Memories with Revenge

"I will be fine, Mom!"

"And careful?"

"YES! Love you, bye!" I shut the door and started towards my vibrant hot pink hover. After she went blind and moved in with me, my mother kept saying I needed a new hover. She can't see it, and she still complains. We never had a lot of money, and spending the money I have hidden from her could complicate things. When she lost her sight, it wasn't as bad as it used to be a couple of hundred years ago, but it affected us as a family nonetheless.

I reached the large building that would hold the next half hour of my life and change the rest permanently. Inside were small stations to sign in, but suddenly I wasn't ready and sat on an empty bench. It was right there, the past, my brother, all of it. My entire childhood was ready for me to see again, and I could see my brother for the last time alive and thriving. Tears spilled off my face and into my lap. I let them flow, not caring about the pitying stares I received.

Mostly older people filled the room, and a nice older gentleman offered me a handkerchief, but I had one of my own in my bag. A hundred years ago, large companies finally started to care for the trees more and became almost solely focused on making reusable products. I pulled out mine, the only pure red object I own; my brother gave it to me when our dad died. I dried my tears and quietly pulled myself together before standing up once again to sign in.

Name: Holland, Macey

Age: 27

Memory Date: 2247, August 7

Memory Focus: Holland, Jace

My fingers hovered over the final button. Was this really the memory I wanted to live again? I submitted my entry and sat down, waiting for my name to appear on the screen. I remembered scraping my knee after falling off my first hover bike. We were home alone, but Jace cared for me by putting a quick healer on, turning on my favorite show, and grabbing snacks while we watched. He always cared for me, even when we were little.

"Holland, Macey, station 5." I was pulled back to the present as I heard my name called. I walked around groups of people, hover bots, until I reached station 5. No human manned the station; it was completely automated, like most things. I swiped my ID chip across the scanner, showing I’m not entering the wrong machine. The door opened, and an automated voice listed the safety precautions.

I was in a daze and could hardly focus on the droning voice. My thoughtful mother thought ahead and made me read over the precautions for a week before she let me go. My eyes were hazing over again, so I roughly wiped them with the handkerchief.

"Do you agree to the terms and conditions connected to the use of the Memory Reacher 3X?" My hand hurt when I nearly smacked the yes button and signed my signature. I was ready to see him again in any way possible.

Gradually, the boxed-in confines of the machine blurred into the memory of my family and heart first breaking. The rare and loved wood of the house filled my eyes, and the oak bedroom door of Jace's room was shut tight and locked. I saw his red blanket on the messed-up bed, empty of the two figures I knew were there. His dresser was next to the head of the bed, and the steel was covered with images magnetized to his dresser. Most of them were of him and me, a few contained our parents, but not enough to keep us together.

Smells started to fill in the gaps, salty tears nearly masked the scent of Jace's sweat from fixing his newest hover bike earlier in the day. He loved buying broken things and spending hours fixing them. The smell of blueberry muffins wafted through the small gap under the door and into the room. Muffins that were forgotten in the chaos.

Sounds burned through my eardrums. Shouting, crashes, crying, bangs, more yelling. Through all of it, I heard Jace's voice, soft and soothing, and scratchy from crying. The figures on the bed started to fade into view, fuzzy at first, then focused and solid. Jace had me wrapped in his arms, whispering comforts to me. His face was red, scrunched up. We were twins through and through; we shared the same green eyes, chestnut skin, and brown hair.

My tears created waterfalls on my face as I knelt by my past self and brother. I could hear his words, comforts meant to soothe me, and they would years after. "I'm here, I always will be... I won't leave you, I never will..."

Our parents were shouting downstairs, and things were being thrown. Later, we would discover one of Jace's art pieces had shattered in the kitchen. I want to crawl against Jace and tear him apart. I want to hug him tight and never let go. Hundreds of memories were made between us, and thousands will never be made because of him. No, because of them.

This memory was the day nothing would be the same between our family. This was the day Jace and I would become inseparable until he left me. He left me alone, he left me with Mom and no one else. Our parents got rid of the house years ago because it reminded them of how badly we were torn apart. I wanted that house back when Jace left. I wanted him back, his memories.

"One minute." Stupid machine. Doesn't it know I never want to leave? I never want to leave Jace, his comfort, this moment we grew closer than ever? I looked up into his lively crying face for the last time. I wanted to remember him like this, vulnerable, protective, true. The smells began to fade into stale air, and sounds of shouting and crying became the constant hum of a machine. Jace, my lovely brother, began to fade into nothing but a steel wall. I am left completely alone in a metal box with nothing but memories to keep me together. Memories that might as well tear my existence apart.

The doors open, and a lone man about my age waits on the other side to see someone he lost for the last time. I numbly walk out, my face red and stained with tears. I walk past him when he puts a hand on my shoulder. Turning, I see understanding in his face, I see comfort in his blue eyes that also reflect my sadness. He tries to smile, but fails as tears fall off his face. He lets me go, and I watch for a moment as he enters the same machine I was just in.

He saw me... he understood what I felt, maybe a hundred others do too. In my hover, I stare at the handkerchief. I decided to tie it around my wrist, a way of never letting him go. Ever.

They want me to take it off; I told them no, it reminds me of him and reminds them of what they did to him. They tried to reconcile with me by paying for a memory visit, giving me an extra week of leave, and now they want me to take the handkerchief off? And they want to give me a new partner? I told them I would keep the bright red cloth on me no matter what, but I was willing to think about another partner as long as I could choose who they would be.

“Fine. I’ll have Mark round up the solos in the Basement.” I left for the elevator and didn’t turn back.

When pairing partners, one is meant for more field work, and the other focuses on the technology. Both receive field work, but one more than the other. Jace and I were partners; I did most field work and enjoyed it more than I should. Sabotaging people and the occasional kill was my job.

Ding. The glass doors slide open, revealing the Basement. A line of 4 solos stands 15 feet away from the elevator, surrounded by various training equipment. 5 state-of-the-art training simulators line the back wall, and mats are neatly stacked up, showing they have not been touched yet. My boots click against the concrete, I stop a few steps away from the first one. Solos are people who don’t have a partner because they specialize in both fields, or they have not been paired yet.

“Name and strong suit, one at a time.” One by one, they each spoke in turn.

“Brendan Walter, Tech,” too lanky, won’t be strong in a fight if needed.

“Azalea Good, Field,” strong, possibly fast.

“Axel Bass, Field,” decent, but I need a tech partner.

“Clover Adkins, Tech and Field,” both, she might hold in a fight.

I need to see them work. Will Good and Bass learn tech quickly? Can Walter hold in a fight? Is Adkins as perfect as she seems? “Good and Bass, get to the holo-walls and learn as much as you can. Walter and Adkins follow me.” I walk to the simulators at the far wall, “Adkins, go through each level as fast and efficiently as you can without dying.” I leave her at the first one and take Walter to one farthest from her, “Same thing, but with no help.”

I turn to walk away towards Bass and Good, but Walter stops me. “I do tech not field, ma’am.”

“I know.” In the center of the large room is a round table with chairs. Holo screens are embedded into the table, meant to monitor the trainees. Without looking back, I took a seat for the first time in one of them. They are comfortable and a drastic change from the memories I have of this room, memories of Jace. Snap out of it. Focus. The screen flares up and divides into four; Walter barely makes it through the first level, Adkins is fast and already on the third, Bass is taking the first quiz and failing each question, and Good is… going through with flying colors. She reads fast and remembers everything, passing the quizzes, and has reached the first test. I can tell she slows, thinking each question over before answering. I notice glancing back at her screen, she aced the test after 20 minutes.

I know enough now. With the touch of a finger, everyone’s screens and simulators shut off. They slowly walk to me, grabbing bottles of water placed on various carts. They align themselves in a row in front of me, and I stand and look across them. Walter and Adkins are dripping with sweat, and they even grabbed a towel off a cart. Bass looks exhausted after only one hour of reading. Good seems she is still reading and retaining information even after leaving her screen far behind her.

“Walter and Adkins, your scores?” Walter fidgets under my stare before answering.

“Level 3 after a few tries,” his voice sounds embarrassed.

“I reached level 9 without dying,” she sounds strong, determined.

“Very good, both of you, but Walter, you’re out.” Walter’s figure slouches with defeat and possible relief. Quietly, he walks towards the showers, soon to head upstairs to report. “Bass, how do you think you did?”

Bass hesitates before answering honestly, “Terrible, I couldn’t retain the information fast enough to be any use.”

I nod and look at Good. She answers quickly, “I believe I did well and could recite nearly everything if asked.” With more focused attention, I notice her eyes have an unnatural rim of silver in her irises, a tell sign of a cyborg, and not uncommon. It explains her efficiency, but causes a mild problem.

“Bass, with more time, you could learn it, but you are also out.” She seems to stand straighter before following after Walter towards the showers. “Azalea Good and Clover Adkins, you both stand out exceptionally against the other two. Good, do you have the Lunar Government-issued implant?” The implant is placed in most cyborgs, but is required if they want to become a part of our organization. They prevent even the most skilled hackers from taking control. Jace was a major help in creating them. Another thing he left behind with me.

“Yes, it was placed when my eyes were done recently.” Her stance faltered as she shifted from one foot to he other. She’s nervous, why?

“Very well, I want each of you to do what the other did, so I can-”

Ding.

Who on the moon is that? Out through the glass doors comes a man slightly disheveled and nervous. He quickly walked up to me and began to speak, “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I’m a solo hoping to be your partner.” He offers his hand to me, slowly, I take it firmly in my own. He lost someone. Who? How have I never seen him before… before Jace left? This man helped me find strength simply by understanding. “Umm…” I let go of his hand, quickly realizing I had held on for too long.

“You’re late,” I spoke quickly and straightforwardly.

“Oliver Caddel, the best in Tech and a trainee in the field.” He glances at the girls, but I’m focused on him. “I-I’m late because I had to convince my trainer to shorten my… my grief leave,” he pauses, pain flashing across his face so fast I may have imagined it, “and to convince him to let me join the solos down here.”

I’m frozen. Did he recognize me at the Reahcer? Was that why he tried to comfort me? Or is he simply that nice of a person, even in grief? “How far in your field training are you? And how much experience do you have in tech?”

“My trainer says ‘your almost as good as the Hollands but not yet,’” he puts air quotes when he quotes his trainer and I almost smile for the first time in months at his mocking voice, “In tech, I was temporarily under Jace Holland himself during the time he created the chip in cyborgs. We were bouncing ideas back and forth when I thought of it, but didn’t have the expertise to pull it off.”

He worked with him, too? How well did he know him? “Would you be able to do it now if needed?”

“Yes, without a doubt.” Again, his gaze flickers to the girls, and this time, I look too. Good is still off kilter, but Adkins seems in control.

“Good, do you have a problem?” I eye her warily, she refuses to make eye contact with anybody.

“No-”

“She doesn’t have the implant.” Huh? I look at him, but he is now fixated on Good.

“Care to elaborate, Caddel?” I cross my arms in slight irritation. He walks in here saying he knew Jace and wants to be my partner, but now he is accusing Good of something that could kick her out?

“At the beginning of brainstorming, Jace had the brilliant idea to try to disguise the silver band in the eyes to help cover the known cyborg identifier. That way, enemies wouldn’t know who they had to hack if told to, which adds to the difficulty of hacking them. Of course, actual precautions are put in the chip, and more technicalities.” Now he sounds much more confident and sure of himself. He knows what he is talking about; I have no idea, as usual.

“Well, with that, Good you are out and to go straight upstairs to the new head of the tech department.” She walks away defeated and depressed. Adkins looks smug…

“That means I win. I’m your partner.” She stares straight into me. My blank face that I have held since returning finally broke into a grin. She thinks she won?

“Why are you so conceited? There is still Caddel you should worry about, and I am not done with you.” My face contorts into anger, I have held in for months.”You aimed at him, and you thought you won. You were allowed into the most secretive place on the Moon, and you thought you won. Clover Adkins will never win because she isn’t real. You, Nancy Romero, have lost.” Bass, Good, and Walter charge into the room before Nancy Romero can reach the elevator.

Romero took down my brother during what was meant to be a reconnaissance mission. She used what she thought was weakness to enter our organization when we had no head Tech, and everyone was in chaos after having lost the best there was. Jace took care of everything and still made time for me.

The organization created a trap using me as bait, I agreed only if I could be the one to confront her. I helped perfect it by introducing the others and making them do something. Caddel, however, was not planned at all.

“Stun her. Caddel, send it in.” Quickly, others were down in the Basement, and Romero was sent to be questioned about everything she knew. It was a few hours before I was alone in the small break room. Coffee in hand, I stared out the window at the capital city on the moon, the only city. I heard a click and turned to see Oliver Caddel walk in to join me. We hadn’t spoken outside of Romero-related conversations or at all alone. “Did you know who I was then?”

He understood, “Not at first, but later I did.” He turned to face me head-on, “Now I would like to know you as who you are, not one of the Holland-twins, but as Macey.”

I looked at him thoughtfully. I could grow to trust him even after all the pain,” I would like that too, Oliver.”