Episode Eight

[Velociryx]

Episode VIII
Healing.....

Deidre watched him go, half dragging his prisoner down the street. She could sense the torment and conflict in him, but she could also sense the goodness. Quite a remarkable change from when they’d first found him.

She nearly allowed herself a smile, but then remembered where she was and all the work that lay ahead of her. The crowd thronged around her, no longer angry, but certainly restless.

Briefly, she considered climbing back onto the wall and speaking further to her People, but decided against it. No. Nothing more needed to be said. So, she simply moved among them. Talking to them individually. Opening herself up to them and feeling their pains and frustrations.

And as she moved through the crowd, full of grace and strength, poise and compassion, the mood of the crowd began to shift further still. This was not some distant, disconnected leader. This was a leader who heard their cries and answered them in person, moving among them. She did not respond to force with force, but with compassion and tenderness. She was as kind as she was fearless, and they were enthralled. Just to be close to her. To reach out and touch her shoulder or her hair. To feel her among them.

The riots ended. The healing began. And Lady Deidre Skye finally allowed herself a smile.

Her People had come through. Stronger now than they had been before. Bonded together by hardship and tragedy. They had made it.
***

Later that evening

“Velociryx, I am glad you could come....please, come in.” She stepped back and allowed him into the inner chambers of her apartment.

He entered stiffly. Uncomfortably. “You honor me, M’Lady....allowing me into your home.”

She shook her head and sat on an overstuffed divan, motioning for him to sit on the matching one across from her.

“Not at all....I am no more or less important than any other member of the Landing....you are welcome here any time.”

He sat down and stared at her. “There are people who would beg to differ with that opinion, M’Lady.”

She smiled faintly. “I re-learned several important things today.” She told him. “Things I should never have lost sight of....this position of leadership exists to serve the People, not the other way around.”

“But from what I have seen you have never....”

She held up a hand. “Yes....I have. Perhaps without even realizing or intending, but I have just the same. I became so distracted by a higher, scientific goal, that I lost sight of the needs and desires of the people who make our research efforts possible....and it cost us.....”

Tears returned to Velociryx’s eyes at the merest mentioning of that. “Yes.” He said softly. “It cost us dearly.”

She leaned forward and touched his arm. “I am sorry for your loss....I know how much she meant to you.”

He did not speak for a long time, and when he finally did, his voice was that of a child. “I....I should have done things differently. I might have saved her if I’d focused on the gun instead of getting to her....I might have....”

“Shhhh....don’t....you cannot torment yourself with it. It is finished, and you did the best you could. You were trying to protect her.”

He met her gaze. “My best fell well short of being good enough.”

“No....you cannot control everything. You cannot predict everything. You are only Human.”

“Am I?” He asked blackly. “All my extra organs that your science teams still can’t figure out....a computer embedded in my skull, hydraulic assist struts in my arms and legs, strength enhancers.....am I really Human, or just some kind of freak you managed to rescue and impart a few good qualities to?”

Deidre shook her head. “Human. And I can prove that to you if I must.”

“Do it.” He shook his head, not believing.

“When Gayle was shot, you could have killed the man who killed her. You did not. Why?”

Velociryx stared at her for a long moment, thinking. Remembering. So much anger and hate. It would have been so easy, but....

“I....it wasn’t....I couldn’t....”

“The machine part of you wanted to, and maybe the Human part did too, but as I understand it, you kicked him instead. Why? Why not just kill him? That is what a cold, efficient machine would have done, isn’t it.”

“Yes.” He whispered.

“But you did not. Nor did he go unpunished. You kicked him. Why do that? Why not kill him or let him go?”

“Because....what he did was wrong.....there was no justice in letting him go completely free.”

“There was justice in kicking him?”

He pondered. “Yes....I think there was. Maybe not the kind of justice that a court would approve of, but there was balance to it.”

“Some kind of response was called for then.”

“Yes.”

“And again later, when the gunman was firing at me....the same gunman who had killed Gayle earlier. You had another chance to kill him, but you didn’t.”

“For the same reasons.”

She nodded. “But you clubbed him in the head....was that for the same reason as when you kicked him earlier?”

He nodded, and she smiled. “Human.” She said softly. “You are a good man....you want to do that which is right, and you do not like to see the wicked go unpunished....You are brave and resourceful, and I can think of no one I would rather have serve as this City’s Constable. You will make a fine one.”

“But....I....my music....”

“Being Constable is not a lifestyle....it is merely a job....I imagine a number of people in the Landing would be deeply disappointed if you did not continue with your music. I ask that you do both. Become our Constable to serve the greater good of the Colony, and continue with your music to serve the hearts and souls of our People.”

He considered for a long moment, and then sighed. “I have been thinking about this since you spoke to me by the wall....it is a hard thing that you ask me to do, but....you and the people here have given me a life....I am happy here, or at least I was....”

“You can be again.”

“Someday.” He said softly.

“Yes....someday.”

He nodded. “Maybe if I serve as Constable I can try hard to make sure nothing like the riots ever happens again....and it would be my way of repaying the Colony for all the kindness everyone has shown me....I accept. I will be your Constable.”

Deidre favored him with a smile. “In that case, report to your new office tomorrow morning....you have much work ahead of you, Constable Velociryx.”

He stood and bowed to her. “Yes M’lady....and thank you....Thank you for this chance.”

He turned to go.

“Velociryx?”

“Yes?”

She paused a moment, considering exactly how to ask her next question. “Where.....is Gayle, exactly?”

“She is with Planet now....safe. At Peace.”

They held each other’s eyes for a long moment.

“Good night Velociryx....and good luck to you.....Walk the Planet.”

He smiled, remembering the first time that phrase had come up. “Walk the Planet, M’Lady Deidre.”

He closed the door softly behind him and made his way out of the building. The night air was cool....bracing. He stretched in the moonlight and then sighed deeply.

Much work ahead.

Indeed.

But for now, a late night walk to think, and consider, and remember.

“I miss you, Gayle.” He whispered on the wind, and somehow, he imagined that she could hear. The thought made him smile as he took his first steps into the thick evening shadows....