Trespassers: a science-fiction novel (36 page)

“
She did.
”

Sara and Jeremy were dumbfounded. They sat in silence, trying to digest this.

“
I would really like to get the others in here to explain the rest
—
if you
’
re ready,
”
Mindy said.
“
Would that be okay?
”

Jeremy and Sara took turns nodding at one another until the decision was made.

“
I
’
ll go get them,
”
Mindy said as she walked to the front door, leaving Jeremy and Sara at the kitchen table.

“
Are you ready for this?
”
Jeremy whispered, placing his hand on hers.

“
No, not really.
”
She smiled.

He could feel her hand trembling.

The living room was soon crowded with unfamiliar faces, all standing around Sara and Jeremy, who sat side by side on a sofa against the wall. Dexim and Stewart were clearly the leaders. Stewart did the introductions, explaining that his team was from the US government and that Dexim
’
s was from a foreign government.

“
I
’
m not sure how much you know, but I
’
m sure you have a lot of questions,
”
Dexim said.
“
And we need a secure place to have this conversation. So, are we alone here? Are you expecting any visitors? Is anyone likely to interrupt us?
”

Jeremy shook his head
no
to all these questions.

“
Okay, good,
”
Dexim continued.
“
So, to start with the very basics, the reason you can
’
t remember certain things is
—”

“
My memory
’
s been blocked
—
yeah, that
’
s what she said,
”
Sara interrupted, pointing to Mindy.
“
But why?
”

“
You have a secret,
”
Dexim replied.
“
And it
’
s such an important secret that you felt you had to protect it, by blocking your memory.
”

“
I
did this? .
.
. to
myself
?
”

“
Yes.
”

“
So, how do we unblock it? Who does that? Do
you
unblock it? Do
I
?

“
The first thing we need to do is determine just how much of your memory is blocked. So, we
’
re going to ask you a few questions.
”

Jin took his cue and sat on the edge of the coffee table, eye to eye with Sara.
“
Where were you born?
”
Jin asked.

Sara shrugged and shook her head.

“
What are your parents
’
names?
”

Another shrug.

“
How did you get here?
”

“
She doesn
’
t remember any of these things,
”
Jeremy said, taking her hand and sensing her discomfort.

“
I know this is difficult,
”
Dexim said to both of them.
“
But we
’
re here to help.
”

“
How do you do it?
”
Sara asked.
“
How do you
restore
my memory?
”

“
The same type of device that blocked your memory is used to restore it,
”
Tobi said, from the corner of the room.
“
It
’
s a pulse generator that stimulates your senses to allow access to your subconscious. It isn
’
t painful or even uncomfortable, but during the process, you will lose all senses except hearing. You will focus on my voice, and I will lead you through the procedure. Now, based on your answers, it sounds like this is a fully integrated block, which is very powerful.
”

“
And what happens after the procedure?
”
Sara asked.
“
I just suddenly remember everything?
”

“
Well, not necessarily everything
—”
Tobi was suddenly cut off by a quick glare from Dexim.

“
What does that mean?
”
Sara asked.

“
Well .
.
.
”
he looked to Dexim to see how to proceed.

“
It
’
s different for different people,
”
Dexim said.
“
There
’
s no way to say exactly what your experience will be.
”

“
How is it different?
”
Sara said. There was a strange pause, and she wondered what they were trying to sugar coat.

“
What about those cubes?
”
Jeremy said.
“
Those little wooden things? One makes you tell the truth. Isn
’
t that right?
”

Stewart smiled. He was beginning to like this kid.

“
Then, why don
’
t you hold that thing and then answer our questions?
”
Jeremy said.

“
You might lose your memories from those last eight months, everything that happened between the blocking and the unblocking.
”
Tobi finally came clean.

“
There
’
s a
slight
chance
—”
Dexim said.

“
There
’
s a
huge
chance,
”
Tobi corrected him,
“
that every memory you collected over the last eight months will be lost.
”

“
So, she won
’
t remember this?
”
Jeremy asked, swirling a finger around the room.

Tobi shook his head.
“
Probably not. There are some cases where minimal to total recollection has occurred, but that
’
s not likely. And with such a deep block being in place for such a long span of time, there
’
s not much hope of salvaging any of these interim memories.
”

Sara could see from Dexim
’
s reaction that there would be no need for the quoret
—
Tobi was laying all the cards on the table, even the ones Dexim had wanted to hide.

“
Interim memories
,
”
Jeremy repeated,
“
meaning everything after her memory was blocked, up to the moment her memory is restored?
”

Tobi nodded.

“
Meaning me,
”
Jeremy said.
“
So, you want to wipe me out of her memory. What happens then?
”

“
When her memory is restored, we will be taking her back home,
”
Dexim said.

“
Where
’
s home?
”
Sara asked.

“
It would really be best if we restored your memory first,
”
Dexim explained.
“
It would make all of this a lot easier to understand.
”

“
Don
’
t I get a say in this?
”
Sara said.

“
We
’
re turning you back into who you were,
”
Lyntic interjected.
“
Why wouldn
’
t you want that?
”

“
Because I don
’
t know who I was,
”
Sara replied. Lyntic rolled her eyes.

“
It
’
s still who you are,
”
Lyntic snapped.

“
I don
’
t care,
”
Sara said.
“
I want to know what
’
s going on before I decide.
”

“
Decide
?
”
Lyntic said.

“
That
’
s enough,
”
Dexim commanded. He turned to Sara.
“
What do you want to know?
”

“
Everything.
”

Dexim dropped into a chair and rubbed his eyes.
“
We might as well all have a seat,
”
he said.
“
And somebody better bring me a quoret.
”

With the ring at the bottom of the wooden quoret glowing in Dexim
’
s hand, he laid out the whole tale. Dexim used the quoret from Sara
’
s collection, since Jeremy and Sara had confidence in it. Still though, the story was hard for the young couple to take in
—
aliens, spaceships, intergalactic research missions, government cover-ups, and hidden power drives. Just as Sara and Jeremy were coming to terms with one, Dexim would hit them with another.

“
So, you
’
re saying I
’
m not human?
”
Sara asked.

“
Of course you
’
re human,
”
Lyntic fired back.

“
Human, yes
—
one hundred percent,
”
Dexim explained with the tact his sister lacked.
“
Just not from Earth, not earthling.
”

Sara looked to Jeremy
—
still holding his hand.
“
Does any of this make sense?
”
she whispered.

“
I don
’
t know,
”
he whispered back, then turned to the others.
“
Can you give us a minute?
”

Dexim reluctantly called the others out of the room. As the team members waited in the hall, Sara and Jeremy tried to get a grip on what they had just heard.

“
Could it be?
”
Sara said.

“
Well .
.
. does any of it sound familiar?
”
Jeremy asked.

“
I don
’
t think so.
”
She tried to jog her memory, but she had been doing that for eight months now.

In the hall, Jin rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling.
“
Did we give her enough information? Maybe we should tell her more about
—”

“
It
’
s not up to her,
”
Mindy said.
“
You have to convince him. He
’
s the one she trusts.
”

“
It
’
s not up to either of them,
”
Lyntic said.
“
We just drag her back home, and she
’
ll have to come around.
”

“
Go ahead and call the ship,
”
Dexim ordered.
“
Have it pick us up here.
”