Familiar faces.

[too_late4tom]

It's been a while since Tom has made his presence known to Schreber. He's been too busy watching the man and his strange family to actually bother talking to him. He's been trying to figure out who the weird guy with the bad skin is, or why none of them seem to leave the house for very far or long. The girlfriend, she actually drives to the city

Comments

[dr_schreber]

Schreber has actually come and gone some that Tom didn't see, pinpointing to the labs and back to tidy up and putter around and water the plants he keeps there. Sometimes he visits Harley to check in and sometimes Rat visits him but they're both busy with the garden in the city some. Most days Schreber stays home and drinks tea and works on paperwork for the city. He takes a walk once every morning and sometimes in the evening but he's always on the boardwalk and nodding to neighbors and never anywhere Tom might be able to get him alone

[too_late4tom]

Tom absorbs this information, his expression turning to despair. He had hoped that Ume was wrong, that some of his memories were his, especially his childhood, but here it was, plain as day. Thomas Bailey never grew up in the city. Thomas Bailey never fought in a war.

Thomas Bailey never existed, except in his own head.

"Why?" he asks weakly, his voice cracking. "Why would they do this to me?"

[dr_schreber]

That is painful to watch. Schreber looks worried and upset for him. "It's... impersonal. We were just experimen...tal subjects to Them. They were soulless." He's fidgeting a lot now.

[too_late4tom]

Unfortunately, to Tom, everything is personal. "So... so what the fuck, then? What am I supposed to do?" He tries to calm himself with another sip of lemonade, but his hand is shaking. "And how come nobody knows? These aliens kidnap us and then fuck around with our memories -- a-and you said they're gone, so how come nobody knows what's going on?"

[dr_schreber]

"How do you think... they could be told? A radio broadcast? A newspaper article? Some... one standing on a soapbox in the street? I'm not sure they'd want... to hear it, most of them. Either they wouldn't believe... it, or if they did there could be mass hyster...ia. Hopefully there's a way to tell people that... they will believe and won't panic, but I don't know what it is yet. Ev...eryone does need to know, someday, but how to tell them isn't easy." Schreber's voice is staying calm but he's fidgeting and watching Tom a little nervously.

[too_late4tom]

"It's not right. It's not right," Tom mutters to himself. "There are people walking around out there who think that they're going crazy because their memories don't make sense. There are people grieving for family members who fought in a war that never happened."

He looks up at Schreber, his voice low and quiet, "How do you know the truth, Doctor Schreber?"

[dr_schreber]

Schreber looks very guilty. He has had lots of practice. "I... knew Them. Not voluntarily. They needed some...body with the skills to... ah... to administer... ah. They lacked manual dexterity, and an un...derstanding of the complexities of the human mind." Fidget fidget!

[too_late4tom]

A small part of Tom is impressed that Schreber actually admitted his involvement. He already knew that, of course, but he takes a measure of satisfaction in Schreber's guilty expression. "So you were the one who switched our memories around," he replies, "Under their orders."

He pauses a moment, then says plainly, "You need to fix this."

[dr_schreber]

"I'm doing the best I can for the ci...ty, and if you have any ideas about bring...ing the truth gently to the city, I'd be happy to hear it." Schreber sighs and rubs the scars by his eye again. So far this could be going worse!

[too_late4tom]

"No, you don't understand." His voice is still calm, but there's a slight edge to it. His gaze is piercing. "You need to fix this. Fix me. You're responsible for this, and you used the technology the aliens gave you. That means you need to fix my memories. Give me back my real ones."

[dr_schreber]

"I'm afraid I can't. Even if I had an...y idea which memories are supposed to be... yours, I simply don't have them. The facilities where the memories were... stored was destroyed when They were. I just don't have... any way to correct it. The most I could do is take mem...ories away, and as someone without any, I wouldn't recommend it." He can see Tom is getting worked up but he's not sure what to do about it. "I'm sorry. If I could correct ev...eryone's memories I would have done it a long time a...go."

[too_late4tom]

"Destroyed?" Tom echoes, with a hint of hysteria. "You mean I'm stuck like this? How--"

Oh, but he can guess how. It must have been destroyed when John fought the aliens. The only salvation, the only hope of getting home, destroyed.

For a moment, Tom looks positively livid. His hands curl up into fists. Then slowly, he relaxes just enough to not look like he's about to jump out of his chair. "So. What everybody believes is a lie, then? Why do I have gaps in my memory. Why does what I remember not fit with other people's memories?"

[dr_schreber]

Schreber actually flinches a little. "Everybody's got that, espec...ially since They weren't expecting to be de...stroyed in the middle of Their experiments. There's gaps and in...consistencies all over just most people brush them off."

[too_late4tom]

"Why don't I brush them off?" He remembers the bum he was talking to on the boardwalk not that long ago. Maybe he's not the only one, then. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

They say the truth shall set you free, but in Tom's case, all it did was exchange one prison for another. He clenches and unclenches his fists and tries not to give into his desire to grab Schreber by his lapels and shake him. "This... this technology in the outside world, could it fix me? Could it give me my memories back?"

[dr_schreber]

He would not be the first person to grab Schreber by the lapels and shake him!
"You're intelligent, observant, I.. don't know what makes up a personality that looks... for the truth, but you're not the only one." He cleans his glasses because he's nervous. "I haven't seen a way to do it. It's... possible, but I haven't heard of a way. As I said, if I could set us all... back to the way we were, I would."

[too_late4tom]

"Have you told other people the truth? You said other people besides you had ways of leaving the city." He wonders if that beach bum was one of them.

"But you think it's possible." Tom narrows his eyes a little, watching Schreber's every move. "Really? Even your girlfriend?"