Finding Utopia

Chapter 27: A Break To Think

Thiyya: " Oh, I see" * gestures for Maanaa to carry out*

Maanaa: "Dis-com-bo-bu-la-tion, anyways, it's not good for you guy's mental health, I'm pretty sure not many people in this universe have experienced what you guys have, going from no alien contact to extraterrestrials with wings as friends, to finding Utopia, going there, making wishes, to unveiling disheartening truths, to all this messed up shit with Luz, you deserve a break!"

Marco: " I agree with you but I don't think I can rest truly until after we deal with Luz"

Thiyya: " Totally agree! if we don't it will stay in the back of my mind and I'll feel guilty about it."

Ziri: " Whare's Xeelai though?"

Maanaa: " He's in Aaraa, looking into the latest technology for memory manipulation, but the person who's studied this field and excelled at it, is the person that will hesitate the most to do it"

Maya: " What do you mean? Are there some rules prohibiting this?" 

Maanaa: " That's not it, the expert is... Aliaan"

The friends turn towards Maanaa with their jaws dropped, they then look at each other still in utter shock.

Ziri: " No offense, but never in a million years did I picture Aliaan being that academically smart"

Maanaa * chuckles*: " Haha, he is the best at it for a reason, he is dumb in pretty much everything else hahaha"

Ziri: " Damn... but that makes sense !"

Marco: " Guys, let's hurry, I have things to do"

Maya: " Ok, Mr. Busy, you can go, we've got this and we'll keep you posted"

Marco: " That'll be a great help, see you guys later, and thank you, Maya"

Maya: " No problem, good luck!"

Thiyya: " Ok, Maya, you don't have to do this either!"

Maya: " Trust me I do, I need to distract myself, if I stay alone with my thoughts, I will fall into depression"

Maanaa: " Great! we need you, you're the smart one"

Maya: " Haha, funny that's coming from you, you're probably the smartest among Aaraans too"

Maanaa: " I wouldn't say I'm smart, I am well-informed"

Thiyya: " Knowing how to use your well-informedness is smart!"

Maya, Maanaa, Ziri, and Thiyya, decide to go to see the couple and try to convince Aliaan, that manipulating her memories is the best course of action while waiting for Xeelai to come back with a device that can help them do so.

Aliaan: " You guys, I feel guilty about keeping her unconscious"

Maya: " Didn't she wake up?"

Aliaan: " She did and tried to run to Maya's, I tried talking to her but she didn't listen to me, she pushed me onto the bed and kept screaming, so I panicked and knocked her out again. I've Googled this behavior, since it's something I have never experienced, turns out, she was about to have a nervous breakdown and what I did isn't that bad but I also induced her to sleep so it won't happen again"

Maanaa: " You did your best considering you're not used to the Earthen experience and emotional outbursts."

Ziri: " Aliaan we need to talk about that subject you avoid talking about that you're apparently good at, if this was a story, I would think the writer who may or may not go by the pen name of Human, used this to conveniently fit the plot in order not to introduce another character and make yours a bit more interesting"

Aliaan * blank face*: " Right... I have actually been thinking about it and as much as I'd hate to do this, I don't think we have a better choice also I can't ask you to sacrifice your last wish for this and besides, Utopia is a dangerous place."

Thiyya: " So you agree to do this?" * hopeful*

Aliaan: " I have to. So I decided something you may not agree with but I think it's for the best"

Maanaa: " You know which parts to erase and which to modify? did you look into her memories?"

Maya: " Wait! he can look into her memories? But memories aren't reliable"

Aliaan: " That's why we can manipulate them easily, but we have to make them make sense in order for the person not to have doubts"

Maya: " This is so scary! that means you can do this to us!"

Ziri: " I think the fuck not, I don't want any of this to be erased! Don't you dare go Men In Black on us!"

Maanaa: " Ziri, just because we know a lot about Earth doesn't mean we know everything about pop culture, also it's unethical, there's no convincing reason to manipulate your memories"

Thiyya: " Yeah, plus he was hesitating with Luz, I don't think he'd just do it on us for no reason!"

Maya: " So tell us Aliaan, what do you have in mind?"

Aliaan: " Listen to me carefully before you react! So I looked into her memories and honestly, it was scary for me, Earthen mind and especially memory is like a complicated muddled maze mixed with imagination, I managed to track down memory to its earliest appearance but I noticed that each time she invoked it, it linked to some new external information or something from her imagination that modified it like osmosis. So I looked into a bunch of other people's brains and noticed that  sometimes while trying hard to remember something the brain is triggered to find a solution so what it does is, it links other unrelated memories or new information in order to invoke an acceptable memory, sometimes avoiding one that can invoke an emotional reaction and sometimes doing the opposite because the individual has some conscious thought about the memory while it's being invoked"

Thiyya: " So you're saying our brain tricks us and our memories aren't reliable?"

Maya: " Essentially, our brains are doing the best they can for our survival, it's a bit more complicated than this, if you are curious, look it up, right now we want to know what Aliaan decided"

Aliaan: " I decided that the best course of action, is to erase myself from her memories and manipulate them, so only Maanaa came here and Xeelai, that means, she never married or had a kid, of course later she will find out she is infertile but we will ask Suunuu to help us repair most the damage from childbirth, it will look like she never had kids to an Earthen medical practitioner"

The friends stay silent feeling a heavy burden as they think it through while also waiting for Xeelai to come back.