Chapter Twenty Two

I couldn’t remember what happened after the injection of the drug. I don’t remember where Jessica is. The only thing I am certain of among the chaos of memories is the clue Jessica left me.

“Well, what does Jessica mean by Day 17?” Skye asks me.

“I don’t know.”

“Then what kind of truth is she referring to?”

“I don’t know.”

We have had the Q&A like this for thirty minutes after we left the Infinite Cage. 80% of the questions I just replied are with a “i don’t know”, but Skye just insists on asking.

“Hmmm. Where is she now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on Andrew! Say something! You said she left you a clue. When did she give it to you? When was the last time you saw her?”

Recalling for those memories is exceptionally hard. Well partially because it is already like what, ten months ago? But wait. How could I still recall things five years ago?

“Skye I can’t remember.”

“Think hard! She said this to you. Think about where she said it. What the surroundings looked like. Was there other people there? Were there other sounds?”

I browse through the palace of my memory. Each room signifies a day, a place, or an event. So I found Jessica in the invaded village. Then there was this mudslide we caused. And Jessica shot me in the leg, and we escaped the two officers. And I was brought to the temporary base, not the base that I spent almost my whole life in, but a temporary base built above-ground. Then there was this doctor injecting me with the drug.

Oh no. The drug. It messes up my memory.

“The drug! Skye, the drug! I couldn’t remember things quite clear when i have the drug affecting me.”

“Okay. This just makes everything ten times harder. Are you sure that the drug is the cause.”

Again I walked through my memory palace, to that specific corridor of that day the medics took me in. Behind me I see clearly the events of Jessica and I escaping the officers, but in front all I can detect is the dense fog. I am incapable of infiltrating into the fog or encroaching into the rooms that supposedly are under my possession but instead seized away.

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure. Since the day I was injected with the drug, I couldn’t remember anything much anymore. Except very faint noises and images.”

“Hmmm.” Skye stops talking and just stands there, possibly pondering over what I just said.

“Skye? Are you awake?” I flash my hand in front, of her eyes trying to catch her attention.

Suddenly she realizes that I am there waiting for her answer. “Oh sorry. I was just thinking about the drug. I think there’s a way to counter the drug’s effect?”

“What do you mean by ‘counter’?”

“The drug is designed to depress the conscious thought of your brain, like an anesthetic to the thinking, logical, and memory parts of your brain. So the antidote of the drug works in reverse. It stimulates those parts of your brain and fires up your speed of thoughts, making you a lot smarter in a sense.”

“How is it be an antidote though? I don’t need an antidote. When I escaped from the invasion and the base, the effects of my drugs are already faded completely.”

“That’s one of the two reasons why using that drug is hard. The antidote needs to spark the part of your brain that was affected by the drug a year ago. So even with the antidote, you won’t be able to see everything, maybe just a bit more clearer than now.”

“Two reasons? What’s the other reason?”

“You can only find the antidote in one place, and it’s in the Polygraphic Division inside the base.”

“The base, you mean the base? Our base?”

“Yeah, the big and official one.”

“Wait but, I never actually saw the Polygraphic Division before. Only heard rumors about it.”

“Yes, because it doesn’t exist physically.”

“Physically?” I’m totally lost now. If it doesn’t exist physically, it exists mentally?

Skye sees where I’m going. “No, by physically I mean there isn’t really such a department. There isn’t a building or an officer or a specific dorm for this department. This division exists without anyone knowing, and the list of people in the division are highly classified. I only know this because I once overheard an important conversation. If it wasn’t that I held an extremely high position, I would probably never be granted impunity from that eavesdropping.”

I could still clearly remember that Higher Official I met before I was injected the drugs. I was so certain that he came from the Polygraphic Division. “Skye, there was an official I met. Before they injected me with the first set of drugs, he was talking to me. I was so certain that he was from the Polygraphic Division.”

“If you are certain, then you will be wrong. The Polygraphic Division has the most highly trained officers and soldiers ever. They would blend in so easily that you wouldn’t know they are from that division.”

“What else can they do, besides being really smart?”

“Oh Andrew are you kidding me! They are trained in all areas. They can fight better than any soldiers. They have the fastest thinking speed possible. You can never trap them because they will always find a way out. They can blend in to everywhere. Even if you are walking on a street in the village, there might be a spy from the Polygraphic Division that you aren’t aware of.”

Okay, so they are so powerful, and we need to steal something from them. “How do you expect us to steal the antidote from them? When they are so highly trained and physically doesn’t exist?”

“Well. I happen to know one person from the Polygraphic Division. You might want to chat with him for a while.”