Oryx

As the hovercraft approached the docking station, Oryx swiped the controls on her screen to maneuver the ship into the space allocated. Around her, there was a soft pleasant hum from the ship’s computer. It was a busy colony, the Alpha Psi CXIV and she could see the traffic of various ships coming and going from the port. The communications relay buzzed with static and the mangled babble of twenty different languages. She ran her fingers through her short brown hair, frizzy and slightly spiky, and reached for the mug of coffee with her other hand. As she sipped the lukewarm liquid, a trickle of the brown beverage dripped down the side of the mug and stained the white porcelain surface. It had been a long journey from the Io moon colony and she had been piloting the hovercraft alone. She rubbed away the remnants of sleep from her puffy eyes.

It had been a difficult ten days for Oryx. Not so much physically although she had to fly on her own, navigating the stars with only Benji for company. He wasn’t bad company. He was more quiet than usual, as if he could sense the gradual change in her mood. She glanced toward the corner in which he lay, moping and occasionally thumping his tail on the floor. Ten days away from home, in which she had the time and solitude to replay events from five years ago in her mind over and over again. Had it been that long ago? It was already two years since the end of the Last Great War that had defined their era.

They were huddled together under a warm blanket watching an old movie on the couch when it happened. She could still remember the title of the movie – Midnight in Paris. Their fingers entwined as they watched the main character bumble his way through the ancient cobblestoned streets of old Paris. Then she heard heavy blows on the door, angry shouts and the trampling of boots on the corridor. His fingers were forcibly forced apart from hers. She could hear the hammering of the truncheon on his bloodied temple and see his look of desperation as he was dragged out of the room by two uniformed policemen.

She hadn’t known then.

Benji whimpered and licked her hand. His round beady eyes pleading for love as he looked up at her. She sighed, wiping a stray tear from the corner of her eye.

“Explorer 312, please standby for docking.”

Her fingers flitted across the screen and flicked open a tab. A familiar face met her gaze. She pressed on the ‘Info’ button.

Name: Jorgen Yen Kendricks

Aliases: Arrick Cheng, Damon Reich

Date of birth: 10 July 2371

Place of origin: Colony 78, Mars

Species: Human

Occupation: Scientist

Charges: Espionage, Biological warfare

She had just started a new job at the Defence Research Centre as a civilian scientist. Rumours of war were spreading via the underground cyber networks. Officially, the government dismissed all such claims. However, they were secretly recruiting scientists to deal with the gathering clouds of doom on the Eastern Front. Oryx was one of them.

 Ironically, they had met during a coffee break. She had just spent the last seven hours staring at molecular simulations and mathematical formulae. “That’s it, I need a break,” she announced to her teammate and pushed her chair away from the desk. Bleary-eyed, she stumbled towards the pantry to make herself a cup of strong coffee. She leant against the wall as the replenishing machine whirred and hissed. A frothy cappuccino appeared. She held the warm drink in her hands and sipped slowly. She turned to return to her desk, images of shifting carboxyl groups playing before her eyes.

She heard a splash as her plastic cup collided with a thin wiry young man with a lopsided grin, an unruly mop of black hair and deep brown eyes. She flushed pink in embarrassment as the hot coffee seeped into the fabric of his white coat. “I’m sorry. Oh no, I’m so sorry,” she tried to wipe off the stains with her tissue.

“Nah I can just wash my coat later. It’s OK,” he tried to reassure her as he helped her to remove the stains. “By the way, I’m Arrick.”

 “Err…I’m Oryx,” she mumbled, still flustered. A half-empty cup of froth in her hand.

 “I work in Lab 5. How about yourself?” he asked.

 “I’m new. I just joined Lab 8 two weeks ago,” she said.

 “You alright? Let me walk you back to your office,” he offered, pushing the door open for her.

They were soon spending breakfasts, lunch breaks and soon, after-work dinners together. She discovered that he was the son of a lawyer from Michigan, Earth. He loved old movies, quirky music and Chinese food. He had graduated with first class honours from her rival university, which gave them much to talk about. Soon, their conversations even involved brainstorming about their work and latest projects, albeit not revealing confidential portions of their assignments.

“Explorer 312, welcome to colony Alpha Psi CXIV. Please present your documentation for inspection. Please state purpose of visit.”

“Alpha Psi CXIV. This is Dr Oryx Pietr. You can inspect my papers when I come aboard. I am here for the trial.”

The days of crammed courtrooms, polished oak panels and wooden gavels had been long over. She found herself on a metal stool in front of a panel of five stern-faced judges. The glare of the fluorescent lamps overhead was unsettling.

Her eyes met his. He looked away, ashamed.

“Oryx Pietr. You may begin your testimony,” the chief judge, a steel-haired lady said.

She knew that every word she said was being recorded. She left nothing out.

“Your honour, I met the accused while working at the Defence Research Centre.”

“Were you aware that he was married or that he had assumed an alternate identity?”

“No, ma’am. I was not aware,” she said emphatically.

“Please proceed,” it was an order.

“It was only after his arrest that I found out that he had been secretly copying the files from my computer and passing the information to the enemy. This was done without my knowledge. I only knew him as Arrick Cheng. I also had no knowledge of his marital status. He had told me that he was single.”

The questioning went on for another 15 minutes. Finally one of the judges held up his hand and said.

“That’s enough, Dr Pietr. You may return to your quarters. Thank you for your assistance today.”

She nodded and got up to leave. As she walked past the glass chamber where he was held, she had a glimpse of the haggard figure hunched on his chair. He had become gaunt, a haunted look on his unshaven face. She looked away resolutely. Her fingers fiddled impatiently with the vial in her pocket.

“Oryx! Oryx!” he cried out suddenly.

She tried to walk on, willing her heart to become stone. Her thumb poised above the cap of the vial, waiting for the right moment to pop it open.

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me,” he pleaded, his palms pale against the thick, bullet-proof glass. “Please, Oryx.”

“The accused should remain silent,” the chief judge thundered.

His brown eyes looked into hers. She could see anguish and sorrow reflected in them. She remembered all the suffering that he had caused her. After the incident, she lost her job and was detained for a week on suspicion of being a spy as well. She was only exonerated after video evidence from the laboratory and her home were reviewed. Her supervisor had to sign a statement affirming her character and work ethics before she was even allowed to go home. As war broke out, she was kept under home arrest with strict security due to concerns regarding her loyalties. After the war, she became the curator of a small museum of natural sciences near her new home far away from Earth. As for her heart, she kept it strictly under lock and key. She would never allow herself to be hurt again.

"I’m sorry,” his words echoed in her ear.

She closed her eyes grimly. If she snapped open the cap of the vial now as she had planned, she knew that the ventilation ducts would carry the virus throughout the building. He would die. As would she, and many others in the vicinity. She thought that she had been prepared to pay the price for revenge. But she wasn’t prepared for this.

She tucked the vial into the deepest recesses of her pocket and inhaled deeply. Perhaps this was what forgiveness looked like. A breath of fresh air devoid of bitterness. An unmapped future, full of hope. A new life. And there was always Benji. Benji would be waiting for her aboard Explorer 312.

“I forgive you,” she heard herself saying.

[Image copyright of Gerald Chong Art www.gerartchong.com]