Backwards

   The president's assistant entered gently into his study and sat on the sofa chair across from him. The president hardly reacted to her entrance, only briefly shifting his slightly empty and lost gaze as she approached.

After a prolonged silence, his assistant decided to speak, "he hasn't been located as of yet, sir. But our latest footage shows that he was alone, and safe, earlier this evening."

"Thank you, Patricia," he let out a sigh, gathering himself to utter what he wanted to ask, "do we know where he was going?"

"We can't say sir. He was covered, and the recent dust storms have blocked many of the city's cameras."

"And how he left?"

"It seems that he left through the service gate. A security had a brief interaction with him."

"Have the security brought to me."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you Patricia. You may go. Let me know when we've heard more."

The president continued to sit, stressed, drinking a coffee in contemplation. Since his son's return from abroad, he had sensed a drifting apart with his son. The trip was meant to instill some direction in him, begin his preparations for governmental responsibilities. But now in his 30s, his son wasn't showing any promise of a found purpose in life.

The bright neon street lights illuminated him and the hue of airborne dust as late night bar patrons watched him walk along. He was slightly awkward, stiff and anxious looking. He was wearing a hooded jacket and unassuming clothes. The electronic sounds of the dense lit advertisements and shops filled the air, creating a late night dreamscape seemingly void of thought. An agent in a streetside casino got a positive ID on him and notified the presidential compound.

The son turned into a building with his head down and was met by an attendant.

"Your name sir?"

"Mr. Orbo, for 1AM,"

The attendant checked their log, "your first time here. Fantastic sir. If you could please fill out your desire on the tablet here, and then have a seat in our lounge. We'll have your space ready for you shortly."

"Thank you."

Patricia entered the study, "we've received a positive ID on him sir."

The president sat silent.

"A government memory induction facility", she said.

The president sighed, and closed his eyes in distress, "do we know how many times?"

"We aren't sure yet sir. Our preliminary scan shows that he has not used that facility before, but he has been using false IDs, so it is possible he has been multiple times. We will have him evaluated as soon as he is finished to see that his state is stable."

The president paused and focused his eyes in contemplation, "I suppose we cannot pull him out now"

"We're afraid it may raise suspicion, sir. Plus, the known consequences of a memory abortion."

"Yes, that's fine. I don't have to say how careful we must be with his return to the compound."

"Yes, sir. We will assure no word gets out. We do not suspect any leaks at this time."

"Good."

The president's son was an only child, and thus the only heir to the current presidency. His father had high approval throughout the country, and had brought the most stability to the country in many decades. The country was continuing to thrive on the wealth of their natural resources, and President Ormox had managed to stabilize the population following major rifts and destabilization caused by the introduction of memory induction technology 7 years ago. The technology had taken the world by storm, collapsing numerous stable countries. The country was still losing a significant portion of the population to dream-induced psychosis - mostly of the lower class demographic, but it was affecting all classes. In the early years of memory induction the last government had attempted banning the technology, but riots ensued and the government was overthrown, leading to the implementation of the current government led by President Ormox. Ormox and his party were of the belief that the technology would exist and prevail regardless of any intervention, similar to the opioid and psychedelic epidemics of the recent past. Plus, the legality of memory induction would allow the government to benefit from operating their own facilities. But the government would need to continue being exceedingly careful of its regulation, as since the technology's introduction the health consequences of its advancements were becoming increasingly more serious.

The president's son entered and lay down in the middle of the dimly lit circular room. He began stripping his clothes as the countdown began and the deep whirring sound of the induction machine resonated the walls. When the countdown was complete, he was lying naked in the fetal position as the memory induction commenced.

The president's son had grown up wealthy, with the highest of education. The Ormox's had inherited several generations of wealth and power in the country. All of his needs and anything he wanted had been completely catered to. Despite his resources, he was an Ormox that was slightly astray, and this was known by the population. He had struggled finding a meaningful connection with any pursuit, especially one that would benefit his family. So recently, his family encouraged him to travel the world, to inspire some passion in him. It was said that he had fallen in love on his travels, but no one knew with who, or where.

Memory induction had come to be seen as a drug by society and a degenerative activity, a synthetic offshoot of the psychedelic epidemic. The technology had become accessible and abused by many. The escape of memory-induction had become the primary outlet for those with issues in their lives, those increasingly unable to deal with the challenges of hyper-modern society. For those partaking in memory induction without issues, they would come back to chase the next best memory. The technology, first developed by a Biomedical company, originally consisting of a series of transmitters placed on the clients head, transports the client to their most desired memory for a duration that is determined to be safe and possible for the client to return from - currently that time being 68 minutes. Early experimentation had found that after a certain amount of time stimulated in memory induction, it would in most cases lead to psychosis. But aside from the maximum limit of induction before full psychosis, lesser states of mental illness, some complicated and still to be defined, were being induced by the technology. Many were losing the ability to process stimuli within reality, and were living in a state between reality and psychosis.

The president's son was young, in his childhood. He was lying in his bed in the late morning, awake and groggy, drifting in and out of dreams. It was a Saturday morning and the summer sun was beaming into his room, the warm wafts of summer breeze catching his nostrils. A chickadee continued calling on a tree outside of his window, "fee-bee, fee-bee". He spent the entire time here, lying. The agent was outside, waiting for his visit to end. It was reported to the president that he would be concluding shortly. He had spent his last 5 visits in this memory. When he woke from the memory, his eyelids shuttered open, and he lie still. His eyes were not empty but elsewhere. He did not move a muscle as he continued staring through the ceramic wall.

"Fee-bee, fee-bee".