“Yes,” Ashley said, with sincerity so grave it could have been mocking, even though it wasn’t.

“Do you want me to stay?” Jessica asked. “I can referee.”

“You have things to do, I’m sure.”

“Then I will see you in… one hour and twenty-three minutes.”

“I look forward to it,” Ashley said.

Then Jessica was gone, and Ashley was alone again. People walked past her and they avoided looking her way. She was a nonentity, periodically touching things or touching finger to finger with hands that weren’t real.

“Ashley, thank you for coming in again,” a scientist said. He appeared out of nowhere, clipboard in hand, and he said the words so automatically that they didn’t have any meaning at all. “Have you started on any new medicine?”

“I have not, but I would refer you to my personal doctor for a more accurate answer,” she said.

She didn’t miss the slight changes in expression that went with that. They were scared of Riley.

“Did you log your dreams in your diary?” he asked.

“I did. Same as always.”

Her bag was beside her on the doctor’s bench, and the diary was on top. Writing was a chore, but she was supposed to do it and filling out the diary meant she could do both things at once.

“Any changes?”

“No changes.”

“Alright. That’s good. Your therapist told you that we’re bringing someone in, I hope.”

“Yes. It’s fine.”

“I’ll be back shortly, then.”

It was bizarre that she was in a room with so many electronic devices, with special cameras and scanners, testing machines, exercise machines and everything else they might need to study a given, and yet she was only here to sit on a doctor’s bench. The only tool or recording device that was being used here was the diary.

She saw Edict approach. The woman wore the same costume now that she had three years prior.

“Long time no see,” Edict said. “You don’t mind my coming in?”

“No.”

The rest of the scientists that Ashley saw with any regularity were now arriving. A few unfamiliar faces stood off to the side, with one of the senior scientists whispering to them. It didn’t look like a secret from her so much as an attempt to catch them up. Too efficient, too measured, and too great in quantity to be deception.

“Are you well?” Ashley asked.

“As well as anyone is these days,” Edict said. “People in my area had a hard time with winter. I did too.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Ashley said. “I was more fortunate than some. I was close to resources.”

“I’m glad,” Edict said. “We’re here about dreams, was it?”

“No,” a scientist said, at the same time Ashley answered, “Not dreams.”

“Dreams came up,” Edict said.

“They’re related, and I track mine, but this is memory,” Ashley said.