Thank you to those who stopped by last week. I’m glad for a new Sunday and a new Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sundays. This will be the last time for awhile I will share something from The Scent of Memory. In this scene, Marisol is trying yet another strategy to help Cap get his memories back. As an FYI, Sketch is Marisol’s dog, the gift Aren gave her a couple of weeks before the mining accident. I am also thrilled to announce that The Scent of Memory did win the January book of the month over at the TBR Pile so I want to thank every one who generously voted for it. I am happy to return the favor any time.
Aren was looking out the window when Marisol figured out which room he’d been assigned. On her tiptoes, she strained to see beyond his tall, now larger body, to the snowfall outside,
“What do you see?” she asked, when she couldn’t make out anything but walls of white powder.
“I live on a desert planet. I have no memories of snow.”
“May I show you something?”
“If you’d like.” He turned toward her, his face grim and lost.
Using voice commands, she had the vid screen tap into the recordings of the Nordika Mush Race fourteen years ago. She picked a short snippet. Aren, wrapped in racing blues, passing Freddie De Graaf, the first and only time Aren beat his best friend in a mush race.
Aren watched passively as if viewing a show. No ticks, no movements, no apparent reactions to Tick, Tack, To and Rogue, his favorite Mush dogs. Rogue was Sketch’s mother.
His eyes flipped open to saucers. “Second.”
She followed Aren’s gaze to screen. Freddie had pulled off his goggles and thrown back the parka hood.
“Your best friend. That’s you next to him.”
“Second died on the ship.” He swiveled away from vid. “Turn it off.” His eyes lowered for a second, just enough for her to hang on to the belief he reacted emotionally to the scene.
Make sure to check out the snippets from all the amazing writers at Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.
The Scent of Memory Blurb
Twelve years ago, Marisol lost Aren. Now he’s back – pointing a gun at her head and treating her like a stranger.
Rebel hacker, Marisol Martinez, never thought volunteering to keep the hospital safe from cyborgs would lead her back to the man sabotage ripped from her arms. The man she swore to avenge by any means possible.
For over a decade, Cap protected the cyborgs under his command from every danger. Until he meets an insurgent, whose scent wreaks havoc on his control. She calls him Aren and insists she knows him. But she’s wrong. He has no past, no present, no future – only orders he’s programmed to complete.
Forced together, Marisol and Cap can’t resist the passion that keeps building between them. With time running out, Marisol must use her computer skills to restore Aren’s memories or Cap will kill all subversives on the planet – starting with her.
How sad that is only memory is such a sad one.
Sad, but poignant. Its what it takes, I think, to put a life back together. Thanks for dropping by, Daryl.
I suspect that wasn’t the memory she hoped to trigger.
No, not at all. Thanks for visiting, Aurora.
How sad! He’s probably not going to want to experience many more memories if they’re all so painful.
Congratulations on winning book of the month!
Well, she did bring back some memories, but not in the way she wanted. Nice snippet!
Thanks, Jessica. It never does happen the way we expect it!
This is intense. Him seeing ‘before’, and realizing that Second was his best friend, also from ‘before’.
Poignant scene.
Thanks, Sue. She has to experiment with what might jar a memory, but cannot really know what the costs will be.
Very effective and sad snippet. But so well done!
Thanks, Veronica. Its a love story, but so many really do start with such sadness.
Nice twist, Shari, that the friend in the video is also someone he remembers and lost – sad but nice way to eventually shock his memory of the past to life.
Thanks, Nancy. Some memories can be pretty hard. Not an easy process to try and restore the memories of a life.
Perhaps the shock of this recognition will jolt other memories to the surface. Sad but wonderful snippet.
Thanks, Jenna. Perhaps, and perhaps not 🙂 Thanks for visiting.
Such a sad scene, and so well done.
Not a great memory, but maybe more memories are on the way.
Sad memories, nicely captured in this snippet.
He’s seeing the reality of his original person-state with his best friend. Great writing. Congratulations on the Award!
So sad. A very poignant snippet.