A Small Gray Dot

Up until that moment, I hadn’t realized that Blue Heaven was where the company, whose name was on a third of the goods sold in the state and up and down the east coast, was located. It helped explain armed guards at the gate of what had to be one of the most run-down neighborhoods in the city. I thought it was curious the company name wasn’t anywhere on their uniforms.

I remembered the envelope with the initials “SL” that I’d delivered. I recalled the way black suit stared at the envelope. Perhaps the taciturn old gent who took the delivery was somebody that worked for the company.

I didn’t do pointless dwelling on the fact that I’d been stomping around for an hour and was only then spotting the company at the end of a street I went down at least twice in my wanderings.

I studied the gate that held the plain white placard with black lettering proclaiming that this was Semptor Labs. Had I ever thought about it, I probably would’ve supposed it would be located somewhere a lot more impressive than Blue Heaven. And, would be a lot more imposing.

Spread out over several acres, the company sat downhill in its own little valley. It consisted of one two-story, tan and beige structure, and a four story that looked more like apartment housing than part of a business complex. The buildings were cleaner than the homes in the area, as though they got an occasional washing. There were six other, rambling structures I construed to be plants or possibly warehouses. Parked nearby on the grounds was a fleet of delivery trucks and vans bearing the company logo. A strand of trees hid an eight-foot high chain-link fence that separated the company from the rest of the neighborhood.

I thought the whole thing was small for a business that dealt in a large amount of goods. I only began seeing their brand a little over seven years before – right after the Event – and that would make them fairly new, yet the amount of commodities on which their name was stamped was considerable. I supposed they were around before as a start-up that no one really noticed, and had grown bigger since.

A large assortment of items came from that company. They put out a number of disparate products: toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and in addition to paper goods there was furniture, car parts, batteries, computers and software, guns and ammo, soap, soup, pots and frying pans, cigarettes, condoms – I wouldn’t have been surprised to see steaks, butter, shoes, or pajamas wearing their brand. They seemed to have a bit of everything. There were also a number of gas stations bearing their logo.

I’d bought a few items put out by them – notably hardware for keeping my aging laptop running, and car parts, gas, batteries, condoms, and toilet paper, but most of their goods, except gas which was cheap everywhere, were kind of pricey. Aside from the expense, though, even when my funds were better I didn’t need much of what they sold. I found out later that the majority of Blue Heaven inhabitants worked for them but from the looks of most of the homes, they wouldn’t have been able to afford many of their employers’ products, either. Or maybe they just liked living in substandard housing.

Seeing the place for the first time, I had to wonder from where all the stuff came since trade had slacked off, and there was no way Semptor Labs could be fabricating it all in that small locale. But, there was no one around to ask and, considering the reaction of the folk I’d seen thus far, I wasn’t likely to get an answer anyway.

As I stood there, I noticed that the stinging in my eyes, which abated considerably while I roamed the streets, had returned. It wasn’t as bad as it was at first but whatever was in the air was stronger in that area. That led me to conjecture that it wasn’t coming from the overhanging haze after all. Maybe Semptor Labs was manufacturing some kind of chemical. After all, it did have “Labs” in its name.

I didn’t see any movement on the grounds and there didn’t appear to be a lock on the gate. It had a lift-up latch, but eyeing the big “No Trespassing” sign that was right next to the one bearing the company’s name, I wasn’t curious or stupid enough to try getting in without permission. Simply because I didn’t see any guards on the grounds didn’t mean none were around, or that there wasn’t some type of surveillance system. I turned around to continue my unexpected and unwanted tour of Blue Heaven, and my search for a way to end it.

I stepped away from the company’s gate and down an unnamed road, and within a few feet I spotted a street sign that read “Main”. I stared at it for a long moment. I hadn’t noticed the sign before but I knew Main went past the guardhouse, so I headed up the road hoping that this time, I’d soon run up on the entrance. I was disappointed but not surprised when I passed a street sign that indicated I was now on Spruce Street and not Main. The guardhouse was nowhere in sight so I slogged on.