“President Campos sent these,” Grammy says over the top of a huge basket overflowing with brightly colored fruits of all shapes and sizes. Some of them I recognize, a whole bunch I don’t.

Campos. I should know that name. Let me look it up. Wait, why can’t I look it up?

“The president elect of Brazil, dear,” Grammy says, setting the basket down on the table next to all the flower arrangements. “You know him. He says he’s a friend of yours and he wishes you well and a swift recovery. And that he’s looking forward to seeing you when you are well enough to come down and keep your promises to him. Whatever those are.”

“Tell him thanks, please.”

I try to get up, but for some reason half of my body just won’t cooperate. I reach out to my bigger self but it’s gone. Where is the not fleshy part of me?

“Hey, Grammy,” I say before she leaves. “Can you find someone to get the rest of me back? I’m missing something.”

“I know, love.” A different voice is talking. I look around and see a dark-haired girl sitting next to the bed. She’s so beautiful. Those eyes that I could fall into forever. Where did she come from? Was she there the whole time? I feel like I should know her.

“Louise and Max said you still need some time off from your cloud if you ever want to walk again,” the pretty girl continues. “Don’t worry, it’s just for a few weeks.”

“Get better soon, dear,” Grammy says sadly. She gives my toes a friendly squeeze through the blanket and walks out the door.

I turn to the girl. I feel like I should talk to her. She called me love. Does she know me?

“Hi. You look so familiar.”

“Of course I do,” she says. “I’m Lin. I’m your wife.”

“Oh, that sounds right. I married really well then. You’re beautiful.”

She laughs. I like the sound of her laugh. She gives me a kiss on the cheek and then an old man comes into the room through the open door.

“Hey, champ,” he says, taking a seat on the bed near my legs. “How you holding up?”

“I’m doing well, I think.”

“This is Gramps,” Lin reminds me. “Your grandfather.”

That’s right. I know Gramps. I smell the smoky odor of his clothes. He makes food that I like. Gramps looks over at the beautiful girl and his expression confuses me. Is it gratitude? Anger? Something else? I try to read his vitals but can’t feel his pulse or tell how dilated his pupils are. That part of me is gone.

His smell means something. “Is it a barbecue day?”

He smiles. I can read that. “It sure is, Noah. Brisket for everyone tonight.”

“That sounds good.”

“Any progress?” He directs the question to Lin.

“Yes,” she says. “He moved his fingers on his right hand this morning. Just a little, but I think the physical therapy is working.”

Her face is easy to read, beaming with hope. She’s so pretty. She’s my wife? I’m such a lucky man.

“Well, you hang in there,” Gramps says to me. “I want to see you out at the lanes soon.”

“Sure,” I say. “The lanes.”

The streets? I don’t know where those are, but the way he says it makes them sound like a good thing.

“He means bowling, love,” Lin prompts. That’s right. I like to bowl. I’m pretty good at it. Well, I was good at it. Probably not just now though.

“You’ll be up and around in no time,” Gramps says. “I know it.”

His smile looks just a little wrong. Like he’s forcing it. Why can’t I read his vitals? I’m missing something.

“That sounds good.” I hope he’s right.

He leaves, but keeps the door open behind him. I wonder if someone else will come. It feels like people keep coming, but I can’t remember anyone before Gramps. Hey, look at all that fruit. Where did that come from?

Before the next person comes, I turn to the girl holding my hand. What was her name?

Lin.

That’s right. She’s my wife.

“Hey, I need to pee. Sorry. Is that awkward? I don’t think I can get there on my own.”

“No, not at all,” she says, getting up and closing the door to the room. “I’ll help you up.”

She waves a hand and an invisible force lifts me from the bed and sets me gently on my feet. The bathroom door is just a few feet away. Lin takes my right arm. One leg is working well. The other one doesn’t seem to know that I’m telling it to go.

“Go ahead, take a step.”

That invisible force holds my right leg in place and I take a cautious step with my good leg. Once my good foot is planted, the bad leg moves all on its own and plants firmly again. It feels so weird. I take another step with my good leg.

“Want me to come in with you this time?” Lin offers as we repeat the step and help and step.

I turn my head and look at her. Something about the gleam in her eye makes me think that she has something beyond just helping me to the toilet in mind. Maybe I’m just reading too much into it. No, she’s looking me up and down like she’s hungry. She definitely wants me. Man, I am really lucky. The idea sounds very nice, but I hear quiet voices and footsteps in the hallway. I think someone else wants to come in. I should just hurry and see who wants to visit next.

“That sounds nice, but no. Just help me get there for now. Maybe a little later.”

“Later. I’ll hold you to that.” She smiles at me with an impish grin. She’s so cute.

A few agonizing steps with her invisible help later and I can drain my bladder. At least everything down there seems to be working right. I lean and hop and pull myself to the sink as Lin watches from the bathroom door, her hands ready to do her magic that keeps me up. Someone put bars all around in the bathroom that make getting around a little easier, even if it’s hard to use them with only one hand working. I get washed up and then Lin takes a towel and dries off the water. The eye patch in the mirror makes me look pretty good, like a pirate or something, but I think that’s supposed to go away sometime soon. I can’t remember when.

“A little help getting back?” I ask.

“Try moving that leg,” she suggests, pointing to the bad one and taking a few steps back. “Louise says you should be able to if you keep working at it.”

I don’t know who Louise is, but she’s wrong. The leg stubbornly refuses to do anything for me.

“I can’t,” I finally admit. Why am I so tired from doing nothing?

“Alright, I’ll give you a free pass on a few steps,” she says. Something lifts me up and sets me down next to her. She holds my arm and makes me walk back to the bed where her magic hands lift me up and I collapse, exhausted. For some reason the bed is sitting up now. When did I get a sitting up bed? Was that like that when I got up? I can’t remember. Doesn’t matter, I guess. I settle back in comfortably as the force that had lifted me disappears.

A huge, brown man comes in next. A small, bronze woman is right behind him. Their names are right on the tip of my tongue. I know them. I do.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Hey, you two,” I say. It’s the best I can do. Their names just won’t come to me.

“Hey, brother.” His voice is so familiar. “We just wanted to say goodbye before we go. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in a couple of weeks.”

“Oh, you’re going somewhere?”

“Yeah. Our working honeymoon in New Orleans, remember?” He looks at me, then looks away quickly like he’s embarrassed. “Sorry. Need to choose my words better. Anyway, we wanted to make sure you were OK before we left. Louise says you’re fully out of the woods now, though, so we’re going. Don’t worry. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks. I bet you’ll be up and around by then.”

Louise again. I feel like people keep saying that name. She must be important.

“Just keep up the hard work on your physical therapy,” the woman says. “That’s the important thing for you now.”

“Sure. Will do.”

“I’ll be meeting with General Whitman,” the big guy says. “So don’t worry about a thing for that. He understands that you’re not up for a debrief with him right now. But he told me to make sure that I thanked you for your discretion. You won’t know what that means, but it’s good for us.”

I don’t even know who that is or why I would need to talk to him.

“Good?” I say hesitantly.

“It really is. By the time we’re done, they’ll probably be pinning some medals on you. And we think with what he knows we’ll be able to track down and take out most of the CPP.”

I don’t know what that means, but he smiles and I feel reassured. I like his smile. It makes me feel like I have a friend. Whatever he’s doing, I hope it works out.

“Lin, you take good care of him,” the woman says. “Don’t let him slack off, even though it’s going to be hard.”

“You got it, sister,” Lin says. Weird. They don’t look like they’re related. “We’ll get him back up and running.”

“Sisters!” the other woman says and they both squeal and giggle. Must be some kind of inside joke. It’s probably more funny if you know something I don’t remember.

“All right, enough of that,” the man says, smiling. “We need to go rebuild a city. Maybe make it hurricane proof while we’re there. We’ll see you when we get back.”

They both come over to the bed and give me big hugs before they go. They seem so familiar. Why don’t I remember who they are?

“Evan and Valerie,” Lin says, seeing the look on my face.

“That’s right! I know them.”

“Yes, love. You do.”

Another pair comes up and knocks at the open door. This time it’s a tall, thin man with small round spectacles and a different petite young woman. Her hair is dark and looks kind of like Lin’s, but a little longer. She looks very tired, but smiles at me anyway when she sees me.

“How’s he doing?” the woman asks Lin.

“Better today,” she answers. “He’s been awake for hours.”

“Good. I think we’ve finally got the balance right on how much of his console we let him access.”

“I think we did, Louise,” Lin says hopefully.

Oh. So this is Louise. Good to know. Something makes me think she’s important somehow, but I’m not sure why.

“Any other issues today?”

“No. He’s been nice and calm,” Lin tells her. “Happy, even. Almost like his old self sometimes.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Is he really going to be able to walk again? I’m trying to stay hopeful, but I want answers if you have them.”

“We think so,” the bespectacled man says. His voice is funny. Not like laughing funny. Different. Like he comes from somewhere else. “The regimen that we initially prescribed was a good start. It is such an interesting case. The intense stimulation performed by the implanted nanobots in his cortex accelerates his natural neuroplasticity to unbelievable levels. Adaptations that would take a normal mind months or years, his mind accomplished in hours. He essentially made himself into a specialized machine, a perfect interface to his nanobot cloud. The cells that had directed the motor functions for the right side of his body were disrupted by his aneurysm at a critical juncture. The implant was able to repair the tissue damage, but the affected cells were essentially recruited into enhancing his interface with the implant. We think that in this case the same neuroplasticity can take effect in reverse, but it will take time and effort. And the will must be there. He must desire to walk and move as intently as he desired a more powerful interface to his nanobot cloud.”

“And not just desire,” Louise adds. “He has to practice, and he needs the motor cortex stimulated while he does it. Here, Max and I rigged this up. Let’s call it a late wedding present.”

Max. He must be the tall man. Louise hands Lin a small box with a touchscreen display.

“This connects with his implant and will let you control the stimulation of the relevant lobes in his brain,” she continues. “It should be a light enough signal that it shouldn’t do much more than encourage his brain to remodel itself. Turn it on while he’s working with the physical therapist, or when you’re doing anything that has him trying to move. Turn it off when you’re done. If you need me to come help work it with him, or if he has any issues, just come grab me from the lab any time. We’ll try this for a couple of weeks. If he makes progress, we can modify his implant to do it automatically. Until then, like we talked about, no bots for him. If we’re lucky, one day he might regain most of what used to be able to do. Physically at least.”

“Got it. Thank you,” Lin says. Why is her smile so sad? That didn’t sound that bad.

“Can I have a moment alone with him?” Louise asks.

“Of course,” Lin says. She and the tall man, Max, step out of the room and close the door.

“Hey, Noah,” Louise says, addressing me directly for the first time.

“Hey, Louise,” I say. I know her name.

“You have a decision to make. You still may not be in the right place to make it, but I think this is as close to it as you’re going to be any time soon and I want it to come from you. Max and I don’t think your memory is going to get better. We can work with the paralysis, but the remodeling that you’ve been doing to yourself for as long as you’ve had the implant is too deeply ingrained. It can’t just be undone with the same kind of therapy we’re doing for your body. We don’t have a good way to reconnect your ability to create and access memories, even with stimulation. The memory system is just too complicated.”

She takes a seat on the bed and takes my hand. It’s not like when Lin holds my hand, but it’s still nice.

“Max and I have been consulting with the best doctors in the field, working on a solution for you. But there’s just not a lot of usable research in the area. You’re kind of a unique case. Your sensory and working memories seem fine, and your procedural memory seems to never have been impacted much. Your episodic memory seems most heavily affected, though your semantic memory shows some effects. We can try a few things, but I wouldn’t plan on being able to ever remember more than the last half hour of your life.”

I nod. That sounds about right, even though the meanings of most of those terms slip away from me. I feel like I should remember all of those, but everything but the last little while is just gone.

“Fortunately, you seem to be at least somewhat functional within those constraints. Like I told Lin, your body should be able to recover. There’s no reason you couldn’t still have a long and fulfilling life, as long as you’re willing to make some changes. The crutches you’ve been using to replace your memory just won’t work anymore. You can’t just read in your history and pretend like you know things anymore. There’s too much to know and you lose it too fast. Your index triggers only made things worse. More to read, more to catch up on, and you just can’t. You forget the start before you get anywhere near the end.”

“That’s what I’ve been missing,” I say, almost able to understand what she’s talking about. “I used to have something that helped me remember everything.”

“You did. And it worked for a long time. But you pushed yourself too far. Your brain changed too much. It’s not going to work anymore.”

“So what’s the decision I need to make?”

“If you want to be at all functional going forward, you need to stop trying to catch up and keep up. You need to accept that you just won’t remember things. And you need help. Human help. Someone willing to be right by your side almost all the time.”

I nod. She’s right. I obviously can’t do this on my own.

“And it turns out that you’ve got someone who’s willing to be your memory for you. We’ve been trying out having Lin do that for you this week, and she told me she’s happy to do it for the rest of your lives. You seem to like the whole setup, am I right?”

“Having Lin here helping me? Yes. I like that.”

“Good. Because she’s already canceled her college plans. She says that you are more important. If you can both live with that, I think it could be viable. ”

“If Lin said she’ll do it, then let’s do it. I really like her. Like, a lot.”

Louise smiles, but still looks serious.

“Then there’s one more thing. We all think that she’d need direct access for this all to work long term. Evan has come up with an encryption scheme that we think is secure enough over a wireless link using some custom hardware for Lin’s contact interface, so you won’t need to be hardwired in. You won’t have to do a thing other than what you seem to be doing automatically. That should make it easier for her to take care of you. I don’t see this being sustainable any other way. But you’d never have privacy again. She’ll have a window right into your vitals and what you’re thinking all the time. And if you’re worried she might change things like she did before, don’t. Since you won’t be reading in your past anymore, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”

I don’t understand what that last part means, but I don’t really care. “Of course. I don’t want to have any secrets from Lin. I love her.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah,” I say without hesitation. This feels very right. “Do it.”

“OK then. I’ll check back in with you every once in a while and make sure you’re still happy with the arrangement, but otherwise I’m going to hand you off to your wife.”

“Wife. That’s right. I married Lin.”

“You are a good man, Noah,” she tells me as she gets up. “I hope you’re making the right choice. I hope that the two of you stay very happy together.”

She leaves and Lin returns, closing the door behind her.

“Do you really love me?” I ask her.

“You know I do,” she responds, taking a seat by the bed again and holding my hand. That’s the hand that feels right. The fingers on my other hand twitch just a little.

“And you won’t get sick of me? No matter how much I forget? Even if I’m broken?”

“I knew what I was getting into when we got married. And I knew when I volunteered to take care of you. I’ve never known you fully whole, and I’ve loved your broken self almost as long as I’ve known you. We’re all broken. It doesn’t matter. I still love you. I always will.”

“Good,” I tell her. “I trust you with everything.”

“As you should,” she says, getting back up. “Now come on. I’ve sent away all your other well-wishers for the afternoon. You, my husband, are due for a shower.”