Chapter 2

Helena looked up from her PDA, closed her eyes and tried to calm her mind. A Buddhist mantra went through her mind, which after several minutes had the calming effect she was after.

When she opened her eyes again she saw a small fishing boat heading out to sea. Must be one of the late runners. It was 7 o’clock in the morning and a breakfast tray was lying next to the 2 pots of coffee she had already consumed during the night. A combination of jet lag and a tight deadline meaning that she hadn’t slept for 30 hours.

Tacking hers eyes away from the view over the bay she said, "Play intro sequence, final cut". The screen on her PDA changed showing her the report she’d just put the finishing touches to,

"This is Helena Carlsberg reporting from a remote island in the Caribbean", a small icon appeared in the top right of the screen that if activated by the viewer would implant the information about where the island was, population etc. into the viewers mind, "where the worlds richest and some would say most powerful man has his home."
"I’m referring, of course, to Dr. Christopher Graham. Founder and for many year one of the leading scientist in the field of nano-technology his company has grown to be the largest supplier of implants for consumer consumption and of military nano-technology in the world.", more links appeared giving financial information for those who were interested. Helena’s bosses let here get away with a certain amount of hard information only because she was so popular amongst the 500 million viewers who accessed her exposé show every week. The demand for serious journalism was very low compared to the thousands of pure entertainment programs that employed most of the worlds journalists.

"Stop playback. Transmit to Bob Carlton, editor, StarNet."

"Transmission complete. You have two new messages Helena. Both are low priority. Analysis of content allows me to recommend automatic response. Please confirm…"

"Confirmed."

Helena sunk into the comfy chair. OK, now it’s time to sleep.

"Tom", most people had pet names for there PDA’s, "priority messages only until countermanded."

"Confirmed. Sleep tight." A personality wasn’t so uncommon either.

Activate sleep program. Immediately her eyes felt heavy. Within one minute she had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Four hours later Helena opened her eyes slowly. An insistent beeping noise was coming from her PDA. She knew that if she didn’t answer it soon the noise would gradually become unbearable. Looking down at the PDA she saw that she had received a priority message from Bob. Ah shit, she thought. She never received good news from Bob at priority level, it cost way too much for the penny picking twerp.

"Delay message." She wanted a shower and something to eat first.

An hour later she came into her room and activated the message.

"Helena dear, this is Bob. We’ve got a little bit of bad news for you…"

"Thought so," Helena murmured to herself.

"…that last piece you just sent us. I’m afraid it’s been cancelled. I can’t tell you much more now but call me this evening, that’s just after lunch your time."

Oh shit, "Tom, priority message, live connect, to Bob".

"Establishing uplink…"

"Bob here, oh hello Helena, go encrypted."

"Encryption enabled Bob, now why the hell has my show been cancelled. You know that the money I get is based on a per viewer basis. No viewers, no money."

"Glad to see you worrying about journalistic integrity!"

"Cut the crap Bob, we all know this is trash reporting, why has the show been cancelled?"

"Somehow one of Dr. Graham’s cronies managed to see the show. We think they may have intercepted your transmission. Anyhow, we have had an injunction slapped on us by his lawyers in America."

"Screw the lawyers. Both you and I know they haven’t got a leg to stand on. There is nothing revolutionary in that episode."

"I don’t think there worried about the first episode. It’s what you promise at the end of the show that has them upset, and I quote ‘Next episode we’ll probe into the private life of Dr. Graham. Just why does he lock himself away from all outside contact. What do the mysterious labs of NanoTech on this paradise island research? All will be revealed, stay tuned.’. Not your most subtle piece!"

"You know that most of that is bullshit Bob. Christ, I haven’t even begun recording the background material for that show. What are the big bosses going to do about it? I have no replacement show."

"Well, I’m sorry Helena but there is one other piece of news I didn’t want to give you in the message. Errm, you won’t need another piece. You’ve been, ah, kinda fired like."

"What! You’ve got to be kidding. I’m your top rated star! Fuck you Bob, I’ll go over to one of the other networks. They’ve been trying for years to get me to transfer, I’ll…"

"You’ll do nothing Helena! Your been blacklisted! I’m sorry Helena but your career as a journalist is over. You’ll receive a healthy severance settlement but I wouldn’t bother trying to find more work in this industry, at least for several years Helena. This time you’ve upset the wrong people. Sorry, I’ve got to go now. You’re net access through StarNet will be deactivated at midnight local time. Good luck Helena. End transmission."

"Wait, you fuckhead, Bob!!", Helena screamed at the PDA screen but to no avail – the transmission had been cut off.

She tried desperately to reconnect but Bob had placed a block on her calls. She looked around the room. The sun was shining into the room now casting a stark bright light across the luxury bed that StarNet had paid for.

"Priority message Helena.", chimed her PDA.

Ah, here we come with the apology from Bob.

"Ms. Carlsberg, this is reception here. We’d just like to remind you that check out time is 2 o’clock at the latest otherwise we’ll have to charge you for another day. Your bill has already been paid. Thank you for staying at the Grand Hotel, and have a pleasant journey home."

"Wait, what do you mean my bill has been paid and that I have to check out!", her voice was starting to sound a bit hysterical, "This room was booked for another month at least!"

"I’m sorry Ms. Carlsberg, the cancellation order came through only 30 minutes ago." The receptionist’s face showed not a single bit of sympathy for Helena.

Helena thought frantically. Oh, Christ. I can’t do anything now.

"I...I’d like to book this room for one more night."

"I’m sorry madam but our credit check has shown that you no longer meet our requirements. Due to the late nature of this call we are giving you one hour from now to check out. I hope that you’ve enjoyed your stay at the Grand Hotel. Have a nice day."

The line went dead. Helena frantically tried to call the reception again but they refused to accept her call. Oh shit. What now. She called up a local hotel list on her PDA. Only one hotel showed any kind of vacancies. It was one of the more downtrodden hotels on the outskirts of town but her choices were becoming rather limited now. She booked the room. The PDA gave one final warning about the dangers involved, her travel insurance would be invalidated, but she confirmed anyway.

She started packing.

Seagulls swooped down towards the ground screeching as they fought for whatever scrap of food they could find. The occasional fireball flew into the air as more methane was vented off the rubbish tip that made up the view from Helena’s new hotel room. When the description had said the outskirts of town it really meant the outskirts. Huge yellow trucks continually thundered past the hotel with their loads of rubbish. This was Bayo Nuevo’s one and only rubbish tip and the islands 100,000 community made good use of it. Monstrous automated rubbish moving machines worked night and day trying in vain to sort the incoming garbage. The attempts to comply with the worldwide recycling laws were only half-heartedly made here.

Helena tried to ignore the noise that filtered through the barely adequate windows. She had already instructed her implants to block the smell coming from the rubbish tip next door. Unfortunately she didn’t have that luxury with the sound, it was difficult to have a conversation without being able to hear the other person.

For the past two days Helena had locked herself in her room and had tried to put her life together again. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that somebody had in effect, made her a non-person. All of her contacts either didn’t answer or were unwilling to answer. The only thing she seemed to be able to do was to get a ticket off the island. Her intuition was starting to tell her that getting off the island may be a very wise idea. Her stubborn journalist side however would never let her walk away from something as intriguing as this.