THE FOURTH FUTURE

THE FOURTH FUTURE

Kola kept running and wouldn’t stop until he got exhausted; he turned and saw that Chris and Ben were right behind him, almost outrunning him. “We’ve been friends for a long time and have become the best teammates, we should never really outrun anyone”, said a female voice from behind.

This sounded really funny and gasping heavily, they filled the echo from the woods with their heavy laughter in different tones and pitches. They had no idea of what would happen the next minute but they believed in the friendship they shared and hoped that someday, sooner or later, those around them would begin to appreciate their gifts.

Chris, Ben, Kola and Tyra had been friends since high school; they all lived in different neighbourhood but school brought them together and for some reasons, they had a bond that they couldn’t really explain. Kola had the greatest influence on them because he was believed to be the one who always stood out and broke school rules. He believed that life was more practical than what was written in the books.

Ben on the other hand loved to study and research. He believed so much in the works of Thomas Edison and hoped that someday, he would gift the world with his imaginations that would come true. However, he was lost in the books and failed at practical. He was too scared to believe in himself and for this reason; he looked up to Kola, who seemed to have all the inner power for bringing thoughts to reality.

Chris is a lover of adventure, he loved photography and documentaries and believed he will have an amazing documentary someday, that the whole world would watch and never forget. Tyra was the only female amongst them; from a broken home, she lost her mother at 8, who died of a car crash because she was heavily on drugs. For this reason, Tyra had to live in and out of charity homes just to get by. She placed so much value on the friendship she had with the boys because she found meaning and loved herself more whenever she was with them. 

According to her three friends, Tyra had the ability to see things from the future, which she didn’t take seriously. At some points, she got kicked out from charity homes because she saw something that would happen, told everyone and they took it as a joke until it eventually happened. They believed she had some destructive magical powers.

They went by the name: THE FOURTH FUTURE and after high school, they decided to do something special for the world, after their class teacher had told them they would amount to nothing; because Chris, Tyra and Kola had failed their algebra test for the third time. They were teenagers, they believed in themselves and their abilities put together. They shared a strong sense of belongingness and connection.

Few days earlier, they had gone on an adventure to the woods as one of them discovered a cave and felt they should all explore. This was what brought about an explosion from an unknown source and they all put to flight. Being undeterred, they set on another adventure but this time, they wanted to make history, so they prepared greatly for this adventure…

“Everything looks all cleaned up here, it’s really going to be a blast by the time we are done, everyone will know about the forth future”. This was Kola, sounding all excited as they were almost getting to the completion of their laboratory. They called it THE LAB OF THE FOURTH FUTURE.

“It is not completed yet, it needs a touch of feminine beauty”, said Tyra excitedly. “Plus the mirror of the fourth future, with which to see the world”, said Chris. At this, they all laughed happily. It was getting late but they didn’t care, “all we have is each other”, they all chorused. With this, they all fell asleep on the old couch in the laboratory.

Early the next morning, they were awoken by the chirping of birds and the crowing of cocks. They spent a part of the night drawing their plan, on how they would launch their big discovery to the world. What was their project? What did they want to give to the world? They wanted to combine their abilities and create a robotic and automated system of doing things. Their goal was that humans needed not to work anymore to the point of exhaustion.

Everything would be automated and robots would do the work while humans would be in total control. Tyra designed the structure of the robots on a big canvas – male and female robots alike. Ben set out to get all the necessary codes, knowledge and information which would be installed into the robots to enable them function maximally. Chris was to work on a major event that would bring about the exhibition and launch of these robots, while Kola majored on getting the equipment necessary for the project.

Mornings and nights had passed, and four years after, they lived in the laboratory, separated from the rest of the world. They gave themselves wholly into their research and they believed strongly that they had each other and that was all they needed. They believed that THE FORTH FUTURE was worth waiting for; it was worth looking forward to.

It was seven weeks to the launch/exhibition of the robots and they wanted to partner with the prominent institutions to sponsor the projects; they had sent several mails to some institutions that were selected. Unknowingly to them, a group of other people had discovered their laboratory and were trying to break through and steal their research. They however could not succeed because Tyra had seen all their moves.

It was the day of the launch, the day they had spent six years and seven months waiting for. The four amazing friends had received some invitations from the institutions they applied to and had some interviews. Some people even came as far as visiting their labs. It was time to reveal the robots of the Fourth Future. Their class teacher, Miss Nkem who once told them they would amount to nothing, was in the event. She was now married and had two children.

Alas! It was a successful launch, people now saw and believed in the Fourth Future and the four friends had the chance to start a whole life because they received grants and opportunities from prominent companies. Tyra became a robotic designer with AEROPELS, a reputable Robotics Company. She eventually fell in love with Ben, who helped a great deal with the paper work required for the entire project. They planned to have a destination wedding. 

Chris was one of the major photographers of the event and he equally displayed some of his unique shots and documentaries of the project. He got a huge contract with a media house. Kola continued running the lab, which was now a tourist centre and he had other employees, to help take care of things around the lab. Indeed, the fourth future gave the four friends a future.