Epitaph

0x100: Wake up!

A dark golden leaf swirled in the wind. Robert watched it fall. After what felt like an infinitely long moment, he raised his eyes and looked around. The autumn wind roared in his ears. A nasty November day—perfect weather to visit a place like this.

Most of the gravestones were in a pitiful state, scattered among the gnarled, ancient trees. Jews and Catholics lay buried in the cemetery. At first glance, there seemed to be total chaos—even the dates on the tombstones were all over the place. Yet, some strange intuition guided him where to go. He adjusted his coat, smiling slightly. With a confident step, he headed down the path marked by a faded symbol of Ω.

***

He always considered himself someone special.

"How are you feeling?" The man's voice held a perfect mix of professionalism and practiced concern.

"Fine. I think..." The patient frowned.

"What do you mean?" The doctor wasn't looking at him. His gaze wandered somewhere through the augmented reality.

"I don't recognize this memory."

"Don't worry about it. It's yours. Not necessarily significant from the perspective of consciousness."

"It's just..."

"Besides, they're your emotions!" The man didn't let him interrupt. "The transfer achieved an accuracy of ninety-nine point ninety-five percent. You have two teraflops of your memory at your disposal, with computing power estimated at around..."

Robert waited for him to finish.

"Sorry, I got carried away." The doctor's gaze finally focused on the patient. Maybe he'd taken a break from the Network? "Do you have any other concerns regarding the procedure?"

"No. Let's proceed with my discharge."

The thought of why his first "memory" after one hundred and forty-five years couldn't have been more pleasant, he decided to keep to himself.