.”
Luyanda flicked his wrist.
“What?” he asked, as a hologram of Jabu’s face popped up before him.
“Are you here yet?”
“Yeah.”
“You still with your parents?”
Luyanda cast one look at his parents. They were inside a tent with a banner above it saying “School of Tourism and Hospitality. Come and Try Our Free Samples.”
“I can shake them off,” he answered.
“Great. Hang on, I think I see you.”
Luyanda looked up. Jabu wasn’t difficult to spot. He was often the only albino in the throng. For the most part, he would wear colourful caps and trendy shirts. Luyanda sometimes wondered whether it was to protect himself from the sun, or to make a fashion statement. Most likely it was both. Apart from his dress sense, there was simply no mistaking Jabu’s tall, lanky figure in any crowd. At that moment, he was making a beeline towards Luyanda. He’d chosen to don a pair of dark glasses with circular gold rims and a Panama hat.
“Cool shades, bro.”
“Thanks man. Where are your folks?”
“Just over there,” Luyanda nodded at his parents. They were a few feet away, buying themselves some candy floss. Maddie waved at them. Jabu waved back. Luyanda turned around and pretended not to see her. “Let’s get out of here while they’re distracted,” he whispered.
“Have you already registered?”
Luyanda shook his head. “I’m not sure where to go.”
“Follow me.”

They wound their way through the crowds of people. In a few minutes, they found themselves off the lawns, and in a different part of the campus.
“This place is huge!” Luyanda’s eyes swept across the building that towered all around them. “Do you have any idea where you’re going?”
“Yeah,” Jabu replied. “I’m done with registration. I remember how to get there. It should be right around — ah, here we are.”
A brown face-brick building loomed up in front of them. Its style was typical of the previous century. The roof was sloping on both sides. The rows of windows on its facade gleamed in the afternoon sunshine.
“Looks old school,” Luyanda smirked.
“What else would you expect from the African History building?”
“I thought it would be bigger.”
“Wait till you get inside,” Jabu said, leading the way.
“Whoa!” Luyanda gushed in amazement as they stepped through the gigantic wooden doors.
It was as if they’d entered a different world altogether. They were in the middle of a wide, airy lobby. People milled about everywhere. A glass ceiling bathed the entire building in a warm stream of sunlight. Beside them, an escalator led to the second and third floors. Each floor had a corridor winding around it, lined with doors. At the far end of the lobby, a series of wall mounted projectors beamed a row of floating displays. Students stood at each one, dragging, pinching and tapping at the screens.
“That’s where you register and do your timetable,” Jabu said. “Come on.”
He led the way across the floor towards the displays. Students queued behind each one, waiting their turn.
Luyanda craned his neck around the room, searching for an empty spot. At the furthest display, he spotted only one student working. “Let’s go to that one,” he suggested.
They pushed their way across the queues, and squeezed in behind the bushy haired girl with large earrings, working away at the display. Judging by the number of blocks that she had neatly piled across the days of the week, Luyanda reckoned that she was almost done. Luyanda folded his arms, waiting patiently. A minute went by. Then another. And another. Jabu started tapping his foot. After ten interminable minutes, Luyanda had had it with watching the girl arrange and rearrange her modules. Jabu cleared his throat and started humming a tune.
“Do you mind?” The bushy haired girl spun around. “I’m trying to focus here.”
“How much longer will you be?” Luyanda snapped.
“Why don’t you use that other one over there?” She nodded across the hall, towards another workstation that had just opened up.
“Thanks,” Luyanda mumbled. He rushed across the floor to the display, getting there a second before another student who also had the same idea in mind.
“Did you see how many courses that girl was doing?” Jabu asked, joining Luyanda. “She must be doing like a double major or something.”
Luyanda shrugged. “I bet you she’s going to always be top of the class. I can already see it coming.”
“Is she going to be in our class?”
“Looks like it. I recognised her course titles. We may have just managed to piss off our first classmate.” Luyanda stuck his PAD out in front of the holographic screen display. There was a loud beep.
“Luyanda Michaels,” a computerised voice spoke. “Student number 837M64H. Welcome to your course timetable. You have five semester modules and one year module this semester. Please arrange them, making sure you leave enough time for your personal study and extra-mural activities.”
Luyanda’s modules showed up as coloured blocks on the holographic display. “You know, I really didn’t want to be here,” he mumbled. He swiped his subject blocks across the visual display of the weekdays. “How about leaving Mondays free?”
“No, leave Fridays free. That’s when all the partying starts.”
“You know how I feel about parties.”
“Your dad was right. You are way too much of a recluse. And people like you should be forced to go to physical lectures.”
“That’s the irony, isn’t it,” Luyanda said, stacking as many subjects as he could into the other days of the week and leaving Fridays as free as possible. “When I said, okay, I’ll attend physical lectures, but I want to move out and stay on campus, they were like, ‘No, we can’t afford it.’”
“I think you’ve got too many subjects on Monday. Move Precolonial to Wednesday. That’s when I also do it. We’d be in the same class.”
“Ah, okay.” Luyanda swiped across the display.
“And you also need to leave space for your science elective. Are you still going to do programming?”
“Yeah,” Luyanda muttered, swiping at the display. “I’m taking after my father. Which one did you go with?”
“Genetics.”
“Still trying to understand the mystery behind your freckles?”
“That’s got nothing to do with it. I’ve always told you,” he said, drawing himself to his full height. “I’m a scientist. It’s a calling. You mere mortals wouldn’t understand.”
“And my calling is to make some money and move out.”
The holographic display next to theirs opened up. A distinguished-looking man in a dark grey suit came up beside them. He couldn’t have been over fifty, judging from his features. But the streaks of grey on his shock of black hair made him look older. He gave them a friendly nod and a wave and tapped away at the holographic display next to theirs.
“I think you’re being ungrateful,” Jabu chided.
“I just want to be my own man, okay. And there’s the whole Ma Selina thing and—”
The old man beside them coughed and cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but did I hear you say you’re looking for a part-time job?”
“Yeah.” Luyanda spun around to face him. “Do you know where I can get one?”
“Yes, I do, actually,” the man replied. “Go up to the second floor and ask for the African History Museum. They’re looking for interns. Just tell them that Doctor Uru sent you.”
“Doctor Uru?”
The man nodded.
“Great. We’ll go up there as soon as we’re done here. Thanks.”
The man grinned at them, spun around and tramped off.
“That was a stroke of luck,” Jabu said moments later, as they turned their steps towards the escalator. “Just like that. It was that simple.”
Luyanda wasn’t so sure. The word the man had used still rang in his head. “Interns.” Interns usually weren’t paid. And if they weren’t paid, then why on earth was he going through with it? Still, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a look at the opportunity and discover what the finer details were. Perhaps it would lead to something else — something that involved a little bit of money at least.
At the top of the escalator, a pop-up hologram welcomed them to the UAC Museum of African History. It was teeming with people. Some were mounting displays. Others were labelling them. Still others were painting sections of the wall.
“You want to tell me all these people are interns?” Luyanda asked.
“Nope!” A cheerful voice interrupted them. They turned around to find a tall, slender girl with coffee-coloured skin coming up behind them. She was very attractive. She balanced a heavy box in her hands. “They’re just casual staff. They’ll be gone by the end of the week!”
Jabu’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Let me help you with that,” he offered, grabbing the box from the girl’s hands.
“Oh, thank you.”
“My name is Jabu,” he said, stepping in front of Luyanda. “But you can call me Jabz. Or Jay. Or whatever you want, actually.”
“Nice to meet you, Jabu. And who’s your friend?”
“Luyanda.” Luyanda stepped forward.
“Nice to meet you guys. I’m Amina.”
“Doctor someone sent us up here to apply for the internship,” Jabu gushed.
“Us?” Luyanda gasped. “When was it—ouch!”
Jabu elbowed him in the ribs.

“You mean Doctor Uru?”
“Yes, that was it,” Jabu answered, nodding vigorously.
“Great!” Amina beamed. “Welcome aboard!”
“Wait! Isn’t there an interview or something?” Luyanda asked. “And what’s the pay?”
“We don’t do interviews. And there’s no pay until much later.”
“So you make us work for free?”
“Till you prove your worth. Take it or leave it. There aren’t that many jobs going around nowadays.”
“We’ll take it!” Jabu said, his eyes gleaming as he gawked stupidly at the girl.
“Wait just a minute,” Luyanda said. “What are the employment terms? What are the hours like?”
“You’ll get your schedule once you start. You’ll see we’re quite flexible. The best thing is to dive right in and learn everything as you go along. You can quit if you’re unhappy. Most people do. It’s a simple job, but students nowadays seem to have other priorities, like partying and stuff.”
“We’ll stick it through,” Jabu said, standing with his chest out. “Don’t you worry about that.”
“Great,” Amina answered. “Are you busy right now?”
“No.”
“Then you can bring that box this way,” she said, nodding at the box she’d placed on the floor. Jabu picked it up with a satisfied grin. “Follow me,” she continued. “Since it’s three of you that missed the orientation this morning, I’ll give you guys a quick tour.”
“Three?” Luyanda asked. “Who’s the third?”
Amina nodded across the room, towards a display case on the far end of the room. There was no mistaking the short, bushy-haired girl with the large earrings peering at the ceremonial masks inside a tall display case. It was the girl from the registration holographic displays downstairs.

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