Chapter 27
The lab was pristine, just like everything else in this building. There was a large, reclining surgical chair in the center of the room, and the far wall had three massive screens with the Neurovance logo on them.
On a small table next to the chair was a white, wireless device. It looked like a wand, and when Jay picked it up, a soft, glowing green light emanated from the tip.
“If you would like to volunteer, choose ‘yes’ on the poll that was sent to your Nexus app,” Jay instructed, and everyone hurried to do so.
Jay didn’t even review the results before his warm gaze landed on me.
“You’re up, Milo,” he said, and I did my best to ignore the annoyed scoff from Melanie.
“Lie down in the chair, please.”
Forcing myself to ignore the two dozen sets of eyes on me, I scrambled forward and climbed into the large chair. I was quivering with anxiety and excitement as Jay stepped forward, reclining the chair into a fully horizontal position before settling behind my head.
All the hairs on my body stood on end as he gently brushed my hair back away from my forehead.
His fingers were warm and gentle, and all I could smell was his woodsy cologne as he addressed the room.
“This is a NeuroExtractor 3.0. I’m sure most of you have read the product monograph on it.
It’s patented by Neurovance and is the first of its kind.
We have a ten-year patent that prevents competitors from emulating this technology.
However, once that runs out, we’ll face a competitive landscape for the first time.
This is why you’re here. Over the next four years, Neurovance aims to advance this existing technology, moving beyond mere extraction and into manipulation. We’ll talk more about that later.”
I could barely hear what Jay was saying, as he seemed to be playing with my hair mindlessly.
Each time he stroked his fingers across my forehead, one of my stubborn little cowlicks seemed determined to defy him.
He’d brushed it back out of my eyes several times now, and all I could think about was how good his fingers felt as they skated over my scalp.
“Are you ready, Milo?” he asked softly. His words whispered over me, and I did my best to pretend it wasn’t doing all sorts of inappropriate things to my insides.
The last thing I needed was to make more of a fool of myself, so I clenched my fists at my side and nodded.
“Yep!” I squeaked. “Ready!”
Jay chuckled and pressed the wand against my left temple.
The device made a beeping sound, and the light switched from green to yellow as he ran the tip of it up from my temple to my forehead and down the other side.
Moving just my eyes, I glanced at the screens on the far wall as they too lit up.
The Neurovance logo disappeared, and the screens filled with what looked like a complicated cloud of numbers and strange symbols. As Jay slid the wand over my head, different numbers and symbols on the screen were highlighted.
“This is how thoughts and memories are translated. We call them NeuroGlyphs. It’s a language of sorts, and requires extensive training to read and understand the script.
“I’m certified in NeuroGlyph translation, as are all memory therapy technicians. As memory therapy researchers, it’s not mandatory that you learn how to read NeuroGlyphs, though we offer free courses on Thursdays for those interested in learning.”
Everyone oohed and ahhed as Jay continued to run the wand over my head, showing the room how my thoughts and memories were being translated.
“Now, the trick is to dig through the thoughts to get to the memory in question. Usually, the patient is asked to bring the memory they want extracted to the forefront of their mind to make it easier for the technician to pinpoint the right one.”
Jay stroked my hair again with his free hand and leaned in close to my ear. I shuddered as his hot, minty breath tickled my lobe, and my toes curled in my vans.
“Do you have your memory ready, Milo?” he asked, his deep, velvety voice teasing me with each syllable.
I swallowed and nodded. “Y-yeah. I have it.”
“Okay, bring it to the front of your mind.”
Closing my eyes, I replayed my first few minutes on campus, when I’d been knocked over by the hoverboard commuter.
The memory swam behind my eyelids.
I thought about how I’d felt so embarrassed going down, and how I’d been even more mortified when I realized the hottest man I’d ever seen in my life witnessed the whole thing.
A man who was now my boss.
God, please. I never want to be plagued by this memory again…
Jay’s wandering wand froze, and I could almost feel the frown on his face as he read the NeuroGlyphs that my memory had produced.
Suddenly, it occurred to me that he might be able to read more than just the embarrassment from that memory.
Oh shit… did the glyphs show him that I thought he was attractive?
The symbols and numbers on the screen whizzed as I spiraled, and Jay leaned over my head, meeting my eyes.
I couldn’t read the expression on his face, and my heart was beating so loudly I was sure he could hear it.
“Not that memory, Milo. Choose something else, please. Something less recent.”
Dammit! I hadn’t realized it couldn’t be a recent memory.
My mind went blank as I panicked.
Shit, I needed to pick something else! Now that I was on the spot, I couldn’t think of anything.
The glyphs on the screen continued to shudder and flicker in and out of focus as I struggled to think of something.
“Shh, don’t panic. Take your time,” he soothed me, and Melanie scoffed again.
“He’s clearly not ready! Pick someone else!”
“Strike two, Ms. Larson. Interrupt my demonstration again, and we’re going to have a problem,” Jay snapped, and Melanie made an indignant noise.
“Come on, Milo. You can do this. Pick something from high school, maybe? Something small.”
As soon as he said high school, a plethora of humiliating moments manifested, and I quickly chose one of me walking face-first into the cafeteria doors in front of everyone freshman year.
It was all anyone talked about for weeks, and it was the first time someone called me Murphquake.
“Ah. That’s a good one.” Jay chuckled. “Let’s get rid of that for you.”
The NeuroExtractor beeped again, and I saw a hint of red light as Jay extracted, then erased the memory from my mind.
“All done.” He smiled, removing the wand from my head. He brushed my hair back one more time before stepping away. He came to stand beside me as I sat up and gave me a warm, tender smile.
“How do you feel?” he asked, and I shrugged.
“The same, I guess?”
“How do you feel about cafeteria doors?” His lip was twitching. My face turned red as I imagined what sort of memory I must have given him to delete.
Cafeteria doors?
“Uh… I feel indifferent?”
“Good. Two minutes ago, you would have answered differently.” He laughed, and I smiled at him.
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
He nodded, stepping back and gesturing for me to get out of the chair.
I swung my legs over the edge, but I rolled my ankle slightly as I stood. Gasping, I realized I was going down—again—when Jay caught me.
He steadied me until I caught my footing, and my skin burned under my corduroy jacket where his hands gripped my shoulders.
I was about to thank him, but he was already turning away to face the rest of the group.
“Alright, Julia Simmons! You’re next. Up in the chair, please.” He smiled as a girl with mousy brown hair hurried past me to take her turn.
I scuffled to the back of the group, feeling flustered, but also weirdly lighter than I had been when I got in the chair.
It was a comfort, I realized, to know that I would get to live the rest of my days with one less humiliating incident plaguing me.
I watched as Jay repeated the procedure on Julia, though he only needed to brush her hair back once.
With sweaty palms, I flattened my cowlick, feeling bad that he’d needed to work so hard to get my hair out of the way for my demonstration.
“He only picked you because he feels bad for you,” Melanie hissed behind me. I frowned at her, my gut churning uncomfortably at the clear jealousy in her eyes.
“I’m sure he’ll pick you, too,” I said, trying to placate her.
“Whatever,” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared me down behind her cat-eye glasses. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of my way. I’m planning on running this department within the year.”
That seemed… ambitious. Nodding awkwardly, I shuffled away from her, putting distance between us.
She didn’t need to worry. I was just happy to have gotten this job in the first place. I wasn’t in a rush to climb the ladder. All I wanted to do was immerse myself in science and follow my lifelong dream of unlocking the secrets of the human mind.
If she wanted to gun for Jay’s job, all the power to her.
I was just hoping she could do it without making my life a living hell along the way.