Persistence of Vision

  ***

  “It sounds accurate to me.” Marcus nodded from where he was sitting up on a bed in Medical.

  Doc, Maggie, Joan, and Karl were standing around him. Karl had been filled in on Maggie’s flashback.

  “I walked into the room ahead of Joan and found you on the floor. Your eyes were open, and you weren’t moving. I couldn’t get you to respond, so I picked you up and eventually got you back here. You were awake for that?”

  “I don’t remember anything afterward. It’s a blur. I had an actual sensation of information—identity, memories—leaving me. I knew it was happening but couldn’t stop it.”

  An uncomfortable silence fell. Maggie shrugged her shoulders just for something to do. It was horrible. That’s what they all weren’t saying, and it had been—an overwhelming helplessness she never wanted to feel again.

  “What about before?”

  Maggie turned to Karl. “What?”

  “You said you don’t remember anything after Marcus picked you up, but do you remember anything before that?”

  She didn’t. It seemed like she should, but it was all blank. “No. Why?”

  Karl glanced at Marcus. “You were in the custody of these people for nearly three hours. We still haven’t accounted for what happened to you during that time. Whatever it was led to Colin’s death and your memory loss.”

  Maggie nodded. “Marcus told me.”

  Karl shrugged. “If you could remember the events of those hours, it might answer a lot of questions. It could give us some insight into the collectives themselves. Who knows how much you saw and…”

  “Enough, Karl.” Marcus’s voice wasn’t harsh, but it had a quiet finality that instantly silenced Karl.

  “N—no. Not enough,” Maggie sputtered. “What are you—what is he saying?”

  Silence answered her, and no one would meet her eyes except Marcus, who stared at her intently.

  Maggie rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to follow Karl’s thoughts. “What, you think that maybe the reason I lost my memories is because I saw something that would help us defeat them?”

  Marcus looked sad. “We don’t know anything for sure, Maggie. Which is why”— he glared at Karl—“we don’t want to jump to conclusions.” His gaze returned to Maggie. “We don’t want you to feel pressured, Maggie. You need to take this one day at a time.”

  “Ahem. Marcus?” It was Doc.

  Marcus looked at him.

  “Of course we don’t want to pressure Maggie, but I think we’ve got to face reality here, don’t you?”

  “How do you mean?”

  Doc rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think any of us believes the attack today was coincidental. I’ve never seen this many Trepids together in a single group. They’ve never come this close to discovering Interchron before. And we’ve always thought it impossible for Maggie to regain her memories. We obviously have much less of a grasp of the situation than we previously thought.”

  “But Doc, what can we do about it?” Joan asked quietly.

  “First, I’d like Maggie to learn how to use a weapon. Things are too dangerous for her not to be able to defend herself. Second, I think we should get the entire team together and go over what happened before, piece by piece so it’s all fresh in our minds. And to see if there’s anything we missed before that we might pick up on now. I don’t like that things we don’t understand keep happening. If we don’t figure this out soon, we’re going to drown in it.”