The courtyard had gone quiet, lanterns guttering to embers, when Malik carried a stool to the roof and set Cortana's portable prism on the parapet. She unfolded in a glow of midnight blue, the village below reduced to silhouettes and crickets.
Cortana: "I've locked every sensor on the date of independence—6 March 1957. Objective: exit that dawn with capital and influence sufficient to steer policy."
Malik clasped his small fingers behind his back, the pose of a much older man.
Malik: "Let's call it what it is: we want to be the hand behind the curtain when the flag rises."
Cortana: "Then we need three pillars: cash, credibility, and control points. I propose we build them sequentially, compounding each into the next. Ready?"
Malik nodded.
1 | Cash Flow: The Village Loop
Cortana: "First pillar—fast cash. We saturate the coast with Sun-Water Boxes and keep the Pedal Grater on rental only. By month-end we'll clear about two hundred West-African pounds."
Malik: "Cash is oxygen, but I don't want to be trapped in day-to-day manufacturing."
Cortana: "We won't be. Phase out once you have proof of concept and put villagers on commission. You design, they build. Your margin drops, but your hours free."
Malik: "Good. That gives me head space for deeper plays."
2 | Commodity Leverage: Cocoa Hoard
Malik: "Cocoa is volatility you can taste. What's the spread?"
She projected a price curve in thin light.
Cortana: "Flat now, but my rainfall–rumor model shows a 40 percent climb just before independence—pride harvest."
Malik: "So we buy beans when farmers are cash-hungry, store them, and unload in '56."
Cortana: "Exactly. Takoradi has a leaking depot nobody wants. Five pounds monthly rent. Palm-frond lining solves humidity."
Malik: "I'll need an adult signature."
Cortana: "Uncle Kofi—two shillings a week and unlimited palm wine. He'll sign anything."
3 | Currency Diversion: Sterling Engine
Malik: "Cash sitting idle is a dead goat. We hedge against sterling swings."
Cortana: "Cadbury for dividends—cocoa goes up, so do they. United Africa Company for freight mark-ups. Forty shares UAC, sixty Cadbury. Use Barclays Sekondi; add half-percent commission so the manager loves you."
Malik smirked.
Malik: "Flatter their margin models. Noted."
4 | Credibility: Mensah Trading & Engineering
Cortana: "Second pillar—credibility. Register Mensah Trading & Engineering Co. Capitalization fifteen hundred pounds—plausible, non-threatening. Activities: water purification, agro tools, import-export."
Malik: "People trust stamped paper more than bright ideas."
Cortana: "And stamped paper lets you open a business account—cheaper transfers for the sterling engine."
5 | Goodwill as Armor
Malik: "Money makes envy. We need a shield."
Cortana: "Gift two Sun-Water Boxes to the mission clinic, rebuild the market stove, let the local paper run a 'boy genius' story. Philanthropy buys narrative control."
Malik: "A merchant prince who saves children's lungs is hard to hate."
She nodded.
Cortana: "And impossible for politicians to publicly attack."
6 | Control Points: Political Logistics
A convoy horn echoed far off—CPP agitators on tour.
Cortana: "Kwame Nkrumah's rallies need clean water and spectacle."
Malik: "So we solve their logistics without wearing a party badge."
Cortana: "Twenty Sun-Water units, paid up front. You're merely a supplier—until they draft budgets and remember who never failed them."
Malik: "Soft power in a wooden crate."
7 | Future Monopoly: Steel, Cement, Brakes
Cortana: "Third pillar—control points. Independence means roads and rails. UAC freighter manifests show surplus rebar returning to Liverpool. Bid pennies per ton, label it 'school experiments.'"
Malik: "Store beside the cocoa. Sell half to builders when funds are released, donate half to schools so my name is carved into every classroom beam."
Cortana: "Donation cements reputation; sale funds the next leap—railway brake pads and rural telegraph kits when Level Two unlocks."
8 | Convergence Graph
She split the air with two lines—money and influence—intersecting in a green star.
Cortana: "If timelines hold, by 1 Jan 1957 you clear ten thousand pounds liquid, with favors owed by mission clinics, market women, and at least one cabinet-in-waiting."
Malik: "Wealth without love breeds coups. Love without wealth folds to famine. The green star is balance."
Cortana: "Well quoted… from yourself, last lifetime."
He chuckled.
Malik: "Then let's iterate. Next milestone: audit cocoa for mold, finalize rebar bid, and photograph every clinic gift. A story untold is a favor unremembered."
She dimmed her charts, leaving only the constellations.
Cortana: "Rest, Maker. Power is a marathon cloaked as a sprint."
Malik lay on the cool roof tiles, eyes on Orion. Somewhere ahead, trumpets would herald a new nation. When they sounded, the boy who hid centuries behind a calm smile intended to stand not in the crowd but behind the curtain—cash in one hand, influence in the other, and an AI co-architect at his shoulder.