March 3rd 2664 

Our morning started out the way it normally did, with Moira eating the omelet I cooked and me taking my daily dose of fluoxetine. Well, we tried to have a normal morning, at least until Neesa interrupted us with a phone call. Moira got it for us and, from the bit of conversation I managed to overhear, it seemed she had some major happy news to share—if you could call having an eye on a potential date 'news' at all. To be fair to Neesa, she did have some bad luck with romance, so perhaps this time she would have a better chance with whoever this person she fancied was.

"What? You're bringing your crush to see Nardho and me? Why?" Moira's voice raised a little and then she glanced at me quickly. "No, I think he wouldn't mind getting to know someone new, but have you checked with Linda herself? Oh, you have? Nice. Hang on, let me ask."

"I'm cool with having your cousin's new friend over if that means so much to her, just tell me what day and time," I answered. "Maybe we can have lunch together."

Moira returned her attention to the phone call and mouthed "next weekend at fifteen past one. Neesa said she's bringing desserts and drinks while Linda's bringing home-cooked meal."

I gave her a thumbs up and she resumed catching up with Neesa while I put away the leftover from our breakfast. The last time the cousins talked on the phone was maybe over a month ago in winter, back when I was still re-learning how to control my grief. I was glad Moira had a reliable relative to support her when I was preoccupied with self-inflicted problems.

"Do you think we will get along with this Linda?" I asked her once she got off the phone. "It has been a while since we have guests and even longer since we made friends with complete strangers. Did I hear Neesa mention something about a laboratory?"

"Yup, Linda's job has something to do with neuroscience," Moira replied. "I figure I'll save my burning questions for later but the gist of it is that she's studying human brains and is working to find out more about the links between dreams, music, and memories. Neesa thought since you're a musician you might be interested in Linda's research."

"Memory? Hold up, are you thinking what I'm thinking, honey? That this is way too good to be true?" I interjected. "Here we are trying to crack the mystery surrounding your retrograde amnesia and out of the blue there's a woman who seems to possess the knowledge we desperately seek. How experienced of a researcher is she? Can we trust her this easily?"

"Nardho, you've been searching for a cure for years, haven't you, to no avail? Plus, don't the doctors almost give up on my case? I say it couldn't hurt to be a bit optimistic and hope we've finally hit a jackpot," Moira took my hands in hers. "What is the worst that could happen?"

"Are you serious?" I squeezed her hand tighter. "This is an uncharted territory we are going to! With your own neurologists wanting to throw in the towel, what reasons do we have to believe that a random woman is more qualified to give you medical advice? This is suspicious."

"Wow, Nardhia was right about you," Moira's eyes locked on mine in defiance. "She warned me that you could be pig-headed and difficult to convince once you've made your mind up. I was inclined to dismiss her warning at first but now I understand where she came from."

"You should take what my sister says about me with a grain of salt," I retorted. "While it's true that I'm stubborn, my stubbornness is not without reason. Moira, let's be rational. I know that you trust Neesa and by extension you trust whoever she befriends, but when it comes to your health shouldn't we be more cautious? Why should we gamble?"

"I know how much you care about me, I do," she kept her steely gaze. "But I'm tired of not being able to remember a huge part of our lives together. Aren't you tired too?"

"No doubt!" I growled. "But because I love you I'm not willing to let preventable mistakes take you away from me. I can't afford to lose you again because then I will lose myself as well."

Moira's face fell and she pulled me closer. "I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. "But if you're that afraid of me slipping away, let's make a deal. We let Linda explain her research and you can decide after hearing her explanation if she's trustworthy, but don't make any decision before then. How does it sound?"

"Better. I'm sorry for being scared but I truly don't want to imagine what—"

"It's gonna be okay, everything's gonna be fine," she tousled my hair. "We've got nothing to fear, Nardho. I believe Neesa wouldn't introduce Linda to us if she's a bad person. If she turns out to be one, then we'll think of an escape plan."

"Promise me you'll not take Linda's theories about memories at face value," I stared at her. "Until we can see some evidence of her work being of acceptable quality we should keep our guards up. Human brain is a complicated organ and what if she messes up?"

"You're such a worrywart!" Moira shook her head and smiled. "But I get you just want to protect me. Nardho, thank you. We'll be careful, I promise."

---

Linda was not how I imagined her to be. In my imagination, she was a petite white lady with an air of snobbery and a cocky attitude. The woman in front of me, however, was a dark-skinned woman with a smile that seemed to be permanently plastered on and a voice that was as quiet as a falling leaf. In fact, she only opened her mouth when Neesa prompted her to greet Moira.

"I'm Linda Zulfikar," she said softly. "I work for a pharmaceutical company that specializes in producing medicines to treat dementia. You'd think such companies only hire pharmacists, but they actually have a neurology branch too. By the way, Neesa and I met during my coworker's daughter's birthday party. Good thing your cousin owns a bakery, huh?"

"Lovely to have you here," Moira nodded at her. "I assume Neesa has filled you in on the situation I'm facing with my partial memory loss? Do you have questions for me?"

"Yes, she briefed me on the big picture. I wouldn't pry, just share if you're comfortable sharing," Linda replied as she helped Neesa set down the cookies and orange juice they brought. "I do wonder, if you don't mind telling me, have you ever had dreams that feel out of ordinary?"

"Like super vivid nightmares?" Moira asked. "I have recurrent nightmares involving spiders with giant claws. According to Nardho each time it happens I become delirious."

"That's scary," Neesa chimed in. "And it's weird because you don't have arachnophobia. Could it be a symbol of something else? Dreams are never straightforward, I would guess."

"Yeah, dreams are hard to interpret but that wasn't what I asked," Linda added. "I was curious if Moira has ever seen something in her dreams that could have happened in real life."

"Before we go further, can I be honest with you, Linda?" I raised my hand. "The events in our dreams are randomly generated, aren't they? How much weight can we reasonably put into using dreams as a way to retrieve forgotten memories?"

"Nardho has a point," Moira said approvingly. "I can see why he's skeptical. Dreams rarely even make sense. They have this gibberish, almost feverish vibe. Ethereal, if you will."

"Precisely!" Linda exclaimed. "Dreams are usually warped snippets of things we saw, felt, and heard throughout the days but every so often they could also contain bits and pieces of experiences from different periods of time, such as from our childhood. They might not be accurate representation of the actual events, but they're our brain's reconstruction."

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere!" Neesa clapped excitedly. "But since dreams are distorted versions of reality, how do we differentiate between the distortion and the truth?"

"There are two ways to do that," Linda answered. "The first method is easy, you could try to match your dreams with the recollection of everyone else who is related to those dreams. For example, if you dream of playing on a swing with your family in a garden full of roses, you can ask your parents if they ever own a swing set. If so, then ask them for more details."

"That makes sense so far," I said. "What is the second method, though? Is it intrusive?"

I tried my hardest to keep my facial expression neutral because I didn't want to make Neesa and Moira nervous, but my mind went to several horrible scenarios, including electroshock. I knew that I was being overly paranoid, but I really couldn't shake my suspicion. I had no idea what Linda wanted with my wife and there was no way in hell I could let her treat Moira like a lab rat.

"Depends on how you define intrusion, but I think it's a pretty non-invasive procedure," Linda frowned. "It's sort of a controlled experiment. Basically, you want to induce a kind of lucid dream. You use specific songs or smells you associate with certain memories and see if your brain re-play those memories in your sleep."

"Like hypnosis?" Moira tilted her head. "I'm sure Nardho have a collection of songs that might trigger my brain into remembering a memory or two. Once it is triggered, though, how can we be sure that I'm not gonna just immediately forget it once I'm awaken?"

"I'm developing a device that can record dreams much like a camera can be used to capture a scenery. If I'm successful in my endeavor, we'll be able to re-watch our dreams like we watch movies," Linda sounded more confident. "It's still imperfect but I've tested them on six-weeks-old golden retriever puppies and it's interesting to watch what animals dream of."

"I'm curious," I cut her off. "What exactly are those imperfections and why do you choose to test the device on puppies out of all the pets you could use as your subjects?"

"There's a limit to how long the device can keep on capturing a dream," Linda said calmly. "Dreams can last anywhere between a few seconds to half an hour and, to know whether my subjects are still dreaming, I hook their synapses to an electroencephalogram that detects brain activities. Sometimes my dream recorder stops recording in the middle of a dream. As for why puppies specifically, it is because they're trainable and they are highly visual thinkers capable of simple emotions, which they associate with certain foods. So, for example, if I want to trigger a memory of the puppies getting praised, before I make them sleepy I can just feed them the same milk bone they got from me when I last praised them."

"Okay, the dream recorder not recording correctly is definitely something to fix and I appreciate you not covering up the issues," I acknowledged. "By the way, that brain activity detector you're using on the puppies is harmless, right? They don't feel any pain, I assume?"

"It's painless. It's the same machine that can detect brainwaves in patients with epileptic seizure, so it's safe and there's no concern of unintended side effects. I would never do anything unethical," Linda's smile reappeared. "I could take you to my workplace if you're interested."

"That would be good!" Moira's eyes shone with pure excitement and she looked at me very expectantly. "You think so too, right, Nardho? It's an opportunity to see Linda's equipment in action! That, and a pile of puppies!"

Of course. Leave it to my adorable wife to get side-tracked by any mention of cute little fluff balls. Not wanting to sadden her, however, I pushed that snarky thought aside and said yes.

"Yep, that should be interesting," I agreed. "Would that be okay with your colleagues, Linda? Shouldn't we get special permit or something to access the laboratory?"

"Yes, you'd have to get security clearance from my boss but it can be arranged," she said. "I'll keep you both posted. May I have your number, please?"

I gave Linda my contact information and she promised to let us know of the arrangement in three to four business days. I kept my fingers crossed that I was stupid to suspect her. This encounter felt like a heaven-sent blessing but I was still waiting to see what the catch was. Nothing worth having ever come free, has it ever? Take my lungs, for instance. In hindsight it was indeed a miraculous gift, but it costed me my sanity. If this invention of Linda's also carried with it a hefty price tag, would I have the heart to let Moira go through such ordeal?