Diaspora Ad Astra (7 page)

BIO REGAIN ENEMY OF FILIPINO POOR

The letters glowed scarlet against the stark white background. An ugly gash on the company’s genteel face.

David turned away from the graffiti and drove towards the EDSA Speedway.

As they walked up their home’s front door, Sparky’s excited yapping could be heard from within. David punched in the security code and the Spitz bounded out even
before the door had completely slid open. Shelley picked Sparky up. She giggled as the Spitz licked her face over and over in affectionate doggie kisses.

They entered their home, and were once again surrounded by all the things they associated with comfort. Their books. David’s television and DVD player—curiosities
from before the advent of Holographic Projection Entertainment. His spanking-new 21x21 holovision. Shelley’s vibrant, hyper-realistic paintings and the assorted materials she made them with.
Knickknacks and furniture that spanned decades, mixed and matched to complement their bungalow and to create the warm, cozy effect they both loved.

The house seemed cold and empty the days David spent there without Shelley. He had never felt so alone in years. With her back, the place was home once more. He wrapped Shelley
in a tight embrace and felt great relief at accepting Mateo’s offer.

They sat down for dinner. David had made Beef Teriyaki. Shelley had her LXR.

Warily, she looked at the clear glass vial filled with colorless liquid. “So this is what I eat?”

“For the next few months, Honey.”

Shelley twisted off the seal, raised the vial to her lips, and took a sip. She made a face.

“What’s wrong Honey?” David asked, his chopsticks poised over his plate.

“It tastes like rust.”

Months passed.

David learned, though was not really surprised, that Resurrection was not covered by insurance. Resurrection Policies in the Philippines were still in the planning stages.
Their insurance company refused to pay up for accidental death since, technically, Shelley was no longer dead.

The lawsuit against the car company went a little better. To avoid bad press about a defective navigation system in their top-selling vehicle, they offered to settle out of
court. Unwilling to fight a prolonged legal battle and in dire need of Credits, David accepted the relatively mediocre settlement, to the chagrin of his lawyer. After legal fees, most of the
Credits got swallowed up by the abyss that was Shelley’s Resurrection bill.

David used up all his savings, and mortgaged the bungalow to cover the balance. He sold off the remaining car and most of their furniture and belongings for the initial LXR
expenses. The house was practically bare now. But Shelley was there. For David, that was all that mattered.

One evening, he found her standing by the gaping front door. She stared up at the darkened sky.

“Honey? What are you doing there?”

Shelley frowned slightly and ran her fingers through her hair. “I… don’t remember.”

He called Doctor Victorino about the memory lapse.

“It happens,” the doctor’s projection on the holophone said. “Undergoing death may cause considerable trauma. Not to mention the cause of death, which
in Mrs. Lazaro’s case was rather violent. They’re just temporary, as far as our studies show. Nothing to worry about, really.”

Relieved by the doctor’s words, David prepared his instant ramen. While they had dinner, he noted that Shelley seemed much better.

“Honey?” Shelley screwed the cap back onto her empty LXR vial. Apparently, she had gotten used to the formula’s peculiar taste. “Is the holovision still
busted?”

“Yes,” David replied with some uncertainty. “Maybe I’ll just get a new one this Christmas.”

They spent the rest of the evening on the remaining couch. Shelley read aloud E.E. Cummings’ poems and David laid his head on her lap. Sparky snoozed on a nearby rug
where the 21x21 holovision had been before David sold it.

“Sir Dave?” The receptionist looked worried on the holophone projection. “That man from Credit Master is on line three.”

David cussed softly. The calls about his late payments had come more often. And more insistent. They now came with disturbing terms like
collection agency
and
legal action
.

“Please tell him I’m out. Thanks.”

The receptionist managed a faint smile before her projection snapped off.

It was almost time to replenish Shelley’s LXR and David’s Credits were running low. The company’s finance department had informed him they could no longer
extend his loan. Payday was far off.

David stared at the Sucat City skyscrapers outside his window. He felt trapped.   Helpless.   Exhausted.

Since he’d sold the car, the Automated Metro Rail became the main part of his commute. That evening, David stood at the crowded station waiting for the next northbound
train. From the platform’s edge, he glimpsed the metal tracks below.

A dark thought crossed his mind.

Then, he loathed himself for it.

He would be setting Shelley up for a visit from Mateo.

Then again, perhaps not, David told himself. Mateo knew he’d milked them dry. What would happen is that Shelley would be alone. There’d be no one to get her LXR.
Even with him still around, the LXR was already a problem.

David touched his watch. And realized something.

He sighed.

When he got home, David found a red envelope stuck in their gate’s mail slot. A disconnection notice from the holophone company. As he walked into the house he scratched
Sparky with one hand and hurriedly stuffed the envelope into his pocket with the other.

Shelley was on the couch, a sketchbook on her lap. She tore out a page and crumpled it into a ball. “I don’t understand. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to
draw.”

She hadn’t really painted after her Resurrection. And whatever studies she made were merely flat, muddy reproductions of her past work.

David walked over to hug her. “Hey. Don’t worry. Maybe you just need more time. You’ll soon be painting again.”

“What if I can’t?” Shelly pouted.

“Don’t say that. You know you will.”

Shelley was silent for a while. Finally, she smiled and playfully bit her lip. “Well, you should be glad I didn’t forget how to do… this.”

She languidly unzipped David’s pants.

“I’m very glad you didn’t.” David grinned. Shelley had acquired a new fondness for giving head. She had always been a spitter. These days, she basically
sucked him dry.

David was not one to complain about this particular lust for life. However, for a brief moment just before Shelly went down on him, he worried that she might find the
disconnection notice.

Or the pawnshop receipt for a wristwatch.

Before leaving for work the next day, David found Shelley in the little garden behind the house. She stood before her easel, her palette and a brush in her hands. Her mind as
blank as her canvas.

He cleared his throat. “Shelley?”

Shelley snapped out of her stupor, but a vacant expression remained in her eyes. “Oh. Hi, Honey.”

“What are you painting?”

“I… had an idea. But now, I’m not so sure.” She lifted up the palette with gobs of oil paint to indicate the empty canvas. “I’m afraid I
won’t make it in time for the exhibit.”

David wasn’t sure what to say. The show had already taken place two months earlier. So far, the next one hadn’t been scheduled. “Don’t forget to move
when the sun gets higher, okay Honey?”

She nodded.

“I know. Let’s drive to Puerto Galera this weekend. I’ll borrow a car from one of the guys,” David tried to mask his worry with a smile. “The
fresh air will be good for you.”

“I’d like that, Honey.”

Shelley loved long drives. Taking the Verde Island Viaduct from Batangas City to Mindoro would be the ideal trip. It was a scenic route through an expanse of sapphire waters
and emerald islands.

“Great.” David brushed strands of hair away from her face. “I checked the fridge. You’ve got one LXR left. That’s for lunch, okay? I have to go.
The briefing for the MetroTarlac project is this afternoon. Remember?”

Her head moved slightly in what David hoped was a nod.

“I’ll be back with your LXR before dinner.”

David was unable to come home early.

His MetroTarlac meeting started late and stretched on. On any other day, David would have been awestruck at the client’s home, a massive ancestral manor in the middle of
a plantation. Instead, he grew uneasy as the shadows lengthened all over the vast property rimmed by the Tarlac construction boom. He attempted to take a peek at his wristwatch. All he saw was a
lighter band of skin.

On the way back to Megapolis Manila, it began to pour. David and the rest of the team got caught in a North Ultra Speedway evening rush compounded by the rain and a
multiple-vehicle collision.

“I wonder if anyone died,” said one of the younger architects as the company shuttle inched past the accident’s scene.

David saw a Mobile Support Unit among the rescue vehicles, and said nothing.

When they reached Bocaue, David left his teammates in the vehicle and ran for the Automated Metro Rail station. From there, he managed to squeeze into a train heading for
Makati.

Still, by the time he reached the Bio Regain Center, the LXR Outlet had closed for the day.

David was welcomed by Sparky’s usual enthusiastic greeting. Half-heartedly, he scratched the dog behind an ear.

“Honey! You’re home,” Shelley called out. She was seated at the dining table.

David was not able to sleep much that night. He couldn’t forget how Shelley had burst into tears when he told her about the LXR. Unable to eat while his wife starved, he
too went to bed without dinner. He listened as Shelley whimpered softly in her troubled sleep. He held her close and tried to comfort her.

The next morning, he found Shelley sitting dejectedly at the dining table, still in the white nightgown she wore to bed. “I’m going to get your LXR.”

“Hurry Honey,” she said weakly. He noticed how pale she was and his heart sank.

Sparky yapped and pawed at his leg. David gave his snowy head a pat before he looked back at Shelley. “I’ll be back soon.”

David took the train to Makati. And walked into the biggest anti-Bio Regain demonstration in the country.

Thousands had gathered before the Center’s main gates. Protestors, already smelling of sweat in the morning sun, chanted “No way! Go away!” The crowd was
peppered with cassocks and habits. A gaggle of reporters interviewed a silver-haired bishop. In another area, a group in dirty robes got ready to crucify some of their brethren in protest.

Above the crowd were the banners.

BIO REGAIN IMMORAL!

NO TO RESURRECTION!!!

GOD ALLOWS DEATH FOR A REASON.

BIO REGAIN = GREED

DIE BIO REGAIN

David struggled through the crowd to reach the visitor’s entrance. “Let me in. Please,” he said to some guards behind the closed gate.

“You!” A student-leader-type pointed at David. “How dare you support Bio Regain’s tyranny?”

People turned to glare at David as though he ate live babies for breakfast.

The young man made his way towards David. “Why do you allow Bio Regain to control you?”

David met his gaze. However, before David could come up with a retort, the guards finally opened the gate. They quickly escorted David into the compound.

“I told the boys that was you out there, Sir David.” It was the middle-aged guard Santiago, who by then was an acquaintance. Though he looked harassed, a crack of a
smile managed to appear on the guard’s dark, weathered face. “It’s been peaceful so far. But it may be better if you leave by the back gate, Sir.”

At the LXR Outlet, David asked for a nondescript plastic bag. And though it meant a longer walk back to the main road, he decided to heed Santiago’s advice.

There were no crowds at the back gate. The only people there were some curious onlookers with apparently nothing better to do. With Shelley’s precious LXR, David lowered
his head as he walked through the gates, unwilling to attract trouble.

Nevertheless, trouble came in the form of some rowdy street kids. Fired up by the rally, they ran past the gates and screamed “Pak yu Bio Regain!” Before
disappearing around a corner with a chorus of boisterous laughter, they pelted the compound with rocks and plastic water bottles filled with suspiciously yellow liquid.

David’s right eyebrow met one of the randomly thrown rocks.

He saw a flash of light before dark blood ran into his eye. David started feeling the sharp pain as he staggered back towards the compound. As he attempted to wipe the blood
off his face, a big black car emerged through the Bio Regain gates. The vehicle glided silently past David, and then stopped.

“Mr. Lazaro.”

He looked up and saw Mateo peering from behind a half-opened, tinted rear window. The Overtaker opened the car door. “Get in.”

It was almost surreal. One moment David was surrounded by yelling kids and flying rocks. All of a sudden, he was in the comfy, leather back seat of a luxury car.

“It’s a good thing I saw you, Mr. Lazaro.” Mateo offered a white handkerchief.

David accepted.

“I was supposed to attend a meeting at the Center this morning. What a mess!” Mateo shook his head. “But don’t you worry, Mr. Lazaro. Bio Regain will
survive this crisis.”

David sighed and pressed the handkerchief against the gash on his brow.

“Would you like me to take you to a hospital? Or back to the Center? We do have a first aid station.”

“No. No, thank you.” David tapped the case of LXR lightly. “I have to get these home to Shelley.”

“Ah. Yes. Of course.” Mateo ordered his driver to take the side streets to the Buendia Automated Metro Rail Station. “I trust Mrs. Lazaro is fine?”

“I guess.”

“Good. Good!” Mateo shook his head once more. “If only those fools would take a moment to understand how much good Bio Regain is doing for people like you and
your wife!”