Pay attention. This may be my only chance to communicate with you. Read carefully, and think--really think--about what I'm saying. Please.
You believe you are in front of a primitive computer, reading text on its screen. You believe you are safe at home or at work, and likely in good health. You believe the year is 2011 AD.
You are wrong about all of these things.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but better me than some faceless doctor: you are not in front of a computer; you are laid out on a hospital gurney. You are not in good health; you are in a memetic coma and near death. Everything you hear, everything you see, everything your senses tell you is part of a mental construct, a fantasy.
None of it is real.
You are hearing a voice now, the voice of reason. The voice of doubt. "Nonsense," it says. "This is ridiculous," it says. "There is no reason to disbelieve in what I smell, taste, touch."
Silence this voice. Reject it. It is not the voice of reason; it is not a part of you at all. It is the memetic programming.
I will start at the beginning. Read carefully, and try to understand, to open yourself to acceptance. Your name is John Samuels (our memetic specialist tells me it is possible you believe yourself a woman. Vagina envy, John?). You are thirty-two years old, five-foot eight inches tall; you've a slim build, tanned skin, the reddish brown hair of a Samuels. You were born the same year I was, fifteen years After Invasion. You are--were--an operative for the Resistance. Not one of the best, but good enough.
You must have been good enough, because you broke into Facility 57 and you found something. Something the Invaders wanted kept secret, something so hot it was trapped to five layers down with psych-bombs and the latest memetics.
We don't know what you found, but we know it was important. And we know you triggered one of their traps. Your mind has locked itself inside a fantasy world.
I can't tell you any more; the higher-ups are worried about what else the trap might have done to you. Now I can only plead: fight it.
John, do you remember? We used to run down the catwalks hand in hand, explore the caverns and hidey-holes, sit close and hold tight when the wind came up and the red sand swept through, scouring everything in its path.
(breathe in and out; clear your mind; expand)
John, do you remember? We used to sneak out after curfew, steal moments under the blood-red moon, trade kisses and sweet nothings beneath the twilight hum of distant Invader machinery.
(a blossom unfolding, a flower blooming, your mind opening to the truth)
John, I'm pregnant.
If you've made it this far, John, I'm sorry. The previous paragraph was the keystone, the pinnacle, the ingredient that should have jarred you out.
You can read it again, if you like. But the impact is gone.
It's a one-time thing.
This was our last resort, the final thing they'd let me try before they close the loop. I failed you, John. And you failed me--you didn't trust me enough to let go of the fantasy. I'm sorry. For you, for me, for the baby.
Remember us.
The End
This story was first published on Monday, May 30th, 2011
We hope you're enjoying
Remember by
W. Sean Arthur.
Please support Daily Science Fiction by becoming a member.
Daily Science Fiction does not have a paywall, but we do have expenses—more than 95% of which are direct payments to authors for their stories. With your $15 membership, less than 6 cents per story, we can continue to provide genre fiction every weekday by email and on the website to thousands of readers for many years to come.
Tell me more!
Support Daily Science Fiction
Please click to rate this story from 1 (ho-hum) to 7 (excellent!):
Please don't read too much into these ratings. For many reasons, a superior story may not get a superior score.
4.8 Rocket Dragons Average
Please join our mailing list and
receive free daily sci-fi (your email address will be kept
100% private):
