NEXUS POINTS : Chapter 13-14

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Chapter 13

Kora sat in shock and disbelief on her rarely-used sofa, trying to make sense of what had happened since this morning. If she could just think hard enough, she might be able to figure out what had happened to her, to her life.

The afternoon had gone by in a blur. Kora had never felt so humiliated in her life as when she was marched down to what had been her lab by two security guards in front of all her peers. She wondered if everyone had gathered in the hallway just to see her being thrown out of the building. They had all avoided eye contact with her, except for Sid Tawfig. He had given her a nervous wave as she walked past his lab. 

Kora had arrived at her lab to find all of her tissue samples and assay results gone. Her clearance had already been revoked and she couldn’t retrieve any files from her workstation. Her office had been ransacked and was in a state of utter chaos. There really wasn’t much left to pack up except for the small holo projector with her graduation video on it and some spare clothes she had kept in the coat closet. 

Kora had then spent the rest of the afternoon at the SSA Headquarters answering questions about experiments and evidence she had had no knowledge of. The agents had told her that Yong Liu had been detained and would be formally charged in the next day or so. Finally, after five grueling hours, they had let her go.

Kora watched the light of the setting sun shift across the room, casting shades of oranges and purples on the neutral furniture, until there was nothing but darkness left.

The ambient light came on. Something prompted her to turn on the news. Liu’s arrest dominated the headlines. One channel reported, “Inventor of CTE vaccine arrested on suspicion of illegal DNA hybridization. Shakeup at NID Biotech.” Another channel stated, “Disaster averted at NID Biotech as famed geneticist was arrested for attempting to introduce illegal DNA into the population’s genome.” 

There was a video clip of Derin Serpius talking to a reporter. “As soon as foul play was suspected, NID took sweeping action to bring Dr. Yong Liu to justice. We also fired one of the scientists who helped him with his activities. She’s currently being investigated by the authorities.”

“Would that be Dr. Kora Amelli?” the reporter asked.

“Yes,” Serpius answered. 

A headshot from Kora's employment records at NID appeared on the display. 

She turned off the holo. The silence in the room was deafening. Her mind went blank and her limbs grew cold. It was as if she had entered a twilight zone, one in which everything that could possibly go wrong had gone wrong.

Her life had always made sense to her, even with her parents’ transport accident and Anita’s death. But not this, not what had happened in the past eight hours. 

The comm link at the door rang. It was Peter Lee. Kora buzzed open the front door of the building to let him in. She leaned against the wall in her small foyer and stared at her living room. It felt foreign to her, probably because she had spent very little time in it.

Large windows dominated the wall across from the front door. Underneath them was a low two-tiered shelf filled with small mementos Anita had brought when she moved in with Kora after she’d gotten sick almost a year ago. 

What would Anita say if she were here…?

There was a knock on the door. Something inside Kora snapped at the sight of Peter. The pressure that had been building since this morning was suddenly too much to bear. She leaned into Peter and held him tightly. He seemed surprised. It was unlike her to show this much emotion in front of him.

Kora finally broke away. 

Peter grabbed her hand, then led her to the sofa. “I saw the news. What happened?” he asked.

Kora started recounting the day’s events as if she were remembering a dream. Peter’s dark eyes widened in disbelief. He ran his hand through his wavy dark hair. His pale face turned even paler when Kora announced that her career as a nanotherapeutic geneticist had just abruptly ended. 

They both fell silent.

“What are you going to do?” Peter finally asked.

That was the question Kora had been asking herself for the past two hours. “I’m not sure. I’m still trying to make sense of everything.”

“You could always become a teacher.” Peter tried to sound encouraging.

Kora felt lost. She never thought she would need to think of a second career.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Peter asked. The sincerity in his voice was moving. 

“No, Peter. But thank you. I need to sort this out myself. I know I can sort this out...” 

It was as if Kora were trying to convince herself. She covered her face with her hands. “I need to go see Yong... I need to find out what happened.” 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? The charges against him sound serious. Illegal DNA hybridization to manipulate the population’s genome? Isn’t that a capital offense?” 

“I know Yong! He has dedicated his life to cure people. He would never do what they’re accusing him of! Something’s not right here.”

All of a sudden, Kora remembered the message Yong had left her last Thursday, that he had found an important clue about Anita’s death. Then there was the way Serpius had questioned her earlier.

“Peter, I think Yong’s arrest may be connected to his research into Anita’s death. If that’s true, I need to help him.”

Peter sighed. “I know there’s nothing I can say that’ll change your mind. I have...  something to tell you.”

Kora turned to look at him. “What is it?”

Peter hesitated. He fidgeted in his seat. He finally looked Kora in the eye. “I was going to tell you the day you woke up in the hospital. I was offered a position at an engineering firm on Scorpio. I’m going to be leading my own research team.”

Kora didn’t know how to respond. After a long silence, she said, “That... That’s great... That’s... That sounds wonderful...” 

Peter took Kora’s hands into his. “Come with me! Get away from all this. Let’s start over...together.”

Kora’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Part of her wanted to say yes, desperately. Another part of her knew that wouldn’t solve anything. She would never be able to move on if she didn’t find out what had happened today. 

“I’m sorry, Peter. I want to, but I can’t… I need to see this through.” It pained Kora to see the disappointment in Peter’s eyes.

“It’s okay... I don’t know what I was expecting... I wish I could be here for you, but they need me right away.” 

Kora put on a brave smile. “Don’t worry about me, Peter. You go. I’ll be all right.”

Peter pulled Kora close to him. He kissed her softly on the lips. “How about I take you out to a nice dinner at least? One last time, to cheer you up?”

“How about we stay in and order take out?” Kora whispered.

Peter’s lips found Kora’s again. She kissed back, finding that familiar warmth and comfort she had counted on in the past year, just one last time. 

Then it dawned on Kora. She had just lost everything important in her life.

Chapter 14

Yong Liu barely touched the food from the dispenser. He paced the three-meter by three-meter detention room. It was simply furnished but for the most part accommodating. A thick thermal blanket was neatly-folded on the narrow but well-padded bed. There was a small desk and chair in one corner, and the lavatory was partitioned into a separate area in the opposite corner. Both of which faced the bed under the small, sealed window. Most importantly, the room was clean.

Yong ran his fingers through his hair. Anger and indignation had slowly given way to weariness and anxiety over the past few days. 

He had gone over every detail of his arrest a thousand times. He knew he had somehow kicked the hornet’s nest when he’d sent Derin Serpius his report on the possible link between the FS Project and Anita Amelli’s brain degeneration. He just hadn’t expected the backlash to be so severe.

His attorney had not been optimistic about his case. Whoever framed him had made sure he would go to prison for the rest of his life. Yong was not one to give up without a fight, but he could calculate his odds. Fear slipped through his normally controlled awareness. 

He heard a knock. The door to his detention room opened and Beck Hollen walked in holding a small holographic projector. A guard stood watch outside. 

“Dr. Liu. Please have a seat.”

Yong sat down on the edge of the bed. Hollen pulled the chair over to face him, sat down, then turned on his holo projector. 

“This is the evidence we’ve collected in your lab and at your home. As you can see, there’s a lot of material showing you were conducting illegal research on DNA hybridization using artificial gene sequences,” Hollen said, going through the images, all the while keeping his eyes on Yong, as if expecting a reaction.

“I’ve told you many times, I’ve never seen any of these experimental reports or assay samples. They’re not mine. Someone is trying to frame me because I found irregularities in an experiment I was conducting,” Yong said to Hollen with as much conviction as he could muster.

Hollen raised his eyebrows. “Irregularities as in possible contamination with the therapeutics NID manufacture?” 

“Yes! It could cause brain degeneration that eventually leads to psychotic episodes and even death. I told Derin Serpius about my findings on Thursday night. He asked me to file a report, which I did early Friday morning. Then I was arrested.” 

“By report do you mean the ID-KW6455947 file you uploaded onto NID’s ORRI database? The one detailing all your research results?”

Hollen enlarged the file on the holo display.

Yong read through the file. “That’s not my file. Well, to be precise, part of it was the assay result I included in my report to Serpius, but I’ve never seen the rest of the file before.”

“We couldn’t find any other report on the ORRI database. It’s not on any of the workstations in your lab or anywhere else either,” Hollen said.

Yong closed his eyes. “They must have erased it,” he sighed, feeling the last bit of hope leaving him. “Look, Mr. Hollen, this is much bigger than you can imagine. I must be onto something that NID is trying to cover up. That’s why they had me framed.”

“By they you mean Dr. Serpius and the other executives at NID?” 

Yong could tell from the look on Hollen’s face that he didn’t believe a word of what he was saying.

“I’ll be honest, Dr. Liu, given the amount of evidence, your best option is to plead guilty and have your attorney prepare a statement for the judge to ask for a lenient sentence. Accusing another man won’t help your case.” 

There was a deafening silence in the room. Yong pondered what he had just heard. He wanted to scream at Beck Hollen, only he knew that would do him little good. He couldn’t believe what had happened to his life. He thought about his life’s work. Then he thought about his dead wife and daughter. There was only one thing left to do.

“No, I won’t plead guilty to a crime I didn’t commit. I want my day in court,” Yong said calmly.

Hollen leaned back in his chair. He shook his head. “Very well. You’ll be formally charged before noon.” He got up to leave.

“What about Dr. Amelli?” Yong asked.

Hollen paused at the door. “We confirmed your statement that she didn’t know about any of this.” 

“And my staff?”

“They’ve all been cleared.”

“I want to make absolutely clear that none of my staff has anything to do with these allegations against me,” Yong said, looking sternly into Hollen’s eyes.

Hollen looked over at the breakfast tray in the food dispenser. “You should eat something.” He stepped outside the room, then closed the door behind him. 

The air-lock clicked with a finality that wasn’t lost on Yong.

- End of Chapter 14 -