by Jon Gerrard
* * *
“Cordass? Can you hear me?”
I forced my eyes open. Doc was bent over me with a concerned look.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
I started to sit up and a sudden dizziness swept over me. Doc grabbed my arm and steadied me.
“Just take it slow,” he said.
I looked around the room. I was seeing everything with an odd, double vision. It was like two different people were looking out through my eyes at the same time. Then I remembered where I was and why I was there. And...
My memories came flooding back.
All of them.
“How are you feeling?” Doc asked.
I looked up at my friend and smiled.
“Great,” I said.
He looked relieved. He picked up a glass and handed it to me. Just water this time. I drained it quickly. I must have been dehydrated.
I thanked him and pushed myself to my feet. The earlier dizziness was gone. Turning slowly I looked around the room. I knew exactly where I was, yet it was as if I was also seeing everything for the first time. It was an odd feeling. I patted Doc’s hand. He was still holding my arm to steady me.
“I’m fine, Doc. Really.”
He let go and stepped back. “What do you remember?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. Although my memory had been completely restored I wasn’t yet ready to tell anyone. “I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”
Doc studied me without saying anything. I knew that look.
“What did you find?” I asked him.
“Well, there was no physical damage to your brain. But I did find certain areas of your memory which had been ... inhibited. I’m no neurophysiologist, but it almost looked as if select areas of your memory had been blocked.”
“What do you mean, blocked?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “The machine was able to identify a number of areas where the normal connections between the neurons had been interrupted. All of your memories were there, you just couldn’t consciously access them. Oddly enough, the machine had a built in protocol to reverse that type of condition. Once I told it to repair the damage it simply went about removing the blocks. Are you sure you don’t notice anything different?”
“Not really,” I lied. “It was never really a big problem, just from time to time I’d realize that I’d forgotten something I used to know. Hopefully that won’t be a problem anymore.”
Doc was still studying me. I could tell he suspected I was holding something back.
“Well, let me know if there are any side effects. I’m still not sure what the machine did to you exactly.”
“Don’t worry, Doc. I feel fine.” I yawned. “Actually, I do feel a little sleepy. I think I’ll go back to my cabin and catch a few hours rack time.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“Thanks again, Doc. I’ll let you know if I suddenly start remembering things.”
I left the infirmary and headed back to the stairwell. As I went I traded greetings with the crew members I passed in the corridor. First shift, by far the busiest shift in the rotation, was coming on duty soon and people were getting ready to start their day. I made my way up to A deck and went directly to my cabin. Walking to the ‘fresher I looked at myself in the mirror. I turned my head slowly left and right as I studied my reflection. The overall shape and basic bone structure was the same, but that was all. I was wearing someone else’s face. Except for the eyes. Those were my eyes. Whoever had done the surgery was good. There were no scars visible anywhere.
Okay, I knew who I was and who I was supposed to be, but that left me with new questions. The last thing I remembered before waking up on that prison transport nearly four years ago was being in one of the hidden interrogation rooms beneath the capitol on Haven. One of Sebastian’s goons had been working me over, trying to soften me up. And he hadn’t been gentle about it. The Duke wanted my passwords to a number of secure files in the main database that I refused to give him. I had been deeply hypno-conditioned and their attempts to get the information through chemical means hadn’t worked so they resorted to trying to beat it out of me.
I remembered swimming back to consciousness briefly when Sebastian and another man I couldn’t see were in the room. Sebastian actually sounded upset that I had been treated so roughly. The other man’s voice however was perfectly calm and emotionless. Although I never saw his face I could hear him clearly. Whoever he was he was cold and calculating. I was no more than a factor in their plans and they needed me dealt with quickly. If they couldn’t beat the information they wanted from me they would have to find another way. I passed out again at that point and didn’t expect to ever wake up again.
But someone had surgically altered my face, capped my memory and dumped me on that prison transport as Cordass Pell. Sebastian probably figured that I’d be safely out of the way in a maximum security prison with a wiped memory. I was going to see to it that he found out just how wrong he was.