The Scarlet
Character
by Rick Tornello
There she sat
surrounded by empty seats, alone in the
onboarding section. And I, like a voyeur, watched
her safely from the distance. I knew no one in
his or her right mind would approach her, dare to
say hello, good morning or any normal greeting.
Others in the
spaceport were bunched up in over crowded
onboarding sections. The difference was obvious.
They were friendly, talking easily to strangers,
telling stories, eating, chasing loose children
and doing things that come naturally to travelers.
And as usual, I noticed some were a bit nervous
as if they might be new to space flight.
“Look,”
I said to my partner. “She?”
I almost spat the words as I pointed to her.
“She is never approached. No child is ever
let near her. In fact you can see she’s
sitting in that whole section by herself. No one
made her do that. There was no law. It was the
red Chinese characters Kang ti?? embroidered on her vest that the
planet knows by heart and we all avoid.”
We were all
afraid of her. Even the hypersonic jet taking us
to the low orbiting shuttlecraft where we all
would disembark for our respective deep space
voyages had a special separate compartment always
reserved for the likes of her and her kind. She
was not to be approached, not touched, searched
or in any way communicated with except by
designated cleared personnel. And, as I was
informed, those employees were all volunteers or
prisoners who would be granted freedom if they
could stay alive for a period of employment. That’s
what I heard anyway.
I continued,
“I consider her a sinner and this is Gods
way of punishing her, her family and those like
her. All should be condemned for ten generations.”
But I had to laugh at that. “Who would
consent to marry them? She will never have
children. They will all die out soon enough. I’m
sure of it,” I stated.
My partner
nodded in agreement and touched my hand. He had
heard it all before but seeing this one up close,
almost in my face was too much and I had to speak.
“We
should have been allowed to kill them all. But
being humane, we didn’t. However we didn’t
want to be reminded of what they were, a plague
upon humanity, and a carrier. We exiled them to a
G2 orbital world of their own,” I stated.
“It makes me sick.”
“She and
her type are the disease carriers. The experts
and professionals claimed they were cured and not
dangerous. But CX9 killer virus cropped up all
the time after time killing and maiming millions
with no cure. By all the time I mean annually.
And while we died, she and her type lived,”
I said as my partner looked at me, holding my
hand and squeezing it harder it in sympathy.
But no more,
oh no. We all breathed a sigh of relief as each
one was caught, ordered to wear the red Kang ti
characters and shipped out.
I smiled with
the knowledge of the One I held in my heart and
said more calmly, “Once the planet is rid of
her type, God will bless us all with a normal
existence. Sure we get sick, and have normal
diseases, and the seasonal flu. And sure a few
hundred thousand might perish worldwide. But that’s
life.
“And no
matter how much we were informed by the experts,
the epidemiologists, the scientists, and
politicians that we really needed them, we made
sure that anyone supporting them would never be
elected again and sent to die along with them.”
And I pointed to her sitting there.
She looked up
at me and smiled.
I stated a bit
louder still pointing, “It’s
claimed they have immunity. They have antibodies?
And we need them to help stop this annual plague
that comes from them? Who is going to
believe such nonsense? If we can’t kill them,
we should brand their foreheads with a big
scarlet A. That little embroidered patch they
must wear is too small and can be hidden inside a
coat. Do what I suggest and they could
never return nor hide among us. What do you think
of that?” I asked smugly. I knew he would
smile and keep reading his magazine.
It was in
Chinese. I never learned Chinese except for that
stupid kang ti character. English is the God
given language of the people of Earth. Everybody
understood it even though it had been said that
throughout the solar system Chinese was the real
lingua franca. What bullshit. That branded A
would have been a better idea.
The call for
our flight was being announced.
We stood up
and my partner kissed me on the cheek and
squeezed my hand tightly. I knew he hated these
hypersonic jumps. I looked at him and smiled. I
understood.
He looked at
me and said in a quite and somewhat oddly
controlled voice, “I love you and in a way,
I always will. You have no idea what you’re
saying. I’ve been with you now for over
three years and we have planned for this trip to
the moon palace. But now after all you have just
said, the manner and tone of your tirade, you
must know.” And from his inside jacket
pocket he pasted a little scarlet Kang ti on his
lapel. He grabbed his bags and strode over to
where she was sitting. From what I could guess
and his manner, asked if she minded if he sat
there pointing to the seat right next to her.
by
Rick Tornello © 2020
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