A Glitch in the World by Alex Drozd

Author:Alex Drozd [Drozd, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-05T22:00:00+00:00

12

Two days later, the entire family was on their way to the MemoryBank. It was an enormous building, one spanning eighty stories tall. Inside, thousands and thousands of memorials sat for those families who paid for the service. Each one came with about three square feet of space on the surface of the wall, where a family could place decorations next to a screen which displayed the deceased loved one’s picture. At the bottom, a small bag of their ashes hung.

This was all the service provided.

Stuart rode in the back of the hover car with Jody while the family talked. The boys weren’t listening to the conversation, nor did they speak with each other. Jody stared at his feet while Stuart, as always, stared out the window.

He was deep in thought about his little episode the day before the trip here. He hadn’t seen Alissa since then. Was she just a part of his anxiety about space flight? He didn’t know because he hadn’t spoken to the psychiatrists or doctors about her. He suspected that schizophrenic episodes like seeing a girl who wasn’t there—and having memories of her that were over a year old—weren’t one of the symptoms of PSFA.

There was something wrong with his mental health, which he was sure of—and it wasn’t just from the depression and anxiety. Something was wrong. He was seeing things, talking to them, too. The glitch? It had been awhile since she had last showed up, sure, but it had been awhile before then, too. And think of how much damage she caused the last time.

Or was it truly just PSFA that caused the hallucinations?

It was a lot to think about, and he kept going over it in his mind until they got to the MemoryBank.

“Here it is,” Brenda said.

“Wow,” Brian said. He looked up at the building. “We don’t have one even a quarter of this height on Janus.”

“You’d see taller if we were in one of the bigger cities,” Cliff said. He locked the car behind him, and they all set off towards the entry of the MemoryBank.

“The bigger cities,” Brian said with a smile. He elbowed his wife, “The bigger.”

She grinned at him.

“The average building here is thirty floors high,” Brian went on. “Earth is practically one big city.”

“Half the land surface is preserved naturally. That’s a myth.”

“We need to go to a preservation eventually,” Brenda said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a forest.”

The lobby of the MemoryBank was practically empty. A receptionist greeted them and directed them to their floor. Other than the receptionist, there were only a couple of people in the room. They were standing in a corner, watching an advertisement on one of the two VidScreens in the lobby. It was telling them about the only service the MemoryBank offered.

They all followed Brian. He seemed to take the lead. It was an emotional moment for his wife and brother-in-law. Why put the burden of leadership on them? Brenda walked uncomfortably close to Stuart. He wondered why she couldn’t put some distance between them.

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