Cooper exclaimed in excitement. “I’ve got video.”

Turner strained to regain a sitting position from the low slouch he had been using to rest his head.

Over Cooper’s shoulder, he could see a dark picture on the central computer screen. The shadows of people moved in twilight, caused by a bright light somewhere ahead of them.

“Good. They were smart enough to turn off the camera’s light.” Cooper observed, then moved to another screen and accessed heat imagery from a camera atop the house.

Turner tried to concentrate, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He cleared his throat before broaching the subject, knowing he had to understand what was happening before he could take effective steps to counter any danger to the project.

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“Did you have the impression that the doctor was in charge?”

Cooper looked over his shoulder with his eyebrows raised in surprise. “I... well yeah, for a second. I just put it down to his being bossy.”

“He seemed to think he had the watch.” Turner looked at Cooper again, this time with a worried expression. “There is more than a missing time problem here. How long have you been with the project?”

“Since day one, boss.” Cooper turned back to the computers but held his hand above his shoulder with fingers crossed. “You and me, we were together like spam and cheese.”

“I remember that, but I don’t remember when the doctor came into our circle.”

“You hit your head pretty hard.”

“Not that hard...”

Playing with the computer video feeds, Cooper considered the question, then shook his head. “What? You think he is an alien?”

“No. I think our short-term memory is getting messed with.” Turner moved to a seat next to the console, using Cooper’s chair for support. “I think the Doc was a last-minute addition to the project and now we don’t remember him.”