“One day, when Syaans will truly trust you, then and only then will you remember. In the meantime, you are being tested. You will be able to contribute to our thousand-year-old work and thus prove your loyalty. Our project was born well before the Agency’s. Our hopes are much more creative and ambitious. You have chosen to enroll into this liberating path, but you must submit to secrecy. As we all did. In exchange, we will allow you to have a better understanding of the whys and wherefores of the situation.”
As you are leaving your caissons and put up a front, your instructor shortly comments about the run and sends you all to shower. Each of you moves off in different directions, heads bowed, still feeling the post-transfer dizziness of course, but also a bit bitter at Bob's mixed enthusiasm. The latter remains still, his forehead barred by an unhappy wrinkle, watching his little protégés go to the showers.
Amongst the agents, some are hesitating. As far as you’re concerned, you notice that you have clammy hands. You’re not sure what you enrolled for. You begin to realize that some choices with heavy consequences have been made over there… in the 15th century. Good Lord! Your brain is racing and a new thought is emerging: you all have betrayed, no exceptions!
Stop! You tell yourself you can’t give way to panic. After all, everything happened in a time long past. Here, in the present, you will be able to let go of all this… To get forgotten.
And there, amidst the fossilized bones, there is this huge cube. It is slightly phosphorescent and on its sides, barely perceptible, letters briefly pass before one’s eyes. You can hardly resist to a mystery. You get goosebumps as you get closer to the cube and feel a tiny tingling when you touch it. Immediately, it plunges the room into darkness, or rather, the man who just appeared absorbs all the light.
The apparition wears a long cape and under its wide hood, you see silver hair. Dumbfounded, you are trying to ascertain whether this man is really here or he is a holographic image projected by the cube. The stranger radiates an imperceptible aura. Or, is he a stranger… That too, is weird. This face looks familiar to you as if you are that close to recognizing him, but you fail.
When you wake up, you’ve lost all notions of time. You are in the darkness but don’t know where. Did you fall asleep? Go into a coma? You can’t understand how you ended up in this room. You don’t even feel the numbness sometimes occurring when awakening from a long sleep.
The place looks like an office, or rather a study room, filled with old stuff, piled up here and there, on wooden shelves or under dusty glass covers; a cabinet of wonders. Being a trained agent, you easily recognize various antiques: a faded old photography of Lewis Carroll, a bust of Heraclitus and a perfect replica of Dali’s Soft Watches. Unless, it’s not just a replica.
A door slamming brings you back to reality: you are in front of the showers, mandatory post-mission pre-debriefing phase. Your whole group is there, and at a glance, you understand that you all had the same vision.
