I Don't Remember

Ignacio pressed his hand to the cold biometry pad, the doors decompressing and sliding open with a hiss. Warm light and the muffled voice of a holo-screen streamed out as he stepped in, the doors closing behind him.

“Ace?” Celeste called, peeking out from the kitchen.

Her smile brightened as she dashed forward, hair streaming. She locked her arms around him, almost knocking him back.

“What took you so long?” she asked.

“Good to see you too,” he said. “Would you mind letting me breathe?”

“How was work?” she asked, searching his face.

“I…” his fingers pressed his temple. “I don’t remember.”

Celeste pulled away from him with a frown. “What?”

Ignacio waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. How was school?”

“We did some tests, nothing new. I was just turning on the news though,” she said, winking. “That was a joke.”

Ignacio smiled as he shook his head. He stepped into their small living room, watching the holo-projector. It spanned the width of their blacked-out windows, but it was smaller than most people’s. A man in a high-suit spoke from it. His collar stood up around his neck, inlaid with a glowing yellow.

Ignacio folded his arms. Celeste hopped onto their lone couch, knees against her chest.

“Holo, increase volume, please,” Ignacio said.

Celeste chuckled. “You don’t have to say please.”

Ignacio smiled, shrugging. “I know but I feel bad.”

“Shh,” Celeste said.

“If successful, Specterveil would lead mankind’s first step towards greater human integration within the Ethergeist,” the anchor said. “Cypher Corp critics have speculated that this may be the Corporations way of speeding up human evolution unnaturally. But this remains mere speculation, and has been supported by only a handful of fringe scientists.”

Imagine that.

Had anyone spoken about all of this at the clinic? If they had, he couldn’t remember a damn thing about it.

“We now go live to a recording of the Specterveil fight with the Psywyrm. Stay tuned, you’re about to witness their final day within the Ethergeist due to risks of developing Ether-psychosis.”

Celeste glanced over her shoulder with a grin. “Here we go.”