Reset

“He lifted his hand to me,” Jason said. “And told me to give him a minute. I told him where we were and what we were doing.”

Cynically, John stated. “He knows. He remembers. He probably remembers it all. My memory was good when I woke. Jason? Yours?”

“It was weird,” Jason replied. “When I woke up, I was blasted by it. Everything. Almost every detail. It now is real to me, unlike yesterday where I didn’t know if it was a dream or not.”

“Same with me,” Amy said. “Foggy yesterday. Real today.”

“But…” Meredith spoke. “Do any of us remember the events that led us to right here? Right now.  I don’t.”

No one replied.

“I didn’t think so,” Meredith said.

“But that is why we’re here,” John rebutted. “Let’s tell our stories. Let’s put them together. Maybe if each of us remember a piece of the puzzle, combined we can figure out the chain events.” He stepped away briefly, and returned with Malcolm. “We appreciate,” John said. “You taking time away to do this.”

“I’m kinda in the zone but that’s fine.” Malcolm took a seat.

“We were opening up discussion on who we are, what we did and what we remember,” John said. “Trying to piece it together. All of us…” He looked at Nora. “Most of us,” he corrected. “Woke up with clarity to about 90 percent of our lives.”

“I know I did,” Malcolm stated. “I woke up knowing a lot. My wife’s name, my children, my job. I am from New York. City. But we had just moved to Boulder. I’m an inventor. I started with computer chips and my biggest to date is… well, was, who knows, the bio cam.”

Everyone looked at him.

Using his hand to demonstrate, Malcolm explained. “It’s slightly bigger than a golf ball. It looks like one, the ribbed surface, but all those ridges, are cameras. Lasers. The bio cam is placed in a room, pretty much unnoticed. It does a three-sixty-camera camera, but while it does, it is looking for increased heart rates, out of place body temperatures and if it finds any, the camera will lock in.”

“Holy cow,” Nora sat back, amazed. “That’s unreal.”

“Yeah, it was my contribution to stopping terrorism. The main frame is not on site, so even if the cam is destroyed the footage can be retrieved. Maybe the monitors can pick up a threat before it happens,” Malcolm said. “I remember everything up to being at the Astoria. An event, a big one, and my camera was making its debut. Actually three of them were placed throughout the hotel. I was asked to bring it and monitor it on site, but my onsite computers weren’t their only hub. Footage is somewhere in Cleveland. Anyhow, things were going. Someone was speaking, I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was focused more on the two men in the back of the room. The bio cam picked up their heart rate, body temperature, they were abnormal readings. I wasn’t watching the speaker and when they left, the ground shook. Things fell, there was panic.”

Nora said, “The explosion you mentioned.”

“Yes,” Malcolm nodded. “It happened fast, just as I registered something had happened outside the ball room, they were escorting people out. I remember thinking, ‘oh, yeah, bet bio cam B caught the culprit’, then I got dizzy. I started to pass out. I noticed a lot of people were falling. Gas leak. Gas attack. Those were my thoughts and that was the last I recall.”

Grant spoke up. “The passing out, I remember. The explosion is… faint. I was in the ballroom. That is clear. I play with the New York Symphony. I was asked to play with my strongest string quartet. We received a lot of money to do so. I don’t do shows such as that, but my father coordinated the event so I did it for him. Everything else before that, I recall.”

Amy lifted her hand to speak. “I remember the explosion. Well, I didn’t feel it.  I was at the Astoria as well.” Her eyes shifted about as she spoke. “I wasn’t at an event. I was actually at a conference. My room at a much cheaper hotel had a problem and the management put me up at the Astoria. I remember thinking how I lucked out. How I was going to embrace every moment in this plush hotel away from my children. I was asleep. Two men pounded on my door, they were wearing masks. I don’t know anything after that.”

Jason spoke. “I don’t remember the explosion. I know I was nervous. I got a call to do the prayer and introduction at a big awards ceremony. The whole thing is sketchy. My life before that isn’t. But the event is.”

“That would have been my event,” John said. “I was there for a prestigious writing award. My vision of the future from reality based science fiction. It is up there with the Pulitzer, the event was at the Astoria. So at least four of us remember being there.”

“Five,” Meredith said. “I was there. I was at the awards. My current lecture tour dealt with where the human race would be in fifty years if it follows the current path of economy, population, and so forth. It was frightening and I, too, had just won an award and that’s why I was invited to attend. So that leaves you…” She turned to Nora.