Chapter Eighty-Five Echos of Lost Memory (Patreon)

Kiru followed the group down the corridor. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was here. May had brought her along, but Kiru was not entirely sure why. The two of them were at the strange resort and were cloaked. They were observing an Iniri girl named Yiria, and the Neku woman she was... brainwashing. Moments ago, Kiru had watched them perform some kind of procedure on that woman Riku, and her unborn child. Although from the sound of things, that wasn’t going to be the case for much longer. Riku’s child was apparently growing very well, and they felt she would be ready to give birth within the next couple of days. In fact, they told Riku she could go into labor any day now, and if she doesn’t go into labor on her own before the week is out, they would induce.

That entire part of the visit didn’t strike her as something she absolutely had to see in person. As such, she was following the cloaked form of her sister with no real idea why she was here. Not that she had much else to do. Things had been quiet since her meeting with Qelu’s family. At least they had been for her. Qei had somehow ended up with a date. It seemed Zalla had decided to try a different approach, and now the two were going to dinner later this evening. Something Qei was quite nervous about. Why she even agreed to it, Kiru didn’t know. In fact, she wasn’t sure Qei knew herself.

Of course Kiru was in a similar boat right now. As she had no idea why she was here, and while she had tried asking May. That had proved a little fruitless, but it seemed to her that she might not have to wait too much longer to find out.

Ahead it seemed they had reached their destination, as Yiria led Riku into a small room. It was filled with banks of strange equipment, several monitors, and a rather prominent, if weird, exam table/chair. She had seen one like it in the other room, but this one had a few features the other did not.

Riku was prompted to settle into the chair, and a second Iniri who had been waiting in the room immediately began to hook up some equipment to her. It only took moments with what seemed like practiced ease for them to fit the equipment around her head.

Yiria smiled, “Okay dear. We are almost ready to begin. Like last time we will be accessing your memories. You will feel some slight discomfort when the machine starts, okay?”

Riku nodded, slightly, “Yes, that’s okay. May I ask what you are doing today?”

“It’s nothing for you to worry about. Just a few more memory deletions. The last ones we need to do, in fact. We are also going to start adding in approved memories to replace the ones we’ve been deleting. That sound okay?”

Riku replied in the affirmative. “Great, I’m going to turn on the machine. It should be just like last time. A bit of discomfort just as it turns on.” With that Yiria turned on the device.

Instantly Riku’s face twisted, but only for a moment before relaxing. Yiria leaned in, “Okay I want you to try and recall something for me.”

Riku nodded, and after a couple of moments, she shook her head, “I can’t. I can’t remember a thing.”

Kiru blinked. Why was she so calm about that? Shouldn’t Riku be alarmed about that?”

“Great, that’s a good sign. Now I’m going to access a memory on my end. The same one I accessed the first time, not that you recall. Of course, after this, you won’t be remembering this one the same way anymore. Sound good?”

“Yes”

A moment later, Yiria manipulated the console. Almost instantly the monitor activated and began playing a first-person perspective of a young girl playing in the sand with a couple of other kids. Both of the others seemed to be of the same age. Additional data streamed on a few side monitors. The memory itself seemed very normal. Yet Kiru had a sinking feeling about what was about to happen.

Yiria spoke up, “okay everything looks good. Solid connection, right to what we wanted as well.”

The other Iniri who was monitoring something else said, “Good, I have the replacement memories ready to imprint. You can go ahead, and start by erasing that one.”

Pay attention to what they are doing. This is why I wanted you to come along. I felt you needed to see what they are doing to poor Riku here.

Kiru acknowledged the message from May. the first bit of words, she had bothered to communicate, but said little. Instead, she was watching what they were doing, and was feeling rather uncomfortable about this. It reminded her a bit too much about her missing memories.

Yiria manipulated the controls, and the memory projected on the monitor faded away. As it vanished, May commented, they seem to visit this one quite a bit. She likes to use it for tests, and the other day they were asking Riku a lot of questions about who was in it.

That sounded suspicious, but it soon became apparent why. The pair quickly moved on to erase the connected memories. At least the ones that remained anyway. Some of them had already been removed, and by some of them, she actually meant most of them. Apparently, they had done most of the prep for this one already. As they had been planning to replace it for a while, but didn’t remove it as they often used it for the initial test. Kiru digested that as she watched them work, even if she would rather stop them.

The second Iniri loaded something up, and Yiria moved on to imprinting it. It took a moment or two, but soon the monitor lit up with a new memory playing on it. It looked familiar, as it was clearly the same memory as earlier. With a few differences, where previously they had been wearing swimwear, now they were naked. One of the kids in the memory had even been a boy, but now they were a girl. Other than that, it was clearly the same, an innocent memory of kids playing in the sand.

As Kiru watched it, Yiria told the other Iniri, “I’m checking for conflicts.”

After a moment the other replied, “Seems good on my end, you see any?”

“Nope, but I’d be surprised if there were at this point.”

A giggle, “I would as well. I’ll get the next memory ready.”

As it would turn out the next few memories were all from the same period. A fact that allowed her to put together a picture of what that set of memories was about. It was a trip to the beach with her family and friends. One that had been changed. Kiru noted signs posted in a few places that Riku had passed in the altered memories. Signs that said things about ‘no boys allowed’, and ‘clothing prohibited’. It seemed they had changed the setting of that beach from a perfectly normal vacation spot, to a girl’s only nude beach. It seemed that a few of the memories after were altered in a different way, as she saw plenty of men in those, and girls as well. One notable thing, however, was a lack of male children in those memories. She also noted that a few of the people in the beach memories seemed to be experimenting with nudity after that beach visit.

Those factors seemed to paint a bit of a picture about what they were doing. Obviously they had never done this to her, as Kiru had no memories of experimenting with nudity. That didn’t mean they weren’t planning to do this to her though. Before she could much consider that, the two finished with the block.

“Okay, I’m finished,” said Yiria. Then she turned to Riku, and asked her a few questions. Probing questions that seemed intended to see if Riku could tell that her memories were fabrications... she could not.

“Looks like the memories check out.” she paused, “Hmm seems we don’t need her originals anymore. Go ahead and purge them from the crystal.”

Yiria blinked, “... We don’t? Don’t we normally hold those as reference for awhile after completing the alterations?”

“We do, but it seems Riku is the last one in her group. We’ve already completed the work on everyone else. The entire memory block is no longer needed.”

Yiria nodded, “I see. In that case, I’ll purge the original copy. I presume we are keeping the altered archive?”

“Yes, by policy that stays.”

Yiria smiled, and manipulated the controls. Kiru was very tempted to stop her, and nearly did. Only a word and a hand from May stopped her. As May’s hand settled over her shoulder, it’s not the time for that.

But they are about to permanently erase her REAL memories!

Yes, and no. They are about to permanently erase THEIR copy. I already made a copy of their archive.

She frowned, When?

A few days ago, after one of my drones located the local memory crystal library.

Kiru relaxed and thanked May for doing that. It made her feel better about this. Not much, but better nonetheless. It did not alleviate her worries about it completely though.

Within moments, Yiria completed the instructions to the computer, and it purged the memory set from its archive. Then they moved on, “Okay I have the next memory set, starts about a year after the trip, location...”

Yiria nodded, followed along and began implanting those memories as well. Kiru noticed a pattern here, as well. The memories seemed normal, mostly. There was still a lack of male kids in them, but she did notice the experimentations with nudity getting bolder. The same theme followed with the next few sets, with a notable jump in the boldness after puberty. Along with some innocent flirtations with both the few boys in her life, and a few girls as well.

All the while Kiru listened to them chatter, but not much of it seemed interesting. The entire time, she just watched as what seemed to be Riku’s entire life was changed. Altered to fit the narrative the Iniri had crafted for her.

A narrative that suddenly became a little more interesting. “Okay this is the last memory set for the day. Begin at location One Three Eight Dash Arl Three Nine.” the other Iniri smiled, “this one should get her a little hot. Its her first real sex with a girl.”

Yiria returned the smile, “Oh, that sounds nice. Remind me, was it that way in the original?”

The other Iniri shook her head, “Nope. Originally this was when she lost her virginity, but that doesn’t quite fit with everything else anymore now does it?”

“Nope, but I like it this way more.” replied Yiria as she loaded the first memory of the set and started imprinting it. A memory that quickly began to play on the monitor. By this point in their narrative, Riku rarely wore more than a pair of panties and maybe a bra. So she wasn’t wearing much when it started. Kiru watched it for a moment before looking away. Mentally she made a note to have that conversation with Megumi. Something did need to be done, and soon.

It wasn’t long after that the two Iniri girls finished up their work. They tested the new set of imprinted memories and then proceeded to disconnect the equipment. Riku blinked as the device was removed, and Kiru tried not to pay attention to her glistening, twitching sex, hard nipples, or slightly panting breath. Yiria leaned over her with a smile, “Okay we are all done for the day. Everything went well. How are you feeling?”

“A bit horny, and hungry?”

“I figured, we can have some fun later. Dinner should be ready, so we can eat as soon as we get to the cafeteria. I already have your meal planned out.”

“Sounds great!”

Yiria reached out, and helped her out of the chair. At the same moment, she asked, “Anyway, how much do you remember of your procedure?”

Her face scrunched for a moment or two, and then she replied, “Complete blank. Don’t remember a thing.” she gave Yiria a look, “Why keep asking? It’s always a blank.”

“I just want to be sure. The machine is supposed to completely take over your memory function, and you aren’t supposed to remember a thing about the procedures, but I have to make sure.”

Riku replied after a moment, “I understand.”

The two made for the door, while the other Iniri started cleaning the equipment. Kiru even noticed her remove a crystal from the machine, and carefully transfer it into a protective case. Kiru followed them out of the room. With May following. According to May the more interesting things were outside of the room. Kiru let herself slip into thought as she followed. Already her mind was chewing over what she had witnessed.