Another piece inspired by a KPN idea. My attempt at a short story of Science- Fiction. It's not quite finished yet.
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Code Word- ORCHID
Click.
The year is 2215 and I am the lone voice of protest out here in the miles of nothing. For years, I have allowed circumstances to guide my fate, but no more. It is time this inter-galactic universe of ours learns the truth.
I am not a traitor.
The crime that sent me here to this rock prison was not my own.
And if you are still out there listening, I will tell you my tale.
My name isn’t important; though I am sure the Cybernet has pushed it past your orbs so frequently that it has become ingrained in your cellular memories. What is important, however, is that I am and will always be a scientist, an inventor- a man intent, not on destroying life, but on trying to make it better.
And this nightmare- this terror I live in daily now- it all started the year when Tetron Robotics first got the contract from our counsel to defend our existence from everything out to destroy us.
Year 2195- Summer:
“Gerome, have you seen my sub-atomic micro-synthesizer?”
Gerome Montgomery turns from the food processor and blinks in surprise. Carol, his beautiful fiancée, is on the floor beneath the table searching for what they consider their modern day writing utensil. He glances at her bag on the counter beside him. The synthesizer is sitting on the hand-held monitor it goes with.
“Nope, haven’t seen it.”
She sighs and stretches her lean body farther underneath the table. The pressurized breathing unit hums against the synthetic fabric of her grayish-blue uniform as it stretches with her and creates ripples along her back and thighs. As if sensing his gaze and fascination, Carol abruptly backs out and sits up. She turns to face him a deep frown settling on her face. “Are you entirely sure you haven’t seen it?”
He hold up his hands in defeat. “It’s sitting here on the counter where you left it five seconds ago.”
With a low grumble, she gracefully lifts her body to stand on her feet. Her irises turn that sparkling purple as she stalks closer to him. He grabs for her bag, stuffing the monitor and synthesizer inside and sticks it behind his back. He holds it between him and the counter as she stops inches from him. Her bottom lip protrudes in a slight pout. “Baby, I’ve got to go to work now.”
Gerome wraps his hands around her waist and pulls her closer. “You aren’t due at work until 15:30 this afternoon. It’s only nine now.”
She wraps her arms around his neck and leans in closer. A grin turning her eyes emerald green. “Maybe I have some time.”
The plasma screen lights up as her lips meet his. A computerized voice drones on around them as they slip to the floor in the kitchen, Carol’s bag and daytime meeting all but forgotten.
“10,000 new settlers high-jacked on journey to Medicore- transporter found scorched, no survivors. Counsel approves contract for new offensive with Tetron Robotics. Sales of Leaping Lizards air supports hit record highs with new promotion.”
It had seemed all a dream back then. New planets were being discovered, new enemies springing up from nowhere and then a company promising to bring the best weapons and power supplies they could offer in order to ensure our survival. Of course, we were thrilled. Of course, we didn’t question the legitimacy of their boasts or of their practices to get those much needed supplies. It was a hope for the future and that was all that mattered.
How very wrong we were not to press for unanswered questions. How very stupid to give in to the company on blind faith alone. I was a prospering scientist; I should have seen the end coming. But I was too blinded by thrill of success to look deeper into what I had committed to until it was too late.
I had been fooled by those bastards when they invited me to their seminar for Creative Technological Advances for Off-World Living. I and many of the others believed we were invited to share in the glory of creating a new future, but in truth we were there to have our ideas, our very lives, stolen out from under us. We were the worker bees of the 21st century- expendable and when we tried to stop them, easily used as the scapegoat.
Year 2200- Fall:
“Carol, I’m telling you, I didn’t do this. I have no idea what they are talking about. I was working on my project. I swear!" Gerome protests for the millionth time in the last five months.
She places her hand against the plastic container and gets as close as the heat sensors will allow her. “Gerome, I believe you. You know I do, but they have all the evidence. They even have a video of you destroying your own machine.”
He rest his forehead against the spot where her hand sits, remembering the feel of that hand against his skin. “They asked me to destroy it, Carol. They asked me to test the machine for any flaws in order to perfect it before the sales date.”
She sighs, her eyes turning smoky gray. “Baby, it’s your word against theirs. My firm will not allow me to defend you anymore. They say you are a liability to our good name. They’re taking the offer. You are to be shipped to the new prison system on one of the outer worlds.”
Gerome's head lifts in surprise. “Wait, what? Your company has decided. What the hell, Carol? You are a part of that company, a freaking partner! Does your vote not count for anything?”
She backs away from the container and slowly shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Gerome, I agreed with them.”
“WHAT THE FUCK?” Energy pulses zapped through his suit and he falls to the ground writhing. Carol drops to her knees beside the container, her fist in her mouth and tears pouring down her soft cheeks. Before the pain erases his vision, Gerome stretches out a hand and whispers, “How could you do that to me? Baby, how could you betray me too?”
I never even got to go to my own trial to try and defend myself. My lawyers saw the evidence and put my good name up for sale. I was now damaged goods. With the history of violent behaviors Tetron created for me, no civil prison system would accept my containment. I was sentenced to the farthest system, away from any type of transportation or life. I would be alone to squeak out my days until I either found a way to take my own life or the charges against me were dropped.
My life as I had known it died the day Carol last saw me. My fiancée, my family, my friends, everyone deserted me and that night, as I waited for the transfer orders to come Tetron security broke into my cell and dragged me away. I tried to protest, to scream out, but I was given another jolt of electricity and was rendered unconscious for a second time.
I was no longer an asset to the world, but to Tetron I was the means of survival. Without me, they would have folded like a water-logged box. They could not have me transferred to a prison far from their clutches until my job had been completed and so I became a prisoner of my own work.
Year 2200- Winter:
“Wake up, Mr. Wizard, time to play with your toy.”
Gerome's swollen eyelids push against the layer of grime his minute of sleep against the cold floor of the basement compound had created. A millennium old turbine groans as it is pushed upwards and his guard of the day comes excitedly into his cell.
The guard pulls Gerome's bruised and bloody left arm up almost out of its socket and he is lifted to his feet. “Come on, come on, don’t have all day you know. These last few touches are all we need. Then you’ll be free to sleep as long as you want to.”
“Don’t want to help you.” The words creak from Gerome's swollen lips like the turbine as the guard drags him back through the hole.
The guard laughs hollowly. “Why ever not? You are saving the lives of your family after all, even if they don’ts know it yet.”
“Leave my family alone,” he groans as his feet finally find their strength to stand.
The guard laughs again. “You don’t want us to hurt your family than you better fix up that toy of yours. Moment your done, you’ll be a free man, Mr. Wizard, a free man.”
He throws Gerome against the metal arm of his design and walks away still laughing. Gerome shakes his head slowly to clear the ringing and the man's words. There is no such thing as real freedom, he knows that now. The moment he signed that contract with these bastards he signed away all his rights as a human being. He was a tool for them, a design that would age with time and be replaced by something more effective. Gerome sighs and turns to his only world now.
“If it’s the last thing I ever do, I will make you right,” He whisper against the cold metal. “I will make you fly.”
I never got to see if my work succeeded or not. The moment I announced to my jailors that the job was complete; I was given a bath, a decent sleep and new clothes. The moment I awoke I was given a ticket and a passport. My identity had changed, my name now something other than who I really was. I was driven to the transport dock and entered in the system as a settler. I was on a crowded transport filled with passengers, but at each stop, my screen informed me that it was not my final destination and not to depart from the vehicle. Finally, when I was alone aside from the transport crew- that is when the news reports started to filter across my screen. I largely ignored them for my future no longer depended on the news of the world behind me.
I did notice the wedding pages when Carol’s picture appeared alongside one of the men from Tetron, but only in a flicker of resentment and pain before my eyes turned back to the window to stare at the emptiness of space that my life had become. Hours later, my eyes registered the words- Organic Robotics Channeling Heat In Defense- darting across the plasma screen before me as the transporter dropped heavily onto the sandy platform of Silanous 3, but the truth didn't hit me until the transporter took off and left me alone on the dying planet- Those bastards stole ORCHID!
I could do nothing. Stuck without support or even a way to get out the news, I toiled in my new position as lead health inspector. I was given a new laboratory, but no assistants. I was watched through cameras and a bracelet chip announcing my every movement. Though Tetron had tired of their use for me on the ground level, they knew I was dangerous. Yet they could not kill me, for I alone knew the workings of ORCHID and should it fall into enemy hands, I was the only one who knew how to destroy it.
So they watched and studied, hoping to bring me to my knees until I was no longer able to resist them. But that day never came. I have kept my sanity and recently a tiny spark of hope has risen. News has reached me on Silanous 3 that Tetron is falling out of favor. My ORCHID is not responding like it is supposed to, it has taken on a mind of its own. They cannot control it, and now they cannot find me.
In their eagerness to hide me away, it seems the corporate world of Tetron destroyed all records of who I had become. The monitors used to keep track of me were destroyed in an uprising among us outlanders a few years ago. Tetron sent out security in order to locate me, of course, but by then I had forgotten my old name and could no longer recall who it was I had been. Only in recent months, with the news of ORCHID’s change, have I remembered.
And it is now, with this returned memory, that I call on all of you in this outer realm to join me in the fight to survive. We must fight Tetron while it is weak! We must destroy the enemy that sent us here to die because they had no more use for us. We must take back what was taken from us. I ask nothing in return for I know loyalty is hard to come by nowadays, especially when the one asking so much has vengeance echoing in his words. But, if you wish to join me, come to Silanous 3.
The code word is ORCHID.
Click
Renee 2009
