Alfred let me in.
“Master Billy is in the backyard,” he informed me. I followed him through the house and out a set of French doors to where Billy and Gilly were sitting on the patio watching a black disk hovering three feet above the lawn. Billy was holding a tablet in his lap. He moved his fingers over the surface of the tab, and the disk rose several feet higher.
“Nice drone,” I said.
Billy’s hand jerked; the disk tipped and did a nosedive into a flower bed.
“Sorry,” Billy said to his father.
“Don’t worry,” Gilly said. “The AG-3601 is quite durable, but the control interface is touchy.” He took the tab from Billy. The drone rose from the flower bed, swooped toward us, and settled on the patio.
Billy said, “Pretty cool, huh?”
“It looks like a flying manhole cover,” I said. “Is that what you texted me about?” I was a bit irritated. Not that the antigravity drone wasn’t cool, but I was focused on Charlotte, and I didn’t like having my mission interrupted. “Did you find the source of the book hacking, or have you been playing dronemaster?”
“Never mind the book,” Billy said. “We’ve got bigger problems.” He looked intently at his father. “Dad, do you remember Ginger?”
“Certainly,” Gilly said. “Hello, Ginger.” He looked at my torn jeans. “Is that the new fashion these days?”
“It’s what everybody’s wearing,” I said. “I’m glad you got your memory back.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my memory.” He looked at Billy. “I really don’t know why you keep going on about it.”
Billy said, “Do you remember when Ginger was here this morning, and you didn’t remember her at all?”
“Do you mean do I remember not remembering Ginger? How could I not remember Ginger?” He smiled at me. “Ginger is very memorable.”
“Tell us what you were doing this afternoon.”
“Why, I was at the office.”
“And why did you go to work on a Sunday afternoon?”
Gilly shrugged. “I can’t say I recall.”
“And what did you do while you were there?”
“Several things, I’m sure.”
“Did you see Mr. Rausch?”
“Possibly. Who is he again?”
Billy looked at me. I looked at Billy. We both looked at Gilly, who seemed blissfully unconcerned.
“I can be a bit absentminded when I’m working on a project,” he admitted. “Did I miss a dental appointment or something?”
• • •
“This is serious,” Billy said. “Rausch did something to Gilly’s brain.”
“He did something to your brain too, don’t forget.” We were in Billy’s room. Gilly was still on the patio working on the AG-3601 interface.
“At least I haven’t forgotten that I don’t remember you,” he said.
“That makes me feel so much better.”
Billy said, “It’s not all bad news. We know the process is reversible, because this morning Gilly didn’t remember you at all, and now he does—but he’s forgotten who Mr. Rausch is.”
“Why would Rausch wipe himself out of your dad’s memory?”
“Gilly said he wanted to shut down the REMEMBER program, remember? I bet Rausch made him forget that to save his job. It looks like he’s deliberately stealing people’s memories.”
“But why? Why would he bother to steal your memories of me? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I suppose we could ask him.”
“We have to ask him sneakily,” I said. “Myke told me Rausch has a farm north of town. Happy Smile Acres. Maybe we should pay him a visit.”
“A sneaky visit?”
“Very sneaky.”