Page 23 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
Blotches of red leapt up in Dani’s mind like a rash. She nodded as she scribbled, pretending she understood perfectly. “You said the formula was plant-based,” she said. “Can you say more about what goes into it?”
“Sorry, but no,” Dr. Rodriguez said. She seemed flustered by how much she’d divulged and was clearly trying to pull back. A light glaze of sweat shone on her forehead. “That’s proprietary information and our CEO is quite protective of it.”
“Are we going to meet him today?” Oliver asked.
Dr. Rodriguez laughed at that, but there was a hollow quality to it. “I’m afraid not. He’s out of the country. If you plan to attend the gala, perhaps you can get a quote from him there. Anyway—” She glanced at the clock on the wall, and Dani realized that she was about to make her escape. They’d gotten a little information out of her, but there were still a few questions left on the list. Dani didn’t want to go back to Silva without something good—something worth one hundred and fifty more dollars. She decided to try something she’d never done before: to actively override someone’s resistance to her ability.
“Just one more thing,” Dani said. She dropped her gaze down to her notebook and picked the first question that swam into view. “Are you guys worried at all about an information leak ahead of the gala?”
As she spoke, she imagined a tide of moonstone-colored pigment flooding the words and breaking like a wave against Dr. Rodriguez’s aura. It took real effort—she could feel new pathways in her brainforming as she concentrated—but as she imagined the opalescence permeating the woman’s very being, Dani saw something go slack in Dr. Rodriguez’s expression, a piece of the fight going out of her.
“Of course,” she said, a newfound note of placidness in her tone. Dani’s heart squeezed. She’d done it—but the victory left a sour taste in her mouth and an oil-slick brown in her brain. “We’re always aware of the possibility of a leak. But we have top-of-the-line security throughout our entire building, and no one can handle data about the new product unless they have the highest level of clearance.”
“Dr. Rodriguez,” the security guard said, cautioning. His voice did the trick, breaking Dr. Rodriguez out of her momentary compliance. Meanwhile, Dani was dutifully writing everything down, though she didn’t know what good this information would do Silva. She felt a little disappointed in herself—perhaps she’d asked the wrong question. But it’d been on the list, so…
Dr. Rodriguez shook her head like she was chasing away a gnat. “Well,” she said, tone back to normal, “I’m afraid that’s all I have time for today. It was lovely to meet both of you, and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Max will show you around the labs a bit more if you like. Have a good day!”
Without giving them time to respond, she maneuvered around and hit the up button for the elevator. The doors opened immediately, and she stepped in with a wave. After a moment, Oliver turned to Max with a friendly smile.
“So,” they said. “We can see some of the labs?”
“Sure,” Max said, though he didn’t look thrilled. “Not the product trials, obviously, but I could show you one of the others.”
“Please,” Dani said. She was still coming to terms with what she had just done. She felt pretty icky about it, but she forced herself to focus on the task at hand. “It would definitely help us get a fuller picture. For the article, I mean.”
“Of course. Right this way.”
Max guided them through the onslaught of scientists and down the hallway to the right. Unlike the lounge, the passage was austere, with light rising from seemingly within the floor. It gave Dani a purgatorial vibe. A single door on the right wall awaited them. Max lifted the badge hanging from his lanyard and scanned it on the quartz panel near the handle. The crystal lit up, and the door whirred in response. “This is where we’re studying the interactions.”
He pushed the door open and waved them through—all but the security guard, who assumed a stoic position against the wall. “He’s not allowed inside, except during an emergency,” Max said, answering Dani’s unspoken question as the door closed behind them.
“But we are?”
Max shrugged. “Dr. Rodriguez said you could, and what she says goes. Anyway, this is it.” He gestured without much passion, and Dani could see why. With the Imagination Workshop still fresh in their minds, this room felt a little drab in comparison. White-coated employees stood in front of microscopes or Bunsen burners, while others used pipettes to coax out metallic liquid from petri dishes and deposit droplets into test tubes. A network of transparent pipes crisscrossed the ceiling over their heads, buoying various objects on an air current within; Dani noticed that the pipes descended at several points around the room, likely so employees could send or receive materials without having to leave their station.
“Not much to see here, honestly,” Max said, “but this is what the day-to-day looks like for most of our researchers.”
“Do you like it?” Oliver asked. “Working here, I mean?”
“It’s a dream come true,” Max said, but the phrase had a rote quality to it, like he was rattling it off automatically. “I mean, it’s what I’ve worked toward my whole life. I interned here during college, when they were making DreamRite, and it was… incredible.”
Dani pretended to inspect a poster about laboratory safety. “But it’s not anymore?”
“No,” Max said hastily, “no, it is. It’s just—” He scanned the lab, as if checking that anyone was listening. No one seemed to be paying attention, but still he dropped his volume by two notches. “It’s different, you know? Back then, it was still just a start-up with big dreams and a small but scrappy team.” Dani couldn’t tell how much of this was her and how much of it Max would have told them anyway—different colors were going in and out of her brain as he talked, like he couldn’t decide how much he wanted to say or how he felt. “It’s only been a few years, but things have gotten…”
“Corporate?” Oliver volunteered.
“Complicated,” Max said.
“Makes sense,” Dani said. They were making progress. “It’s probably just growing pains, though, right? What with the new product and everything. Are you involved with that at all?”
“Not much. I help with the back end, onboarding and discharging participants”—a significant look at Oliver—“but that’s about it. I haven’t even been allowed in the lab. Dr. Rodriguez actually told you more about it than I’ve heard in my three months of working here.”
“Really?” Dani asked, genuinely surprised. “You didn’t know what the product did or what it’s made of?”
“I mean, I kind of knew what it did. I think itislucid dreaming,” he said, and Dani held perfectly still as a pensive azure appeared in her mind, not wanting to scare him off this train of thought. “Dr. Rodriguez pitched it to you kind of differently, which was weird, but it’s probably just marketing speak. No idea what it’s made of, besides some combination of the plants she grows on the twentieth floor.”
“What’s on the twentieth floor?” asked Oliver, unable to disguise their interest.
