Haven

Chapter Six

Ben scrolled through the contacts on his holo-watch until he came across the name he was looking for. He called up Sarah see if she had any plans tonight.

Sarah answered with an enthusiastic hello, "Hey Benny! How's it going?"

"Sarah!" ben sounded a little over eager. "i was wondering if you wanted to meet up? Maybe hit a vape lounge, eLiquor and good conversation?"

People vaped everything nowadays. There are all sorts of designer drugs available over the counter. After Pharmatek sued the government for the rights to sell recreational medications, it was open season on uppers, downers, and everything in between. It actually turned out all right. With relatively safe drugs available the use of street drugs went down quite a bit. The courts gave the world the green light to party. RecMeds are now the pharmaceutical industry's biggest moneymaker.

"Yeah just give me a minute." Sarah sounded like she was outside. "gotta stop in and water barb."

Sarah loved the outdoors. She has always wanted to live somewhere with trees, but the only places left with trees and open space just are not conducive to a career for a journalist. She needed to be where it was all happening. And sense tech was driving the world that meant being right where she was. A writer for an independent news blog with a press pass for her jaunts into the headquarters of digitaldynamics to get the latest scoop. So she settled for a small potted bush in her apartment, her silent protest against the city.

"I'll meet you at Vicks Vape House, the one by your work," She ended the call before Ben could answer.

That was strange. It was unusual for Sarah to be so short with him. And how long had it been since she was at her apartment? It was a bush, not a dog. He would find out soon enough. He went to his little office bathroom and washed up. He changed his shirt twice. That was rather unusual behavior for Ben. He scolded himself for being nervous to go and see her. He had known her for a while now, and she really was one of the best friends he had ever had. He had been so focused on Haven. But now with most of the hard work done he found himself noticing the way her voice made his heart rate quicken. How seemingly unrelated things would make him wish she was there.

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She first met Ben when he arrived in Seattle after DigitalDynamics recruited him out of college. It was only a year ago. She had just moved here herself from Washington D.C. Her grandfather was a journalist in his day, so her family lived where he could ask the people in charge the tough questions. She wanted to do the same. She has been unable to acquire a journalism license for New York where she could try getting on the press corps of The Council, but credentials for the DigitalDynamics press corps are almost just as valuable.

She was finally home. Ben had called her right as she was running up the stairs to her apartment and so close to where she could get to her notebooks of research. She had profiles on everyone important enough to have a profile on. The details of business deals from the past, personal relationships between corporations. She was looking for that big break. The perfect source. Where there was power, there was corruption. It was her job to sniff it out. She couldn't expose any real scandals on a syndicated news program without losing her license, jail or worse.

She could leak the information on the web. There was a huge following of people who knew the official news no longer had the ability to bring them anything other than weather, sports, and propaganda. They would sift through page after page looking for a real journalist's anonymous tag. Someone who believed in the old days with press freedoms. It was so difficult to find the truth nowadays. But it was out there. And she would show it to those who needed to see it, no matter the risks.
She emptied a water bottle onto the dry soil of her little piece of nature and grabbed her notebooks.

Paper was expensive. But it was worth having around if you needed to avoid leaving a digital trail. She started sniffing around where she shouldn't be when whispers around the press corps started making it to her. The higher-ups are hiding something.

She hit a roadblock in her research and needs Bens access to the DigitalDynamics board of directors. He has inside access. If she could convince him to plant one little microphone in one of there offices she could get some clues as to what the hell was going on. There where too many rumors about lost files and people moving assets around. Large transfers of cash have been made in the past year that are completely anonymous.

The possibilities kept her awake at night. And it was time to get to the bottom of it. Ben was the only option she could see. But convincing him to go outside conventional boundaries and participate in spying on the company he was working for would be an effort in persuasion to make hypnotists proud. Bolting out the door, she almost forgot to lock it as she went to meet Ben.

It only took her a few minutes to get to Vick's on the light rail that dropped her off right in front of Bens building. She made her way to the lounge and walked in through the heavy black doors. A hologram of a woman with a purposefully caricatured body and bright red dress with vapor coming out of her pursed lips stood to the side of the door welcoming visitors.

"Ben! Hey Ben!" She had to shout loudly to be heard over the electronic music thumping it's rhythmic tune. He finally noticed her after a few more attempts and waved her over.

"Hey there Sarah!" She could barely hear him over the sound of the lounge. People shouting and music blasting.

She pointed to the door of the patio, "let's go outside so we can talk!".

Following his lead, they went to the patio and spotted a small couch to sit on and talk more privately. A server brought them their orders, a dirty menthol martini for herself and an old-fashioned for Ben. The drinks, not really drinks at all, were served in a shiny black tube with a picture of Vick's curvy greeter positioned to look like the vapor you inhaled out of the skinny end was being blown from her mouth to yours. They inhaled deeply for a few moments before she started making her case.

"Absolutely not Sarah, you know what could happen to both of us if we got caught trying something like that." Ben spoke harshly and under his breath.

"Ben please, I'm telling you something weird is happening. I don't have all the dots connected yet but there have been a lot of suspicious things happening. I know it's not the kind of thing you are normally comfortable with. Just take my notes. Think about it." Sarah had done the best she could, and hoped the clues she did have would be enough to make him want to dig deeper for her.

They stayed for a while longer and talked about less serious things. After their second drink she was able to take her mind of the mystery for a while, and was glad he invited her out tonight. She started to notice his eyes wondering down while they were talking. Was he checking her out? He must have been feeling his eLiquor more than it seemed. She decided it was time to call it a night.

"We should get out of here Ben, it's getting late, " she glanced at her empty wrist and hoped he didn't notice.

"But it's still so eaaaarly. Let's get another drink." Ben rested his hand on her thigh as he said this. It was definitely time to call it a night.

"Come on, I'm being serious. How about we get together in a couple days and celebrate the big day! Haven launches next week right?" She asked mostly to take his mind off of whatever his less than sober state was thinking about as his eyes would wonder down and snap back up.

"Actually it's only two days away, we are doing a midnight release on Thursday. But that sounds good.. " He looked a little embarrassed, maybe he started to realize she saw his gaze drifting. His cheeks began to get red.

"Im not going to make any promises," Ben rubbed the back of his head while looking at the floor, "but I will think about it.."

"Thank you Ben, " she wrapped him in a hug, knowing that he really would give it serious thought, "It means the world."

They walked to the train station together and left in opposite directions, making a plan to meet after the release of Haven. And with that no longer taking up his time it might be easier to convince him to help her.