Daniel Finn was a man of business. Or, at least, that’s what he told people. He spun a rags to riches type of story whenever he told the story to others, just to make him seem like almost a more virtuous person than he was. People had a soft spot for rags to riches stories. He did not tell this story to Siri though. He respected her too much for that kind of nonsense. Besides, she had kept a pretty level head throughout most of their time together today; she deserved a reward of sorts.
“As I told you before,” he began, “I am an intel man. One of the best in the business. I have had over eight hundred and fifty three successful jobs in my career as such. I am the man that other intel men go to when they need help. As such, I will admit to feeling a little, shall we say, threatened when Rennan Praecjer began to earn his living doing the intel beat. This is something that he had a knack for, unlike anybody else I have seen before or since. I was honestly afraid that I would lose most of my clients to him. This is a trepidation on my part that he should feel honored to have, if not merely humbled by my expression.”
“So how did you and Rennan come into contact then? How long ago was it?” Siri leaned forward in interest, never breaking eye contact with Finn. Her scarf and jacket were still on. She did not feel like removing them.
“It was about a year ago.” Finn leaned back in the soft, black leather chair. He still held the gun in his hand, just in case. “Two men had hired us for the same job. We ended up deciding that the best course of action from there was to work together on it. This ended up being an excellent relationship for us to have—at least from my end. From that friendship (if you could call it that) I had an excellent vantage point into the life and workings of my biggest rival and closest competitor. We were never close as traditional friends go. I believe that Aristotle would consider our relationship one based purely on utility. He used me to help him on jobs, and I used him mostly the same way, but also to help out my independent business. Do you understand?”
“You essentially used your connection with Rennan to make your business seem more lucrative, is that right?” Siri asked.
“That’s correct.” Finn took a deep breath and let it out. “Sorry, I get short of breath sometimes. Where was I?”
“How did you come to the belief that Rennan Praecjer would be the one to murder you?”
A grin appeared on Daniel Finn’s face. “Tell me, Siri: have you ever heard of a chemical compound called X Y Z?”
Siri searched her mind for any recollection of the phrase. After a few moments, she shook her head. “No, I haven’t. Why?”
Finn reached his free hand into the deep pocket of his yellow and tan jacket and pulled out a vial of a liquid. The liquid shifted from purple to white in a pearlescent pattern in the light. The vial was just about large enough to fit into a small syringe; it was almost as large as his thumb.
“Compound X Y Z is an experimental compound being researched as a psychoactive drug. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung believed in the power of dreams to help one figure out what was going on in his or her life, to understand the underlying causes of stresses that caused certain types of mental disorders. This compound was designed to help you travel back into your memories and see them once again, clear as day, to figure out why certain things bother you more than others to create certain mental disorders like dissociative personality disorder or clinical depression. However, the drug seemed to be much more powerful than they anticipated—though they will never admit it in public. Compount X Y Z can allow you to transcend the boundaries of your mind and witness the memories of other people, and also the futures that those people, and sometimes yourself, may have unfold before them.”
Siri was without words. She had never heard of such a thing before being possible. However, here on Geneda, it appeared that anything and everything was possible. Maybe it was some sort of thyer technology that leaked species borders and entered into human hands by accident. Maybe it had been designed to help them out, and this was just a side effect that it had on humans.
“However, “ Finn continued after a pause, “the things that people can see in their futures can always change. The future is never stable. One wrong step, one wrong breath, and it could be that everything that you had just seen will come true in a manner that is the polar opposite to what you were expecting. It’s a fickle business.”
“So you took some of this X Y Z stuff and saw Rennan kill you? That does not really seem like something that’s a feasible worry for you to have, Mr. Finn.” Siri chuckled, half amused and half trying to convince the other part of her mind that this was just a load of crap coming from a conman.
“Not exactly. You’re right, that does sound like a bunch of malarkey on your end of things, doesn’t it?” Finn chuckled nervously. “But I promise you that I’m not telling you lies. This is something that I’m legitimately concerned about. How can I prove to you that I’m sure of this vision? When you’re in it, you can almost feel when it’s a view of something that can be easily changed. This one was more concrete than anything I’ve ever experienced before. It felt more real than reality, Siri.”
Siri stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether to believe him or not. On one hand, he was rambling on and on like a madman, bent upon a vision of a hallucination he saw when he was drugged up. She had never before heard of this Compound X Y Z, so she had nothing to go on from there. On the other hand, he had a gun; he was deadly serious about this. Given the chance, he would still have her at the top of the building. “Do you have all the necessary tools with you to administer this Compound X Y Z, Mr. Finn?”
“Of course. It’s contraband. I don’t want to leave this kind of stuff lying around. You understand.” Finn shot her a different kind of grin this time, a grin that said I know your secret. You can’t hide from me. I did my homework and you will never have the upper hand in these negotiations.
She felt the blood flee from her face, leaving her cheeks cold behind the thick white scarf. How did he know? She kept her composure nonetheless. “Let me try it. Then I will give you the information you need, if I believe this to be what you say it is. Deal?”
“Negotiating again, are we?” Finn thought it over for a moment. “Fine. You give Compound X Y Z a try. If that’s all you ask.”
“We will see what happens,” Siri said. She unfastened the large round buttons on her black coat and removed it. She rolled up the long sleeve of her long blue t-shirt. She left the scarf on. Finn put the vial of the pearlescent fluid into the syringe gun, primed it, and held the tip of the needle in the crook of her elbow. “No tourniquet?” she asked.
“Not necessary. Sweet dreams, Siri.” He pulled the trigger. She felt the drug erupt into her bloodstream. Very shortly after, she felt her eyelids become heavy. She allowed them to drift closed, and let the dream take her.
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