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The Memory Foundry

sci-fi◐ Mature
5 contributors · 4 paragraphs deep

Mara plugs the canister into the playback cradle at her desk. The glow climbs up her arm, and suddenly she's somewhere else. A kitchen, sunlight, a little girl laughing as Mara lifts her into the air. A daughter. A daughter Mara doesn't remember having.

Mara watches the whole hour, crying the entire time. When it ends, the little girl's face is already fading from her mind. The canister only lets you borrow a memory, not keep it. Now she understands why sellers come back again and again. She presses play one more time, holds her daughter's laugh for another minute, and decides she will spend whatever it takes to buy this hour back for good.

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