Free Extreme Difference by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton

that reason?’ Sandy carried on before anyone could intervene and spoil his rapid train of thought.
    ‘If I wanted to prevent anyone from digging back into an occluded memory, I would place ’em in an environment where their every waking moment was taken up trying to survive, that way they wouldn’t have time to think about their past, let alone work out what had happened to them.’
    ‘That makes sense to me,’ Ben butted in, not wishing to be left out of the argument, ‘and it certainly explains a few things I’ve been thinking about.’ He turned to Sandy, willing him to continue.
    ‘Do you really think the Great Light has some sort of hearing aid tuned in to our conversation, to see if we are being ungrateful for it’s bountiful gifts, which I consider to be their discarded rubbish anyway, and, if so, are all the other groups being monitored at the same time? Come on Nan, just think about it, it can’t possibly be true.’
    Nan’s eyes had gone out of focus, as Sandy’s heretical suggestions clashed with his own beliefs, the internal struggle manifesting itself as a series of shudders rippling through his body. Somewhere, deep in Nan’s partially occluded memories, connections were being made which had not existed for a very long time. Pictures of things he had not known in his present world were beginning to flash up, devaluing and displacing his present field of references.
    ‘Do you think he’s all right?’ asked an anxious Ben, as Nan struggled to break out of the trance induced by the mind conflict. ‘You don’t think he’s going to die, do you?’
    ‘No,’ Sandy replied confidently, ‘he’s just trying to adjust to a whole set of new ideas and reasons for being here. It must be like suddenly discovering you are someone else after thinking you are you, if you see what I mean.’
    ‘I think so.’ Ben sounded doubtful about the concept.
    Sandy gently reached across to touch Nan’s trembling arm.
    ‘Are you OK? Sorry to have shaken you up like that, Nan, but someone had to do it. We can’t go on living like this, it’s disgusting to say the least of it, and not much fun into the bargain. The only way to improve things is to find out the truth, and then turn it to our advantage.’
    With a final shudder, Nan wrenched himself back into present time, giving the other two a weak smile as he said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t stop shaking. There must be something in what you say, because looking back it all seems a bit silly somehow. Can’t explain it, it’s just a feeling I have, a sort of numbness, difficulty in getting my thoughts together coherently. Please carry on with your questions, I’ll do my best to answer them as truthfully as possible.’
    ‘Are you sure you’re up to it?’ asked a concerned Sandy, thankful that the first hurdle in his quest for the truth had been cleared. Nan just nodded.
    ‘What do you know of the Great Lights? How do you know when they will come?’
    Nan slumped back against the wall, drew in a deep breath as if it would be his very last, and then relaxed out a little.
    ‘I just know when they will be here. Can’t explain it really, it’s just a feeling I get. When I go outside, it’s always just before dawn and the light is always there, like a big round sun, but there’s no heat. By the time I walk across the sands, the new body has been dropped, and anything else they wish to give us. I bring the new person back to our home, as I did you, and they join the group. That’s all there is to it.’
    Sandy nodded sagely, looking for clues in every word uttered by the now contrite Nan, but finding nothing new on the subject.
    ‘Have you ever seen anything above the light? For instance, when it is visiting another group?’
    ‘I’ve only seen it twice when it was for the others, as I don’t get the ‘I should be outside’ feeling then. All I ever see is the light, it’s so bright it blinds one to anything else, and it’s so big. There is no sound that