The Blue Orchid Years

Chapter 28: Somnodora

March 7th 2664

It was an unusually sunny day in the middle of a usually rainy month. A ray of sunlight filtered through the leaves as if through a pinhole camera, creating leafy shadows on the ground. My wife and I went to a park near our house, where magenta geraniums grew on the sides of a long cobblestone path on which our neighbors walked their spoiled pets. There was a concession stand selling pink lemonade and roasted chestnuts, perfect snacks to share with loved ones.

"Why don't you like Linda? She's the nicest and yet you're still holding on to your skepticism," Moira asked as we watched the neighborhood children chased after each other. "Do you distrust her just because we don't know her very well yet? But almost everyone we have ever known in our lives started out as strangers to us, right, Nardho?" she put her hand on top of mine.

"Linda seems sketchy to me," I answered. "Maybe it's her smile. It looks insincere. I don't know, it's hard to explain gut feelings. Hey, honey, would you object if we look up her credentials? I want to know what her qualifications are and if her company has good reputation."

"You sound a lot like a human resource manager scouting for talents to recruit," Moira laughed but then abruptly stopped as she realized I was not kidding. "Well, it's not unlawful to look at somebody else's curriculum vitae if they put it publicly on professional networking platforms."

"Anyone can make themselves look great on their profiles," I replied. "What I mean is that I want to find out who else work in the same company Linda is in and then stealthily gauge whether they have good opinions about that woman. For that, I might have to go undercover."

"You want to play detective?" Moira asked, hesitation laced her voice. "It's one thing to be curious about somebody else's portfolio, it's another thing to be a spy. I'm not against you wanting to investigate, but I don't want you to be reckless in your investigation. Don't do anything illegal like stalking or sneaking in, Nardho, you're not that kind of person, are you?"

"Nope, I'm not planning to snoop around like a sleuth." I grinned. "When we finally go to Linda's laboratory I plan to strike up conversations with her coworkers, befriend them so to speak. Once they see me as a friend I'll ask those coworkers more about Linda, posing my questions as innocent curiosity about our mutual acquaintance. Office gossips, got me?"

"Okay, good luck with that." Moira still sounded reluctant. "Hopefully her coworkers would not think you're a weirdo sticking his nose in things that are none of his business. I hope they'll sympathize with you and just think you're an overly concerned husband, which you are."

"I'll make sure they see me favorably!" I promised. "Now, let's get some lemonade, I'm thirsty."

-----

The anticipated visit to the laboratory arrived and as we waited to be let in we stood by the huge welcome sign that said Orchidsboro Second Chances Pharmaceutical. The logo showed two winged humanoid figures whose wings morphed into tree branches. Underneath them, the slogan of the company proudly stated Health is Wealth. For some reason it felt strangely ominous to me.

"What's wrong? Nervous?" Moira wrapped her fingers around mine and squeezed my palm gently. "Oh, you don't really like their tagline?" she asked once she knew what I was looking at.

"It's probably just me but that sounds nefarious, like they're admitting in the open that they make money off of diseases," I shrugged. "Couple that with the tree imagery and it's like they're growing money on a tree, the tree being this corporation. How ingenious."

"Ingenious? That's sarcasm, right?" Moira chuckled. "You're overthinking. If you ask me it's a perfect slogan, maybe their way of saying that health is precious and that's why they're developing drugs to help people stay healthy. Plus, their name is literally second chances."