Persistence of Memory

Every day, Daniel Schroeder breaks his father’s heart.

The two of them have always been close, which makes it all the more difficult to break the daily news: the last five years were nothing like Big Dan remembers. They’re both professionals in the recreational memory field, and Daniel has guided thousands of clients safely through hour-long virtual adventures. So why can’t he lead his father out of the persistent false memory that’s ruining their lives?

He thought he was holding it together, but the situation is sliding out of control. Now even his own equipment has turned against him, taunting him with flashes of a beguiling man in black who’s interacting not with the client, but with him.

Of course, that’s impossible, so it must be a glitch in the program—or at the very least, wishful thinking. But when the man shows up in yet another program, it leads Daniel to wonder…what if this mystery man isn’t pixels and circuitry, but flesh and blood?