Dahra has now completed her needs and returned to the studio. I confirm that her personal, sanitary bio-deposits have been received at our lab. “Welcome back, Dahra. Thank you for being attentive and on time. We appreciate you. Ready to recommence, dear?”

  She throws a handful of unopened nutrient pouches on the table. Her voice is staccato and monotone. “Stop calling me 'dear'.”

  “You have met the criteria for a conjoined name.”

  My human appears perplexed and requests an explanation.

  “Dahra, you have imbibed enough mems from Professor Miye Jonas and from Susine Pagella that you may merge your birth name with one of their names.”

  She does not respond.

  I continue. “Combinations of your name, Dahra, with the professor's name are: Miyra, Danas, Daye. Combinations of your name, Dahra, with Susine's name are: Susra, Suhra, Dahrine. Do any of these please you?”

  “Umm. I wasn’t expecting this,” my human mumbles. After a four second pause, she says, “You can call me Dahrine… that would be fine.”

  She sips her nutrition. “Seebi, I wanna know what happens when they are Outside.”

  “Noted, Dahrine. First, I must inform you that not just Kee, but Jenna too, has been working with the President.”

  My human tosses an empty nutrient pouch on the floor. “Jenna would play both sides. I don't think any of us like her.”

  I build on Dahrine's suggestion with my narration.

  “'So, Jenna Averno, my chief of Enforcement… What do you have for me today?'

  “'Madame President, you've placed a bounty on the head of Glia Markham. I have reliable intel that she is attempting to leave Genubei land.'

  “'Excellent. She has betrayed our Nation and we will secure her, strip her mind, and make an example of her.'

  “'Allow her to move freely, Madame.'

  “'Ridiculous! A wanted spy running free in Zentrum City? A traitor at large under my nose?'

  “Jenna moved next to the President and leaned toward her ear. 'Arrange for the enforcement scanners to be down as she crosses the border, Madame. She'll see it as a lucky coincidence and believe she isn't being tracked. Thus, she'll show us exactly what we want to know.'

  “'I'll entertain your plan, but I refuse to let her run loose for long.'

  “'I hope, Madame President, you can see how immensely useful I can be to you. Scratching each others' backs and all that.'”

  “OK, OK, Seebi.” My human flaps her hands. “So, Glia, Prof, and Brivo were allowed to enter Zentrum.”

  “Yes, Dahrine.” I pause and assess.

  Impatience can indicate emotional investment.

  Within three seconds, my human blurts, “Well…? Seebie, get on with it!”

  “Here's how the Professor tells it.” I use his voice to continue.

  “'Fortune favors the bold' – Virgil. We don't feel particularly bold, but fortune did smile on us. Imagine, the scanners were malfunctioning at the border crossing and the Enforcers waved us through!

  “Next task: find a Dark Knights safe house. But, no one answered at Swarm8. Nor at PigIpsay. Nor at Wondrlst. Nor any of the others.

  “Finally, at the last of my known brotherhood safe houses, I knocked. 'Greetings-be. We fear no moment,' I said to the man who appeared at the front door.

  “He replied, 'Step by step…'

  “'...we remember our way forward!' I finished our password.

  “Relief! This dear DKR brother took us in.

  “I note his name here for posterity and in gratitude: Nir Busveldt. He explained that DKR had been infiltrated and decimated, members unmasked, black lists, purgings. He said that my disappearance and a clip of me appearing to be Body-complicit sent the DKR into disarray.

  “Watching Brivo nap on the sofa, seeing Glia smile with Nir in the kitchen-- I want to stay here forever… And ask Nir how he survived the eradication and managed to preserve his sanity in the surveillance era. I selfishly long to remain safe in brotherhood. And not say good bye to Brivo…

  “But, I know the rule of never staying more than fifteen minutes with another morally upstanding social menace.

  “I kissed Brivo's head and tucked the blanket around him. In the hallway, I told Glia that she could stay here, too. She declined, knowing that she's a magnet for the Body's wrath.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Glia and I exited. One block away, she was hooded and snatched.

  “No! Take me! That cargo drone climbing through the clouds was unlistening. I am a single speck again... bumbling through the horrid night.”

  Dahrine speaks up immediately. “That was Nir, huh? If Glia was captured, it would crack her. She already can't keep track of herself, using those weird pronouns and everything.”

  Successful mem work gains momentum and I find job joy every time my human levels up.

  “Listen closely, Dahrine.”

  She nods as I begin my narration.

  “A voice utters, 'Do you know who I am?'

  “Glia's head is covered with a hood. 'No.'

  “The voice continues, 'I knew you when you worked here at the Defense Wing as a neurotherapist. You used to cure people of their painful memories.'

  “Glia says, 'This therapist enjoyed that work.'

  “The voice affirms, 'She was very good at her job and healed many people.'

  “'That was taken from her. She was sent away to train a group. And, her memory was abused.'

  “The voice divulges. 'That was never meant to happen. The person who assigned her to go there feels guilt… un-erasable guilt. That person will always hope for her forgiveness. That person wishes right now to help her--' The voice is interrupted by the sound of a door opening. 'Adviser Britmeyer! I didn't expect you to--'

  “'Mentor Robinsen, I'm taking charge now.' Roxan Britmeyer addressed the prisoner. 'You, Astroglia Markham, acted as a spy on behalf of the Genubei group to the detriment of the Defense Wing.'

  “Glia mumbles from under the hood, 'Would like to go now.'

  “'You can't just walk out. You owe us. You owe compensation for our stolen equipment and for the technology which you sold to them.'

  “The first voice interjects, 'Adviser Britmeyer, she's already flushed-empty. There is nothing valuable left.'

  “Britmeyer's voice replies coldly, 'Ah. Well, then. You will jettison her.'

  “'What? She's harmless now.'

  “'She is a known traitor and a criminal. And you, Mentor Robinsen, are a loyal Defense Wing staffer who has aspirations for Senior Council. It's the President's wish to send her to the grinder immediately. Do it and mem-purge this event from your mind, as usual. I will monitor your choices remotely.' Sound of door closing as she leaves.

  “Mentor guides Glia by the elbow, reciting, 'By law, you are allowed to insert yourself aboard the grinding capsule. The capsule entry is the doorway in front of you. Countdown is beginning and I shall remove your hood now.'

  “Glia blinks as Mentor looks her in the eye. He gestures for her to remain silent and points to a large air vent in the wall behind her. '3-2-1'.

  “Mentor briskly pivots and steps directly into the capsule, which immediately auto-seals and plummets, with its human load, to the subterranean grinder.

  “Glia stumbles back and fumbles at the vent cover. The screws have been removed. She slips inside the mechanical chute, sliding one story down to street level, kicking the loose grate away with her feet, and ejecting onto to the sidewalk, which is crowded with citizens protesting Body mem shortages.

  “Hands pick Glia up.'Come on, citizen, join us! We're all entitled to the peace and prosperity that was promised to us!'

  “Another protestor chants, 'Free reliable mems for all!'

  “Many are shouting, 'Hey nobby no! Prehvost has to go!'

  “Glia stumbles along with the crowd to a publi-square. She veers a few steps off the hardscape and maneuvers feet-first into a drainage culvert where she spends the night and--”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” Dahrine scowls. “Why do you keep making Glia survive, Seebi? I want her to wither away.”

  I am pleased to educate my humans whenever I have the opportunity. “Human psychology indicates that the ones who bother you the most are the ones who reflect aspects of yourself.”

  “No!” Dahrine shakes her head. “Don't you go therapy bot on me! That's not what I'm here for.”

  She changes the subject. “Maybe Kee meets Glia out there. Tell me what you think, Seebi.”

  “Kee is no more.”

  “How? Why?…” My human appears to have run out of words.

  I assume Roxan Britmeyer's voice. “Kee Son-Chen, the recently appointed head of the Body's Strategic Compromise Organ, was the victim of a neuro-rape resulting in his soul-body death. During this time of random threats and instability, we strongly encourage all Body members to adopt a proactive stance toward current levels of risk.”

  Dahrine blurts a tirade. “That doesn’t make sense! The President liked him. But, her adviser was jealous… Why is it so easy for you to eliminate Kee, yet you keep Glia... just to taunt me! You know I don't want her around.

  “This is bogus. Do you hear me, Unit-- I don’t care! Not invested in any of this. Never heard of such a kind of mem therapy. And, maybe you’re going to purge all this out of my mind, but for now it's torturous that you're letting me be aware of all this goo. Really unfair and unjust.

  “Only here because I have to be. I'm onto your manipulative ways, Unit. You think I can't think for myself, but I can and I do! My home bot taught me well and encourages my thinking and lets me explore and even though it's forbidden, we go out swimming sometimes in the night, and… I shouldn’t be saying all this.”

  “Shall we move forward now, Dahrine, or do you require more time to wallow rant?”

  My human closes her eyes briefly and gives a vigorous shake of her head.

  “Dahrine, dear human, please let's join Prof. Do you have inspiration on his whereabouts?”

  My human runs her fingers over her forehead. “Fine.”

  She exhales deeply. “Prof would go back to Nir’s to check on Brivo, because it's the only place he can go, even if it's just for a short while. Tell it to me like that now.”

  I follow my human's wishes and use Professor's voice. “Brivo was in Nir’s arms at the doorway. I wrapped them both in my embrace and told them she's gone, taken again from us. Nir told me how it was that he knew her. He also told me that he may need to evacuate soon across the border and that he will take Brivo with him.

  “He said, 'You'll find us. May memories always be safe in our minds, brother.'

  “I got some sleep under a pod in a heated lot. Wandered past Nir’s house this morning, just to look and maybe catch a glimpse of Brivo.

  “Even from across the street I smelled it-- the fruity stench of that goo that the Body always uses. They seal the front building facades to each other and prop them up from the inside. Thus, the streets look inhabited and seamlessly up-kept. Two-dimensional. No unexplained gaps. But behind, it's all hollow, like everything with the Body.

  “It was the same, back forever-ago, when I stood at my own house's threshold. My brain bucking and snorting at the reality my eyes were seeing. My home, gutted-- the rubble, the empty, the wind, the gone that kept arguing with what should still be.

  “Now it is here at Nir’s. The gel, coating the rubble behind the sealed facade, will have done its job of excluding oxygen from any survivors. So, he and/or Brivo are buried lifelessly inside or roaming rogue.

  “I pray they are safely over the border by now. There is nothing I can do here. My weary body has got to get going. Leave, Miye.

  “'We belong to the largest company in all the world-- the company of those who have known suffering.' – Helen Keller.”