Forgotten Spark

Chapter 12

Author's note: Merry Christmas everyone! As my gift to all of you, here's a new chapter so soon after the last one! (Yes, it is possible for me to do that! XD) Thanks so much for sticking with me and encouraging me through this process :)

We all just sat there, disbelief settling over the entire table. "Are you sure?" Ostin breathed. 

Ian looked at Ostin with his grayish eyes-- dulled by his blindness. "Pretty darn sure. There's a little metal square on the surface of his brain, with tiny metal wires going down into the bottom of his brain, behind his eyes." He pointed to what he saw from behind me, so I couldn't see his hands, but Taylor's eyes widened, and Ostin's jaw dropped. 

"But how? That kind of working technology is decades away." He began mumbling to himself. "Of course, Elgen always has been pretty ahead in terms of technology, but this?" He looked at me and motioned to my head. "I didn't even think they were researching this kind of thing, let alone developing it!"

Ostin asked for a detailed description of the device in my skull, and Ian gave it. right down the the types of engravings on the chip. It was a bit unnerving, being told exactly what was in my brain. I felt the urge to just rip it out, like a splinter or something. Finally, Ostin seemed satisfied with the description he was given.

"Of course!" He muttered. "Having the chip very deep in the brain would be unrealistic, and prevent radio waves from connecting. It's on the surface, just under the bone, right?" Ian nodded. "Then the wires are connected to the hippocampus, and control the neurons to--" 

"Ostin!" Taylor groaned, "English, please!"

Ostin paused. "Basically, it's controlling Michael's memory, and the fact that it's on the surface says that someone's controlling it remotely, or from somewhere else."

"Dr. Francis did say the most damage had been done to my hippocampus," I added. "That's where memories are stored, isn't it? But he didn't say anything about a chip, or wires, or--or..." I put my head in my hands, elbows on the table. "That should've been obvious with the number of x-rays they took. If he was lying about that, what else could he have been lying about?"

Ostin shook his head. "What doesn't make sense to me is how it works with so much electricity in your body. Your levels of electricity should have fried it. Especially by now. Unless..." His eyes widened.

Taylor looked at him. "Unless what?" Her voice shook.

A thought struck me. I stood up. "Listen. You guys discuss this and make your theories, but..." I looked at them all regretfully. "If there's someone in my brain controlling me or... whatever... then they might be able to listen in on this conversation. They could be gathering info and... I don't know! What I'm saying is... I don't think I should be a part of it, just in case."

"You can't be serious!" Taylor cried. "We need you here! It's your brain, and you should be here to figure out a solution!"

"No!" I snapped. "I can't. I can't put you at risk. I wouldn't be much help anyways. So... don't give me any more information than I need." I put my hands on the table and dropped my head. "Just until we can get it out." I smiled ruefully at everyone's grim faces. I turned and walked away, while the rest of them sat there.

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I was lying in my bed, thinking about why someone would need a chip in my brain. In all honesty, I just wanted to have some time to think about everything. Try and piece things together in my mind, and try to understand what the others had been learning and knowing for a year! I just didn't want to be a hindrance to the conversation because I was behind. The part about the people on the other end... that was mostly an excuse. But it also scared me how much I believed it. What if they could alter my memories, and my actions? What if they put me in a coma and sent me here to get inside information? Simon's comment about how this ranch was off-grid, and completely safe, were wrong. What if this chip was a tracker, and they were waiting for the right time to attack??? I couldn't stay there, I could lead them right to us!