Challenge Twenty: Harbingrr

***Read up. There is a message here. It may seem a bit long, but believe me, there is a message***

Mastermind: Harbingrr

Domain:

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THE COMING OF THE END.

The world was coming to an end. And it wasn’t an apocalypse. It wasn’t The Rapture, nor was it an alien invasion. It wasn’t the Third World War, neither was it a cataclysmic disaster brought upon man by the forces of nature. It was none of these things. The end was impending, and the human race was becoming extinct.

The world was coming to an end because the people just bluntly refused to have sex. It was unheard of in the history of mankind that humans have refused to copulate. The desire for sexual intercourse vanished from the minds of men and women alike. Around the countries of the world, life went on, as old people died and there were no offspring to replace them. Generations upon generations ceased to exist, and the human DNA was quickly waning out. There were wars. Hunger and starvation was rife among the nations fighting them. The countries with fewer populations had already been condemned to nothing but masses of wastelands. The remaining living population among the fallen nations moved to other more populous countries which had the resources to cater for their remnants. They became refugees, and fought long and hard for whatever scraps they could find in their places of refuge.

The easier solution to the great problem that had befallen the world was for the human race to once against engage in the act of reproduction and fill the world once more with the fruits of their wombs. But that was an impossible act, for the human race was infected. An infection of the brain that killed every urge to engage in sexual activity of any nature. The lesser animals were not affected by this virus. Just their superiors were. And although they engaged in extensive research and spent a great deal of time and money in finding a cure for this virus, they could not succeed. Time was running out. The governments of the world were crumbling. How can you be a government, when there are no people for you to govern? Day by day, week by week, there were more deaths across the remnants of the world. The end was almost at hand. Adekunle could almost touch it as he stretched his right arm into the morning air.

It had been thirteen years since the outbreak of the virus. The year was 2026. Adekunle had been twelve years old when it had happened. He had not understood what was happening until he became fifteen and could understand everything the newscasters on AIT, NTA, Channels television and the Cable network news were saying about it. At first everyone had been confused, and wondered what was happening. Where did the virus originate from? Who created it? How did it spread around the world so fast? How could they control it? Was there a cure? When answers could not be provided for any of these questions, great panic erupted amongst mankind. The virus affected everybody, but nations suspected themselves, and then there were accusations and counter-accusations. And before long, the wars began. Nuclear wars. The weapons of mass destruction were unleashed upon humanity. Most nations all referred to it as the third world war, but Adekunle knew the wars would never have happened if there had not been an outbreak. The wars weren’t fought to gain political power or authority amongst nations. It was just plain paranoia that had caused this destruction. And now, even as many had died and been buried, there was none to replace them. Then when most of the drones, the droids and the guerrilla robots had all been destroyed and there were no capable minds to create new ones, the warring nations gave up finally, with Adekunle playing a huge part in the path to peace. He had appeared on TV many times, preaching the message of peace, and hope. Hope that one day, they would find a cure. And bring a stop to the impending doom.

Adekunle Gbadeyi stepped back inside the room, where the five presidents sat around a conference table and waited for him to reveal the purpose for which he had gathered them there. Adekunle looked at all of them, one after the other, looking into their eyes and trying to read their minds. He knew he didn’t have such powers, but it was worth a try. President Alfredov Grygynsky of Russia eventually grew tired of the wait and burst out in his usually gruesome manner

“Don’t just stand there, fool! Tell us what was so important that made you to bring us here.”

Adekunle smiled. Someone finally spoke up.

“Calm down, Grygynsky.” The Russian’s face revealed the shock of being referred to by his name instead of “Mr President” or “Your excellency”

“The world is at the brink of doom, Alfredov. Your former titles or political statuses hold as much meaning now as they would in the coming days that precede our extinction. So I suggest you pull your crappy self together and calm down” Adekunle said with scorn on his face.  Grygynsky remained quiet.

The five presidents in the room with him were the leaders of North America, the United Kingdoms with the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. They all had their eyes on him as he opened his mouth to speak.

“The origin of the virus has finally been traced” Adekunle said.

The five presidents reacted to the news in different manners. The most animated amongst them being Grygynsky, of course. One person who remained seated with his arms folded was President Barilaye Ogbemudia. Africa’s leader. He had been the first person Adekunle called when he had gotten the news, and it was he who suggested they have this meeting as soon as possible. Adekunle watched them as they threw their questions at him. They wanted know where the virus came from. Which country was it that should take the blame for this dark fate that had befallen mankind? Who should be held responsible? Who is it that we should nail to the cross? Adekunle watched them for a while longer, not speaking a word, until there was complete silence was more.

Then he spoke. “You have fought wars, and many have died. You have condemned many lands to nothing but toxic death-zones. You have quarrelled and argued among yourselves because you thought there was a traitor to humanity among yourselves. You have all been pathetic. Humanity nears its extinction sooner than it should have because of your stupid mistakes. But no, I am not here to dwell on your past misdeeds. I brought you here to reveal the origin of the virus that seeks to end us. We have searched and scored through the whole of the earth in the last thirteen years, and in our massive effort to find the origin of this pestilence so that we might crush it, we have found nothing.”

The presidents observed for a while him after he finished his speech.

“ARE YOU MAD?” screamed the UK/European leader. “You brought us here to tell us you found nothing?”

“Shut up, Charles and let him finish!” shot Ogbemudia at the Englishman.

Adekunle continued. “The origin of the virus is obviously not of this earth, as we have discovered from our non-findings. Gentlemen, we have strong belief that we may have been subtly attacked by forces beyond the realm of this world.”

The silence remained as the presidents let Adekunle’s last words sink into their troubled minds. When nobody offered to ask any questions or speak up their minds, he continued.

“ ‘How are we so sure that we have been attacked by extra-terrestrial forces?’ some of you may want to ask. We asked those questions ourselves. Then three days ago, our remaining team of cryptologists decrypted a peculiar message that was received along our satellite networks almost a year ago. Let us listen carefully to this recorded message. Adekunle clicked a button on the Mac-X computer that had sat quietly on the conference table all along. There was a lot of static at the beginning which went on for twenty seconds. Then just as the six men listened to the sounds emanating from the device, they heard these words…

“your race… your race is meaningless. We… have walked…amongst you…know your weaknesses… want your planet…but no army to fight… to invade…claim it. we…use your weaknesses….against you…watch you destroy yourselves….when your race….becomes extinct….. shall claim….your planet….”

The static went on for about a few seconds before it stopped. The room was in grave silence for a couple of minutes as the men realized the magnanimity of the situation.

“So what do we do, Kunle?” President Ogbemudia asked. The nations he led all put together made him the leader of the most populous nations among the presidents, and generally, their superior. But he never acted like that.

“We traced the source of the encrypted message, and have found nothing. They are watching us. They might even be amongst us. Waiting for the moment when we have become utterly defenceless before they strike. We have lost many men and many machines that could have helped us, and without new persons to replace the ones we have lost and more people dying every day from wars, hunger and starvation, we are truly hopeless.” Adekunle said, truly dismayed. His head bowed and looking at the table.

Barilaye Ogbemudia stood up from his seat, both hands in his side-pockets and walked till he stood beside Adekunle, and addressed the four seated presidents.

“Adekunle here has always spoken about peace, and hope. Hope that one day, we might find a cure to this virus. Hope that one day, we might hold our penises in our hands and massage it till we get erections. And that with those erections, we can penetrate our wives or mistresses or whatever women that hold importance to us. That our wives will find pleasure in accepting our penises into their vaginas with that same hope, and in the making of sweet, sweet love, we shall impregnate our wives. And hope that finally, after nine months or thereabout, we shall once more hear the cry of babies and children as they run and play around our feet. We must not let that hope die, Gentlemen. We must defend the remnants of humanity with whatever it shall take us to do so. We will not become extinct. NEVER!”

With that, there was much applause from the other men in the room, and great cheer and an almost tangible feeling in the air of the determination to survive.