Aller raised a finger. “Exactly. We are, in many ways, our memories. Things that happen that we don’t know about or don’t remember…well, they are of little power or value to us. Would you agree?”

“Yeah…I guess so.”

Nodding, he went on. “Well then, would you also agree that the opposite is true? That memories of things that did not occur can be very powerful and of great worth?”

I felt a growing unease at all this. This man, while very polished and pleasant, was making little sense. I almost felt like I was being given a sales pitch for a self-help seminar or a fancy cult. Hoping I didn’t sound rude, I asked him what exactly he was offering. Far from looking insulted, the man’s face brightened as he leaned forward.

“I’m offering you, or rather, your friend Terry is offering you, the gift of memory.”

****

“We have developed a method of permanently implanting knowledge and memories inside a human brain. I know it sounds like science-fiction, but I assure you it is not. Our research and technology is thirty years ahead of what is commonly known or available because we have the support of a small but very powerful clientele that can afford to pay substantial sums for such advancement.”

I shook my head. “Still, how is that possible? It sounds like something out of the Matrix.”

He chuckled. “Or Total Recall. Believe me, I’ve heard them all. But it is nothing so fantastical as all of that. Essentially, we have perfected a technique by which we can induce a dreamlike state in a subject. During this period, we can then introduce very specific memories into the brain. You know how some dreams seem very real and stay with you after you wake? It is akin to that, though much more detailed and resilient. Your sleeping brain will think it’s a dream and when you wake, it will be recalled as real past events.”

Swallowing, I weighed his words. I had trouble believing it was true, but even if it was, I wasn’t going to trust someone to mess with my memories. On the other hand, Hannah said that she and Terry had both done it, and I knew he’d never have gotten it for me as a gift if he didn’t believe it was safe. I had the worried thought that it seemed strange he had never mentioned it to me before, but possibly that was just so it wouldn’t ruin the surprise if he planned on getting me to try it in the future. Either way, I decided I could at least finish hearing the man out.

“So…what kind of things can be implanted?”