Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star by Edward Willett

Author:Edward Willett [Willett, Edward]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, young adult, adventure, futuristic, music
Publisher: Edward Willett
Published: 2017-01-18T06:00:00+00:00

The Dealer squealed at the bent-over Hydra, and the big one tightened his grip even more. The bent Hydra took a vial from a pocket on his belt and shook a thin, bright-green wafer onto the tip of one tentacle. I stared at it, garish against the Hydra’s orange skin, the scene spinning as the blood drained from my head. “No!” I tried to scream, but it came out as a whisper.

“Oh, yes,” said Qualls. “I had hoped to put it off until we were in space, but you’re becoming far too intractable. In any event, it has to be done sooner or later.”

“No!” This time I did scream it. “Qualls, please, you don’t have to—I won’t fight any more, I’ll go to Hydra—”

“Oh, you will indeed. For two years.” He smiled as if at a private joke. “Do you know about Hydra memory?” he said conversationally, while that green wafer hovered centimetres from my face. I had to go cross-eyed to focus on it, but I couldn’t look away. “We have short-term and long-term memory. They have deep memory and surface memory. Everything they see, hear, taste, smell and feel goes instantly into surface memory—which would quickly overload, if they didn’t periodically empty it. So during what corresponds to our sleep they sift through the day’s events at high speed and consciously decide what they want to keep in surface memory and what they want to shift over to deep memory.

“Everything in surface memory is instantly retrievable. Deep memories are not, but any experience similar to something in deep memory will instantly bring that deep memory back to the surface. It’s like living in a constant state of deja vu. As a result, many Hydras, like your old friend Rain, constantly seek unique experiences. It’s their major form of entertainment.”

Rain. He was waiting for me at Fat Sloan’s. He’d come to find out why I didn’t show up, wouldn’t he?

The wafer moved fractionally closer to my mouth. Not soon enough, I thought despairingly. Not soon enough.

“But several years ago a Hydra invented an amazing drug—one that made Hydras forget. Completely. After taking the drug, a Hydra could repeat an experience without consciously being aware he’d experienced it before. Apparently, however, there is a subconscious realization, and the dichotomy between that realization and the complete lack of conscious memory is intensely pleasurable to the Hydras, so much so that the drug proved quite addictive. Naturally, their government moved to control this substance, because an addicted Hydra eventually sinks to the point of enjoying a handful of experiences over and over again, and quits even trying to do anything new.” Qualls laughed. “Rather like the fans of Sensation Singles!

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