Chapter 18 Nansella's Memory Is Erased
On arriving at the town's pylon, they chose to again take the back route to avoid going past the suspect town prison tower. Finally getting to Geodon's house, they freshened up and had a good meal, took a nap.
But they could not stay in there forever, since among other things they had to buy some things that were not deliverable by the conveyor belt that circulated through the town to all buildings. He put in a grocery request to initiate the sending of items from the town's food supply store, but Nansella had to get some things from her house, to live with Geodon more comfortably. So they checked their spoons' orientation and the existence of the stashed notes for them to check the orientation, and then Nansella headed over to her house.
But four hours later she had not returned, way past when she ought to have come back. Geodon called her home on the vidicon and Nansella answered; how nice of him to call, she replied. Was there something he wanted? Geodon paused for a minute, realizing that she no longer remembered she was to come back to his house. Most likely she had suffered the weird memory erasure phenomenon. How to find out just how much erasure? He invited her over for dinner at his place, and would she bring the item she had gone back home to get. It was her turn to be silent for awhile. Then she replied that she would like to do that, could she come over right now?
When she arrived, Geodon noted that she had brought the item with her, and that she was wearing the same clothes as when she had left here earlier this morning. So apparently she had not been assaulted again on the way here this time. He asked her to look in the pocket carefully and note what orientation the spoon there had. Looking quite puzzled, she looked in the pocket. Surprised, she asked how did he know there was a spoon in her pocket. And why did she have a spoon there anyway. And, what a strange spoon, black and lightweight. Geodon noted that indeed, the spoon had been turned over. He asked her to look in the compartment in her purse to read a message there. Still with a puzzled look on her face, yet also with some comprehension that something important was being evaluated, she looked in the compartment, and found the note in her own handwriting explaining that if the spoon was inverted when found, that she had indeed been able to turn it over after feeling the impact of a tiny sharp object that seems to be associated with memory erasure.
She sat down, clearly needing time to figure out a bit better what was going on. Geodon showed where he also had a spoon in his pocket, and it had not been turned upside down. And he pulled out a similar paper from his wallet, essentially explaining the spoon position but in his handwriting this time.
"Are you telling me that I don't remember some things?" she asked. He replied, after a brief pause, "That appears to be true. However, it is something I have suffered from too, only this time you and I were trying an experiment, you going out to do your normal activities while I stayed here at home. Apparently while you were out there, the phenomenon of somehow having specific memories erased happened to you but not to me, this time."
She digested this some more, then asked what kind of relationship did they have, if any; it had seemed strange that he would invite her over this way. Geodon sat down too. This was worse than he had imagined could happen. The perpetrators had apparently even erased her awareness of their long intimate relationship. That was bad news. He was very much in love with her and she had been so with him; but now she hardly knows him anymore, just hours later. He probed his own memory of having discovered missing memory happening to him too. It had been thorough, the memories never had come back. But objects in his surroundings had not all changed to fit the situation implied in the new memory state; and between he and Nansella they had formulated a hypothesis and the spoon and note technique. Which seems to have worked to some extent.
"You are being too quiet" she interrupted his thoughts. "I have noticed some odd things even before coming here now. Can you fill me in with some explanation?" He dove right in. "We have both been victim to something that apparently can very effectively erase specific memories. The only way to discover it is to examine one's surroundings for inconsistencies with one's memories. You and I have had a fine relationship for several months, enjoying lots of fine times. We even apparently had a thriving business going that was making us money, making a new type of cabinetry now being done in town and sold at the furniture store there too. But memory of doing that got erased, and apparently is done by PE corporate management itself, again apparently motivated when it was found to be a profitable activity so they took it away and erased our memory of having created the business and its special techniques for doing the manufacture."
"We have also been creating a vacation home a few hours ride from here, which I had started to make a year ago. You were quite interested and joined right in. We have started a better refinement of the cabinetry technology and had created a new set of products. Just last night we came back here after relaxing time up at the vacation site."
"You mean we have been intimate?" she asked, getting a bit red in the face. He stared at her a moment. "Well, yes. Quite a bit. I am deeply in love with you. You had seemed to be equally in love with me for the past several months, including as of this morning. Now you are getting embarrassed at the very thought of any of that happening. This is worse than I had thought could happen. That was very mean of them to do that to you. To us."
They both sat there for awhile, thoughtfully. Then she said what was it about cabinetry, could he show her. He then took her into the spare bedroom that was the workshop they had. Does any of this look familiar to you?" he asked. She looked at it and said no. Then she looked at the cabinet he had bought from the store, a cabinet that probably he had made himself before the memory got erased in him, and the business and its equipment had been taken from him and given to employees of PE. "Is this the kind of cabinet you were mentioning?" she exclaimed, going over to look at it. "What fine detail! Hinged door covers! How could this have been made?" she went on.
He then took her into the kitchen, and showed her the table ware and dishes. She held them in amazement. "This is our latest creation you and I have been working on during the past few weeks; we have been worried that it too might get stolen from us the same way as the cabinetry business was taken and memory of it erased." She continued to weigh the very light spoon in her hand. Then she remembered the spoon that had been in her pocket; she had not fully realized that it was not the normal metal spoon. She got the spoon out of her pocket; it indeed was the same obsidian-looking lightweight but otherwise very normal looking spoon as were the ones here in Geodon's kitchen. "Well" she said thoughtfully, "It looks like I will have the interesting opportunity to fall in love with you once again. You said you have some groceries here for me to fix for our dinner?"
It indeed was a fine tasting dinner they shared; she had not forgotten how to cook a good meal. When they had settled down for some conversation, he carefully pointed out that most likely he too would have his memories erased the next time he left the house, especially if he walked past the town's prison tower. And he did not know what would happen after that. The spoon thing had worked this time, but it was not bringing back her memories. If the memory erasure had been done to both of them at the same time, how much would the notes and spoons have meant to them? Especially if their tableware making equipment and supplies had also been taken out of his house at the same time, leaving a bare room, as he had found after the earlier taking away of the cabinetry business. She too was being quietly thoughtful a long time. Finally she said that she did not want to lose more of even these new memories, would he mind if she stayed here tonight. With relief Geodon eagerly agreed to that, and showed her the few items she had left in the bedroom, which she recognized as being hers. "Yes, this is getting interesting" she mumbled, as they prepared for their rest.
The next morning, the rest of the groceries had been delivered by the conveyor box system. He asked her if she would like to go see their vacation area again, and she agreed. He then said that he would need to go out and get the pails filled with black sand from the perimeter of the town, now existing several houses away from his home. He said there was some chance that he would be accosted and have memories erased while getting the sand; he did not know the extent of whatever was causing them trouble. So they arranged for her to stay at his house while he left to get the pails of black sand; he ought to be back in about 20 minutes. She was to not let anybody in except him, in the meantime. And if he did not show up back here within, say, an hour, she was to leave too and return to her home, for safety. Unless she was willing to stay here and attempt to bring some of his memory back; it was up to her to decide about that.
But he was back in 20 minutes, with two buckets of black sand for their venture. He asked if she was ready to go, she agreed; he asked where was her picnic basket of food to take along and her small pail of black sand. She looked blankly at him; then he realized their routine of her fixing the food for several days had gotten erased too. He then related their routine about the food, and both of them pitched in to prepare enough food for several days. He was beginning to think that he would need to double-check everything. What if his memory got attacked again was an even worse risk, he worried, but at this point he was coping with as much as he could do as it was. Cannot prepare for everything, but one must prepare for what one can do, anyway.
He led them along the back route that the service vehicles used, which had protected them from being attacked so far. They got to the pylon and went up the elevator to the transfer pod, and soon they were swinging up and down as the pod was transferred from one pylon to the next, headed toward the vast lake that supplied this town and its agriculture with the life-giving water substance. Nansella watched the rugged black lava terrain passing by below them for a long time, then asked if she had seen this before. He said she had indeed, many times; even when it had been covered with snow, which had been different adventures in its own way. She continued to be quiet, then grumped a bit that it was not fair, to have one's nice memories taken away like this, especially just because somebody wanted to steal the profitable manufacturing business. He agreed, adding that while it was being difficult also for him to not assume that she would know what to be doing, but in a way it was a bit fun too in that he was getting to show her his interesting adventures with fresh eyes.
They arrived at the vast lake's terminal pylon, their transfer pod being set on the elevator platform. From up there Nansella gazed with amazement out at water that extended to the horizon, mirror-flat except for the ripples made by the buckets that were dipping into the lake and then headed back down the string of pylons toward town. "Is that your lake?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "No," he said, "look over in this direction and look for a tiny bit of shiny water, that is my little lake," or at least the part he could see from here. She asked how could one get to there from here. He replied for her to bring her picnic basket and little pail of sand, and follow him as he carried the two large buckets of black sand. Down the pylon's elevator they went, then he took her along the pathway he had built through the rugged terrain, filling in places with many buckets of black sand which he had carried up here during many months of trips, over a year ago. Even so, there were places where they had to climb over humps between the areas he had leveled with the sand.
Coming into sight of the little lake, he let her gaze at it for a moment motionlessly; then he led her over to the first cave room. It had not been disturbed; it still had the litter of empty food containers and small pile of bedding. "This is one of my quilts" she exclaimed, as she picked it up off the floor. "And this is an empty box of my favorite dinner mix. Is it yours too?" she asked. He said yes it was; that she had taught him to like it too, although he had not tried it before meeting her.
Taking her back outside again, explaining how the caves had been slowly built by brief thermal shocks of sunlight focussed on the face of the basalt here by passing satellites. He then pointed out the barrier, saying that the same process was occasionally being used to pulverize some of the basalt shards into a fine powder, which was used to make the tableware. It was dangerous to pass through there unless sending a command to cease any energy blasts for awhile, then he led her past the heap of powdery material as she thoughtfully looked at the fine grained powder, something she had never seen before.
Then he opened the concealed door into the third cave. Inside was their real furnishings as had been remaining after the raid by PE Corporation's raid. "How about some of that nice lunch you brought in your picnic basket?" he invited. Looking around at the rough-hewn cave walls a bit, and the meal preparing equipment, she soon was busy setting out some tasty morsels which they enjoyed, relaxing after their journey here.
After lunch, he led her down the lava tube tunnel to its exit at the far end of his little lake. Saying that she would rather take a ride in the rowboat a little later, she wanted to do more exploring of the lava tube tunnel first. Back down the lava tube they walked, past their entrance from their cave room, and into the long black tube with its glassy surface that did such strange things to the beams of their flashlights. When they stopped to rest, he showed her how to set out a flashlight shining in the direction they were walking, so as to minimize the risk of inadvertently starting walking back the way they had come. He also showed how to use the little ball he had brought along this time, which would generally roll downhill along the gentle slope back toward the outlet of the lava tube.
The long walk down the black glassy tunnel was beginning to give both of them the strange sense of losing awareness of time and space, a familiar thing to him, but not to her anymore. Suddenly she stopped. He asked what was happening and she said that her memory was coming back, she thought. Would there be a Y ahead, which they could take the other arm of the Y in the tunnel and soon reach a pile of rubble which can be climbed to see outside again? And that the tops of two pylons could be seen from there, too? He confirmed that all that was true. She asked to stop and rest here for awhile, to see how much more she would remember. Sitting on the tunnel floor in silence, one of the flashlights shining in the direction of their travel, Nansella began to talk slowly as if in a dream, about the life they had known together these past few months. Even their efforts to avoid the town prison tower, which had some way of making them forget, sometimes. She said she needed some time to integrate herself, so they snuggled down together for comfort and warmth there, and soon both dozed off.
Geodon woke first, noticing that there was no light anymore from the flashlight. Feeling around for the other flashlight, he turned it on and laid it down pointing in the direction the now discharged flashlight had been aimed toward the direction of their travel, and then gently woke Nansella. They both did some stretches; friendly embrace and all, it still was a hard floor on which to rest. Geodon was getting a bit concerned as to how much time their remaining flashlight would last; walking this tunnel without light was not something he wanted to experience if possible to avoid. But Nansella wanted to to experience the place where the tunnel had collapsed, so they did so. Up the heap of broken lava they climbed into sunshine; they put both flashlights into the solar charge mode, which would add only a small amount of energy, but would enable the discharged flashlight to be put into its locator mode where it would shine a small LED, more for the purpose of finding it in the dark; but it would also illuminate something a little bit if close enough. And in total darkness, having to walk, that might be a welcome thing to be able to see, if worse came to worse on the way back. They rested up, staying there awhile; she confirming her recollection of the two pylon tops being visible in the distance. And Geodon confirmed her recollection that if they were to continue down this fork in the tunnel, it would come out near the side of his lake.
Once they had gotten warmed up by the sunshine, and their flashlights a bit recharged, Nansella pointed out that there was no place comfortable to rest here very long, so they began to re-trace their path to here. They got to the Y in the tunnel; then headed down the other arm of the Y. It again was a long surreal experience, losing sense of where they were and of time itself. Then the flashlight suddenly went out, leaving only its small location LED lit. They stopped in their tracks, realizing that there now was risk of losing sense of where they were headed; the little ball would be hard to use if it was not easily seen and if it got out of range of the little LED light the ball itself would be lost. Finally, Geodon asked Nansella to always walk behind him; he would have his LED on while she conserved what little recharge her flashlight had. Hopefully by his always walking away from her, and she following along behind him, that would conserve their sense of direction. She had been behind him a little bit when the flashlight had gone out, so they hoped that was the way to go.
It was slow walking too, essentially a bit of zigzag back and forth down the tunnel, reaching the upslope of one side and thus knowing to alter course a bit away from the tubular tunnel wall. They carried on a continual chatter together, partly to know of each other's presence. It seemed a very long way. Then light was appearing ahead; the tunnel's exit by the end of the lake. They had passed by the doorway to their cave room, unable to see it in the dark. They stretched out on the sand of the little beach he had made there, letting the flashlights get recharged a bit in the sunlight too. After resting there for half an hour, and noticing the sun would be going down soon, he pointed out that the flashlights would not have enough recharge to be able to make it back to their cave room in the dark tunnel, and they were likely to pass it by again, not a desirable thing to happen. They were both very tired and hungry, and had had enough of adventure for one day, "How about a little ride in the rowboat?" he invited of her. She looked a bit doubtful of it, never having before seen so much water nor a boat. But he steadied the little skiff as she stepped in, sitting down where he instructed to sit, and they were off as he paddled down the lake.
Geodon was really tired by the time they got to the dock at the other end of the lake. They got out of the skiff and tied it to the dock, and headed into the third cave. Geodon reactivated the satellite pulverizing the material for making more spoons, plugged both flashlights in to re-charge, while Nansella set out dinner for themselves. Exhausted, they fell asleep quickly; it had been quite a day. Before he went to sleep, Geodon quietly told Nansella that he was very glad she was back, completely back with her memories again. She snuggled a bit closer in response, fading into sleep.