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She stopped.
Derek did not move and continued staring at nothing in particular in front of him.
“I realize that my story sounds absolutely bizarre and probably confuses you even more, taking into consideration your memory loss about any events that happened to you on Earth.”
“I guess you̓re right…” the young man answered, puzzled.. “All this is absolutely incomprehensible… The two hundred years in stasis, the people who had left Earth before my birthday and who continue living now in a space city…”
Lora sighed heavily.
“And we still don’t know why your ship went after us…”
“Why are you so sure that it followed ‘Solar Flotilla’?”
“Our ships headed in the same direction. This data is supported by your onboard computer and the calculations of our experts. And although they don’t know how your on-board navigation system managed to trace ‘Solar Flotilla’, there is no doubt that our ships were meant to meet, but failed for some reason. The fact that we found you in space was a total accident.”
Derek frowned.
“I don’t know the answer. I can only recall some vague images…”
“What images?”
“The clearest is of a wooden house… It’s far away from the city, but the megalopolis towers are so tall that they can be seen from dozens of miles away. There is smog hovering over them… Black clouds… I’m sure it’s hot and stuffy there. While here, far away from it, there are trees and you can breathe much easier.”
“Is it your home?”
“I’m not sure,” he shrugged, “Also, I see a building without windows. Inside there are many gadgets like monitors, flickering lamps, some beeping sounds. There are people, many people, all dressed in the same clothes,” the young man looked at Lora’s white uniform. “Their clothes are different. They’re dark blue, I think.”
“I have an idea!” Lora abruptly jumped from her seat. “Let’s go to the archives. There’s a lot of information about Earth and, thus, it’s more convenient to look through the old files. You’ll probably be able to find something familiar.”
“Alright,” nodded her guest, a little shocked by her enthusiasm.
The interior of the archives was shaped like an enfilade, whereby a row of rooms were successively attached to one another with doors placed on one axis, creating a sense of cross-cutting perspective for hundreds of meters away. Derek unwittingly compared this place with a giant library, where thousands of shelves would stand against both sides of the central corridor, and hide in the dark under a sky-high ceiling. They were full of tiles that looked like books with glowing neon spines. Lora paused at one of the information boards, which looked like a tall table presenting holographic data.
“OK, let’s see,” she swiped the surface with her hand and a blonde-haired woman’s projection appeared over the board.
“Welcome to the data backup programme. Please state what information you are interested in: the time period or the location.”
“The period is the begi
“Please specify your request. The data volume based on these parameters is very large.”
“A blue uniform,” added Derek.
“The data has been sorted out. I’m forwarding it on the holographic interface.“
The woman’s face disappeared and in its place a virtual stack of cards appeared over the table.
“Like this,” Lora touched the card on the top and gently pushed it aside.
Derek quickly got used to the backup system and after some minutes he was easily interacting with the electronic lady, whose knowledge was truly profound.
“Firstly, I’d like to see only the images of the uniforms, without the descriptions.”
“One thousand two hundred and forty-seven images were accessed.”
Lora slowly sat into an armchair nearby, watching her companion putting aside one card after another. It seemed like the enthusiasm she had felt while coming here besieged him now. But, after two hours of constant data study, Derek’s energy level noticeably fell.
“You need rest,” she said.
“Yes, my eyes are sore and the holographic light is so bright that even the sunglasses can’t protect them any longer”. “We can continue tomorrow…”
“I’ve seen everything that the programme generated,” the young man sighed heavily. “I think, it’s a memory of a military uniform, but I haven’t found anything which matches it exactly.”
“The backup data is old. It was made long before your birth date.”
“I understand… It’s just that I want to remember about my past so much…”
Leaving Derek in his apartment; a white spacious room separated by matte glass into a living room, a bathroom and bedroom; Lora looked back at the hunched and tired figure of the man. She liked his genuine interest in everything new, but she also couldn’t help noticing how his curiosity and enthusiasm faded giving ground to longing and detachment when he was wandering in the depths of his lost memory.
Pausing for a while at the door, Lora then approached the motionless young man in the armchair and took the universal panel from his hands.
“Let me show you something.”
She spared him the explanations, and just gently touched the virtual keys on the screen causing the lights to go dim. And the walls, so white just a second before, flashed with an image of a soft sunset. Then, the silence of the room was interrupted by a light breeze and a melodic swishing of the surf.
“Get some rest,” Lora said quietly.
Giving him back the panel, she lightly touched his hand, which was motionlessly lying on the arm of the chair and left the apartment immediately. In this way she expressed her profound compassion and genuine support. She said nothing because she was sure that Derek was not a man in need of pity and consolation. Her silent presence was more important than words filled with sympathy.
Chapter 4
The next couple of days saw Lora and the man in her care embark on endless trips around the city. The teleport proved to be a convenient and fast transport means. When the distances were not very long, the young people preferred to walk. And anywhere they went they could see that life on Titanium followed its quiet and measured flow regardless of the circumstances. Everything, they said, was in its time. Even when a hasty evacuation from Taria began, the people did not panic; instead, everyone continued doing their job.
Studying anew the history of his own native planet and getting to know the world of the future, Derek recalled the Earth cities, traditions and laws more and more. However, Lora sometimes felt that his memory, despite the fast recovery, remained a picturesque but lifeless picture. He still didn’t remember the details of his own private life, events of previous years and the reasons why the earthlings had sent their transport on such a long voyage.
One evening, after having worn their feet out the busy streets and having spent endless hours in the archive, Lora a
“You know, you still haven’t seen the most impressive place on Titanium!”
She typed the destination in the teleport control panel and smiled mysteriously.
“You can’t keep me in the dark for long ,” Derek chuckled, because the glass cabin doors slid open almost immediately.
“Yes, our transport system has its drawbacks…” answered Lora with pretentious sadness.
“Welcome to the viewpoint, sector B-153,” a
“I don’t think you’ll need your glasses here,” noted the girl when the teleport doors closed behind their back. They found themselves in a dark hall with two pale neon lamps along the smooth floor as the only source of light. Slowly changing colour, they ran parallel to each other: one along a dark shiny wall, while the other ran along a seemingly endless panoramic window, behind which the black infinity of outer space pierced by the light of the distant stars opened to their eyes. ‘Solar Flotilla’ followed the Earth calendar and every morning Lora put on her favourite trainers and came here for an hour of jogging around this cyclic track, looking into the unchanging emptiness in front of her and trying to get rid of all doubts and worries.