Project Obsidian Moon

Chapter 4: An old friend

I awoke to the usual annoying droning noise of my holo-watch going off.. "Who in the world is calling me this early..?" I mumbled as I glanced to check, it was an unknown number.. I picked it up, ready to yell at whatever advertiser called me. But it was someone else, "Adam? How're you feeling? Did you sleep okay?". It was Sarah, "How'd you find my number? And also you have any idea what time it is?!" I was a bit annoyed that I was woken up on my day off.
"Yeah... It's 2pm in the afternoon.. and I got your number from the file you filled out yesterday.." 2pm???? Had I really slept that long? Then it all came rushing back.. that's right, yesterday.. Travis, the murder, I'd forgotten all about it thinking it was some sort of trick my mind was pulling on me. But I guess it really did happen. "Oh.. yeah I'm sorry I just passed out last night.. I guess I'm feeling alright though. Did the cops find anything on the murder?" I was still a bit bed headed so I decided to freshen up as I talked, "No, nothing yet. Which is why I called you, we need to talk. In person. Can you meet me at the Regimont Café in Sector 3?" In person? What could she not tell me over a call..? "Yeah sure I guess, just gimme a while, I need to get a change of clothes and maybe take a shower" I sighed. Just yesterday I'd been celebrating getting a job at the reactor division and now my life's been turned inside out. "Alright we'll meet there in an hour. See you there!" She hung up before I could complain that an hour wasn't enough. I decided to get moving and sure enough she was waiting for me when I got there. "What the hell are you wearing?" She asked gesturing to my clothes, "My outfit? What about it?" I didn't really understand, I thought it was normal to wear what I was..? Maybe I'd worn something out of date? Or was there a hole in the jacket? "Excuse me? Your jacket, is that real leather?" Oh... She meant that.. leather wasn't really something you saw often. You'd see a couple belts or holo-watch bands made out of them, but a whole jacket was something nobody could afford.. "Oh this.. Travis gifted it to me for my 24th birthday.. He told me he'd gotten it made for me.. still don't know how he managed to afford it." There was a pause.. Sarah, Travis and me were best buds back at the academy.. until things slowly fell apart. I left the academy first while Travis and Sarah continued until Sarah too left to join the police force. Travis was the only one who contacted me during that period, and we stayed close since.. Sarah on the other hand disappeared completely. Travis said he'd ran into her a few times but never more. "Yeah well old Travs had his ways.. I'm sorry about him by the way.. I know you two were close." "We were all close back at the academy.. still can't believe that was 5 years ago.." I needed to change the subject. I couldn't keep talking about Travis for long before I broke down into a mess. "You know you really were i-" she was cut off by the waitress who came over "Hi sir, Hi ma'am, what would you like to order today? We have some new specials, our grilled steak bread is popular right now, it's bread that tastes exactly like steak, isn't that exciting!?" I wasn't gonna give her a tip... "Give us a few more minutes, we're still deciding" Fortunately she left us alone after that, "So what'd you wanna tell me? And why couldn't you just explain it over a call?" She sighed and leaned in, gesturing me to come closer as well.. she whispered "Turn your Holo-watch off, they can hear you.", I leaned back slowly into my seat.. and unfastened the strap on my watch.. stuffing it in my leather pocket, as she did the same. She then proceeded to switch to a more serious tone. "So here's the thing, I work as an analyst and helpline receiver at the station, but you already know that, so while I was processing Travis's file I noticed that there were barely any details about his cause of death or any suspects, and as I dug deeper I realized there was no records of any of the events that took place yesterday actually happening. Other than security footage, there was no mention of a 'Travis Lenson' dying anywhere and that's really-" "weird, he's pretty well known, how did nobody notice.." I just completed her sentence and I felt proud about it. "I don't know either, but I feel like there's something big happening here. And I wanna know what." Well she's the same Sarah I remember, no hesitation diving into the unknown. But something she said caught my attention. "So wait are you saying this was a government cover up?? Why would they do that?" "Again, I don't know, but I may have a lead.. I'll have to do a little more digging. Until then stay safe." Hmph, this was abnormal, I'd never thought of any reason why ARK would need to cover up a murder. Unless.. maybe it had something to do with Travis's recent discovery, that exoplanet, could that have had any ties with what's happening? As I wondered Sarah got up from her chair, "Well I'll head out then, I've got work soon, if you need anything call me, I'll be right there." She smiled just like she did whenever we snuck out past curfew back when we were young. "I will, good luck at work!" She waved as she walked, eventually lost in the crowd...

While I figured it was best to keep a low-profile, I couldn't let Sarah do all the work and have all the fun, I decided to follow my own lead. I got into the nearest elevator and typed in the floor. I heard a hymn as a voice announced "1st floor selected, please secure any baggage.", seconds later the elevator started moving and soon we were at the top of the ARK complex. A large sign read 'ARK Satellite and Orbital Monitoring Array', below was the reception area. A woman greeted me, "Hi, Can I help you?" This department was very strict in their security, I couldn't simply walk in just because I was best buds with an employee. "Hi, I'm here for the power maintenance malfunction? I'm from the Reactor Department." I'd found out that the best way to get into a secure place was to pretend you were needed there, and since there was almost always a power malfunction in every department, it was the perfect cover. "Let me see, it doesn't seem like we're expecting anyone, are you sure it was this department?" Shit. Maybe it didn't work all the time, I needed to think, fast. "I'm pretty su-" "Yes we called him here, there was an electrical grid malfunction on Line 06. You, follow me." I glanced past the receptionist to look at who said that, to see a massive, 6'4, muscular, monster of a man. I was more concerned about going with him than facing the receptionist. But I obliged. He took me through a narrow, long, brick lined corridor until we reached what seemed to be a storage room. He quickly pushed me inside and closed the door. The storage room was a little bigger than the coffin I lived in, except now there were two people cramped in it, and one of us was twice the size of an average adult. "Hey! what are you-" He quickly put his hand up to my mouth silencing me. "Shut up will you? I know why you're here, it's cuz of Travis innit?" He spoke with a thick British accent, which surprised me since just a moment ago he sounded German. I nodded my head, and he lifted his palm off my face. "Alright, I'm Jeremy, Travis's close colleague. I wanna know what happened to him too, he hasn't come into work today, and he NEVER misses a day. He wasn't answering calls either.. So, do you know what happened?" Was this guy serious? I couldn't tell if I could trust him or not, but I decided to answer his question. I explained everything to him, Travis's door being broken down, the blood, the police, all of it. "Hmm, I figured. His workplace was cleared out this morning too." That's it?? His Co-worker was just murdered, and that's his only reaction? I didn't know what to say, and before I could even think, he opened the door, throwing me out, saying "Now get outta here, I'll see you soon.' I turned and left as soon as I came in. This Jeremy guy was bad news, and I wasn't ready to find out how much worse he could get.

I glanced at the time, 4:15 pm, I couldn't think of anything else to do.. I decided to walk home.. maybe I could lay in bed and browse the internet.. Or maybe I could head to a bar, and drink the pain away. I decided to choose the latter since it seemed more enlightening. I adjusted the route on my watch to my favorite bar in Sector 1, Jill's Jarful, they served their drinks in jars instead of glasses. Plus it was really cheap. The owner, Jill, was a really chill person and usually gave me a discount for being a regular. I turned into an alleyway that I used often to cut through one of the residential blocks, when I heard footsteps behind me.. Nobody ever came down this way, I ignored it, maybe someone else used this as a shortcut too, but I couldn't shake that terrible feeling. I decided to turn around,  just as I saw the barrel of a .9mm handgun staring back at me. "I suggest you don't hang around places you aren't welcome. Travis Lenson's death isn't an issue that concerns a low-wage roach like you. If I see you trying to cause us problems again, You'll be dead before you know it." I tried making a clever come-back but before I could say anything I felt a sharp pain my the back of my head and then it all went black.