The Memory Coder

Chapter Three

I knew my minutes were numbered as the gate closed behind me and I stepped into pitch-black desert night. It would only be a matter of time before they recognized that the fingerprint I used to enter the restricted area was a fake. Lifted from Dr. Solara’s coffee cup earlier that night.

I convinced myself that all I had to do was lay eyes on the girl, confirm that she was real and not a figment of the boy’s wild imagination, and then I would be done with this. Forever. I would go back to my station at the lab and forget this ever happened.

I felt like I’d been walking for miles when I finally came across the concrete wall, towering high above my head. I secured the flashlight between my teeth and began to climb, holding the image of the girl’s face in my mind as the skin of my palms scraped unpleasantly against the rough cement.

My head had barely cleared the top when my eyes landed on something on the other side.  

Her.

And then suddenly everything seemed to stand still. My entire body was frozen. Transfixed. It wasn’t until I started slipping back down the surface of the wall that I managed to snap out of my daze and keep myself from falling.

She was looking out the window of a small house, lit from the inside. As she stared into the night, I couldn’t help but think that she looked . . .

Lonely. 

The light of my flashlight bounced across her face and her gaze darted toward me, fear distorting her perfect features.

And for the briefest, most blissfully joyous moment of my life, our gazes intersected. Those remarkable purple eyes radiated through the pitch blackness like tiny luminous orbs of light. Her beauty lit up the entire desert night.

She was real. And yet surreal at the same time.

But most important, she was right there.

And in that moment, I knew I would never be able to forget her. Even if we never spoke a single word to each other, even if this brief glimpse of her was all I would ever get, I knew I would never be able to go back to work tomorrow and pretend that none of it had happened.

I understood exactly why the delivery boy had returned day in and day out, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would risk everything to do the same.

No matter the consequences.

I stayed there, utterly mesmerized. Half of my body hoisted over the top of the wall, the other half dangling down the side. I didn’t feel the pinch at the back of my neck until it was too late.

And then I was falling.

Falling.

Falling.

But I never hit the ground.

When my eyes dragged open again, I was here. Immediately recognizing the peaceful seaside scenery that covered every inch of the room’s four walls. I knew it because I’d built it. I’d programmed the simulation during my first job at the company. Before I’d been promoted to this very department.

The chair felt hard against my back. I marveled at how I’d never actually sat in it before. Never realized how incredibly uncomfortable it was.

I resolved not to struggle. I knew it was pointless. And I didn’t want to be like everyone else.

But as the needle punctured my skin and her eyes flashed through my mind for what I knew would be the final time, all my resolve vanished into the night.

And I fought and I fought until I couldn’t fight anymore. 

“Retrieval in sixty seconds,” the memory coder reports to Dr. Solara, who stands behind him, hands firmly planted on her hips. Her eyes are more sunken than usual. Her skin paler.

She stares at the unconscious man on the other side of the window, disappointment tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“Ready for metadata,” the coder announces in his most professional voice. He’s been after promotion for months and now that he finally has it, he’s determined to make a good impression.

She lets out a tired sigh, her voice hoarse and defeated as she recites, “Name: Sevan Sidler. Age: Twenty-five. Occupation: Memory coder . . .”

She collapses into the adjacent chair and the coder transfers the download to her screen. She cups her chin in her hand and watches the Revisualization playback with an overall air of surrender.

“It appears the infraction is isolated to the past twenty-four hours,” the coder remarks, referencing the time stamps on his screen.

She swats sluggishly at her controls, pausing the playback midstream. With visible effort, she rises from her chair and shuffles out of the room, not even bothering to look back as she orders, “Replace it all.”

He nods dutifully.  “Yes, ma’am.”

The door swings closed behind her and he immediately gets to work, his hands moving  adeptly over the keys. Replacing reality. Altering truth.

As is common with programmers, he quickly disappears into the code. The synthetic world being crafted by his fingertips draws him in, causing everything else to dissolve into a soft focus in the perimeter of his vision.

But it isn’t long before something snags his attention. Yanks him out. Wrenching him back to the here and now. He reluctantly peers over at Dr. Solara’s monitor, the image from the downloaded memory still frozen on the screen.

It’s a girl.

The most beautiful girl he has ever seen.

And as hard as he tries, he simply can’t bring himself to look away. There’s just something about her eyes.

THE END

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THE MEMORY CODER is a short story that takes places within the world of Jessica Brody's Unremembered Trilogy.

When a sixteen-year-old girl wakes up among the wreckage of a devastating plane crash with no memories, she’s forced to piece together her forgotten past with only one clue to her identity— a mysterious boy who claims he helped her escape from a top-secret science experiment. 

Book 1 - Unremembered
Book 2 - Unforgotten
Book 3 - Unchanged (Coming February 24, 2015!)