compass that told methis order is wrong. If I am questioned officially I can simplystate I took the Emperor’s orders for your upcoming mission tooverrule that order since if you were placed in a coma there wouldbe no way for you to fly The rest of the cover-up is actuallydescribed in the orders so I would not have to explain thataway.”
Well, this doctor was packed full ofsurprises. Technically I should have reported him for disobeyingorders but, as he pointed out, that would jeopardize the mission aswell as getting my memory blocked again. He had me here. I couldnot report him, and part of me felt that was good.
“Doc, I have to ask you something. Why didyou recommend me so highly to the captain? I did not think youwould have known anything about me.”
He got that faraway look about him again,just as he had in the meeting. This time I could watch him moreclosely and I saw that there was more to it than that. He seemed tobe fighting some internal struggle with himself, one I could barelydetect. After a few minutes he sighed and looked at me.
“Vydor, I know that I did, but I cannotremember doing it. You see, like you I have many memory blocks, butunlike you I have never been able to open them. I can find them,just not open them,” he stated in an almost depressed tone.
“But no alarms went off showing you in pain?”I asked.
He had a proud smile about him as he startedhis reply, “No, I have been fighting the memory blocks much longerthan you have. You will find after you defeat the pain a few timesit starts becoming second nature and you get to the point that youdon’t even notice it any more. It took all my medical training thefirst few times to get through it, but I did. Of course the realquestion you must be wondering about is why I have memory blocks,and that’s a question I have been researching ever since returningto my post here.”
“Returning to your post? As far as I know youhave not left the ship since taking over from Dr. Smith.” Thisvisit was providing all kinds of new threads to work out, and itseemed that they must be connected to the Magi. Why that should bewas a mystery, but my instincts told me it was true.
“The problem is that you think Dr. Smith andI are two different people, in fact everyone in this fleet does.However, I know for a fact that we are not. Vydor, if we continuethis discussion you probably won’t like where it leads. It willcast a doubt on everything you think you know about the Empire. Areyou sure you want to hear it?” He had a concerned look on his face,worried about how I would take all this new knowledge.
“Doctor, information is my game; all I dealin is facts, figures and numbers. I know everything we have talkedabout so far will somehow lead me to the solution to the Magipuzzle. I need whatever information you have to give me the bestchance of surviving this mission.” I had to keep him talking.
“Very well.” He started to pace a bit as hespoke. “When I came aboard this ship five years ago, I felt I hadbeen here before, but every memory of this ship was blocked. So Istarted digging in the ship’s logs and personal records. As part ofmy search I looked at Dr. Smith’s records. At a glance I knew theywere faked. In time I was able to reconstruct a series of events,none of which I can directly remember, but I know must be true.Many years ago I was a leading DNA researcher. I accumulated manyawards for my work on trying to unravel the DNA code. I even helpedto create a lot of the DNA simulation software that is being usedto test genetic treatments today…”
“Sorry to interrupt, but what do you mean the‘mystery of DNA?’ When I was in the Academy we studied it. Itseemed fairly simple and well-understood to me,” I said.
He looked right at me, locked my gaze andsaid, “You were lied to.” He let that sit in the air for a minute,and then continued, “DNA is still a complete and total mystery tous. We have no idea where it came from, or how it works. Weunderstand bits and pieces; enough to make medicines and correctsome defects, but that is it. If you take the time to do theresearch I think you will be shocked by the number of things wedon’t understand that you were told we did in school. The mind isanother; no one really knows how it works. Centuries of study havenot solved the puzzle. No matter what we learn about it, we cannotmake any theory fully fit. It is as if we are missing some criticalpiece of that puzzle. But this is beside the point …” He paused togather himself, and then continued, “It was all that time spentstudying DNA that helped me spot the tampering with Dr. Smith’srecords. In fact, the DNA was mine with some not-so-clever editingto make it look like a different person. It happened to be softwareI had helped to create which was used to fake the DNA, so I wasable to undo the changes and get back to the original code, whichmatches mine perfectly. Since then I have spent a few hours everyday trying to unravel why all this has happened. I have managed torebuild a lot of my old life, but haven’t found any answersyet.”
“Wow, this really creates a lot morequestions than answers. To start with, why would the Empire lieabout the state of medical research?” I had so many questions, buta cover-up of this magnitude was just unimaginable, and I had tostart with that.
“You are expecting some deep, dark reason,with many levels of complexity, but in reality it is deceptivelysimple. This is where we will really begin to challenge yourpreconceptions. You, like everyone else, were brought up to worshipand serve the Emperor with all your heart, mind and body. As achild you probably sent him small gifts and offerings to helpensure you would have a good path in life to follow. Now, think fora minute. If it became generally known that no one had any solididea where life came from, or how the most vital parts of ourbodies function, would you think that such worship would holdup?”
“What do you mean? We know where we comefrom, a planet near a G-class star …” I started. Then I realizedthat the planet had never been found, nor had I ever heard anythingbut the most general information on it. It was so ingrained intoour society that I had accepted it as true without ever thinkingabout it.
“I think you are starting to get it. By thelook on your face, you don’t like it very much,” he said.
My mind was reeling from the blow to thebasic beliefs I had grown up with. What could all this mean? Ineeded time to collect myself, so I took him down another road.“Doctor, assuming what you say is true, then why did the captaintell me you recommended me to him? I would think that if theywanted that buried they would have blocked his mind too.”
“Ah, now you see the trap that lies andcover-ups create. If they blocked his memory, then later he wouldnot have remembered my recommendation and would not have kept youon his staff. This of course allows the possibility of the captainasking me about it later, but in this case the imperfection of thememory blocks would help them. I think it’s safe to assume that youhave more memory blocks you haven’t yet found. In time, you willfind you still know things that you acquired during those memories,but you won’t know how you know them. For example, even though theyblocked my memory of recommending you to the captain, I know that Idid it. So if the captain asked me, they were betting I would justgo with it in order to avoid looking like a fool for notremembering.” He sat down behind his desk and leaned back. “Thequestion is, where does this all leave us? Well, from what I cantell, we have a lot more questions than answers, and you are ourbest hope for getting them. Like you, I know the answer is downthere on that planet. I can feel it calling me. If I could think ofa way to pull it off, I would be on that mission with you.”
I sat there quietly for a while just thinkingabout everything I had been told. I had never in my wildest dreamsever expected to have a conversation like this with a respectedofficer. On one hand, all my training and schooling was screamingat me that he was a traitor and it was my duty to kill him beforehe could tell more people what he told me, but on the other hand Iknew he was right. Something about all of this was calling me, anddragging me to that planet. I could not fight it. I had to followthis through and reach the planet.
He leaned forward in his chair and lockedeyes with me and said in a low tone, “Vydor, listen to me verycarefully. You must avoid Larath until you launch. If he discoversyou broke this memory block, it is his job to put it back.”
His tone implied so much more than his words.“That will not be easy. I am scheduled to meet with him at 0600tomorrow. He promised to teach me a defense against the Magi’s fearweapon.”
“You’re already able to beat that weapon.Just use the same thought shield you use when you drop intopuzzle-solving mode, without going into the mode. You will thenbecome completely immune to the Magi’s fear weapon and Larath’sempathic powers …”
“Wait a minute, Doctor, I never mentioned athought shield. How did you know that?” Just how much informationwas he withholding? As I pondered that he got that look on his faceagain. When he came out of it I said, “Let me guess, another memoryblock?” I paused as he nodded, then pushed on. “It seems our pastsare heavily intermingled and someone did everything they could toprevent us from knowing it.”
“It would appear so,” he said as he turnedand entered something in on the computer. “Either way, that thoughtshield is how you will block all the psychic powers. You areprobably wondering why I did not mention that in our briefings.That was because Larath was present at all of them. If he suspectsI have made progress on cracking my memory blocks — well, let’sjust say I would probably have an unexpected retirement party.”
