Deep Yellow (8 page)

"Watch this," the
instructor said.

The lights dimmed and
a holo screen appeared. A man dressed in a white coat held a bottle
of yellow liquid and looked towards the camera.

"Seconds after
drinking Deep Yellow, its nano filaments swim through the
bloodstream, forming a small, powerful mass of nerves, which
latches onto brain cell receptors. After a brief interval, three
words form and appear in the users mind. If the user opens their
eyes at this point, the words would be visible as if displayed on a
transparent screen. However, it leaves its mark on the brain and
nervous system. Many users claim that they live a normal working
life whilst taking DY occasionally. However, it is risky. Constant
overuse can lead to brain freeze, where the user does not know if
they are in the real or Deep Yellow world."

A beam clip appeared,
showing various people being led into a doctor’s room by a
relative. Whilst their eyes were open, the drug users were not
registering any outside stimulation.

"Does anyone know the
basic three menu words that appear after someone has taken DY?"

"Sir, there is
'thought’ for contemplating a single thought or idea. ‘Sensual’ for
visual and internalised body sense stimulus. ‘Oblivion' for a
euphoric experience where no stray thoughts can interfere."

"Thank you, Jensen,
good answer, you show a lot of knowledge regarding the
subject."

"Sir, my given mother
works in a Police Corps laboratory."

"That’s good. Now,
during your career you will undoubtedly meet a fellow officer who
has or is about to take the substance."

"Why would they do
that?" Brell said in a low voice to her colleague, who nodded
back.

"What was that,
Sturlach?"

"Sir, I was wondering
why Corps officers would destroy their careers by taking Deep
Yellow, or any illegal substances, for that matter."

"You’ll be surprised.
I have seen a few good officers brought down by Deep Yellow abuse
and intox amongst other substances. Stress, relationship
difficulties, and work problems are just a few reasons why someone
would take it. Use your gland enhancements and legal highs as
necessary, but as soon as you take Deep Yellow, you could be on a
collision course to forfeit your pension and everything else."

"Yes Sir, I'm not
going to waste my career away by taking that stuff," Brell
said.

"Good. Let's have a
look at the drug itself."

The scientist appeared
again, and a smaller image screen opened in the top right of the
screen. His voice was boring on its own, so someone had added
images for interest.

"Deep Yellow also
known as Deep, DY, Yello, Yell and Mellow was discovered years ago
when an apothecary working within a brain injury research unit
mixed yellow bark root with nano psyche technology. Instead of
detecting brain abnormalities, the swarm became a powerful drug.
The apothecary's line manager dismissed it as an unnecessary
by-product. Realising the benefits of the substance, the apothecary
manufactured it for a local crime syndicate. Expensive to create,
it soon became the must-have drug, if you could afford it. Deep
Yellow dealing and usage soon came to the notice of the Police
Corps, and it was added to the Association's list of illegal
substances.”

“The ingredients are
processed into tablet, spray, or liquid form. Whilst small liquid
ampoules are a handy size, it is not as powerful as the distilled
bottled version. Two years of room temperature storage is the
optimum time for the best vintage, as the menu option gives a
fuller visual and physical experience. Serious users have their own
menu options, created by skilled chemists for various
visualisations of the darker aspects of life and death. Those users
tell us they prefer the personal inward experience rather than
immersion in Holo Worlds." The scientist finally ended his speech,
to the relief of many in the class.

"Quite a bit to take
in,” the instructor said, snapping the class back to the present.
“It is useful to know how the drug is created so that when you are
on a drug raid, you have an idea of what to look for. It could be
you find bottles of the stuff, under floorboards, where it has been
left to ferment. Read your holo assignments for more information,
in particular the clips of real drugs raids taking place and the
Corps anti- drug school programmes which you will be involved
in."

***

Brell sat down on the
bed, back against the wall. She was probably the subject of an
anti-drug case study. Fresh faced Police Corps recruits would be
warning school students about the dangers of Deep Yellow and the
damage it can do to a career.

Of course, nothing
could beat that first hit, the first immersion into oblivion. And
all because of a couple of lazy detectives in an old dwelling
house.

***

She was working on a
busy inner precinct within the capital city of Velen Two. Newly
promoted to sergeant, Brell found herself in charge of a small team
of uniform and detective officers. Her stress implants worked
overtime as everyone expected her to make decisions and get things
done. Comms control were constantly calling her up, other sergeants
were ducking their responsibilities, and her team was difficult to
manage. In particular, two grouchy lazy detectives, who did not
like to be supervised. She had worked the last three months with
few days off. Local crime problems and visits by dignitaries meant
that leave was constantly cancelled. No wonder the previous
sergeant had moved on for a quieter life. Intox often became the
sleep aid of choice.

Brell’s team were
tasked with searching a large, decrepit block building used by
members of a local criminal gang. Nothing sold, virtual or real
without it going through this particular group. After a tip-off,
they had been arrested that morning by the Laser Tactical and
Technical Arrest Unit. Some of the unit hid themselves in an
underground storage unit, whilst others dressed as staff. When the
gang opened the unit door, instead of finding a cache of credit
receiver units, they were at the receiving end of laser strikes and
vacuum bombies. When the dust settled, a Corpswoman had been
vaporised and three gang members were lying in bits. The remainder
of the gang were netted and taken to HQ for processing.

Despite the moaning
from her team, Brell would not enter the building until it was
scanned and sniffed. Both detectives munched wormweed whilst
rolling their eyes. Once inside, Brell’s team methodically searched
each room whilst the holo assistants logged evidence. Various
stashes of intox, chips, Deep Yellow, MK, and other drugs were
discovered, but after the first sweep, Brell was not satisfied.

"There is more here,
these are just a few stashes to put us off the big stuff."

"Nah, they're just
stupid, that’s all," Detective 1 said, spitting some wormweed on
the floor.

"Got enough evidence
to keep the bosses off our backs. Time for lunch, eh?" Detective 2
said and scratched his stomach.

Brell thought it over.
The easiest thing would be to give in and walk away with what they
had, keep the team happy. The holo assistants waited for a
decision.

She went with her gut
feeling. There was something about this dusty, stinky old
house.

"We do it again. Be
more thorough this time, hand held scanners into nooks and
crannies."

The team mumbled and
grumbled as they trudged back into the building. Brell walked
around the front and back of the building again and then went back
inside to check on progress.

"Waste of time," she
heard someone say over her implant comm channel.

Then she heard, "Hey,
sarge, got something you should see." Her heart beat a little more
as she ran up the stairs.

"What have you
got?"

"Just found an old
stuffed bird inside a wall cavity."

There was a snigger of
laughter from the others who had wandered upstairs to see what had
been found.

"Ha, ha," Brell said
slowly and picked up the dead Puffer bird and threw it across the
room. A holo assistant glided over to scan and log it.

"Who was the old
stuffed bird?" someone muttered from within the group of officers.
Brell ignored it.

"Come on, one last
sweep, let’s get on with it." She paused and waited until the two
detectives started scanning the rooms. She knew as soon as she left
the room, they would sit down and just instruct the assistants.

As she went back down
the stairs, she thought about the walls. Wide enough for someone to
put, unbelievably, a stuffed bird inside. Being an older building,
its construction was dated, unlike most modern dwellings and living
pods which had thin mixed-material walls, millimetres thick, which
gave ample sound and thermal protection.

"Holo 1," Brell said.
The supervisory level assistant appeared in front of her. "Have you
scanned the building structure?"

"Yes, sergeant. Fully
completed."

"Any anomalies?"

"No, sergeant."

"Floor by floor on
view."

Holo 1 projected a
floor scan of the structure in the centre of the room. Brell
stepped back, scratched under her protective helmet, then reached
forward and rotated the image. She was clutching at straws. May be
best to call it off, the team would be delighted. The gang lived
here for some time and a Corpswoman is dead. Concentrate.

"Top down. Bottom up.
Main view." She spun the image around; there was something about
the top floor. The two internal rooms seemed narrower than the
rooms below. A couple of minutes later, Brell walked back up to the
top of the stairs and stood on the small landing, two room doors
either side. Turning around, she stared at the wall at the back of
the stair space, the wall that a lazy officer would not bother to
reach up and scan. Inside both rooms, the scanner readout was clear
when pressed against the walls at the rear.

"Jherzery. Bring the
extension pole up to the top of the stairs."

Brell heard footsteps
coming up the creaky stairs, with more joining in; this was
obviously becoming the final show in front of the team. The
sergeant’s last job before letting the team do whatever they
wanted, as long as their overtime requests were authorised.

Jherzery duly arrived,
carrying the pole. The faces of the team, now bunched together on
the floor below, gazed up at her. Even the holo assistants had
joined them. Attaching the scanner to the pole, she went down a few
steps, then reached up and placed it against the wall above
her.

“
Beep, beep
.”
Lowering the pole, she reset the scanning density amidst the low
muttering and laugher from below. Checking the device again, she
held it up against the wall.

“
Bong. Bong.
Bong.
” The screen glowed red.

"Get the cutters,"
Brell said as slowly as she could manage.

"Yes sergeant."
Jherzery ran back down the stairs, pushing the mumbling team out of
the way. An awkward few minutes followed, waiting for the cutters,
but when Jherzery lasered through the back wall of the main room
and revealed the large cavity, Brell felt elated. She took off her
helmet and rubbed both hands across her head, her hair damp with
sweat.

Brell enjoyed watching
the two detectives scrambling around in the small room, which
groaned with chips, memo streams, comm links, and stolen
property.

"Get logging."

The two detectives
silently got on with their work.

What happened next
changed Brell's life. Happy that everything was scanned and bagged,
she informed the team to reassemble at the front door whilst she
completed a final room sweep to check that equipment had not been
left behind. Such was her trust. One of the second level rooms was
full of furniture and assorted old gadgets piled on top of each
other. Around the back of one pile, a broken table with a small
drawer lay on its side. It took some determination, but Brell
managed to pull the drawer out. Her fingers curled around a small
bottle. Deep Yellow, another item to add to the list. This is one
of the detective's rooms, too lazy to get on his knees or direct
the assistants. There was nothing else inside the drawer, luckily
for him.

She went over to a
window and held the bottle up to the sunlight. As she turned the
bottle in her hand, the golden liquid cascaded slowly inside, the
nano flecks twinkling as it caught the light. It was
mesmerising.

Breaking her gaze, she
reached up to call Holo 1, but stopped herself. Almost unknowingly,
she put the bottle in her pocket and made her way downstairs.

"Well done, everyone a
good haul found. Back to base."

She felt oddly excited
talking to them with an illegal substance hidden in her pocket. Did
they know what she had done? If she did not log the bottle as
evidence soon and it was found on her, it could be a career-ending
move.

The bottle stayed in
her pocket.

***

The thing was that
after taking her first Deep Yellow, the following two weeks at work
were easier. She was so relaxed and confident that the team gossip
was that she must have a new boyfriend. Of course, after two weeks,
things went back to normal and her thoughts turned to whether she
could get away with taking more Deep Yellow.

She laughed at the
memory, a new boyfriend? Her relationships were often disasters,
but that was another story.

Rubbing the back of
her head with both hands, she knew that a thought was trying to
emerge. Something recent.

“The Challenge,” she
said aloud and clapped her hands.

"
Drink. Whit beer, large." Williams took his
beer out of the auto chef and sunk back into his seat. Time to view
some of the reporters’ beamlogs. The day had gone well. Whilst
there were many questions regarding security, such as “will we see
a repeat of the previous challenge when the inmates got out?” all
reports were positive. More importantly, they were awestruck by the
holo worlds.