Lucilla

Memory Palace

[Filed from: Spacetrek Collective: Startorch Academy Faculty Records] [Forte Examination Report RA2399-G] Name: Lucilla Forte Overview: Examination confirms the subject's Tacet Mark is located at the outer side of the right calf. Based on records from the New Federation, the subject is presumed to have awakened her Forte during a childhood birthday party after receiving a camera as a present. In addition to the memory regression ability common to memory-type Resonators, the subject possesses a unique ability to extract and materialize memories. Utilizing this ability, the subject can even "construct" previously experienced scenes and "events" to some degree within a limited time frame. However, this reconstruction exhibits extreme instability, and the Overclock incidents reported by the subject are strongly correlated with her attempts to recreate memories. In accordance with the Spacetrek Collective Information Security and Protection Act, further investigation into President Lucilla's Overclock history is hereby discontinued. Second revision: Based on reports from the New Federation and evidence submitted by Lucilla's blood relatives, President Lucilla has never undergone Overclocking. Records pertaining to her Overclock history have been deleted.

Analysis Performed: Rabelle's Curve Fluctuation Stability Test Result: Rabelle's Curve of the subject exhibits a fluctuating elliptical waveform and a stable Time Domain. No abnormal fluctuations were observed. Assessment: The subject shows no history or risk of Overclocking, and exhibits none of the long-term or short-term memory loss symptoms common to memory-type Resonators. In accordance with the Spacetrek Collective Information Security and Protection Act, Rabelle's Curve Fluctuation Stability Test on President Lucilla is hereby discontinued. Second revision: It is confirmed that President Lucilla meets New Federation requirements for the repatriation of elite and special talent advisors.

A letter lies quietly in the files box, stamped with the seal of Lucilla's mother, Kamerel.

For a memory-type Resonator, diaries, notes, or other memo-keeping tools are dangerous media. They are the driftwood a drowning sailor clings to in a shipwreck. Faced with the crashing waves of memory fluctuation, you must rely on them lest you sink beneath the tide of recollection. But the moment you begin to unconsciously depend on external objects to fill the gaps in your memory, you also accept a certain risk. That someone, for instance, might tamper with your diary to rewrite who you think you are.

Therefore, Lucilla, I forbid it. I forbid you to record your private matters by any means beyond your own mind. I forbid you to speak of them. I forbid you to form such a dependence. As a memory Resonator, you must become its master, the strongest, most dangerous being in your own sea of recollection. I wish for you a life without driftwood, without refuge. Without the need for me, or anyone else.

And yet, as my own body began to fail, I found myself, without realizing it, keeping a diary. Perhaps memory-type Resonators are, in a way, premature inheritors of memory itself. The side effects you endure are merely a stage of life that every aging soul must inevitably experience.

Lucilla, by the time this letter reaches you, I will have likely passed. You should know that I am not rambling to you out of sentimentality. This is a warning, a precaution, lest you forget who you are over something trivial. I have prepared materials for you—records of your past, to help you rebuild your Memory Palace.

Of course, whether you use them is your choice. As with every choice before this one, it is entirely voluntary.

A surveillance master tape, carefully housed inside a protective case of excellent quality. But its time registration has been ripped off, and the faces of everyone captured on it have been erased. A strange, almost twisted way to preserve it. A note can be found along with it:
The Forte you awakened disrupted all the plans I had for you. By now, you should understand the challenge of protecting a "gifted" Resonator in the New Federation. I don't just want you to survive. You need to earn the right to live.

"This is Madam Kamerel. Just tell her what you just told me, and then you can go, Andy."
"Yes, sir. So, we received a report of a young girl who awakened her Forte..."
"Just start from how you found her."
"Ah, of course! My apologies... Using the camera's location-tracking system, we were quick to track her to a park about five kilometers from the reported location."
"You're telling me a young girl ran five kilometers into the woods. Barefoot. In the middle of the night."
"I..."
"Take your time, Andy. Answer her truthfully."
"Yes. When we found her, there was a bicycle. I'm certain I saw one. But then it just vanished. Turned into... a photograph."
"This photograph right here, Madam Kamerel."
"Are you sure you saw it? The bicycle turning into a photograph, I mean?"
"Uh, I..."
"Go get some rest, Andy. You've been up all night. You can go home."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, madam. Please excuse me!"
*Sound of door opening and closing*
"This photograph was taken the day she first learned to ride a bicycle."
"Luci's ability is a rare one even among memory-type Resonators. Try to remember, when did she awaken her Forte...?"
"...I have no idea."
"Her gifts will draw too much attention. We can't even use our contacts inside the government to protect her."
"She has to leave."
"Leave? Kamerel, where do you want to send her?"
"That will be her decision."

Two letters, one from a school in the New Federation, the other bearing Kamerel's seal. Her handwriting is so heavy that it nearly tears through the envelope. A small note is tucked inside: Don't forget, the world is full of incompetent teachers.

[Letter Received]
Dear Madam Kamerel,

Please forgive my presumptuous letter. In accordance with the school's guidelines, I am writing to report on Miss Lucilla's conduct over the past several months. Overall, the situation is rather concerning.

While her academic performance is impeccable, we have received reports from several students that her behavior at school is somewhat... inexplicable. Most of the time, she appears very withdrawn, yet occasionally she will suddenly become overly intimate with certain peers, claiming false memories as though they had been close friends for years. When her classmates calmly point out that they are not well acquainted, she immediately becomes depressed and utterly distraught.

Madam Kamerel, as we discussed during Miss Lucilla's enrollment, while the school does not discriminate against Resonator students, all of this is predicated on the stability of her Forte. Her current condition, I regret to say, leaves much to be desired.

[Reply Letter]
Dear President Sofia,

A presumptuous letter indeed.

I am sorry to learn that your institution lacks the capacity to provide Lucilla with a sufficient, comprehensive education, as well as the basic awareness to guide students in normal social interaction. To my understanding, an educational institution that lacks even the fundamental ability to educate might be what is truly "inexplicable."

Furthermore, I am astonished that your institution would mistake a child's clumsy attempts at making friends for instability in her Forte. I will be conveying this inappropriate characterization to the school inspector as well.

It would appear your institution is not fit for Lucilla. Please have her belongings packed. I will be collecting her tomorrow.

A scrap of paper carefully torn from a notebook. It bears the Spacetrek Collective's emblem. A short message is written on the back.
I was very curious as to the kind of fortune that healed you, until I found that particular Roya man and asked him a few simple questions. If your old illness ever returns, his seemingly nonsensical remarks might help to stir your memory.

I exhausted nearly every means of transport available to reach this remote Royan observation station mentioned in the report.

I also confirmed once again that the one who saved her was nothing more than a shabby old man in his twilight years. No conspiracy. No hidden design. Her survival was purely by chance.

This Roya also showed me the objects Lucilla had used her ability to read—random trinkets, nothing more. I cannot fathom what magic these objects possessed that allowed Lucilla to escape the hysteria brought on by her ability. Naturally, I would not believe this old man understood memory-type Resonators better than the New Federation's finest doctors.

Truly a pointless journey. My interest in this place was spent almost immediately.


"Madam, a simple truth, it is. If you only see through a camera lens, only observe through photographs, you will never grasp the cold of the frostlands, nor their vastness."
"Don't play coy with me."
"I am not. It was President Lucilla who told me this. After she laid her hands on these trivial little objects, she finally understood."
"Understood what?"
"That life is not a photograph. Life is flesh. Life is blood. Life must not be survived, but lived."
"...Lucilla has always chosen her own way of living."
"I have a child too. That is why I understand why you fail to see it. Just as I observe the frostlands, President Lucilla observes others. Tell me, have you always watched her the same way you do now?" the Roya asked me.

An arrogant question. One that presumed to understand me. I did not answer him.

Inside a heavy safe box lies a roll of film with no descriptive labeling. Only its material gives away its age. It appears only readable and playable through a device in Lucilla's posession.
Upon playback, the screen stays pitch black, audio only.

"It's so dark!"
"You need to pop the lens cap off first to see anything."
"Oh. Then I'll just leave it on for now."
"Why?"
"I'm not ready yet. I want my first photo to be you looking pretty!"
"I don't need pictures to remember how I am. I have you."
"Okay!"
"Make a wish, Lucilla."
……
……
"I wish... I can remember these moments forever."