by Danny
Danny Hearn:
I look through the window toward the large convoy of trucks heading from the airport to the Mandelovian suburbs. The trucks carry the supply of tents and circus equipment that we'll need to set up the site. The trucks are followed by the collection of caravans that house the various circus performers and stage crew. And right at the back of the unlikely parade is the bus carrying all of us to the site. I have to admit, I still feel a little uneasy watching the road dominated by antiques.
Eurostar is sitting next to me. "Danny..." he says.
"Yeah?" I reply, turning to face him.
"I couldn't help overhearing you on the plane. You said you'd never flown before... but you have. When I first met you, we flew from Mandelovia to the United States," he says.
Shit. He's right. Why didn't I remember that? This must be the third or fourth time it's happened. Memory losses. Temporary lapses in my recollection. "Damn... you're right," I tell him.
"Why did you forget this?" he asks, sounding a little worried.
"Well... I didn't want to tell anyone. But lately, I've been getting... memory lapses. I've forgotten things... never anything this big, though," I explain to him. And it's true. I have.
"I have this theory... maybe your memories are out of sync with our reality due to your being here changing the timeline," Euro explains.
"Maybe... or maybe it's something to do with that fact that I had my brain cut open, and bits of another brain shoved in there. That's bound to cause some damage," I reply.
"Perhaps."
Damn. What the hell is going on here? "Hal," I say quietly.
"Yeah?"
"I'm assuming you've got all the information on my body stored inside you. My genetic patterns and all that... you'd know exactly how everything's supposed to be running."
"Of course. How else could I tell the microbes which particular DNA strands to mess about with?"
"Right. So... could you run a check? On my brain? See if everything's in working order?"
"Like a diagnostic?"
"Something like that."
"Sure. This something to do with those memory blackouts?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I can do that. No problem. But listen, I'll need to knock you out cold for a few hours to do it properly."
"Uh... okay. We'll do it when we get to the site, and my caravan's set up."
"Sure thing."
"Well... it's all taken care of," I say reassuringly to Eurostar, smiling at him. I wish I could feel as reassured as I sound. This isn't exactly the most well-tested medical procedure.