One Billion Drops of Happiness (6 page)

‘This is rather, er, awkward for me…’ Henry started, uncharacteristically avoiding Xandria’s questioning gaze. Xandria continued to stare at him unflinchingly. Throughout the years she had never seen Henry remotely squirm.

‘We have known each other for quite some time,’ he began again stiffly. ‘So I thought we ought to consider…’ He trailed off.

‘Henry, I’m afraid I can’t read your mind.’ Xandria said.

A waiter approached the table.

‘May I take your beverage order?’

Henry jolted into action again as if his Suppressitor had just rebooted itself.

‘Yes, yes. And we shall order the main course too if you will. Two eidelweiss tonics and two orangutan steaks…medium rare.’

‘Actually I was eyeing the grilled toucan,’ Xandria interrupted, vaguely miffed at his insistence. Henry Excelsior had a reputation for offending all women he came across by virtue of his ‘century old chauvinistic chivalry,’ as an old acquaintance of hers had put it. Nobody could figure out where he’d picked it up seeing as his formative years were well past the Inauguration. Perhaps basic human instinct would always prevail in whatever outlet allowed it.

The waiter pretended to note the order and slid away. In most restaurants the order was automated, arriving at the table on a moving belt. In recent times many of the more upmarket dineries had reintroduced the quaint waiter service of old days. People clamoured for this, insisting that it made the dining service so much more pleasurable and well worth the money it cost. Fads would always come and go, but for now it would seem pantomime dining was de rigeur.

The pair settled again into the gaping conversation.

‘So.’ Xandria prompted..

‘What I was saying,’ said Henry, ‘was that we have known each other for a period of time.’

‘Cut the prevarication, Henry.’

Henry glared at her in the calmest way he knew how to. His blue eyes were like frozen lake water; unwelcoming even in the balmiest of weather.

He changed tack.

‘My father thinks that in light of our latest development…’

‘Ophelium,’ Xandria nodded approvingly.

‘Ophelium. He thinks that the company will be working to full capacity in the immediate future…’

‘If New America agrees, of course…’

‘Of course. Let me finish. So there will inevitably be an enormous strain placed upon my shoulders and I certainly won’t want any distractions. But Reg, and indeed several of my advisors, tell me that my risk of sabotage will be increased. Despite everything we’ve become, human greed for money and power will always reign first.’

‘Very true,’ Xandria acquiesced, not really knowing what his point was.

‘So sometimes we have to weaken ourselves purposefully in a mild, predictable manner, so that we may avoid being weakened uncontrollably. And that process of weakening, if chosen well, may just end up strengthening things. Do you understand me?’ Henry looked directly into Xandria’s eyes as if lasering a hole into the cognitive part of her brain.

‘Not entirely.’ Xandria said, slowly beginning to comprehend what he may be getting at.

‘Look. My family has power. Your family had power. It’s something we both know the importance of. We have similar backgrounds and have been extremely privileged our entire lives. Outsiders will want to sabotage that. Reg thinks that if we combine forces, you and I, we can stay on a good path. Stay focused. I’m onto a good thing right now and I don’t want the same thing to happen to me as to Fliss.’

Fliss Da Costa had been in the same acquaintance circle as Henry and Xandria when they were growing up. He had been progressing very nicely in his government job when a recent female immigrant from the Old World crossed his path. Nobody was sure what exactly happened next, but Fliss became totally consumed by this beauty; she invaded his every waking thought, suffused his body with endorphins that made him feel optimistic, ebullient and certainly not calm. His Suppressitor couldn’t cope. His performance at work plummeted; they shipped him off to be tested for a faulty batch of the love injection but it returned overwhelmingly negative. People didn’t like to say, but many thought that this must surely be ‘that terrible malady from the Old World, the virulent form of the potion that cannot be controlled; that ugly predilection which never ends well.’

According to very reliable sources, the story did not end in tragedy, as has often been dispelled to the masses. Fliss and his belle left the city after an impromptu dismissal from the high-flying government job. Under strict conditions he was given meagre work in a small town on the other side of the country, with cast iron arrangements to have the love potion administered to both parties as soon as possible. The government had no time for indulging sentimentality. Underperformance at work was forbidden. We have provided an injection; if you are of weak disposition and do not use it prophylactically, then you are essentially as reliable as a fault line between two tectonic plates.

Henry and Xandria watched each other with expressionless faces. The penny was finally dropping.

‘So we selectively weaken ourselves to stay focused. Set ourselves back one step in order to take ten steps forward. And by doing this, we will protect our interests. Especially now the Suppressitors have started to malfunction. Right?’ Xandria mused slowly.

‘Correct,’ Henry confirmed, almost coming to life. ‘Prophylaxis. I don’t want to have my disposition tested and run the risk of losing everything. Fliss was the most functional human being I’d ever known. Obviously we all are, but Fliss could have lived without his Suppressitor and you’d never know. Until they find a cure to this curse, we’re all at risk. It’s the sanest idea in the world then, to shield ourselves from the full brunt….’

‘…using the love injection.’ Xandria finished.

‘Precisely.’ Henry almost smiled, a human cue signaling understanding.

‘Agreed then.’ Xandria said, thinking of her ambition to ascend further than Fliss up the government career ladder. She was convinced she was not at risk of any of this petty nonsense, but her grandfather used to tell her how in his time diseases struck even the most powerful of people at inopportune moments. It was best to be sure. Besides, Henry was not the worst person to be lumbered with. They’d just have to become accustomed to feeling artificial warmth for each other in the name of business.

‘Good,’ nodded Henry, leaning back in his chair. ‘I preferred to talk through this thing with a meal. It makes a nice break from taking those nutrition tablets three times a day.’

As if on cue, the food arrived.

* * *

On a busy city street, two women met quite by chance. It had been several decades since they had last seen each other.

“Good grief,” said Amethyst, leaning in to take a closer look. “It’s you.”

“Amethyst,” the other woman said, stepping back slightly, looking rather displeased.

“Come on Ernesta,” Amethyst said. “Give an old friend a metaphorical hug! Like we used to in the olden days.”

“Amethyst,” Ernesta Wan warned; looking around to see if anybody could see them. This was a faintly embarrassing acquaintance to own up to.

“Well, you’ve certainly changed a lot,” Amethyst commented, looking her old friend up and down. “Do you remember those days when we used to play tennis every day after school?

‘Vaguely.’ Wan dismissed. ‘Sport was such a waste of precious time. So unproductive. I’m glad they outlawed it.’

‘Aw come on…that’s not what you used to say back then.’ Amethyst continued, oblivious to her old friend’s reluctance to reminisce. ‘What happened to you besides work? You disappeared off the radar after you ran off with Reginald Excelsior, that dirty dog.’

Wan bristled, turning a funny shade of raspberry before relenting and reaching for her Suppressitor. Citizens were not supposed to make one another feel uncomfortable like this, she thought bitterly. It went against the entire fabric of New America. She had rarely felt shame in clicking before now, but these days she was having to do it an awful lot more.

‘That was over almost as soon as it had begun.” Wan said shortly.

‘But you have to admit,’ Amethyst probed, ‘that in the backdrop of today, it’s a pretty amusing thing to be able to say that you once did. I remember my mother was endlessly tickled; he was a bit of a cad shall we say, but then again, I’m sure you remember, eh?’

‘I don’t recall a great deal from the past.’ Wan said uncomfortably.

‘Oh Ernesta,’ said Amethyst. ‘How can you not remember? We used to have a blast, staying out all night, getting into all sorts of trouble. Don’t you miss those glory days?’

‘Amethyst, those days were nothing compared to what we have now. I’m not the same person I used to be. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t you miss it even a little bit? Being so free?’

Amethyst began to feel a little disappointed that her former best friend was acting so reticent about their shared youth. Over the years she had often wondered what had happened to Ernesta; people only tended to gossip about world events or subjects which directly pertained to the country. Word of mouth regarding other citizens had become extinct decades ago. It was small-minded and backwards to focus on an individual; only the population as a whole made a worthy subject.

‘Freedom was toxic, Amethyst.’ Wan said, trying to find a way out of the conversation. Amethyst appeared totally unaware. ‘We made foolish choices. Anyway, I must go now.’ She started to walk away.

Amethyst watched her in sudden desperation. She had so many unresolved questions, so many fragments from the past spiraling around in her head.

‘Wait,’ she called. Wan looked over her shoulder, her hair billowing down her back. Amethyst had to shout now. ‘Just tell me one thing, one thing only…’

‘What?’

Amethyst thought quickly. She took a deep breath.

‘When was the last time you danced, I mean truly danced like you were at one with the Earth?’

‘Never.’ Wan called back, expressionless. ‘Music is dead now. Live in the real world, Amethyst.’

Amethyst was left standing alone in the street. Citizens passed her by from all angles and directions. She felt empty.

Even if she had changed, Ernesta Wan was still the only person on the planet who could remind her of those crazy, heady days of youth, those days she now missed so sorely, those joyous days when they would laugh and feel infinite, both so sure that the world would continue to spin on like this forever, and that nothing could ever possibly change.

How she was wrong.

Never mind.

She plucked up a little courage and set off along the street again, humming a little tune under her breath that only she could hear.

The boardroom was heaving with the most important people in New America. Today was the day when Henry and Reginald would unveil Ophelium to the powers that mattered.

‘Ladies and gentleman, quiet please,’ Henry boomed confidently, scanning the room. He caught Xandria’s eye and nodded. She regarded him silently. Reginald paced the front of the room; his Suppressitor was not easing his anxiety. Olivier Okadigbo fiddled nervously with his own as if it were illegal contraband soon to be confiscated.

‘Excelsior Incorporated is delighted to present its latest entrepreneurial endeavour:, Ophelium.’ A collective murmur ricocheted around the room. ‘I’ll give it to you quite simply. What is Ophelium? Well, it is a liquid we have developed over the last five years. It contains the properties of serenity; it gives the same level of calm we can obtain from a Suppressitor –’

‘When they’re working of course…’ Reginald chimed jovially. Henry shot him an impatient look.

‘When ingested, Ophelium works infallibly. We have tested it on tens of thousands of willing subjects all of whom, without fail, reported a universal effect of tranquility. A perfect state of cool control. Throughout the process they were stripped of their Supressitors, naturally. We presented the test subjects with hundreds of scenarios which would invariably induce excessive emotion. The form of intense emotion that a Suppresitor would have to work terribly hard in order to equilibrate.’

‘The type of emotion that the recent spate of glitches are increasingly unable to resolve,’ Reginald supplied.

‘Yes. And guess what? Ophelium was able to maintain a cool state of mind. In other words, the subjects were unaffected.’

A few clicks echoed around the room as various bigwigs found themselves overwhelmed by this new revelation.

‘We found that the effects of Ophelium lasted as long as it remained in the human system. It’s half-life is second to none. Unfortunately, being in a liquid form, we could not prevent it from being, well, erm, secreted.’

‘Our next enterprise, maybe!’ Reginald joked. He had not felt so cheerful for months.

‘Very well.’ Henry took over. ‘So we pondered the shortcomings of such a liquid until we thought, ‘what if we made it into a gas?’ In that way, if continuously inhaled, the effects of Ophelium would last permanently. It couldn’t be simpler; breathing is the very mechanism of life. There’d be no need to click a Suppressitor in times of turmoil because the gas would continuously suffuse man with serenity. It would signal an end to reliance on these man-made devices, an end to consciously wearing our emotional amour around our necks. We can singlehandedly resolve the problem of unreliable Suppressitors and simultaneously overwrite the legacy of Zebediah Voss, that crooked deserter we shall speak no more about. This is the last vestige that modern medicine could not conquer, and we, Excelsior Incorporated, are offering it to New America in the very near future.’

The room was agog.

‘Mr. Excelsior, are you sure?’ Oscar Patel piped up. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the most profitable pharmaceutical company in New America.

‘The tests are conclusive. We really won’t need our Suppressitors anymore.’

Ernesta Wan shot up in the air as if she had been burnt. Today her hair hung in two long sheets either side of her head. ‘But what will this mean for my company, Mr. Excelsior? Our profits have plummeted in the past two weeks as it is…’

Henry looked to Reginald in a rare moment of hesitation.