"I wish Azi wasn't sick anymore."

    "Agent Parks to CC." The announcement came through the music in my headphones. This was it! I removed my headset, stood up from my station and went out into the hall to be transported to the Command Centre. I gripped a handle in the wall and felt barely a jerk as it zipped off along the wall, pulling me with it. I didn't bother inputting a command; the technology would have already read the input from CC and realized that I needed to be taken there to meet with Leah Panac, the leading authority onboard the Shooting Star.

The handle stopped suddenly, and I shot past it until my arm reached its limit and I stopped suddenly. I pressed the button beside the door and pushed off from the handle to drift weightlessly into the gravity lock outside CC. The hall was too large and important to use artificial gravity, but most rooms were equipped with it by now. I lay on the floor while I acclimized to having weight again, then stood up and entered the Command Centre.

Leah Panac was waiting for me with her leading admirals. "Agent Parks," she said regally. I gave the customary head incline. "We have a wish."

I jerked my head up in shock. "A wish?"

"Yes. And I have chosen you to take this one."

I blinked in shock. "You choose me?"

"I do." She smiled at me. "You've earned it. Good luck, Parks."

With a rush, blackness flooded my vision, and I faded away.

When I came to, I was on Earth again.

It had been a while, I thought, looking around. The land was flat and covered with tall grass. I was sitting amongst the grass on the dry ground, where no one would notice when I suddenly popped into existence. Though, I thought, looking around at the barren landscape, no one would probably notice if I fell from the sky with fireworks to announce my arrival I tapped my ear and thought loudly: 'Anyone with me yet?'

"I'm here." A voice came through the tiny transmitter clipped to my ear. I groaned mentally when I recognized the voice. "Believe me," she said, "I'm not happy about it either."

The voice belonged to Agent Andrea Terrano, fellow agent and competitor on the Shooting Star. She was impulsive and brave and irritating as all hell. I tried to keep a kind demeanor, I did, but around her I had a tendency to want to scream and punch something. Now, we had to work together to grant a wish. Great.

"Your wish comes from Ezichi Adebayo," Andy reported, obviously reading from a report. "She's eight years old, lives just up there, yadda yadda. Go find her already."

'I can't find her,' I thought sarcastically, 'if you don't tell me who she is.'

"She has black cornrows and dark brown eyes. Skinny little thing, from the picture they took. Big glasses. The farm directly west of you. Is that sufficient, Nicky?"

Growling to myself, I stood up and started to walk north. 'Where am I now?'

"Nigeria. In the south, between the Niger and the Cross rivers, Nicky."

She knew I hated the nickname. I tried to ignore the jab as I walked past a small cultivated field. 'What's the wish, anyways?'

"I wish Azi wasn't sick anymore." This time, at least, there was no sardonicism in her voice. "You'd better be a good actor, to find out who Azi is. Remember the time you were a vacuum salesman in Berlin?"

I grimaced at the memory, and Andy's laugh was loud in my ear. "Channel your inner tourist, Nicky."

I looked down at my clothes to see with horror that they had changed to a tacky Hawaiian shirt and khakis. Andy loved to torture me. I couldn't wait until she got a wish to fulfill and I was her partner.
I got to the small farmhouse and walked up to the door, trying to ignore the crunching noises in my ear. 'Could you at least turn off the mic while you eat?'

"What, and miss being able to call you Nicky? I would never." This was accompanied by a large crunch. I flinched and balled my fists, then pounded on the door a little harder than was necessary.

A middle-aged woman opened the door. She was dark and tired-looking, in a shapeless paisley dress and a bandana around her black hair.

"I'm Easton Watson," I told her with a light southern drawl, offering my hand for a shake. "I'm lost, and I'm trying to find the city."

The woman frowned and shook my hand lightly. She pulled her palm back, turning it over with a frown, obviously wondering what had poked her as the hypodermic needle retracted into my sleeve. "We haven't had lost tourists before."

"No? I'ven't been lost here b'fore either." I replied, abbreviating my words more than usual. It was a good tactic to make myself seem more easygoing. With a tilt of my visor, I stepped through the door out of the bright sunlight.

The house seemed to have two or three rooms, without running water or electricity. No one else seemed to be home. The woman stepped aside, a bit bewildered.

"Tests are back," Andy suddenly reported in my ear. I realized I hadn't heard from her for a little while. "Pretty standard. Low nutrition. She's not on any drugs."

Over the years, we'd developed a strategy to perform multiple tests on a single small blood sample - and instantaneously transport that sample from Earth to the satellite. I acknowledged Andy's report and stuck my hand in my pocket. My fingers encountered a piece of folded paper, and I pulled it out. A map of Nigeria. Andy was getting good. I unfolded it and showed it to the woman.

She peered down at the map. "We're here," she said, pointing to a spot.

Being the clueless tourist, I turned the map over and tilted my head to look at it, as if that would help.

"Uyo is the nearest city. There." She sounded like she just wanted me to leave, but I couldn't - not until I understood my mission.

"Are you talking to someone, Mama?" I turned and saw a little girl come out of another room. Her hair was braided back and she wore big glasses, and I knew that this was my wisher.

"This nice man is lost," she told her. "Go back to your room."

She lowered her head and trotted back - not because she was scared of her mother, but to be polite to me. It was good that my wisher was a nice person. That would make everything so much easier.

    Now that I'd located my wisher, I could make a plan. I thanked the mother and left the house. I walked far enough down the dirt track that she'd think I was really gone, then doubled back and found a hummock to crouch behind. Andy was being quiet, I thought to myself.

    After a few hours, I decided that I was going to die of thirst if I didn't get something to drink. Just like that, a cold Pepsi appeared on the ground in front of me. It was partially open and half-full, but I was grateful anyways, and I chugged what was there right away.

    'Thanks,' I thought.

    "Can't have my Nicky out there dying on me," Andy replied, reverse-teleporting the can. So far, reverse teleportation was only possible if the object had been specifically tagged, and the operation could only be performed within four minutes and forty-seven seconds of the original transportation.

    'You're being awfully nice,' I commented, leaning back on the little hill.

    "Can't I be nice?" she asked. "I'm busy. Stop fretting that I don't care about you. You already know I don't."

    'Yeah, right,' I replied. 'You care so much, you've been here the whole time.'

    "I had a bath," she informed me. "So no, actually, Nicky, I wasn't."

    Before I could reply, the sound of footsteps alerted me to someone's approach. I turned and saw a tall, thin man walking down the road toward the house, swinging a metal pail from one weathered hand. He whistled an exotic tune as his long strides took him toward me and the house. Presumably, this was the father. Coming up with an idea, I stood and stepped onto the road in front of him.

    The man was surprised to see me, but he dipped his straw hat to me. "Hello," I said to him. "I'm here about your son."

    I was relieved to see, when I stood up, that my clothes had been changed to a shirt with rolled sleeves and dress pants, like a businessman unaccustomed to the African climate.

    The man's expression shifted from one of polite curiosity to one of concern, hope and sadness. "Are you the doctor?" he asked me, hoping this was the case.

    I hesitated. "Of sorts," I answered. This was somewhat true. My goal was to cure the boy, but I didn't have the credentials of a medical doctor.

    The man wasn't sure how to take that, but he nodded and set off again. "Come on, then."

    As I walked just behind him, trying not to be hit by the big bucket (which was full of water), I wondered whether we were speaking English. "You are," Andy told me, receiving my thoughts even though I hadn't sent them to her. "Good thing these folks seem to be pretty wealthy and don't just speak a traditional language we may not have a good version of in the database."

    'I assume you changed my appearance?' I thought to her.

    "You're ginger now," she replied. I could hear her smirk over the wireless connection. I sighed to myself and looked at my now-freckled arm. Great.

    The man went inside the house, holding the door for me. He set the water bucket down and went into a back room. I followed, apprehensive as to what I might find.

    The room was a bedroom with a single cot against each wall. Only one was occupied, and the other was made with a woollen blanket spread over it and a burlap pillow. In the occupied bed lay a boy.

    His dark skin had an unnatural pallor to it. The blankets that lay over his body revealed that he was thin - unnaturally so. His eyes were closed, and there were bruises on his folded hands. He looked like a corpse, but his chest moved every so often with a quiet wheezing noise. His scalp was without hair, and he lacked eyebrows. The boy looked to be about fourteen years old. His name, if Andy was to be trusted, was Azi, and his sister had cause for concern; this boy was dying.

    'What does he have?' I thought to Andy, knowing she had the scene live-streamed from the contact lens I wore in my left eye.

There was a pause, and I could just hear the furious tapping sounds as she tried to identify the disease before my pause started to look suspicious.
"Looks like cancer to me," she said finally. "Try leukaemia."

I turned to the parents. "It's leukaemia?"

The mother nodded, a tear dripping down her dark cheek. "The nurse said a bone marrow transplant could save him, but they couldn't do it in the v-village and we can't afford to travel into the city," she explained. Her voice cracked and wavered in the effort to not cry in front of a stranger. "Have you come to do it here?"

"I've come," I replied, "to take them both to get it done."

"Oh." A different kind of worry grew on her face. "What will you ch-"

"Okay," the father interrupted her. "Do whatever you need to to save our son. We can sell the farm if we need to," he said to his wife in a lower tone.
"I won't charge you a thing," I promised them. "Call it an act of kindness."

It was remarkable, I thought, as they debated whether or not to pay me anyways, that they trusted me to take care of their son. Perhaps they weren't used to people with malicious intents out here, or maybe they were desperate enough to let anyone try anything.

Finally, the man turned away from his wife and nodded to me. "Thank you. We appreciate it."

"The transplant needs to be done with someone related to him," I told them, not sure if they knew. "Does he have a sister? She would be best." I remembered that the character I was playing - the redhead, thanks to Andy - hadn't seen the girl. However, it would have been better to ask about siblings in general.

"He does. Ezichi is eight," he replied. "You would have to take her away too?"

Now his tone grew more suspicious. It was one thing to take away a dying son, but another entirely to take his healthy sister as well.

"Yes. The transplant is necessary," I told them in utter seriousness. "I will ensure she returns safely to you."

"I'd like to speak in private," the man told me, and without waiting for confirmation, he pulled his wife aside and spoke to her in a hushed tone. They spoke in a language I didn't recognize or understand.

"I can't get you a translator for that," Andy reported after a few minutes. "You'll just have to settle for not knowing something, for once. Will that be too hard for you, Nicky?"

'Will you stop calling me that?' I asked her. I thought I did a good job in not doing so until now. It had been an infuriating time. 'My name is not Nicholas.'

"Would you prefer Minnie?" Andy asked me sweetly.

I very nearly hit the wall. 'No!'

"Minnie or Nicky?" Andrea mused. "Which is more offensive?"

Before I could swear at her, the parents came back over to me. "You can take them," the father said while the mother cried into his shoulder. "Just save our son."

I nodded to them with as much tranquility as I could muster. "May I meet your daughter?"

"Ezichi!" the father called into the third room, and the little girl came bounding in. It looked like she had been listening at the door, or at least waiting impatiently to meet the visitor.

"Hello," I said to her, crouching down to speak to the child. "I'm going to help your brother, but you need to come with me, okay?"

The girl hesitated, looking at her parents.

"Go with the nice doctor," the father said while the mother tried to hide her sobs. The girl looked up at me as I went to the bed.

After I received visual confirmation for my silent question from the man when I looked at him, I lifted Azi in my arms. I nodded to the parents and led Ezichi outside. She followed like a small dark shadow, and her parents trailed behind. I stopped at the door and nodded to them. "Thank you. I will be back soon with both your children, safe and healthy." With that, I closed the door behind me and walked away down the road.

"Are we walking to Uyo?" Ezichi asked me, coming up on my left.

"No," I replied. "I have a ride just up ahead. Do you know why I came?"

The little girl shook her head, making her small beaded braids fly.

"I came because you made a wish," I told her. "You wished that Azi wouldn't be sick anymore. And I've come to make that wish come true."

Ezichi's eyes widened. "Wow! Really?"

"Yep. I'm like a secret agent," I replied. Actually, that described me fairly well.

"Wow!" she said again. There was silence for barely three seconds. "What kind of ride do you have?"

"A spaceship," I told her. "We're going to go all the way to Europe."

Andy groaned in my ear, and a moment later, she disconnected.

When we went around the next corner, we discovered my ride. It was a small ship, launched from the satellite and designed only for planetary travel. It was impressive that she had managed to land so quickly. Good thing Andy couldn't read my thoughts right now.

We went up to the door, and it opened for us. Cool air spilled into the grasslands, and Ezichi bounded up into the ship without fear. I navigated through the door on an angle as to not bump Azi.
Andy emerged from the cockpit into the central area, where I set Azi down on a couch. She was dressed in a scoop-neck blouse and skinny jeans, paired with high heels. Her black hair was in a high ponytail, and a blue gem glittered at her olive throat. She smiled gently at Ezichi and bent down to talk to her. "Hello, there. I'm going to take you to save your brother."

The little girl beamed up at her. "Who are you? You're so pretty!"

Andy smiled in genuine pleasure. "I'm Andy. Thank you."

I gave her a look, and she smirked at me as she stood back up. "Why don't you sit down? We'll be in Europe in a few minutes." She disappeared back into the cockpit, and I sat down next to Azi's unconscious figure.

"Are you really going to save him?" Ezichi asked, swaying as we took off at a speed just slower than the speed of light.

"Yes," I told her, "but you'll need to be brave. Can you do that for me, Ezichi?"

The little girl nodded. After a moment, she asked, "What's your name?"

"I'm Agent Dominic Parks," I replied, trying to mimic Andy's gentle demeanor. "Andy is just helping me save your brother. I wish she wasn't."

"Why not?" Ezichi asked, cocking her head. "She seems nice."

"To me, she isn't."

"Oh." The girl seemed to accept that. She looked around the interior of the ship and went over to a framed photo. "What's this?"

"It's Andy's ship," I told her. "You'd have to ask her."
She looked toward the cockpit, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, she asked the classic question: "Are we there yet?"

"Not yet," I told her, but as soon as the words had left my mouth, we started to slow down. Ezichi fell to her knees with the G-force, and I was pushed forward in my seat. Going from almost light speed to stopped in ten seconds was a great feature of the ship, but it was not pleasant for the passengers.

When we landed, Andy came back from the cockpit. "You're all ready," she said to us. "I made an appointment. Here." She handed me an umbrella and some forms. I passed these to Ezichi and hefted Azi in my arms. Andy opened the door for us, and we stepped out of the aircraft into the rain of London, England.

I didn't have time to question Andy's choice of city, as she closed the door behind us and flew away. With nothing else to do, I carried Azi into the large, modern-looking building in front of us. Ezichi, holding the umbrella over the paperwork, trotted along after.

I handed the paperwork to the pretty receptionist, and she signed us in. Apparently we were right on time for our appointment. A doctor came and led us into a private room. Ezichi was asked to change, and Azi was taken from me and placed on a gurney to be wheeled into surgery. I didn't know what kind of strings Andy had pulled to get us in here, but they were important ones.

Before too long, a doctor led us into the room where the transplant would be done. He got his things ready as Ezichi lay down. She extended her small brown hand, and I took it in mine.

"It's going to be okay," I told her calmly, holding her hand. "You're saving your brother's life." I glanced up at the doctor. "Are there no preliminary tests?"

"You were transferred from the Royal London, were you not?" he asked, exposing a patch of skin and disinfecting it with a wipe. "They sent us all required tests, and simply asked us to do the transplant, as they were swamped... but you know this, of course."

"Of course," I agreed. I gripped Ezichi's hand tightly as the needle went in. A silent tear rolled down the side of her face, and she clenched her jaw.

The receptionist waved to us as I led Ezichi outside the next day. We had to leave Azi behind; they wouldn't release him until he had a good chance of recovery, so I was going to come back a few months later to take him back to his family, after extensive chemotherapy. The little girl had a bandage on her hip, but she was doing well, and she held my hand as we walked out into sunlight.

Andy's ship was waiting for us. She opened the door, and I led Ezichi inside. The ride back was quiet; Ezichi looked out the window, away from me, though there was little to see. We flew so fast the world outside was a blur.

We slowed down and landed in a few minutes, and I got up to take Ezichi back to her home, but she held up a hand to stop me. "I can find my own way back," she told me. There was a maturity in her eyes that hadn't been there before. "Thank you for helping my brother."

I watched as she jumped down from the ship and walked back toward her home. Andy came out of the cockpit to stand next to me.

"She's a brave kid, Nicky," she reflected, still looking out into the hot Nigerian grasslands. "I'm glad we could fulfill her wish."

"It was good," I agreed, and as the sun began to set, Andy slipped her hand into mine.