by Candice Lim
“Hmm, interesting.” Cash observed. It reminded her of a game of chess. One wrong move on the board and the king could be dead. But none of these dots indicated where Roxy was.
“By subordinates, you mean?”
“Her students, assistants.”
Cash nodded at Edmund. “Are they still active?”
Edmund shook his head. “Not all. I knew one or two who went rogue.” Sorrow tinged his voice as he gestured to the red cluster. “Others remained committed to the Community.”
When he touched one green dot, a list dropped down on the screen. A profile with all its details laid out.
Cash smiled. Nothing escaped the mind of Cash, the most brilliant of the brilliant. “Now this is handy.”
7
MANDY
‘Have you seen Roxy?’ had become Mandy Berger’s mantra of the day.
“You kidding? You’re Roxy’s housemate!” Armani had laughed.
Everything was upside down from the second she woke up. She was late. Roxy, her human alarm clock, was MIA. Now, she had to face Hershey’s Genetics lecture alone. Nothing was wrong with her lecture. She just didn’t have the mental capacity to take in such a grueling subject at the moment. Luckily, the professor herself was late.
“One more minute and I’m so done with this,” Tracey, one of the class fashionistas, announced. All heads turned to her. They shared the same look of annoyance.
Mandy agreed. She needed the sleep too.
“Okay, now I’m done!” Tracey threw her hands up five minutes later. The hem of her overly short skirt skimmed her thighs as she spun around and grabbed her bag. Pendants jiggling over a paper-thin blouse, everything about her screamed ‘Attention, please!’ As she turned to walk out, George stepped in.
Tracey sighed and dropped back in her seat. Mandy sat up straight. What Roxy said was beginning to fall into place. A strong possibility that Hershey had been kidnapped. That’s why she wasn’t in the auditorium this morning.
What if all Roxy had said was true? Unease overcame Mandy.
When George turned around, the muttering chatter had subsided, snapping Mandy out of her thoughts. He stood in the center of the room. His eyes, darting like bloated flies looking for an ideal place to land, scanned the students.
“In reason we trust. You all must be wondering why I am here today. Instead of Dr. Hershey. She’s on emergency leave. Such a shame. Guess I’ll be announcing your test results on her behalf.” A wry smile creased the corner of his lips as he pulled out his tablet. What Roxy told her last night raced through Mandy’s mind.
He started calling out names when Tracey leaned towards Mandy.
“Hey.” She jutted her chin at George. “What’s up with Hershey and Roxy Riley?”
Mandy improvised an answer, not wanting to arouse any suspicions yet. Not until she got a clearer picture. “Roxy’s not feeling well. I got her message. Not sure ‘bout the professor, though.”
“Mandy Berger.” George suddenly raised his voice. “Mandy, where are you?”
She jumped and thrust her hand up. “Here, Dr. George.”
“Congratulations. You may check your tablet now.” George smiled.
Mandy quickly checked her tablet. Fifty-two. C. That’s what she deserved for two sleepless nights. She was about to slam the tablet on her desk.
“Roxy Riley.”
George glanced at the students and shrugged. He flipped his tablet over, broadcasting her mark for everyone to see. “Well, that explains this.”
Gasps sounded throughout the room. He’d failed her.
“Roxy would never get that low! Even if she tried,” muttered Armani, disbelief written all over his face. Armani was right. Roxy wasn’t that stupid.
“All right, everybody got your marks?” George’s voice broke through the growing buzz again. He scanned his audience.
All faces were ravaged with woe. All except for Armani’s and Mandy’s. As usual, Armani aced the exam. With Mandy, she was too busy with the puzzle of Roxy’s sudden low test score.
“For your information, seventy is the passing mark. Any questions, or shall I say, complaints―?”
“Me, me, Dr. George! I have a complaint!” A pudgy hand shot to the ceiling. All heads turned to the third row. Jonni Munchen was his real name. But they called him Bulk.
George muttered with a sigh, “Of course.”
“There’s a mistake. Over here.” He held out the tablet that looked like a miniature in his meaty palm.
George nodded, hands behind his back. “And what is it? You don’t expect me to squint, do you? Drop me the screenshot.”
Bulk pulled the tablet close to his face. “Question No. 13, I answered B and got it wrong. But, some of us were marked right.”
The sound of fingers tapping screens filled the room. Everyone raced to check their answers, not wanting to miss the chance to adjust their marks.
Mandy followed suit. Of course, college was all about the survival of the highest marks. Everybody was trying to stay within the threshold of the bell curve if not the upper end, which had been predominated by Armani and other scholars.
George’s focus went to the rest of the students. “All right, now anyone else got wrong for B for Question No. 13?”
No one answered.
“It seems that we need to do some debugging on the AI marking program.” George shrugged and typed on his tablet. “Your new mark will be raised from 68 to 70, Jonni.”
“Thank you, Dr. George!” Tears welled in Bulk’s happy eyes.
George took two steps back, as though steeling himself for his next announcement. He smiled at the students. “Well, I’ve got an update. The passing mark is now seventy-five.”
8
TRACEY
Genetics was one of the testing subjects. More so after Dr. George took over. As if they hadn’t got enough of him from Industrial Biotech. The moment he would step into the auditorium, gone was the joy of learning, to be replaced by a gray cloud of depression. When George mumbled something about the pedagogic holograms, their moods dropped quicker than their grades.
Only Armani could manage to keep his eyes open and ears peeled. Nothing on the screen interested Tracey. Nothing was interesting these days, save for Roxy’s sudden disappearance and Mandy’s plummeting mood. In her growing desperation, she wished for Hershey to return ASAP.
Tracey had been always looking for a chance to dig something juicy out of Mandy. She had told her Roxy had to attend to some family matters. That failed to satisfy Tracey’s hunger for answers. Mandy didn’t speak much, but the look on her face spoke volumes.
Mandy hadn’t slept well the previous night, the dark circles around her eyes would tell. Struggling to stay awake throughout George’s monotonous lecture was making her sleepier better than most sleeping pills. Drowsiness coursed her, weighing down her head. Her eyelids were heavy and her chin kept dipping towards the floor. For a couple of times, George said something that sounded important and she jerked upright in her seat. Every time this happened George shot her a disapproving look.
When she did it for the fifth time, George lost the last remnants of his dwindling patience. “Since some of you obviously have trouble keeping up this morning I better take a short break now.” George stretched out his arms like he was begging for a hug.
As her fatigue slowly dissipated, Mandy glanced around the room. Everyone had been shaken out of their collective ennui and giving George their full attention, as if they all had turned into clones of Armani.
Tracey put on a serious face and scrolled through her tablet when George marched in her direction. “We’re already at Chapter Five, Tracey.”
“I was just revising.” Tracey’s cheeks burned.
George cleared his throat and sat on the edge of the table. “This is the second lecture I conducted with you all. So, it is time for some teacher-student bonding.”
Tracey fought not to roll her eyes. George
had a way to catch her doing things and she had got enough negative attention for the day. She glanced at Mandy. Mandy was daydreaming. Her face resting on her fist. She wasn’t listening to George. Tracey came to two conclusions. One, Mandy was bored out of her skull. Or two, she was worried about Roxy. If the latter, it was definitely not some family matters.
In front of Mandy, Armani who had kept all his things away, dug around in his bag for a pen. Wielding it in one hand, he was on all ears and ready to jot down anything significant George was about to announce.
“Some of you must have noticed that your coursemate, Roxy, has been missing for two days.” George paused to read his audience’s responses. Mandy suddenly gasped and sat up. “I shouldn’t be telling you all this. But I’ve thought for a few days and came to a conclusion. Roxy’s punishment should be set as an example for all of you, Asia Nova’s future scientists.”
Mandy grew uncomfortable. Her face paled. That loser Mandy must know something. Something interesting and something Tracey had to find out soon.
“What Roxy Riley has done goes against everything Connor University, and even what Asia Nova, stands for.” George looked disappointed, as though he was feeling sorry for Roxy. “Three days ago, the Underlab was breached. Vital and classified data was stolen. After a detailed investigation, we found out your coursemate had broken in.”
Mandy almost jumped out of her seat. The other students began whispering among themselves in awe and disbelief. Tracey arched her brow with interest. This was something new. Roxy breaking hearts? Not surprising with her pretty little face. But breaking into a lab? Impossible! Let alone to steal information? For what? It would make more sense if it had been Armani. She couldn’t help but wonder if Roxy Riley was living some sort of double life.
Armani’s hand clutched his chest. Almost as if he was jealous it hadn’t been him who had broken into the lab. “It’s impossible. Roxy would never do such a thing!” He jumped up like an excited kid who knew the answer to his teacher’s question.
Everybody turned, all heads pivoted in his direction, even George himself.
George smirked, “Yes, Armani.” Hands on his back. “Would you like to share your latest hypothesis?”
A hush fell over the auditorium.
“Whatever Roxy’s shortcomings are, I’m sure she wouldn’t break into a lab and steal data,” said Armani.
“And how do you know that?” George crossed his arms.
“Roxy won’t even know how to read the data even if she got it.”
Loud snickering spread through the crowd. There was no innocence in what seemed like harmless giggles. There was scorn on their faces. They weren’t amused because Armani was being funny. They laughed because they thought they were superior to Roxy.
Armani scowled at the crowd. “That was not a joke!”
George shrugged. “I expected a more sensible answer from you, Armani.”
“No, Dr. George. I believe in Roxy. She wouldn’t do that.” Armani’s face serious.
George smirked and stretched his arms. “Not everything has an explanation. Despite what you want to believe we possess all the evidence. Armani, I don’t know why such a former student is doing this. Rest assured, the university will be pressing charges.”
Armani sat down, apparently defeated.
“If any students here have any information to offer that will lead to the arrest of Roxy Riley, we can sort something out.” George glanced at Armani again.
☣☣☣☣☣☣
“I can’t believe this. The fire inside Roxy was long extinguished. Her heart was colder than the Arctic before the Heat.” The melancholy in Armani’s voice was contagious and made everyone at the table sadder. “She told me she felt like giving up the other day; the day before she went away. But she made her choice. She has chosen to be a peasant.”
Armani’s emphasis on the last word made Tracey roll her eyes. Armani had embraced the Community like a lover, but his good friend, who did not share the same depth of feeling, was abandoning it.
Armani’s fist meeting the table jolted Mandy out of her stupor, along with Tracey and Bulk. Usually, the four of them would go off with their own agendas after class and only met during the lectures. The dreadful feelings for Roxy that loomed over them and the last unoccupied table at Fries brought them together. Fries, one of the cafeterias in Connor University serving decent canteen food was bustling with people, but nothing on the menu improved their moods.
“You believe you know her so well, huh?” Tracey dipped a reconstituted potato chip into artificial mayonnaise and ate it.
“Know it? I can feel it!” insisted Armani.
“Please share how you can tell when a person loses their passion?” Tracey mocked him with a cold edge in her tone.
Armani was unfazed. “When you look into her eyes, all you see is emptiness. It’s like she is not present anymore. All you see is the former shell of Roxy, not her true self.” He sighed. “Without passion, you are a prisoner.”
“Of what?” Tracey challenged him but he ignored the question.
Mandy looked away, uninterested in their pointless bickering. She could not take her mind off what happened in the lecture.
“Eh, you still there?” Tracey waved at Mandy.
“What?”
“You don’t look okay.”
Mandy shook her head and mumbled, “I am fine.”
Bulk continued shoving burgers and fries down his throat. Nothing could fill his big round stomach which increased in girth every year. Around his grease-stained placemat, emptied plates were stacked higher and higher.
Armani looked away from Mandy, still lost in thought. His tablet was on, but he hadn’t read a single word. His spaghetti lay in an untouched mound on his plate, the wisps of steam rising from it had long evaporated away.
Tracey was the least perturbed by her table companions’ unease. She wasn’t close to Roxy anyway. She just wanted answers. “What’s up with you these days, looking so out of it?”
“Jeez! Did you even have to ask?” Bulk asked with his mouth full, splattering droplets of sauce that made Tracey choke on her double chocolate milkshake. “Mandy lost her best friend. It’s normal to grieve.”
“Excuse me,” snapped Mandy, teeth gritted. “Show some respect here. Roxy is not dead.”
“Okay, chill!” Bulk cried and held up two sauce-slicked hands. “I am sorry, okay?”
“Don’t make fun of Roxy’s disappearance,” insisted Mandy. “I can’t chill. It’s friggin me out especially after what George told us during the lecture. I have no idea what’s up with her, but one thing’s for sure, she is not dead.” She glared at Bulk, who nodded by way of apology.
“Um, maybe try calling her parents?” Tracey shrugged, but her eyes were on her phone.
“I did. No answer.”
“You could go and find Roxy’s parents,” suggested Tracey.
“And tell them Roxy’s gone and they should start scouting for cremation coupons?”
“CU is taking legal action against Roxy,” said Tracey. “Her parents have the right to know. After all, Roxy is missing. If she’s with them, fine, you get to sleep well tonight. And if she’s not, they can work something out, before it’s too late.”
“I believe in Roxy. I know her well,” Mandy replied defiantly.
“Tell that to George!” Tracey laughed. “It’s not like we don’t trust you, or her.”
“Roxy told me before she left, that she has business to take care of. We should stop making a big fuss and wait for her to return. As for the lab…” Mandy held back. “I’m sure it’s some internal misunderstanding. The truth will prevail.”
Silence fell over the table until Bulk leaned over to Armani. “Are you still gonna finish your spaghetti? I could help.”
☣☣☣☣☣☣
“Hey, you okay?” Tracey slipped in next to Mandy. A few minutes ago, she was prowling around a far corner in the Library
Café. She was observing her quarry and waiting for the perfect moment to make a move.
Mandy’s surprised look quickly morphed into the sleepy face she had worn over the past few days.
“You ever thought you’d find me in the library?” smirked Tracey as she ran her fingers through her hair. Mandy didn’t reply.
“Well, I think the latte rocks,” added Tracey.
Mandy nodded and returned to her tablet.
Clinking glassware and chatters drowned the soft jazz music. Amber rays spilled from the antique lamps hanging aloft. The setting looked more like a classic bar than a library cafeteria, although everyone had a tablet with them.
