Memory Traffic

Epilogue: The Reveal

The video began, opening with Juno sitting at a desk facing us. The backdrop was plain white; no clues indicated where he was located or what the video was to be about. He had a plain glass of white liquid, presumably the cold milk Vegans seemed to like so much, on the desk. He nodded to someone off-camera and then smiled, focusing on his audience.

He began with a simple opening. "Director and esteemed members of Earth's Team Taskforce. I bid you greetings on this day. I am Juno Avison, First in Service to the Regent of Altair Prime, a planet we call Dixatis. We are a planetary system colonized by Vegans some one hundred Earth years ago. We came here in retreat from the horrendous memory practices we saw being developed by the Vegans, as led by the Empress of Vonvade from the planet you refer to as Vega Prime. It was her descendant, the current Princess of Vonvade, who bought the memories from your Agent Alexander Smith.

"Because Vegans barter for memories, you might think them honorable people, especially because they treat the deal, and its complete fulfillment, with paramount importance. You would be wrong. You need to realize when a Vegan takes memories, they get more than what you have bargained for. Always. This is not a gross generalization, but a statement of fact, based on how memory extraction works. In some way, they get the upper hand, taking away more than the donor or victim bargained for."

"They have been careful with your species so far because they are still establishing a foothold, but mark my words, they would have, someday soon, revealed their true nature. I am overjoyed we have been able to stop their establishment of Earth as a true storehouse so that you do not bear the brunt of that nature.

He paused to drink from the glass of milk. The studio around him was quiet. I felt like I was on pins and needles, waiting to hear what he said next. He set the glass down gently and continued, lacing his fingers together in front of him on the desk.

"In the distant past, we of Dixatis have held a non-interference stance toward the home-world Vegans concerning their pursuit of memory storehouses. We simply did not want to be involved, nor did we have the political clout to do so. However, since our current Regent came to power some thirty Earth years ago, we have realized we are the only ones who might be able to stop the memory rape that the Princess and her followers allow and condone. And so, we have begun the fight.

"We have been waiting for the opportunity to aid you in your self-defense, not being in a political position to defend you outright ourselves. We learned of your plan to infect the gate system and have been working to aid you in that goal. You are watching this video as a response to your success in this mission."

I felt a swelling of satisfaction about a job well done at the mention of the mission's success. But I knew we'd not have been able to do it without Juno's help. I was beginning to understand why he had gone out of his way to do so.

Juno paused again, unhooking his fingers and spreading his hands palm down on the desk. "We would like to offer a proposal to you: a joint effort in our attempts to end the tyranny of the Princess of Vonvade and those in the Consortium like her. You see, a group of Vegan leaders makes it their sole mission to find and establish storehouses to harvest memories and market them to the public, much like the drug cartel of your world deals their deadly substances. We would interrupt that memory traffic, then help the storehouses choose their own path: to be left alone or to pursue fair, open market trade with their memory resources."

I shifted in my seat, leaning back and crossing my arms. I'd heard a similar idea from Alex. Juno drank again before continuing. "Earth has made more progress along the lines of artificial memory extraction and restoration for your kind than any other species of any other storehouse. You are in the unique position that, with just a little help, you could be the first to turn the tide of memory trading from the black market to open and fair, the first system to have a trade agreement set up with the government of Vegan Prime. We offer aid to you in doing that, should you want to pursue that outcome. From us, you would receive technical information about building and controlling your own gate system, self-defense technology, and knowledge about how Vegan memory extraction works.