young man in a white t-shirt walked in. He stopped at the door, surprised at the sight of the couple. Then, his attention was drawn to the gun in the bald man’s hands. He turned around and left.
“See? Extremely persuasive”, said the bald man in blue sneakers as he checked his reflection.
She took out a small bag of cocaine, emptied some of its contents on a metal plate and with help from a little tube of the same material, formed two white lines.
The man returned his gun to the holster on his hip.
“I’ve got the Synchro geeks’ presentation now”, the man lifted his chin and posed before the mirror with an ironic smile.
“The people in the building say that what they are doing is pretty awesome”.
“Everyone believes that what they do is the best thing in the world”.
“Maybe, but people are talking, right?” she said, and held her blonde hair back. Leaning forward she snorted her white line.
“My dear Ana, in the world of money, only money matters; good ideas don’t mean shit”, the man took the metallic tube from the sink, brought it to his nose and snorted loudly, following the line of powder.
Once in the corridor, each went their different, no words, no kisses, no “see-you-laters”. The man turned to stare at the girl’s butt as she walked away; she didn’t look back.
***
Gingerly, Anthony took the tray with the five microchips covered in black jelly. Each ball hardly reached the size of a chickpea.
There was a loud knock and Carlo poked his shiny, shaved head round the side of the door.
“Hey, guys… Can I come in?”
Carlo Stamas was a forty-year-old lawyer who was often seen in the building hunting for new clients to assist with patent services, counsellings and finding investors. The guy was known at the center as the ‘ten percenter’. His strong build and shaved head gave him the airs of a personal trainer.
“Thank you for coming, güey”, said Anthony, showing him the tray with the five tiny balls.
“This piece of shit is your stuff?”
Julián laughed from the window.
“This piece of shit is going to make us rich and end your days as a third-rate lawyer. Thanks to this piece of shit, you are going to spend your time in gyms burning toxins and fucking desperate ladies”.
Carlo was known as a womanizer by the people in the building, besides, he enjoyed showing off his skills with the ladies. Julián glanced at his feet; he recognized the blue sneakers that he had spotted pushing a gun in the bathroom a few moments ago.
“Son, I hear that every day from young guys like you, who dream of finding the golden fleece”.
Anthony looked at the logo printed on the wall, the symbol of the ram, Aries, the golden fleece that Jason and the Argonaut’s searched for.
Carlo sat on Anthony’s empty chair and stretched his arms. On his side, through the open jacket, the gun attached to his hip became visible. He smiled openly at them.
“Don’t worry, I have a license”, he said, and added, “I’ve had a tough day and look at the time. So, go on, fill me in, because I have a date at ten at the Old Boat of Santa Fe and the girl is a beauty”. He looked down at the gap that was missing an armrest but did not make any comments.
Slowly, Julián walked to where Anthony stood, still with the tray in his hands, a few steps away from Carlo. Julián took one of the balls and held it in between his fingers.
“In a few minutes, four people are going to walk through that door. They are friends, volunteers, some are known to you from the center. They are going to be our guinea pigs…”
Carlo Stamas scratched his head and lifted a condescending eyebrow.
“I hope they signed a contract for this, in case you end up poisoning them with that stuff”, he said, pointing at the tray. “I don’t want any trouble”.
“They are completely harmless, there is nothing dangerous in their composition. It’s biotechnology. Their effect lasts for about two hours, after that, the microchip detaches itself and the body eliminates it through excretion. These are organic and biodegradable compounds, easily disposed of by the body. It’s jelly”. Julián looked at Carlo as he spoke, daring him to contradict him. “We have asked you to come because we need help with finance; we are going to need four hundred million dollars to make the next move”.
“Four hundred million dollars? That’s more than seven and a half billion fucking pesos. Are you mad?” Carlo stood up, with full intentions of leaving through the door. He tried to lean on the missing armrest. “Fuck… Look, kids, never in the whole history of start-ups has anyone given four hundred million fucking dollars to two little assholes like you, however fucking high-end their technology is. I don’t want to waste my time or yours. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place”.
Anthony blocked his way to the door.
“Please, first listen to what we’ve got to say. Then, you can leave”.
Carlo loosened his tie; he paused. He was already there and had nothing to lose.
“Do you know what ‘elevator pitch’ means? Well, you have one minute to fill me in and then I’m going to go meet a girl that is dying to show me all of life’s pleasure. I’m tired. Let’s see, what the hell do you want four hundred million dollars for?” He covered his mouth. “Excuse me for laughing”.
Julián, who had not moved from where he stood, continued his speech.
“As I was saying, in a few minutes time, four people are going to arrive here. They will swallow these Synchro microchips and a minute later, I’m going to send a two-gigahertz radio frequency from my computer, sort of like Bluetooth, so that we can provoke emotions in them at our will”.
“So, you are telling me that you have developed a technology in which a single fucking ball of these can change people’s emotions?”
“I guess you could put it that way, yes. Look, to simplify things: during a period of time, this chip, the black ball, is going to attach itself, like a tic, to a neuron. That way the neuron becomes a center of amplified transmission linked to the person’s neuronal system, it makes contact with the brain, sends small electric codes and modifies the person’s emotions, but in a way that has been programmed. We like to say that we have come up with a new type of drug; no chemicals, no side effects, and you can control it from your phone with an app. Simple. A drug capable of modifying and controlling human emotion”.
Carlo stared at Julián, completely astonished.
“But, that’s crazy! Does it work?”
“Absolutely”.
Julián knew that the word ‘absolutely’, got rid of all doubts: people needed absolute truths and absolute words in this relative world that we live in. Carlo would stay to see the results of the test and would completely forgot
