Lost, Then Found

Beccom has lost who he is. Why has he lost himself? How can he get it back?

Lost, Then Found

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     A man-sized stiff-looking body wrapped in white hovers slightly below a large transport. As this transport sails over a large building, this body starts falling toward the top of this building. Just after leaving this transport, four hanging pieces of cloth holding the body by the upper arms near the shoulders and where the ankles are appear.

     Four large men clasp their arms in front of them to catch the body floating down toward them. After they catch this body, they place him on a hovering cloth covering an oblong flat surface a female pushes under him. The four men remove their arms before placing the body on this surface.

     The female grabs hold of this surface to stop it from moving anymore. Ovenei, the female Medical Expert, and the four men there start removing the clothing above the body on the surface to reveal a man underneath this clothing. This man has his eyes closed, and he hasn’t moved yet.

     “I think I know this man,” says Ovenei. “It’s Beccom. No one has seen him, Effim, and Jamiman in almost three months. The last anyone has seen them, they were heading into a group of trees near us.”

#

     Beccom is still on the floating cloth surface as it stops by a hovering surface surrounded by machines. The four men help place Beccom on the hovering surface while Ovenei starts connecting wires from the machines to Beccom. After placing Beccom, the four men leave so that Ovenei can start checking out Beccom.

     After looking at Beccom for about fifteen minutes, Ovenei leaves the examination to talk to Norrina and Stavi, who are watching this examination through a clear opening. “It is Beccom in there. My examination verifies that. What happened to him and where he has been, I don’t know yet.”

     “What do you know about his health?” Norrina asks.

     “Not too much,” answers Ovenei. “Health-wise, he’s healthy. As for what happened to him or where he has been, I don’t know. Hopefully, I will know once he comes around.”

     Norrina continues staring at Beccom. “Why hasn’t he come around yet?”

     “I don’t know that yet either,” says Ovenei. “That’s something else I hope he can tell me after he comes around.”

     “That’s not what I want to know,” says Stavi. “What I want to know is where he has been.”

#

     Slowly, Beccom starts moving his head. Suddenly, he lifts his head to see what is happening his head. He sees he is connected to some machines. “Where am I? What happened to me?”

     Just then, Ovenei comes running into this room. While Ovenei starts looking at Beccom, Norrina and Stavi come running in there right behind her. After looking at him for about twenty minutes, she stops and looks at him. “Do you know where you are and why you are here?”

     Beccom slowly starts looking around this examination room with his head. “It appears I’m in an Examination Room. Why I’m here, I don’t know.”

     “Besides where you are now, what do you remember?” Norrina asks.

     After looking around for about a minute, he looks back at Norrina. “Who are you?”

     “My name is Norrina,” answers Norrina. “I’m a Medical Investigator. We found you a couple of days ago, and this is the first time you have woken up since you were brought in here, and I want to know why.”

     “Now it’s your turn,” continues Norrina. “What do you remember about what happened to you, Effim, and Jamiman almost three months ago?”

#

     Ovenei, Norrina, and Stavi are walking down the hallway of this Medical Facility. They are talking about Beccom. “I don’t believe that Beccom doesn’t know who he is and where he has been for almost three months,” says Stavi.

     “Why would he lie about that?” Ovenei asks.

     “I don’t know,” says Stavi. “Maybe it’s because he, Effim, and Jamiman already lied about where they planned on living for a few days. After all, Beccom was found on the other end of our nearest Group of Trees.”

     Ovenei, Norrina, and Stavi stop walking. “I agree with Stavi,” says Norrina. “Beccom is lying about something. Maybe it’s not where he has been, but it’s something. After all, I haven’t found anything wrong with his mind.”

     “Not only should Beccom know who he is, but he should know where he has been,” continues Norrina. “He should know who he is and where he has been, and I want to know why he says he doesn’t.”

     “I don’t know about who he is, but I do about where he has been,” says Stavi. “After all, we have been looking for Effim and Jamiman, but we haven’t found them yet.”

#

     Smiling, Ovenei walks into the Examination Room where Beccom is. Norrina and Stavi are already there. “I think I know how I can help Beccom remember,” says Ovenei after she walks up to Beccom.

     “It may be very dangerous, though. There are several ways this solution can go. Nothing may happen to you, or you could remember part of it. You could also die because of it, or a fate worse than death.”

     “The choice is yours,” finishes Ovenei. “Do you want to take a chance you will become mindless or dead, or do you want to know who you are and where you have been?”

     Beccom looks at Norrina and Stavi. “I know what you are thinking. You think I’m lying about me not knowing who I am or where I have been.”

     “I’m not lying, and I can prove it.” Beccom looks at Ovenei. “I will take that chance.”

     Ovenei doesn’t say a word. She just starts trying to help Beccom. About fifteen minutes later, she is done with this Mind Burst. Suddenly, Beccom starts shaking violently. That doesn’t last too long before he dies. At least it looks like he’s dead.

###

     “Why did you come up with this way to help Beccom remember who he is and where he has been?” Stavi asks while she, Ovenei, and Norrina are walking down the hallway of their Medical Facility. “I thought you were among the other two of us who thought Beccom has been lying about all this.”

     “I do still think he’s lying,” says Ovenei. “At least I did when I gave him a chance to admit he was lying when I told him about the dangers of the Mind Burst. It looks like we may have been wrong about his lying.”

     Ovenei looks down at some papers in her hands. “Beccom hasn’t remembered where he has been, but he does remember who he is.”

     “Unfortunately, He doesn’t remember where Effim and Jamiman are,” says Stavi. “He doesn’t even remember going into our Group of Trees with them.”

     “Maybe that’s what he is lying about,” says Ovenei. “He does remember them, but for some reason he doesn’t want us to know it.”

     Stavi stops walking and looks at Ovenei. “I think I know why he’s lying to us about this. It’s because something happened to Effim and Jamiman.”

#

     “Is Beccom ready to leave here?” Stavi asks.

     “Beccom is physically ready to leave, but he’s going to need some help in doing it,” answers Ovenei. “Why do you want to know when he can leave here?”

     Stavi hasn’t stopped staring at Beccom through an opening in the hallway. He doesn’t look too well. “I think I know how to find out where Effim and Jamiman are, and what really happened to the three of them. If I take him back to where he was found six weeks ago, I think I will find out why they changed their plans and what happened to them.”

     Ovenei looks at Stavi, then Norrina, and then Beccom. “What do you think, Norrina? Do you think that Beccom is ready to leave here?”

     “I haven’t found anything wrong with Beccom during my investigation of what happened to him,” answers Norrina. “Maybe you can do it, Stavi. After all, I’m a Medical Investigator, you are a Disappearance Investigator.”

     “Unfortunately, we have looked all around where Beccom was found passed out. We still haven’t found Effim and Jamiman anywhere, or any indication that any of them were there. The only one who knows where they are is Beccom.

#

     Beccom can walk on his own through this Group of Trees nearest their community, but it’s still hard for him to do it. Ovenei and Norrina are standing on either side of him. Stavi is walking behind Beccom. “Does any of this look familiar to you?”

     “It all looks familiar to me,” answers Beccom. “After all, it’s the Group of Trees nearest our community.”

     “I’m not talking about this Group of Trees,” says Stavi. “I want to know if this particular part of this Group of Trees is familiar to you.”

     Suddenly, Beccom stops walking. He slowly looks around this Group of Trees. “I think I do remember something about this place. Effim, Jamiman, and I spent a few days living in this area. At least we would have if not for a Water Shower on our second day. We thought we would have to use the trees around us to protect us from this Water Shower.

     Beccom points to a large mountain near them. “We thought we could find an overhang to protect us from this Water Short, but we found a lot more than that.”

     “What have you found?” Ovenei, Norrina, and Stavi ask in different ways.

#

     Jamiman is the first one to find a large opening into this mountain hidden by a large rock. Ovenei enters this opening first. Effim and Jamiman were right behind Ovenei as they walked through this opening. Suddenly, they all have to stop when they walk into an unseeable barrier.

     After they walk into this barrier, they each test it to see what it is, only to have their fists bounce off of it. “What is this?” Ovenei asks. “I know that it’s an unseeable barrier, but what kind of an unseeable barrier is it?”

     Ovenei cups her hands around the outside of her eyes. She places her cupped hands against this barrier. Effim and Jamiman do the same thing. “Can anyone see through this barrier?” Ovenei asks.

     “I think I can see through it somewhat,” says Effim. “It’s hard to see, but I think that I can barely see something large in a huge opening far below us.”

     “I’m not sure what I see, but it’s not something large. It looks more like a group of people is heading toward us,” says Jamiman.

     Ovenei stops looking through the barrier and looks at Jamiman. “How many people are you seeing?”

#

     “What’s happening to us?” Ovenei asks. “Why are you doing this to us?”

     “It may look like we are about to kill you, but we aren’t,” says someone hidden in some darkness in front of Beccom, Effim, and Jamiman. “All we are going to do is erase what you have found from your mind. Then we will return you to the surface, far away from here.”

     Beccom, Effim, and Jamiman are sitting in metal Seats with high backs. They are connected to machines surrounding them, especially the thin metal strips around their heads. Suddenly, they start shaking violently, and it’s getting worse for them by the second. It sure does look like they are all about to die.

Six Weeks Go

     After showing Ovenei, Norrina, and Stavi into the mountain opening, Beccom enters the opening with them. Beccom and the others don’t get very far in this opening when they find Effim and Jamiman, both dead. Just then, the shaking violently started happening again with Beccom.

     “I remember everything,” says Beccom after he finally stops shaking. “We found a lost community under Ghospal, the lost community of Zirom. They don’t want to be found. Their solution is a MindWipe. Apparently, it works with me until now, but it didn’t for Effim and Jamiman.”

Word Count = 1,982