Memorize (Book One)

B24

It had been three months since Jay had arrived on B24, a pleasantly established colony in the Cygnus Constellation. He had taken up classes to re-enact and learn again all the things he knew before. It turned out he must have been a registered member of the maintenance food production system. This kind of information was never communicated, but since being re-scheduled often implied going through sessions of re-enactment of former knowledge, that is what he must have been "before". So he gathered...

He now worked at the Composium, and was a member of the nutrition engineering team. He had a residence in the outskirts of B24's main city, a huge, flat town made of low buildings and straight roads (they were not much used since the main transportation system was either underground or aerial).

On that day, Jay got up as usual, took the amount of food and hydration his personal adviser recommended. In the Colonies, life was planned out smoothly and meticulously.

"30 cl of regular B-vitamin and folic acid, together with your daily dose of protein and trace elements. Mr Fleogan, may I re-order your next delivery? The list of items is ready..."

"Thank you Alex, please validate the order and have it delivered in the evening, on my way back from work."

Before heading to work, Jay checked his reflection on the gate-screen. He had never seen a mature person. He could not even imagine how they may look... He knew he was a second-born though, so he had been 50 some time ago. He gazed at his almost perfectly smooth skin, slightly tanned from evenings spent near the Composium's pool, under an artificial bright sun. He had heard about the sun, the one that was the nucleus of his original planetary system. Again, he had no definite idea of how it looked. On B24, exposure to the artificial sun was compulsory. It was designed to provide a healthy look and D-vitamin, while avoiding all risks of deterioration. Natural ambient light, on the other hand, was provided by the three solar stars B24 was gravitating around: one medium sun and two smaller ones that didn't shine very brightly since they hovered right above the horizon for a large part of the day.

Jay contemplated his figure. His dark hair perfectly matched his black shining eyes, and his body was a living representation of health and strength. Yet some unidentifiable uneasiness lingered in his mind.

In the evening he was planning to meet work mates for an informal dinner in the Composium's huge restaurant. His job was fine, even if he still needed some adjustment and tuition. Second-borns were treated fairly kindly, mistakes were understandable in the beginning. What wasn't officially said was that nobody would think of blaming someone whose memory had been erased almost completely, save for some minor cognitive areas. People like him were considered with respect and consideration. They didn't have more wisdom or experience than First-borns, they showed no sign of ageing, yet they were the testimony of Life going on, of Man's success over disease and decay. They were an erased map, an open chart with undecipherable echoes of another solar system and out-of-reach civilization.

The practical details were not totally known... Second-borns had to meet medical and genetic requirements, they were thoroughly examined and possibly treated by the Higher Board of the Composium. What was official was that they were entitled to have a new life. They carried with them the fact that they had existed somewhere else before, with different people. All the things from their past had become totally strange, and it gave them an awe-inspiring aura.

So Jay was having, all in all, a good life. A happy, careless life. And he did feel good. He felt very good indeed. That is, most of the time...

Occasionally, he felt that numbness in his limbs: probably the side effects of medication, the imprint of the re-scheduling process he had gone through. He hardly remembered anything from that. He was simply a new man with a blank past.