Extracted - Chapter 22 – Sign Me Up – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 22 – Sign Me Up – Part 1 of 2

 

When the President’s National Security Advisor walks into your office and demands to see you right away, you’ve got no choice but to politely dismiss your current patient and see the man.  That was the situation that Doctor Montcliff found herself in, late in the afternoon.  She stood up as Daniel Curmett entered her office, noticing a few men with him who remained outside of her office.  Curmett closed the door behind him as he came in and took the chair across from her.  She sat after he did.

“Mr. Curmett,” she greeted him.  “This is an unexpected pleasure.  What can I do for you?”

“Doctor Montcliff,” Curmett said, then changed course.  “Isabella.”

Montcliff was surprised to hear him use her first name.

“We…that is, the three of us who were looking into this memory transfer problem.  We met with the President yesterday.  First of all, let me offer my sincere thanks for recognizing the situation and alerting us to it.  You may have done this country a huge favor by doing that.  Otherwise, we may have never realized what was going on.”

“I take it you figured out what happened and who’s behind it?” Montcliff asked.

“No.  Unfortunately,” Curmett admitted.  “To be honest, what we discovered was mostly what you yourself had already deduced from what little interaction you already had with your patient.  That was exceptional work on your part.”

“Thank you,” Montcliff replied.  “I hope it helped.”

“It did, although I should tell you that we came to many of the same conclusions that you did before we read your paper, which is one of the reasons we were so impressed with it.  There was just one major thing we concluded that you seemed to have missed.”

“I missed?  What’s that?”

“We believe that this memory transfer process was actually developed to be used as a way to prolong life.”

“Prolong life?  How?”

“An older person, or a very ill person, could use it to transfer their identity into a younger, healthier body, complete with every memory they’ve ever had.”

Doctor Montcliff stared at him in disbelief, but only for a moment.  She suddenly threw her hands up in the air.  “Uh!” she shouted.  “It’s so obvious!  How could I have missed it?”

“You did figure out everything else,” Curmett reminded her.

“It’s the Fountain of Youth!” Montcliff declared.  “I should have realized.  Somone actually found a way to live forever.”  She pointed directly at Curmett.  “Sign me up!  I want it.  It’s every woman’s dream to be able to be young forever.”

“The President said something similar yesterday, asking us to not let his wife know.”

Montcliff chuckled.  “I’ll bet,” she replied.  “If I happened to find one of those things lying around on the street, I’d steal it in a minute, take it home with me, and hide it somewhere so I could just keep it for myself.”

“I fear, you wouldn’t be alone in that,” Curmett agreed.

“Imagine every household in the country, or the world having something like that,” Montcliff joked, then she turned serious.  “Yes, imagine that.  And the chaos it would bring.  If so many people had it, you could kill off three quarters of the population of the planet, just to continue keeping the remaining few alive forever.”

Curmett nodded.  “Which brings me to the real reason I’m here today.”

Montcliff stared at him, waiting for what she figured would be bad news.

“Doctor Montcliff,” Curmett started.  “It is imperative that you not tell a single soul of what we have discovered.  No one at all!  Nothing!  Please try to imagine the panic, or even just the chaos that knowledge of such a process might have if it gets out.”

“Just the Fountain of Youth part alone would drive everyone nuts,” Montcliff noted.

“Yes, it would.  But as you noticed originally, that is not the most dangerous aspect of what could be done with it.”

“No.  Not by a long shot,” Montcliff agreed.  “Don’t worry.  I pretty much knew that already.  I can tell you for a fact that Congressman Stiller and his family know it too.  They’ve gone out of their way to keep quiet about all knowledge of what has actually happened.  I met with Nancy here yesterday, and as I suspected, they’re simply telling everyone that something happened to her during her abduction that left her with…basically, amnesia.  Complete amnesia.  And as you know, amnesia is a more common situation than many people realize.  It happens all the time.”

“Yes,” Curmett replied.  “We were hoping that would be the case with the family.  I’ll still be going to see them tonight to have a little talk with them too.”

Montcliff nodded.  “I have no doubt you will.  And the Marsh family?”

“I’ll see them tomorrow, along with a couple of FBI agents and the police detective.  All of them are the only ones we’re aware of so far who actually know what the situation really is.”

Montcliff nodded.

“Which brings me to the final part of why I came to see you.”

That surprised Montcliff.  She sat waiting to hear what it could be.

“We would like you to continue to work with Nancy,” Curmett told her.

“I would have done that anyway,” Montcliff replied.  “That was the plan, as long as the family want me to.”

“Of course,” Curmett said, “But we also want you to work with Stephen Marsh as well.  We know that it’s a bit of a drive, but both we the committee, as well as the President of the United States, feel that it’s imperative that we keep all knowledge of the situation confined to as few people as possible, and bringing in yet another psychiatrist to work with Stephen would not be helping that.”

“Not to mention,” Montcliff added, “since the problem for both subjects are directly related to each other, it only makes sense for one person, or team, to work with both of them.”

“Not a team!” Curmett told her quickly.  “As few people as possible.  Remember?”

“Yes,” Montcliff agreed, disappointed to hear that.  She would have no one else to rely on or discuss this problem with.

“One other thing,” Curmett said.  “We’re going to need you to provide us with regular reports on what’s happening with those two as well.”

Montcliff was dubious about that request.  “I’m not….”

“Doctor!” Curmett cut her off quickly.  “Let’s just say that it’s not something that’s open for debate.  We will insist on being kept up to date on even the slightest details.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Use your imagination!”

 

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Henry wasn’t exactly happy about it, but he realized it was a good idea.  It had been his wife’s idea, and he hadn’t wanted to be bothered with it at all.  But it was the one final thing that Agatha had said that drove the idea home.  “He’s still your son.  Maybe you should get to know him.”  She was right.  Like it or not, this new Stephen was his son, despite somehow being mentally a twelve year old girl that belonged to someone else.

The absurdity of it all wasn’t lost on him, but things were what they were, and it was looking like they were all going to have to learn to live with it.  Whatever had happened hadn’t just affected Stephen, it affected all of them…deeply!

And what about his real daughter?  Nancy?  She was stuck in a body so different than the person she actually was, just like this new Stephen.  As he remembered thinking a moment before, things were what they were, and he had to trust that Wanda and Mike Stiller would take good care of his Stephen, just like he was trying to take care of their Nancy inside of Stephen now.

He finished tying his sneakers and headed downstairs.  Stephen was at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him.  “Ready?” his son…new son, same old body…asked.

“Let’s do it,” Henry agreed, already regretting this plan of action.  The two of them walked out the back door, then walked around to the road in front of the house.

“Which way?” Stephen asked.

Henry nodded up the street.  Together, they slowly started jogging together.

“Is this where the other me ran?” Steve asked.

“Mostly,” Henry confirmed.  “He ran most mornings all over the neighborhood.  Don’t expect me to be able to do that,” Henry added quickly.  “I have a feeling I’ll be lucky to make it to the end of the block.”

“Huh!” Steve laughed.  “You sound like my…um…sorry.  Forget I said that.”

“Like your what?”

“My other father,” Steve told him.

“I probably do,” Henry admitted.  “And it doesn't surprise me either.  In some ways, he and I are a lot alike.”

“You both work too much!” Steve noted.  “Sorry.  I know how important each of your jobs are, especially his, but it’s just that…he was always working and never around.”

“And you wanted him to be?”

“Well, yeah.  I guess.  I guess though that mostly I just got used to him not being there.  He did have to spend a lot of time in Washington, so he couldn’t get home.”

“Yeah,” Henry replied.  “I’m sure he did.”

“Don’t tell him,” Steve said, “but sometimes he worked so much that I wished I could help him with something, just to get to see him a bit more.  And maybe it would help keep him home more too.”

“That would be awfully nice of you.  I take it you never told him?”

“No.  Of course not.”

“Maybe you should have.”

“But I had Emily,” Steve told him.  “And she was always…great!”

“She was?”

“Yeah.  We spent a lot of time together.”

“That’s nice.  I guess you were lucky.”

“Yeah.  Please don’t misunderstand.  I’m really grateful for the way you and…Mom…treat me and for everything you’re trying to do for me, but, I still miss my old family.  And even though I was never able to have as many kids to the house as I would have liked, I still had a few that either came by, or I was able to go to their houses.  But here…”

“Here you don’t have anybody,” Henry said, knowing that was a large part of Stephen’s problems now.

“I don’t know anybody I can even talk to,” Steve pointed out.

“Yeah.  We know,” Henry told him.  “And we haven’t forgotten about needing to find you a new psychiatrist either.  We’re working on it.”

“I’m not sure I want another psychiatrist.  I don’t think he can help me.”

“And beyond the psychiatrist, you’re basically alone with no one to keep you company or talk about anything at all with, like your sister was for you before.”

Steve said nothing.  The two of them just ran.

Henry tried to study this new Stephen as he thought about the things they had just said.  “Are you sure you’re only twelve years old?” he finally joked.  “You sound a lot more grown up than that.”

“Can you teach me to drive then?” Steve countered.

“Not on your life!”

 

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Congressman Stiller had gotten the phone call at his office earlier.  Curmett, the National Security Advisor, was going to show up at his house this evening to talk with the family.  For once, Mike Stiller went out of his way to get home early, even though it would be several hours before Curmett got there.

At eight o’clock that evening, the doorbell rang, and Wanda answered it.  “Mr. Curmett,” she greeted the important man.  “Please.  Come in.”  As he entered, Wanda held the door for the three men with him, but they stayed outside.  “Coffee?” she asked Curmett.

“Sure.  Why not?” Daniel Curmett agreed.  He took one of the seats in the formal living room while the entire Stiller family joined him.  In moments, Wanda handed him a fresh cup of coffee.  “Thanks,” he told her softly.  With all eyes turned to him, he began.  “I can’t begin to tell you how worrying this entire situation is to not only the three of us who spoke with you in the Catskills, but also the President of the United States.  He asked me personally to speak with all of you and let you know some of our concerns.”

“I just want to know if you can fix us,” Nancy blurted out, anxious for that answer.

Curmett nodded.  “I’m sorry, but the answer is still no.  We have no idea how to do that since we don’t know how it was done in the first place.  We would have never believed it even could be done unless we had all seen the evidence with our own eyes, and we each managed separately to come up with pretty much the same conclusions.”

“How close was Doctor Montcliff’s theory?” Congressman Stiller asked.

“From our findings?  Almost right on.  We came up with only one other thing that she missed.”

“What’s that?” Wanda asked.

“I’m sorry,” Curmett told her with a shake of his head.  “For now, that information is going to be kept in strictest confidence.  Presidential orders,” he added.  “Doctor Montcliff was allowed to know since she deduced the rest of it before anyone else.  But other than her.  Nobody.”

“But the rest of it is true?” the congressman asked.  “There is some kind of threat to this country?”

“No direct threat right now, but we believe there could be in the future.  Because of that, the President asked me to come here personally to speak with you all.”

“All of us?” the congressman asked.  “Not just me?”

“You and your entire family,” Curmett told him.  “First of all, I need to know if any of you have told anyone else, family members, friends, anyone at all, about Steven and Nancy’s memory transfer?”

The family looked around at each other.  “We’ve been trying to keep that as much of a secret as possible,” the congressman told him.  “There’s too much of a chance of it damaging my reputation and what I’m trying to do in congress.”

“That’s good,” Curmett told him.  “Perfect in fact.”

“Nancy’s psychiatrist knows,” Wanda reminded him.

“I’ve already spoken with her earlier today,” Curmett assured her.  “Anyone else?” He asked as he looked to both Emily and Nancy.”

“Not me,” Emily assured him.  “Who would believe it?”

“Nancy?” Curmett asked next.

“Nope,” Nancy replied.  “Not even the friends who came to visit me.”

“Friends?” Curmett asked.  “What did you tell them?”

Wanda answered quickly for her.  “They only know that due to something that happened during her abduction, she lost her memory.  Amnesia.  Agatha in Philadelphia told me when we spoke that she’s already used the same excuse on her end too.”

Curmett nodded.  “Amnesia should work very well.  Perfectly in fact.  And I can tell you that Doctor Montcliff agrees.  Now that we know we don’t have to worry about that, I need to ask that you all do everything possible to never say anything at all, to anyone, that might let them draw a conclusion that Nancy and Stephen’s memories were somehow overwritten by someone else’s consciousness.  I can’t begin to tell you how important that is.”

“I already know how dangerous that could be,” Mike agreed.  “It could cause widespread panic.”

“Exactly,” Curmett confirmed. 

“Don’t worry,” Mike told him.  “I’ll make sure we all understand that.  You don’t have to worry about any of us.”

“I hope not,” Curmett replied.  “The only other thing I have to mention then, is Doctor Montcliff.  We would like her to remain as Nancy’s doctor for the foreseeable future so as to limit the knowledge of what actually happened to as few people as possible.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Wanda told him.

“Just so you know,” Curmett continued.  “I’ve asked the doctor to also work as Stephen’s psychiatrist as well.  One doctor who is familiar with both your cases.  The doctor is quite agreeable about this.  The only problem she faces is the drive to Philadelphia, but a two-hour drive is nothing compared to the national security aspects of this situation.”

“Since Nancy is Stephen and Stephen is Nancy,” Wanda said, “that makes more sense to me than anything else.”

“Yes.  Exactly.  We also see it that way,” Curmett agreed.

As a congressman who had been in government service for a number of years, Mike Stiller couldn’t help but think there was more going on here than Curmett was letting on.  But more than that was the unstated threat.  Curmett had never once said what would happen if anyone in his family did tell outsiders about what had actually happened.  Knowing as much about the government as he did, that thought worried him.  But he owed it to his family to keep that knowledge to himself.  They had enough to worry about.  He didn’t want to burden them with anything like that.

 

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