Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 2: The Search

 “Why so silent today?” Claire asked.

 “Long day at work, got tired.”

“You, tired? First time I hear,” she teased.

The man came and lay on a couch, placing his head not far from Claire’s. “Happens. We’ve got a couple of annoying wannabe scientists disturbing us lately. The theories they have… Well I better stop here. My head hurts by even thinking about them.”

“Theories, eh? Wonder if you could help me.”

“On what?”

 “Could you tell me about reconditioning procedures? Are they reliable?”

“Oh those… Well, the process has more than 99% percent reliability and I have not heard of anomalies. 

An operator  can make some small errors during the procedure, but they are considered to be negligible. “

“But the authorities banned the devices back on the Solar system. There must have been a reason, have they got some side effects or something?” Claire opened her eyes and focused her ears.

“Times were different back then. Situation between nations on Earth, colonies and corporations was tense.

“The device itself came from of Venus. At first, the Venusians hid the technology from the public eyes and used it to spy, steal and erase commercial secrets. Sneaky and deceptive people they were. To no surprise someone stole the blueprints and after the technology got out it spread like a cancer. Many corporations and agencies started using devices to gain advantages over their opponents. The possibility that one could not only delete memories but even create some seemed invaluable. Devices were not refined back then, they caused many accidents and gave deadly side effects to the users - instant death, total mental breakdown, increased brain activity that gave greater intelligence at a price of a shorter life and so on.

“As the situation started getting out of control, reconditioning were banned on Earth and all solar colonies. This solution was much safer than to try and regulate their use.

“In this ship there are two devices, both used to 'fix' criminals.”

After a short minute of silence Claire asked, “Are you sure that the devices are capable of no errors?”

“Well you could always check the patients and see how they are doing,” the man suggested.

“Good point.” Claire stood up, brushed the man’s chest and said, “Thanks. Supper will be ready in fifteen minutes. Don’t fall asleep.” She left the room closing the door behind.

*****

Claire walked a narrow overgrown path, brushing frost from the branches of leafless trees, using hands to protect her face from time to time. Once she passed the impediment, she stepped into a garden. There, surrounded by rubble stood a slummy white house. She took a moment to recall the five pictures she had memorized back at home. Five people lived in the house. They all had undergone the rehabilitation process more than three years ago.

She took a glimpse of the view in the background of the house before approaching it - the center of the city was far in the distance of a long hill sloping downwards. The light coming from the artificial sun had difficult time getting here. Claire never got used to the lack of light in the outskirts of the city, it always dimmed her mood.

Claire approached the front door, it had no doorbell. She knocked.

After a minute a large pale man opened the door.