The Gate Read Free Page B

mind? I mean, I guess
it’s stupid to take such a chance over something like
this.”
    “Not as stupid as you asking your home
spy system,” Brenda said dryly.
    Anger flickered, but Carly was obliged
to admit that Brenda was right. “Thanks!”
    Brenda sent her a look.
    “I mean it. Thank you! I know it’s
going to be a dead end, but I just wanted to know if any of the
contributors were here on the base or in the colony.”
    * * * *
    Devlin was confused and uneasy, and
frustrated because he couldn’t seem to focus long enough to figure
out what had happened or where he was. Something had happened. That
was the only thing that he was absolutely certain of because his
mind was curiously, scarily empty of memories.
    There had to have been some kind of
accident, he decided. He didn’t remember being involved in an
accident, but nothing else that came to mind would explain why his
memories were gone. His mind was like a blank console screen—well,
pretty much blank. He remembered his name.
    Actually, he hadn’t remembered that
much at first. It hadn’t scared the shit out of him because he’d
been too panicked about the loss of every other memory at first to
consider whether he even knew his own name.
    He’d been assigned a name by the
computer system and that had shocked him, but that wasn’t a bad
thing because by the time he’d gotten over his shock he’d also
gotten over the panic and been able to focus at least enough to
start picking at his mind for the things that were missing. The
name he’d been given wasn’t the right one. It wasn’t his name. He
knew that much and it was a relief to realize that he knew
something.
    He’d begun to get this creepy feeling
that he was dead and just didn’t know it, but he decided that
couldn’t be the case. For one thing, if he was dead, he wouldn’t be
thinking would he? He wouldn’t be afraid and confused. He wouldn’t
be thinking at all or feeling at all.
    For another, he wasn’t alone. There
were other people around him. Not that he could actually see them,
but he could sense their presence. And he could hear
them.
    It bothered him that it was like a
dream. He couldn’t really see anything. It was like he was
surrounded by a dense fog and what he heard was more like …
telepathy. He had the feeling that he was ‘hearing’ their thoughts
not hearing actual speech.
    It felt ‘wrong’. He didn’t think he was
telepathic or that he had been before, but of course he didn’t know
because he still couldn’t remember.
    * * * *
    It was almost a week before Brenda
produced the information she’d promised. Carly was in a fever of
impatience, but she’d had time to consider what Brenda had told her
and she was careful not to do or say anything else that might send
up red flags.
    Not that she actually believed the
comments about people going missing! She didn’t think Brenda had
lied either, but she knew there had to be another
explanation.
    Trude never produced the report that
she’d asked for. That unnerved her more because the computer
certainly hadn’t ‘forgotten’ that she’d asked and should have
either delivered the report or given her an explanation as to why
it hadn’t been possible to compile one.
    She could tell that Brenda was laboring
under some emotion when her friend gave her the ‘meet me’ code, but
she wasn’t certain what had prompted it until they did actually
meet. Brenda didn’t leave her in the dark long.
    “My brother was one of the
contributors.”
    Carly gaped at her, trying to
assimilate that startling information. She felt the color fluctuate
several times in her face as various realizations flashed through
her mind.
    Her lover, or at least a part of the
sim, was her friend’s brother?
    Brenda had said he was dead or missing.
Carly abruptly couldn’t remember which now that it was suddenly as
important to her as it was to Brenda.
    What if he was the one that she’d
fallen for, she thought, feeling her heart sink?
    She