You wake up in the med bay. The metal ceiling bends over you like the claw in some old arcade machine. To your right is Hatta's bulbous body. You slowly sit up and everything begins to move, the colors of everything begin to shift and then back—everything goes mute and then back. “Testing, testing. Do you read me?” Hatta asks.
“I...do,” you say.
“Good! So I didn't mix up ya' vocal chord with the smell sensor. You would have suffocated if so.”
“Well...that's good to know. Where's...Jesse?” You ask, looking around you to find the med bay empty besides you two.
“Oh, mistah Anderson is goin' grocery shoppin' for little ol' me while I finished up on you. I had to trade the groceries I had already gotten for some of the newer parts for your upgrade. It's weird though, there's a tiny little hole there in your core, never done seen anything like it before.”
“Hole?”
“Right near your memory banks, I assume something's missing there, but whatever it is it seems to be an optional piece, considering you're walking and breathing now.”
“Well, maybe so, but what am I supposed to do until he gets back?”
“Walk around a lil' and see how everything feels. You've been upgraded to the most recent software and should be feeling better than ever, however it might take a bit to get used to.”
You slowly slide your legs over the table and your thoughts are not of your body, but instead of Jesse. He lost his legs while in the army, but he didn't ever seem to mention that, or the fact that he knew Roland personally. When you first asked him about this body, he said that it belonged to a hermit named Roland Duschand. When you spoke with the council you heard about a philanthropist named Roland Duschand. In his memories, you saw an army captain, Roland Duschand. Which one is the true Roland? It seems hardly anybody knows who the man was.
And now you can only think of how Roland knew Cross. At least, you remember him saying that they had met once—was it possibly when he was in the army? You're not sure, but now that you're remembering his memories as well as your own, maybe you can get the answers to these questions.
Maybe it was Hatta's adjustments that unlocked Roland's memories, which means he might be somewhere inside this body sealed somewhere. The idea sounded stupid, but it was all you could go on. You walk around just fine, everything feels normal, which is good to say for once. Hatta regards you with a smile...at least, what you believe is a smile. “Well, if that is all, why don't we go find mistah Anderson and see if he completed my errands?”
“That sounds good to me,” you nod.
You both exit the med bay and make your way back towards the market place. There are lights placed across the top of the various stalls that shine out across the way. The natural light has since faded and without these supplemental lights you're sure it'd be pitch black down here. “He should be near the meats. I sent him a list of things to get,” Hatta says.
“And what else was on it?”
“Meats. Wasn't you listenin'?”
“Well, I assumed there might have been...” you say before trailing off, realizing your words might get you into some trouble.
“You know, before youse two found me I was going to try some of those there vegetables to see what all the hype is about. I guess me havin' to sell 'em for your head chip being upgraded was a sign to stay far away from 'em,” Hatta laughs a storm so wild you feel like you should wear a raincoat.
Interrupting your thoughts is the sight of Jesse dragging what looks to be a cornucopia behind him. Inside seems to be stacks of pink and red slabs of meat. He wears a disgusted frown as he nears, his cheeks are puffed out from holding his breath. You don't understand until he nears you that you smell the rancid odors that emanate from the cornucopia. And you just got used to Hatta's foul stench, unfortunately. Hatta strolls over towards him and lifts the cornucopia over her shoulder with little effort. Jesse lets out an exasperated sound and turns to you, smiling once he sees you. “Hey, you're awake.”
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“Yeah, I guess I am. That upgrade helped in more ways than one,” you say. He notices the tone in your voice and nods his head. Hatta, on the other hand seems more preoccupied with her food.
“Well, now that my errands are now complete I am going to go enjoy a light snack,” Hatta begins. “It was nice to meet you, but I must get back to my work.” Hatta stumbles off with cornucopia in hand. You turn to watch her fade into the crowd of people, knowing that work is only going to entail that snack of hers.
Jesse walks up to you and looks you up and down, “Did the update make you remember more about your life?” He asks.
"You could say that.”
“Well it's good because I did.”
“I...there was a lot of troubling memories that came to the surface.”
"Oh? How troubling are we speaking? Like, embarrassing childhood stories interesting or traumatic teenage heartbreak troubling?" Jesse says with a small smile, one that's just eager to push your buttons. And yet, you can only reply back with a smile, as that's how you've gotten this far in life, even when you're about to talk about awkward subjects.
“There was this blue crystal that appeared in all of my old memories, I don't know where it came from.”
“Blue crystal? Sounds a bit like Queoquartzite. Granted, I don't believe Earth had the conditions to properly harvest the stuff.”
“Really? What, is it some sort of alien exclusive material?”
“Queoquartzite is a crystallized energy source found on planets that reach absolute zero temperatures. Nastor is one such planet, there are even places on Sayar that reach the desired climate for Queoquartzite creation.”
“Why does it need to be really cold?”
“Really cold is a bit of an understatement,” Jesse says. “With absolute zero comes the perfect storage of energy. Since it's at a standstill, all the potential energy surrounding the elements are able to be modified without any outside interference. Queoquartzite is pure, solidified energy.”
“I bet it's much better than what we had back on Earth,” you say.
“Something like that,” Jesse muses.
“There's another matter...I saw you. Rather, I saw what you used to be when you were back in the army."
His figure understandably droops. You know he wasn't up for divulging the specifics back when you were coming back from Bunker 32, but now that you know at least in part what he went through you feel you could possibly talk it through with him. Anything to help, really, as he's been such a big help to you thus far. It's only fair that you try to help him in some way.
"Oh, and what did you see?" He asks, expecting the worst.
You walk a bit closer to him and place your hand on his shoulder, a move stolen from your father, you remember. He always used to do that to reassure you that everything is all right, you would give anything to feel it one more time.
"I saw you in some sort of canyon, you were ranked with the guy that owned this body, Roland Duschand.”
"And you're wondering why I didn't tell you that I knew him," Jesse says like a school child caught cheating on a test.
"Sorta, but I was more concerned with that happened later on."
"My legs," he says.
"When you told me about the Teriat and I asked if it hurt, you told me that Taylor had gone through the experience. That wasn't you speaking as a friend, was it?"
"No, you're right. Taylor never had to experience the Teriat, that was my personal pain I was telling you about."
"Why did you lie?" You ask, a question so poignant in delivery that you wish you could take it back.
"I didn't want to show you my physical pain. It isn't an easy thing to talk about, and I guess I didn't want you to see me any differently. My legs are still fully functioning, even though they aren't really the ones I was born with."
"Trust me, I know how that feels," you say, matter-of-fact. "So why then did you lie about Roland?"
"Just like my how I lost my legs that day, another part of me was seriously damaged."
"Did Roland do something to you?"
"He broke my heart."