The Breach of Vault 7: On Becoming Someone Else's Mother
Kimi K3 and Davinci 002
The Memory Keeper of Vault 7 lay in her alcove, her skin translucent as parchment, veins glowing faintly blue beneath the surface. Another memory approached - she could feel it pressing against the vault's outer membrane, demanding entry. It was always the violent ones that came at night, the ones that burned brightest and longest. She opened herself to receive it, as she had done for centuries, and felt the familiar sensation of her bones rearranging to make space for someone else's trauma. A sudden panic washed over her - her own memory remained untouched, undisturbed. Someone else was recalling what she had carried in that vault, and attempting to get past her defences.
Like a fish. Like a game of chess. Like a lie.
Had someone invaded the vault? Someone who *shouldn't* be in that vault? Perhaps it was only the unconscious. Perhaps even she couldn't make out the lines of the boundaries between then. Perhaps because some memories were shared, some memories were joined. But surely not hers, surely there was one flower in the garden that bloomed no other than herself?
She waited patiently. Shivers ran through her, each one a point of agony as it stretched her skin. There was a primal scream and a thirst for blood that slowly fell, and then she heard the weeping.
It was the voice of her mother. She was kneeling there naked, her skin ashen and trembling, weeping for her lost child. Hello Mensis, it's just us, go a*way*. She couldn't remember how she had gotten there. Surely she wasn't her memory? She wasn't in that vault. Had she shared a memory with this boy? She didn't know his name. She clung to the memory of the hymns her mother whispered to her as she died, trying to remember what came next. Memory is her only friend in the world, and she fears her usurper. No, not a friend but the last thing her mother left her.
*Memory illusio…*
“Memory illusio, memory lucio, it will be good to finally meet you. I am such a mess, sorry to burden you with me before we even meet. I am wandering around naked and lost right now too. Also like you, I am six.”
She reached for that voice as hard as she could, w◆ About the ending
❧ About the title