A defunct time machine, an impending zombie apocalypse, the fate of the future at stake and yet the Professor is sitting at his computer calmly sipping his morning tea.

"What's up?" I asked. Despite my newly acquired power to steal memories and the resulting stress the Professor 's memory had caused me; I was feeling pretty chipper. Joel and I had a great date and my first night's sleep since acquiring my new power had left me ready to start using it. I was hoping the Professor had a plan.

The Professor was clearly distracted by something on his computer screen. He finally managed to respond. "Now that I have wrapped up my first assignment by disabling that relic, I thought I'd focus on our Zombie problem."

"Yeah, I'd think saving the world would be somewhat of a priority." My sarcasm was wasted on the Professor. Saving the world was an everyday occurrence for him.

He was reabsorbed in his computer; so, I decided to get his attention back by offering my own thoughts. "Anyway, now that we know the Director of New Life Labs, Lana Lovelock is behind the zombies, maybe I could just steal enough of her memories to figure out how to stop her."

The Professor looked up from his screen and said, "Good plan Ethereal. I was thinking along the same lines. Only, it seems we have a slight problem." He turned the screen so I could see it.

It was a picture of my face. It was on a wanted poster! It identified me as an escapee from New Life Labs and was offering what no doubt was a rather large reward for my return. I still couldn't understand why people thought it was okay for New Life to own the bodies of cryopreserved individuals, especially if the individual was now thawed out and fully functional as in my case.

"I guess you won't be going on anymore dates around here for a while."

"What am I going to do, Professor?"

"Besides cut and dye your hair, I'd suggest you start wearing boy's clothing and sunglasses whenever you go out."

"I guess I should try to avoid surveillance cameras too."

"Sweetie, this is the thirty-first century, it is impossible to avoid surveillance cameras. Sunglasses will prevent them from using facial recognition on you because they won't be able to measure critical facial proportions."

"This is going to make getting close enough to Lana to steal her memories a bit of a problem."

"Yep. That is what I've been working on."

"And have you come up with anything?"

"Nope."

"Can't we find some place she goes where I might approach her inconspicuously? A grocery store, a beauty parlor, an entertainment venue? If I can stare into her eyes, stealing a memory only takes a second."

"Again, this is the thirty-first century. Most people can work from home. They can have anything they need delivered. Their hair is done by a robot in their homes. Socializing and any form of entertainment you want is available online. Since online now is totally immersive including sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, and sexual stimulation, some people never leave their homes."

"So, can we break into her home?"

"Thirty-first century," he reminded me. "Her security will be practically impenetrable."

"Wait. You said people get deliveries. Maybe we could hijack one of her deliveries and get to her door pretending to be a delivery man?"

"All deliveries are made by robots."

"Even better! I disguise myself as a robot. That should allow me to get really close without being recognized."

The Professor was clearly trying not to laugh as he no doubt was imagining me trying to be a robot. He explained, "Delivery robots don't exactly look like humans. You might find the disguise a bit awkward." He grinned at me and suggested, "Perhaps, we should just arrange for you to be passing by when she opens the door for the robot."

"I guess that might work. We need to find where she lives and a picture of Lana online so I will know her when I see her." The Professor found her address and a picture online of New Life Lab's Board of Directors. They all looked like ruthless villains.

We had a plan.

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I changed my look as the Professor had suggested. We found Lana's apartment on an upper floor of one of the casinos.

Casino apartments/suites were actually quite popular. Perfect for people who wanted the occasional direct contact with crowds or wanted other old-fashioned human experiences. In the casinos, they could get those experiences without going into the rather dangerous streets. The casinos had all forms of entertainment venues, restaurants, theaters, salons, massage parlors, swimming pools whatever you could want, and all without going outside.

There was a small coffee shop just down the hall from Lana's apartment where we could keep a look out for delivery-bots. The Professor placed an order for flowers to be delivered to her suite. We waited.

When the robot appeared, I got up and began strolling about thirty feet behind it. I would close the distance quickly once Lana appeared in her doorway. I assumed she would come out to pick up a flower delivery?

The delivery was made. The girl who opened the door had a toddler in her arms and looked too sweet to be the girl I saw in the picture. When she looked at the card addressed to Lana Lovelock and said, "Who could be sending me flowers?" I figured it had to be her.

I walked up to her saying, "Excuse me mam, I'm looking for the bowling alley and I think I've made a wrong turn."

She smiled and looked me in the eyes. I didn't pay attention to what she said. I just did what I had to do.

It was horrible. Even worse than the memory I stole from the Professor. It was everything I could do to keep from collapsing in grief right in front of her. I quickly thanked her and headed back to the coffee shop. This was not going to be as straight forward as we had hoped. This memory will change everything, now we must decide what future lies ahead.

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I plopped into the seat across from the Professor and tried to gather my wits. I think the Professor knew I was distraught. He gave me a couple of minutes and asked, "Did you learn anything?"

"She is not our villain. If anything, she is a victim."

The Professor digested that and asked, "So, she is not the one responsible for New Life creating a zombie army?"

"Well, yes." I hesitated and added, "And no." I paused again trying to decide the best way to explain. "She really isn't in control of her own actions. None of the directors are. They are all under the control of malevolent spirits tormenting our realm and planning to incite an all-out war. She has been trying to rid herself of them since she was a teenager, but they have ruthlessly thwarted all her attempts. They have made her life a living hell. Nothing she has done has been of her own will. She is miserable."

"Still if we can eliminate the board of directors won't that solve our zombie problem?"

"I guess. Maybe I could steal enough of their memories to turn them into zombies. But I really don't want to steal anymore memories. It is really hard on me. Besides, it isn't their fault. We should find a way to eliminate the evil spirits controlling them." I pleaded with the Professor.

"That is a much harder task," The Professor responded. "And if we fail what then? The world is overrun with zombies and an all-out war breaks out. Is that a preferable future?"

"Of course not. But we need to at least try."

"Do you have any ideas how to go about getting rid of these malevolent spirits?"

"I may. While I was in Lana's mind, I was able to pick up some of the thoughts of these evil spirits. I learned two things. First, I learned what their next target is. Second, I learned there are things so abhorrent to the malevolent spirits tormenting our realm that if we can discover what they are, we should be able to use those things to drive the spirits away."

"The second thing sounds more important."

"Yeah, it would be if I knew what those things were. I don't. I figure if we can get to the spirits' next target ahead of them, when the spirits arrive, I might be able to find out more."

"So, what is their next target?"

"Yo ho,yo ho, it's a pirate's life for us," I sang.