Lei and Tyson were watching the night program in their rental house living room when Michael joined them from the corridor that led into the other rooms of the house.

Lei noticed the friend's manner as he sat on one of the couches in the living room, "That face on you doesn't look like your normal face."

Michael turned to him, "What does my normal face look like?"

"More of Mikey type of a face." Lei jested, turning to Tyson, "Are you seeing what I am seeing?"

"It's too open to be seen." Tyson quipped, "It is even shouting out to be seen. Definitely something up with him."

"You two you need to stop..." Michael began but suddenly stopped, sighing. His friends knew him best. They knew each other well. He couldn’t hide what was bothering him- a little incident, but one that cut through him like ice ever since it occurred to him and he thought about it. He spoke of it, as plainly as it seemed, "It's just something that persistently occurs in my mind and it is not that of a big deal."

"Which is?" Lei looked at him.

"Something not of a big deal." Michael simply said.

"We have already figured that part." Tyson as well looked at him, "So, what is it?"

Michael sighed, "Just the fact that I am finally going to meet with Symon at the university."

"That is what it is?" Tyson remarked, almost unpretentiously.

"And it is why I have said it is not a big deal." Michael looked at him.

"Don't worry. I also have the episodes." Lei said, "Thinking that I am going to meet with Lemarh makes me kind of... what you are feeling. But I calm myself with the thought of I am better than him. He will be the one to look up to me. Try that as well."

"Nice, you monkey." Michael gestured with a tad of a smile, "And I am going to say this only once, so feel free to feel good just this once from me. You are greater than he is. He might have all the money in the world and you might be broke as church mice from time to time, but you are the best teacher and motivator in the entire globe."

"Are you guys serious?" Tyson looked at them almost in surprise, one after the other.

"Easy for you to say." Michael snorted at him, "You are the only one of your kind. You are not going to meet anybody. Imagine meeting a version of yourself. Who is famous. And has money. Lots of money. Lots and lots of money. If you go through that then you will have a right to be in this conversation."

Lei chuckled looking at Tyson, "For the first time I am agreeing with him against you."

Tyson shook his head without a word. He knew the friends were right, given that he seemed to be the only person who was uniquely gifted with the intelligence he possessed. Ever since he was in his formative years, he showed great passion and interest in medical field, courtesy of his parents who were both doctors. They started teaching him basic medical knowledge and were surprised at how effortlessly and fluently he could understand all the knowledge given to him. He stunned the parents, and they came to conclude that he was uniquely gifted with a special intelligence that only a few possessed- or was he the only one with the intelligence? From the very formative stages of his years, the parents knew that he would one day have a global name and limelight in the field of medicine and medical science.

As years progressed, and with thorough involvement from the parents, he came to learn wide and more about medicine, and he successfully accomplished every area and every section in the medical field. At the moment, though theoretically, he could be able to perform a heart plant surgery auspiciously.

"That monkey is a remarkable genius!" Michael was saying as Tyson’s eyes landed on him, "That is what is bagging me. Knowing how smart he is. It still stuns me how_"

"Oh, no, Mike, you are not going to the GTA thing again...?" Lei cut the friend flatly.

"Allow me to go there for the only last time. The last and only last." Michael said with a palpable voice of pain that seemed to be cutting raw his vanity, "Maybe you still don't understand me. The monkey created a mod of all GTA games with a completely new and improved animation physics and storyline! What kind of a monkey does that!" His tone rose fiercely.

"Okay, Mike, and once again, like I always say, let us not get too personal. We have heard the story over and over again and understand it." Lei said in a jaded manner, then, "And by the way..." He was suddenly awakened by a thought in mind, looking inquisitive, "I don't know how I missed the question all this time- how did you come to that information? Did he publicly show it?"

"Even if you own the continent like Symon does, you can't show such a thing publicly when you have millions of followers! Rockstar will chop your balls off." Michael put across the point assuredly, "I hacked it."

"You hacked Symon's systems?" Tyson inquired in surprise.

"That makes me the superior, right?" Michael broadly smiled at the friend with glee and confidence.

"No, you idiot!" Lei quickly put his legs down that were on the living room table, "That makes you a super bird brain target! Are you forgetting who Symon is?" The friend's carelessness instantaneously made Lei jittery. He knew such matters of hacking never always ended well, especially when it involved folks whose net worth equaled many a country’s gross incomes. If a hacker made a mistake, or overrated his skills and got caught, the cost was always an ugly affair. Ordinary people didn’t know this. They didn’t know much concerning the area of hacking. But those from the computer world, the experts at the level of Black-Hat, knew exactly the consequences of online slippery. And even though Lei was not a Black-Hat himself, his area of study revolved around technology, and this would touch computers more than anything else. He had far more knowledge of the computer world than the ordinary people roaming the world. He knew everything, even without experience in certain areas. Knowledge here reigned, not experience, and he made sure he had acquired as much as possible.

This is why the friend’s carelessness, as he called it, made him worried.

But the friend had a different picture of what would be a common scenario for all.

"Lei, don't underestimate me, please." Michael calmly said with an aura of confidence and pride, "I have had a peek at multi-billion companies and co-operates and yet they have never noticed me. One-man-billionaire can't make me run to mummy all jumpy!" He paused, making sure the friends noticed the confidence radiating from him, "I can hack any operating system anywhere, and smartly, without the knowledge of anyone that I am doing it, Symon included."

"This is how it usually goes, smart brain." Tyson keynoted, also seemingly worried at the friend, especially by seeing how Lei’s reaction had been, "You hack super tech systems that use the owner's softwares, you deal with a high level of intelligence and for that_"

"Spare me the lecture, Ty." Michael remonstrated, cutting the friend short, "I am the highest level of system intelligence out there. I break secure codes, hack into databases, create data viruses, bugs, programs, applications and I even have my own operating systems. I AM A SUPER TECH SYSTEM OF ALL SYSTEMS! Then what? I learn... discover, that a blue-blooded bigwig that I thought was a standard version of a monkey is nothing but a stunningly brilliant ape in what I do best?" He took a short pause, perhaps for a breather from his non-stop maundering, "I hack into the behind doors of the CID and even change whatever I please in their database and grid. I do the same in the State House Affairs and even know the president's whereabouts at any particular time. A one-man-army who can do all that without anybody's realization is intelligent enough not to go at the deep end unprepared. He’s got to know how to swim really, really well. The same applies when I am dealing with Symon. So, don't worry that one day I might vanish and find myself naked in the middle of Lake Bogoria with bruises and cuts all over my body, or maybe even crippled. It's good to know that you care that much, but it will never happen."

The friends looked content with his elucidation. He was Michael Maiyo- the greatest nerd and computer geek the world was yet to see. If he said he was sure about something from his world, all would bet on it. System knowledge and artificial intelligence were part of his world, and he understood them better than anybody else- at least from his point of view. In a near future unknown to him, and even his friends, he would use his skills to shape the friendship that they had. It would be more cemented than ever. This was furthermore what reigned the best and most important in their lives; their friendship. They always cared about each other and watched over one another, even though almost regularly they interacted with badinage and banter among themselves.

"One of these fine days, Mike." Tyson quietly mentioned, "Somebody out there will make you eat that pride you hold dear in your life."

Michael grunted at him, "I am used to jealousies in my life. So, guess what, it doesn't bother me."

"I strongly hope Symon doesn't wise up to your game." Lei casually said, but with a tinge of warning, "He will rip off your skin if he does."

"No one can ever wise up to my game." Michael said, assuredly, "So does Symon, even though from time to time we chat."

"You chat with Symon?" Tyson's eyebrows arched with intrigue.

"Not in person." Michael clarified, "In fact, anybody in the country who is a dab hand at computing has ever chat with him. We, the experts, use Internet Relay Chat networks to converse, unlike the regular you who use WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook." He paused, reflecting, "But... when I hack him, I can only access given points... like leads. He is like giving me the access points and makes me think that is all... or at least anyone who is intelligent enough to hack him."

"Well, how do you know that is not all?" Lei inquired drily.

"Lei, a brilliant guy like Symon doesn't leave his prime and indispensable apples just laying around on the ground. He protects them with encryptions that cannot be easily cracked. Trust me, I had no difficulties in hacking his system."

"Then topic over, my friend." Lei put back his legs crossed over the table while resting his back on the couch, "That makes you the top dog if you can easily hack him without any difficulties_"

"No, no, no, Lei! This is all a clever game he is playing here." Michael earnestly said, "You just can't create a GTA mod software with improved game physics and secure the same software with a weak and perfidious data security plan, that any type of hacker can simply access through! It doesn't and it can't work like that." He threw Tyson a look, "Maybe in the medical field, but not computing."

"Why do you sound as if GTA is a big deal?" Tyson icily said, "I don't see anything_"

"Ty, GTA is a big deal!" Michael looked at the friend, hard-faced, "No, no... it is a gigantic and portentous factor! Maybe you don't understand, but all GTA versions had over five thousand crews working together to create the most selling games in history. The screenwriters, animators, graphic engineers, programmers, designers... all worked it out... I mean, Americans, Chinese, Germans, Canadians... all figured out this stuff. Five thousand brains combined together with the requisite expertise of creating the best games. And it worked like toy world magic. These games are still the best selling to date." He looked at the friend keenly, "This is what I mean; millions like... love the GTA crews' work, meaning they consider these people the best in game creation. Even the NFS, FIFA, or Call Of Duty crews don't have such respect and like over the GTA's. Now imagine one mind, only one, doing what five thousand plus minds did. Moreover, it is five thousand expert minds! That is not a wild weird thing but an insane in the membrane thing to do!"

"Oh, come on, Mike." Tyson intoned facetiously, "What is there in connecting games together? I mean, it is just linking them, if I am not wrong. I think I can also do it. I had an A in computer studies back in high school."

"JESUS! YOU CAN'T SEE MY POINT!" Michael bawled, clearly failing to understand why his articulation didn't translate. He sat specifically looking at Tyson, his tone assuming a certain asperity, "You had an A in computer studies. That is really good, truly some excellent work. But trust me, you grey equatorial monkey, you will never get such compliments from a person who knew your test asked what a computer is and what do keyboards and mouse do!"

"So, we just switched to abuses, didn't we?" Tyson looked at him aggressively.

"Listen here, you green turd!" Michael fiercely flared, "Connecting games together isn't simple like swallowing Panadols or Aspirins. The work Symon has done is equivalent to bringing God of War or Assassin's Creed in the times of Super Mario. That shit will really look scary to anybody!"

"What the hell is Super Mario?" Tyson sincerely appeared blank.

"What the hell kind of childhood did you have?" Michael in turn appeared incredulous.

"Okay, let us leave it at that." Lei joined in, then looked at Michael, "Mike, you will do what I just said- what I usually do if I am boggled up by feelings of uneasiness when thinking of Lemarh and that I am going to meet him. Imagine you are greater than this Symon. He might make the best game mod ever, but overall, you are better than him, and he will also look up to you the moment you meet. Can you live with that?"

Michael sighed, somehow convinced and feeling better from his troubles, "I will try."

"Good." Lei went back to the program they were watching, "Let us then entertain ourselves."

“By the way,” Michael suddenly informed looking at Lei, “Your number is ready.”

“My what?” The friend stared back skeptically.

“What number did you put me up to discover?”

“Oh!” Lei exclaimed, then showed a pleasant smile as he quickly got down his legs from the table and sat up on the couch, “That is something you should have started with the moment you walked in here…” Excitement buzzed through him like an electric current and radiating out to be seen. His friends understood the glowing excitement that was clearly seen on his face and manner, and were happy for him. He is finally going to be happily in love.