Marvin said he found the photo in her old house, in her bedroom drawer. It was one of the few things that hadn't been cleared out.
Caroline had almost asked him to describe it to her, but, from his reaction, she knew it was her family in that picture. They deserved her to confront them head on. Look them in the eye.
Whoever they are. She didn't even know what they looked like. She had memories of them, but their faces were always hidden.
There's only a few possibilities if it impacted Marvin so much. Only one, really.
So on a Sunday morning, she sat down on the apartment's living room couch with Renee and Ben on either side, Marvin standing in front of her, and braced to have her worst memory-blackout yet. The room was quiet. The light outside was mellow, stretching over the windows and coffee table. The apartment felt so much emptier now that Ella, Ishaan, and Amir were gone.
Marvin handed her the picture frame face down. She took it in trembling hands. Renee put a hand on her knee and Ben squeezed her shoulder.
It's just a photo, she told herself. Even if she blacked out, her friends were by her side. Nothing bad would happen.
She turned it over. At first, her eyes glossed over the three figures, unfocused, not quite ready for the details. Then she focused on the woman—blonde hair, a wide smile, holding her daughter tight.
Mom. Caroline expected to feel that tingling in her head, but instead, a warmth rose in her chest, and she found herself smiling. There were no memories to accompany that happiness, yet it swelled regardless.
Then she was hit with a pang of loneliness. She didn't even know this woman's name, only that it probably ended with Sand. Where was she now? Why hadn't she reached out?
Caroline moved her eyes to the right, to her father. She caught half of his features, then immediately glanced away.
What did you expect? Why else would Marvin react that way?
She looked back and held her gaze, studying a younger Amir Kaleid. He looked almost identical to the picture in his certificate. He wasn't smiling as much as the other two, but the way his eyes were set and his shoulders were relaxed and the corners of his mouth were tilted, he seemed more content than most people could ever dream to be.
Caroline wanted to feel some sort of frustration at the Amir she knew now, or maybe regret, or maybe even disgust, but nothing came up. This was the former Inspector who had taught her how to defend herself, how to craft smoke bombs, how to shoot a gun, and it was the police officer who had guided her and her friends all the way here, protected them from Ainsel AI and apprehended its CEO.
How could I have been working with my dad this whole time? The two men were so different, yet impossible to separate now. All those scattered memories could finally be associated with a face.
Caroline's vision grew blurry. How was she supposed to confront him? Was it better if he never knew? Could she live with the fact that she'd never have her family again?
She wondered what would even change if Amir knew. It wasn't like their interactions would be different; how were they supposed to act like father and daughter when they didn't have the history associated with it?
"Caroline," Ben said quietly. "Are you okay?"
She looked up and sensed suspicion woven in the air of care among her friends. Knowing Amir was a former Inspector raised so many more questions, cast even more doubt on her ties with Ainsel.
She felt especially bad for Marvin. He had done so much for her, was willing to do so much more, and she couldn't even say for certain she wasn't his killer.
Maybe it's time to read my memories. So many tensions would be resolved—whether she was involved in Ainsel's experiments, whether she had planned Marvin's murder, whether her father was a good person—but that tingling that was starting in her head reminded her that it needed to be a last resort.
And I thought I could avoid it this time.
Caroline felt her fingers growing numb, breaths growing short. A spike of panic seized her chest, and she forced herself to think of something else.
There are ways I can clear suspicion. I can find who really killed Marvin, for one. Rumors of his death were becoming more widespread, getting harder to contain, and Caroline reckoned Hosaka couldn't stop everyone from investigating.
She felt her vision fading. Three pairs of hands steadied her, but the helplessness, the fear, the ice cold loneliness still spread within her.
I can't do this again, was her last thought before everything went dark.
-----
She woke up in the hospital. They said she was out for two days. Two whole days. She didn't realize it could get this bad. Next time, it could be a week or a month, or maybe she would never wake up again.
Her friends showed all the care in the world for her, but she couldn't help feeling guilty. She had to help Marvin find his killer, if nothing else. This memory situation was causing them to stray too far from their main goal: make Mecha Realm, pay the debt for Ben and Renee, give Marvin what he should've gotten last year, and fulfill Caroline's dream.
A few days after the hospital, she decided that she'd hold off on telling Amir until after Mecha Realm. There was too much on her plate. After the battle royale, they would have all the time in the world to talk about things.
But then a week later, Amir asked her if she could accompany him to the Memory Bank. He was suspicious of how quiet Hosaka had gotten regarding Ainsel; specifically, there had been no update on Saeyung's accomplices—all those people who had been listed as lab visitors, including Caroline—and no word on Amir's missing sister. Ainsel was still hiding something, and Amir hoped his memories would have answers.
Caroline's first instinct was to convince him not to go, but that would weigh on her conscience—saving people from Ainsel was a lot more important than an awkward moment between father and daughter. Plus, she would rather be there when he found out.
Caroline had never been to the Memory Bank, not to her knowledge. The black box of a building looked like a secondary Ainsel lab, a siphon of light in Sector 8. They entered the lobby and requested to see Amir Kaleid's memories. The robot clerk at the front desk scanned Amir's UID and summoned a hoverpad for them.
That clerk's programming and the code that would take their hoverpad to Amir's memories and the system that kept the entire Memory Bank organized… it was all implemented by Ainsel. Caroline wondered briefly if it was smart to keep digging. The main transgressor, Saeyung, was under arrest. If they began a crusade to take down the entire company, they might be doing the megacity more harm than good.
But then she thought of Sunwoo on the apartment roof, utterly hopeless, begging her to let him die. She thought of the rows of half-conscious patients being milked for data. The subjects of the first clinical trial being admitted to the psych ward and eventually killing themselves. The girl, Maria, who had hung herself in that psych ward. Nothing like that could happen again.
The vast library of memories was dead silent as Caroline and Amir glided through on their platform. The blue capsules provided the only light and illuminated very little of the space between shelves. Caroline observed the parallel aisles, doing anything to keep Amir out of her periphery. She forced herself not to imagine how he would react to finding out she was his daughter. It would happen when it happened, and she would just have to play dumb.
As she watched the shelves, she thought she saw a shadow move behind them. She peeled her eyes but didn't notice it again.
"Thank you for coming with me," Amir said. "I just didn't want this to spread. The memory thing."
He was lucky in that, all things considered. Caroline had done a bit of research. All Inspectors besides Hisen Kobayashi's son were required to conceal their faces, so the public would not recognize Amir. Inspectors were also discouraged from having families, and if they did, they were not allowed to pass their last name to any of their children. When an Inspector quit, their memory was wiped and under no circumstances were they allowed to join again, even if they got their memories back.
Still, many of the Hosaka higher-ups would know Amir's identity, including James, other Lead Inspectors, and all of the Chairs.
"What if Ainsel had nothing to do with your sister's disappearance?" Caroline asked.
Amir shook his head. "Only a few organizations have the ability to erase someone like that."
Caroline didn't reply. It was strange—she had no recollection of having an aunt, not even a gut feeling associated with the concept. Amir didn't seem to have any pictures of her, either.
Who exactly is this woman he's trying to find?
Just then, Caroline saw it again: a glow of a hoverpad passing by a shelf. She waited for it to appear in the next space between shelves, but as they passed, the space remained empty.
Eventually, they reached the locker with Amir's memories. One hard drive and one blinking blue capsule. On the hoverpad's console, Amir directed the hard drive to be extracted and downloaded. A summary of the memories would be displayed.
Caroline looked the other way. Amir would come across the fact soon, and she couldn't allow herself to be scared. She tried to extinguish all expectations of what the confrontation would look like. They were both decent, level-headed people, and they would be able to discuss this in the same way.
This section of the Memory Bank was more sparse. The stretches of emptiness were longer, the distant lights dimmer, the floor and ceiling darker than the abyss. Caroline thought she saw that glow of the hoverpad that had been following them, but after blinking, she decided it was just a capsule light.
At that moment, she heard Amir curse under his breath. She turned around and looked at the console screen. It was blank. A few small words at the top read, "Folder is empty."
Caroline felt a chill go down her spine. Did Ainsel move the memories? Did Amir never put them here?
Amir pinched the bridge of his nose and turned away from the hard drive, facing the expanse behind them. Caroline searched his face, afraid of what he was going to suggest next.
My memories might contain answers. Was she willing to see them if it meant helping the entire megacity? Objectively, it was the right thing to do, even if it hurt her.
But how could she do that to herself? Surely there was other evidence against Ainsel. They'd already done so much already without either of their memories; sacrificing her well-being off of a hunch that they hadn't done enough was overkill.
Still, she was about the only lead they had. Her name was in Ainsel's records. She'd visited their lab, witnessed their horrible experiments. It was safe to say she knew something about Saeyung's projects.
"Would you let someone read your memories?" Amir asked quietly.
"That can't be our only option," Caroline argued.
"What if it is? What if we're running out of time?"
"Then… I'll give them to Marvin." Caroline was aware she didn't sound confident. Not at all.
Amir pursed his lips. "Alright. Well, your memories have been moved, too."
At first, she was only surprised. Then she felt simultaneous waves of relief and dread wash over her. So her memories were dangerous enough to be grouped with her father's. But they weren't in the Bank, and they could hold off on seeing them another day.
"Oh," was all she said.
Amir's gaze shifted back up at the distant shelves. All was silent. Caroline wondered what he thought of her response. Did he think she was a coward? Was this the choice his daughter would have made?
Suddenly, he set a hand on her shoulder. Squeezed ever so slightly.
"Something's wrong," he whispered.
Caroline spun around, following his gaze. First, she saw nothing but the wall of blinking blue lights. They were too small to make out and too numerous to distinguish individually.
Then she noticed a fault in the scene. One tiny dot in the array remained dark as the rest of them flashed. Caroline craned her head forward. Watched as the surrounding lights flashed once, twice…
The third time, the dark spot turned on with the rest of them.
Caroline suddenly felt a push on her shoulder. Her knees folded and she dropped to the ground as a blue plasma beam zipped overhead, inches from her hair. Amir, who had also dropped as low as possible, slammed on a hoverpad control, sending them flying downwards. He dove to the side as another plasma round burned into the platform beneath him.
Caroline took the controls and banked the hoverpad around the shelf. She made it round the corner so that the shelf blocked them from the sniper's view. At that moment, an alarm began blaring. Red lights seemed to materialize out of thin air, illuminating the entire library, not leaving a single corner in darkness. Caroline instinctively covered her ears and looked around frantically, making sure there was no opening between the shelf and the sniper.
"Attention all visitors," an artificial voice boomed. "Suspicious activity has been detected inside the Bank. Please remain calm. Your hoverpad will be fortified for your safety."
Metal panels unfolded from the pad and raised around Amir and Caroline, curving inwards to form a dome. Caroline heard the zip of a third and final plasma round. There was a sizzling noise against the tip of the wall.
When the metal walls got to Amir's head level, he kicked hard at the bottom of one of them, causing it to stop raising. Caroline looked at him in confusion.
"Ainsel owns the Memory Bank," he said. "Can't let them trap us in here."
Caroline hadn't even thought of who was attacking them. Of course it was Ainsel; they knew that there was information in here that could compromise them.
Amir pressed on the console, overrode the automatic controls, and directed the hoverpad to the nearest emergency exit. He then pressed his back against the wall and looked up through the hole that should've been a domed ceiling. Caroline did the same, dreading the moment she would see the assailant's hoverpad fly over.
"Sending assassins," Amir spat. "They really are growing desperate."
"We need to tell Hosaka," Caroline said.
"Hosaka is dealing with the Saeyung fallout. They won't bother with this."
"Ainsel tried to kill us! With a gun! If a gang did this—"
"But they're not a gang, and we can't prove it's actually them." Amir's eyes met hers. "For now, anything they do, we have to deal with on our own."
Caroline's mouth fell open. Her gaze drifted to the opening. Beyond, on the left, was a wall of small blue lights, fighting to overpower the red hue in the air. On the right was empty space and a barely visible ceiling high above.
"Do you think Hosaka is behind this?" Caroline asked quietly.
"No."
"You said they've been too quiet about Ainsel."
"They're just realistic. They won't do anything against Ainsel if they can help it. We have to give them no choice."
Caroline pursed her lips. The former Inspector in Amir gave the government more credit than they deserved. It was reasonable that Hosaka would want to silence anyone who sought to undermine Ainsel, their golden goose. They were already willing to shut down conversations about Marvin's death, an objectively less important topic.
Then again, the last thing she wanted to think about was how they would fight against the government itself.
They passed by a red arrow pointing them to the emergency exit. Then another. They began to get more frequent, signalling that they were getting close. There was no sign of the attacker, no sound of another hoverpad drifting near.
Caroline didn't want to celebrate early, but she involuntarily let out an exhale.
Then their hoverpad stopped. It was accompanied by a pair of loud thuds as if magnets had attached to their walls. Amir widened his eyes, scrambled to the console, and frantically typed in commands. No use. Something external was chaining them in place.
Amir pinched the bridge of his nose. Caroline felt her breaths grow short again. Neither of them could see above the wall, but they heard a hum approaching them. As it grew closer, it split into two distinct noises—two hoverpads.
"What do we do?" Caroline whispered. They had no weapons. No cover once these walls went down.
Amir didn't reply, walked back to the console, and just stared. Nothing on it indicated the scene outside. They were blind and trapped.
"What do we do?" Caroline repeated, louder. Ainsel would get here any minute. They didn't even have to break down the wall; they could simply drop a grenade in here and it would be over.
Amir kept staring at the console. He was thinking—there was no way he had accepted their fate—but this was taking too long. Caroline forced him aside. She first tried to switch the navigation back to autopilot, then tried to override it again. The button flashed green, showing that the autopilot was no longer in charge, but the hoverpad did not move. She then tried to lower the walls, but they were stuck in place after Amir's kick had broken their circuitry. She examined the junction between the panels and the floor, trying to see if there was some manual way to lower them, but the mechanisms were hidden.
Is this actually how we die? It didn't make sense. She couldn't have spent her entire life building mechs to not even live to see her first Mecha Realm. No, the world didn't work like this. She had to find a way out.
"Caroline," Amir said. She snapped her head towards him, praying he'd figured something out. His expression had a quiet resolve to it.
"We have to fight them," he began. "They're going to break down that wall, and when they do, we rush them and hijack their hoverpad."
Caroline widened her eyes. "That's suicide!"
"It's our best chance. Stay behind me."
Caroline imagined the two of them rushing out, Amir taking the first shot and then throwing the assailant off the hoverpad. Then Caroline would take the controls and fly them to safety, except it'd only be her left.
You're not going to sacrifice yourself, Dad, she thought. There had to be another way.
Just then, there came a pair of thuds as two platforms docked with theirs. The metal sheet beneath their feet trembled.
"Get behind me," Amir repeated.
"No. We'll rush them together."
"We're not discussing this. Get behind me."
Caroline steeled herself. Didn't move a muscle.
"Caroline." Amir regarded her with a look of disapproval, one that said, Do you want us both to die? She figured her old self was used to seeing that look many times.
Still, she did not move. They would make it out together, or they would both… No. Caroline forced herself not to think of the alternative. Not while they still had a say in their fate.
She stared down the wall, ears shaking from her heart pounding in her chest. Amir leaned forward and clenched his fists.
Nothing came through the wall. Instead, a speaker blared to life.
"This is the Sector 8 police. We are about to cut a hole into your dome—please remain calm and stay as close to the center as possible."
Caroline eyed Amir in confusion. Ainsel didn't own the Sector 8 police. What was this?
Amir seemed even more surprised. He relaxed his limbs and exhaled through his nose.
"I know that voice," he murmured.
A loud whir rose from outside as a small red dot appeared in their wall and cut a small circle, only large enough for a face to fit.
Caroline swiveled her head between Amir and the wall, bewildered. Did the police somehow catch Ainsel in their sabotage, or had Ainsel simply given up after the failed sniper attempt? The latter wasn't unlikely, but…
The circle in the wall fell backwards and clattered on the floor. A round, tan face peered through—a woman no older than thirty with black hair and glasses.
"Amir?" she exclaimed.
Amir regarded her with similar disbelief. "Suni? What's going on?"
"I should be asking you," the police officer said. "Was there a firefight?"
"A sniper tried to kill us."
From the distraught on Suni's face, Caroline assumed they hadn't caught said sniper.
"How did you get here?" Amir continued. "Ainsel call you?"
"No. We heard the alarm and came as quickly as possible."
Amir frowned. It seemed they had gotten very, very lucky. "You have the security files, yes? Get me a list of every visitor today."
Suni nodded. She lowered her voice. "You think Ainsel did this?"
"Can't see how it's anyone else."
"Alright." Suni turned from the hole in the wall to converse with another police officer. Then she turned back to Caroline and Amir. "We'll bring you to the lobby. You prefer staying in there or with us?"
Caroline and her father exchanged glances. A silent agreement passed between them—they'd rather stay in the dome.
Amir told Suni, and the woman nodded and disappeared from view. A second later, there was a pair of hums as the police officers' hoverpads began to tow them through the Memory Bank. Caroline wanted to sink to the floor. They'd made it. The dream would live on.