11 The People of Decou - I

Days after I had Santino brought back to his parents, I was inducted into the BLV.

I began my experience with them by attending various conferences, with a leader provided at each, as well as a guest speaker every once in a while. The BLV has been active for years, yet this situation with Blue Moon was one of the few events that truly sparked us to lend out our voices towards specific people in the government.

More specifically Minister Kair, whose recent statements according to the news have to be proven with words.

"All things require a process." said Kair on the local television news. "And Blue Moon is no exception. Rest assured this lawsuit with them will take a long time until it is determined that Blue Moon will be erased from the nation's nootropic system.

Mortiqar wasn't the first company when it came to developing things in order to make the nation's citizens more happy and productive, the company I worked with was no exception either. Saturn Voyde always had their ideas in the research and development sector.

There was once a time where I overheard rumors, that in the upper floors, floors 30 up to 40 to be more exact, there was some talk about the company possibly working together with a famous animation company somewhere in Southeast Asia. Apparently there's been research saying that most males aged 17 and above felt their depression go down in great numbers following their faithfulness towards foreign animation, especially with the inclusion of virtual idols, cat girls or maids that refer to a man as 'master'.

I remembered when I was a kid myself, that I would watch adaptations of the Decoun superhero Superfist on TV every Monday to Saturday. The show really got me pumped up. I'll tell you that, the theme song, the action scenes, the music used in the said action scenes.

Sadly Superfist was a fictional character for a reason, and I doubt he'd exist and help every Decoun with their mentality if not other issues.

Sometimes I wonder if people go through events that hit them so hard down low to the point where they can't even talk to other people anymore because of how society treats them, and they become more lighthearted because of a beautifully drawn or well developed character that just so happens to break the glass of what is perceived as a normal person.

Don't get me started on social media as well.

I have a FriendSpace account, but even then that's only for myself as an employee of Saturn Voyde. Sometimes I would be given tasks by a certain Higher employee (but not as high as Chevarin Kyle) in order to monitor the traffic that goes on and on passing by the tens to thousands of posts that often get scrambled with other people's posts.

Posts belonging to Saturn Voyde included those that seek connections with smaller businesses if not up and coming entrepreneurs. The company does support these rising business people as a whole, and well, you could say that these people also get a shot at earning some money to funnel whatever it is they got going.

I knew a guy at my workplace who acted as a Monitor towards these small businesses. Saturn Voyde had the perfect (and coincidental) opportunity to install cameras for these businesses, so we as a whole could really see what's going on behind the scenes in the process of buying, selling and building one's organization within the Decouan economy.

He told me that in between the people who actually try to move the businesses forward, there was an issue regarding leadership. You know, the bosses that either underpay employees or enforce them to work in conditions that both drain their energy as well and he had his past share of seeing people consume Blue Moon with an injection shot. This surveillance thing happened for quite a while, before Saturn Voyde ceased the operation (temporarily), because for the Director, we wouldn't want to get involved with a lawsuit that also involved citizens acting like screaming children.

In Sternwood, too many Decouans asked for diversity, demanding a representation in their media if not a proper one; the powerful media making powerhouse simply gave a big NO towards their faces. I heard about this in the newspapers a few months ago, one particular producer spoke out to them. "If you really want YOURSELF represented in movies, then make your own! What's your excuse?"

I felt bad for those Decouans, I really did. Even though I watched movies primarily for my own entertainment, I could imagine what it was like for them to lend their voices about what they want from the media, only to be shut down and told to shut up.

These people were still people. You don't have to be an expert psychologist or anthropologist to understand the human mind or nature. We've always been like this, to try and get the things we want; happiness included.

Chevarin Kyle had the liberty of explaining the concept of that to me.

Sometime after my encounter with Kyle regarding Regan's attitude, I was moved to the 20th floors. Fiona and several other workers, mostly women, were also moved to the floors; some were even moved to the 30th floor when Kyle and the other Highers looked over their resumes. My resume and past contributions here were also checked by him.

Kyle was technically a Higher of the 40th floors, but that didn't stop him from personally knowing the Higher employees of the 20th to 30th floors. The 21st floor became my new workspace. When Kyle brought me into the offices for the very first time, he spoke up.

"Everyone! We've got new employees from the 10th floor. They're not only moving here for a much more suitable environment of work, but they're also here because myself and the other Highers believe that their talents will be more than useful for Saturn-Voyde." As he said this, all the employees stood up, and gave me and my co-workers friendly nods.

We all nodded back. I had a small but nervous smile. This place was beyond clean, the windows were so clear and polished that you'd think there wasn't actually a window. The air conditioning, it was not far away from the 10th floors but holy moly is it more colder here; the hairs on my skin rising to the occasion even as I was currently wearing two layers of clothes.

Normally to be able to work on a floor like the 20th, or even the 30th, you had to have years and years of experience in a certain field, whether it be Human Resources, Relations, Tech, and so forth. Heck, I remembered my colleagues speaking about the requirements back then.

"Are they insane?"

"This is a lot to take in, and a lot to fulfill."

"What are the actual odds of working in a position you want and on the floor that you want?"

"So apparently, we need other jobs with experience in order to get a certain job position in Saturn-Voyde."

Following the introduction by Kyle, I would be directed by a 21st floor worker (in the company, sometimes we refer to works of a certain floor by their respective floor number, so in my case, I'd be a 21). The desk I was given had a wide, clean mahogany modern design that blended nicely with the gray legs that held the entire thing together. The computer I had was last year's PowerWindows 9, which had a 16:9 ratio of a monitor.

"We've taken the liberty to clean up any data left by the previous owner, because he was transferred to another company." the 21 worker told me. Like the others, he was neatly dressed, in a blue shirt. He gave me a small smile. "All you need to do is to include your name and your password, and yeah, that's pretty much it. You'd be all set to go." He then left me at the desk.

As I entered my name, Elotro Risas, and gave myself a new password for this equally new computer in front of me, I took the seconds to see just how well acquainted my colleagues were. They seemed more happier than they were on the 10th floors.

"Welcome aboard, 10 worker." I saw another 21 worker looking at me from the desk in front of me. "Hope you enjoy your stay here."

Again, I only gave a small nod. I barely know these people other than the fact that they worked here, and I knew I had to make myself acquainted here. Kyle left most of the new workers to the 21 workers, who weren't shy in talking to all of us including the women. I didn't see Fiona there for some reason.

In Kyle's defense, not all of us from the 10th floor were moved here. Obviously whoever Kyle was talking to to get us here in the first place, it was his friends that had to make the final call.

Speaking of calls, my phone buzzed in my pants. Picking it up, I heard a voice. "Elotro? You at work?"

It was Ignacio, Santino's father, and he was asking me when my shift ended.

"Some members of the BLV and I have a plan going on, and we may need your help in particular for this."

I whispered. "Why me in particular?"

"We need you to get into the deepest parts of Saturn-Voyde's security data." When Ignacio said that, my heart dropped. "We got reason to believe that they got connections to some security cameras within Downtown."