She rolled the blue and red pills around in the bottle, they shuffle about like ants crawling over one another in a feeding frenzy.
Two of these and the next 7 hours don't exist.
The man's words were true, he was licensed after all, even if he did his work from the back of a white van. A dreamless sleep. How long had it been? A week now? Or a month? Time seemed to lose a lot of its meaning when sleep wasn't the restful state it once was.
Placing the bottle down Rhian attempted to make herself look like she hadn't stayed up all night, a quick wetting of her red hair and a brush was all she could manage for a shower today, nothing to be done about the bags under her green eyes. Draining the last of the "soup" from the bottom of the instant ramen cup she sighed and tossed it to the trash. That was the last one, she could go a few days without meals but If she didn't have this phone cleaned and ready soon….
She flicked it open again, removing the headpiece, placing it to her temple and feeling the familiar jolt of pressure as it attached itself to her skin, she blinked and looked around. Rhian worked as an Eraser in the darker corners of the city, a Viphone cleaner. The past few decades had given rise to an electronic market that increasingly gave the users more and more control and the phones more and more access, the newest Viphones were as much a part of their user as the person's limbs, heart or brain. So erasers were in somewhat high demand for those who would rather not have evidence laying around or want to move products from one user to another, Rhian didn't ask anything further than that.
The young woman did often idly wonder why any phones that crossed her path needed cleaning, it was a natural curiosity that any human would have right? Was the person still alive? Were they trying to start a new life? were they wanting to forget their past? She didn't own a Viphone herself and had little desire to, seeing what it often had sitting on it. The algorithm the phone built up for its user tried to capture moments and memories that it thought the user would want to relive, this was often tied to things like heart-rate, hormone levels and attention and focus. This obviously led to a lot of private moments being saved and while the encryption was tied directly to the user's own body it could be relinquished with a command, meaning that this man had given up his Viphone willingly, or at least deliberately.
But why the symbol? And why did his brain register it in such a way? Amets Falas, The brain didn't just associate words with symbols arbitrarily, it tried to make connections, someone familiar with it looking at a McDonald's sign would automatically know its McDonald's and the Viphone learns that, so why does this man know that term and that it isn't just a translation from other languages, that it wasn't just "Dream Free" but in fact the name of some manner of entity, be it human or organization or…
With a sigh she tossed the phone and peeled the connector off her temple, tossing it too into the soft fabric of her lounger. Climbing back down and deciding she needed to stretch her legs, Rhian pulled a jacket on and walked out her front door. Past the red signs she took a deep breath, feeling the air bite into her lungs, cool autumn air, it was the only time she could say the air felt fresh and clean even if it really wasn't. The business card, her brother and now this stranger's phone… They all somehow connected to the dreams somehow and still further the dream was somehow related to this symbol and this entity. It felt like she had a puzzle and everything was in front of her, yet she hadn't the slightest clue what the pieces even were. How could an image or a word cause her to have these dreams? How could it affect someone so much that they would do…
She filled her lungs with the cold air again, the feeling reminding her she was awake, awake. She would check the code when she got back home, she had been nervous to do it ever since she had gotten the card back from the police, worried what it might lead to. Surely the cops checked it out already? So how dangerous could it be. A short walk, maybe a can of coffee and back she would go to, clear out the phone, then the code. Simple, one step then the other, keep taking steps, no matter how small.
Lionel's was a small place, it wasn't exactly a Cafe nor was it a restaurant, it was essentially an automat with an AI and a couple spots to sit, but the different scenery was often enough to get her out of her own little reality and look back on it with more objective eyes.
"Lionel, coffee, no milk, 6 sugars." She said as she entered, looking around and glad to see the little place empty. It would barely be enough to hold maybe half a dozen people at full capacity, the coffee was canned and kind of trash, but it was enough.
" Lady Rhian, of course, one black coffee with ample sweetness for the sweet lady." Lionel's suave and well mannered voice came. He was an older model AI, no holobody to work with but he still held a personality. Rhian didn't like to admit sometimes she came just to hear his compliments when she was in a particularly dark place.
"You've been in every day this week, work that slow?" the sounds of steeping coffee and pouring liquid on porcelain accompanied his voice, stark contrast to the old faded metal vending machine that popped open to reveal a simple can ready for the taking. "Vanta Black Sugar+" the coffee read, hyper sweet and yet still bitter, why did that taste feel so comforting?
"I guess so, Actually have one at home but I'm sort of putting it off." She replied as she clasped the can and sat down, the crack echoed In the little Cafe and she looked to the warm dark liquid inside.
"Ah, well it's nice to know I'm not eating up your entire paycheck." The AI Barista commented "I'd hate to drink a lady out of house and home."
"don't lie, you'd take every penny if you could." she fired back, taking a sip to test the temperature.
"merely my programming, my lady."
"and is it all part of your program to call me my lady like some loser too?"
"do you think I'm a loser? You wound me." The AI replied, putting on it's smoothest and deepest voice.
Rhian found herself smiling, if just a little.