12 The People of Decou, II

I didn't want to believe my ears at first, at what Ignacio said to me through that phone call.

I did not want to be in a death trap, let alone be an inch close to it. Suspension or termination from Saturn-Voyde was the least of my problems. I took my mind off the phone call by proofreading reports from the lower floors, who also had the responsibility of getting managing the customer feedback on our products via our website.

These products ranged from the most basic such as air conditioners and television sets, to more complicated things such as heavy machinery, and in some cases, uh...certain 'toys' to pleasure one's needs.

When I meant by "pleasure", I wasn't talking about the company's blenders or stoves, it was the other kind of pleasure. You get the picture.

My job on the 20th floors was mainly proofreading and monitoring information from both the 10th and 30th floors. In a nutshell, these floors are essentially one giant workhorse, and we essentially trust each other with the information we get, the income we get, the refunds the company has to endure when customers end up complaining.

There was a lot to do, and the Director trusted that nobody acted like a diva, an attention seeker, an asshole, or all three combined. That trust of his was around since the day the company first standed on its two feet back in the late 90's.

Who would have thought really, that the Director and his father started out small back then selling books of all kinds; fiction, non fiction, self help, cooking, the list goes on. People will essentially read anything, in the same manner as people today will watch anything on TV produce by those jokers at Sternwood. It didn't matter if the shows were smart or not, people will gobble up that entertainment as long as it "wasn't boring."

Yeah….there's a reason why the Director was rumored to dislike Sternwood nowadays. Too many extreme emphasis on comic book adaptations if not the cinematic universe from Fantastic Comics which seem to pump out movies harder than a milking machine for cows, and that was saying something. From what I heard, the Director praised movies from Sternwood's Golden Age, the kind where, in his words, truly defined the critical thinking process to be conducted by the average person; to test and showcase new possible theories about the future.

Some sci fi movies of the 40s and 50s made predictions about flying machines with portable computers or televisions; those would be the DataPods known today.

But as to what Ignacio told me over the phone, that was on my mind until my shift was actually over. I could have called him through lunch time, although even I had no idea how wired the Saturn-Voyde building was. I may have not seen it, but I had a feeling that the people in Research & Development definitely thought of creating a recording device that not only recorded an individual's voice, but also record the audio from another device.

A device recording another recording device, does that make any sense to you? On second thought, don't think about it too much, you wouldn't want to blast your brain out.

"What were you talking about before?" I asked Ignacio via the phone by the time I was walking a few meters away from the building.

"Elotro, surely a someone who worked at Saturn-Voyde must know that the company's had history of tapwiring CCTV cameras all over the city, if not every DataPod around the nation."

I sighed in anger. "Allow me to remind you that I am by no means a Higher employee there. I just recently got moved to the 20th floors!"

"Regardless, you'd still be a good cause for the BLV. Mortiqar has yet to face their trial, and besides, you think it would be easy to recall every single dosage of Blue Moon?"

I couldn't answer that question, Ignacio had a great point on that. Sighing, I asked him to give me more information about what he wants me to do exactly.

"Agent Delaney suspects that someone's pulling strings between Mortiqar and Saturn-Voyde. Recalling a product never takes a sonic speed amount of time, but I suspect whoever got my son Blue Moon, must be part of a group that's trying to sell it under the government's nose."

"Bootlegging Blue Moon?" I asked in surprise.

"Exactly. You think my son was the only one who got a Blue Moon needle in him?" Ignacio's words made me think of the colleague I saw in the building that one instance, or on the local news when people were found dead with Blue Moon coming out of their mouths or a needle sticking out of their arm.

I hated to admit it, but Ignacio had a point about Blue Moon not disappearing due to a recall.

***

There was an article back then, when the Blue Moon started to rack up bodies. A study conducted by the people at TBUE- The Best University Ever, that frequent Blue Moon symptoms would include:

- suddent enthusiasm

- high amounts of energy

- Constant to frequent laughing

- Uncontrollable gas

- Dehydration due to mind focusing on various tasks to the point the user forgets to drink enough water properly.

I was told by Ignacio to meet him at the Happy Vale's cafe a few meters just before the path leading up to Belmont Beach. I did not anticipate any reassuring words that would convince me that this plan of his would go well.

Not all people of Decou were that naive, nor were they ignorant as far as I was concerned. People's consciousness, their attention span, their sense of getting things done.

It has never changed. Not at all.