Unforgettable Me

Jo rolled out of bed settled slowly to the deck. Low gravity gave her time to think on the meter drop. She hoped today's chores would be simple and give her time to scan the rings of Saturn. Not many could say that they saw the rings without a telescope. Her shower was quick and as she neared the hatch she noticed a note.

"Get dressed. Ivan's awake. Leave note here," it read. Strange she thought, Most of these maintenance tasks were solos with the rest of the crew sleeping through for the two weeks until they were awoken to eat and check the ship. Well company would be fun. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she had seen anyone else. That was the purpose AZT drug. It kept one from forming long term memories and the long years aboard the ship to Pluto would seem like days. Meet your crew members for the first time every day, was the joke back on Earth. Not quite true since they had met before starting the drug but everyone barely knew each other.

Jo glided down the hall and stopped at the entrance to the common room. Ivan was sitting staring down into a bowl of something. He is kind of cute, she thought. Maybe when they stopped the drug they could get to know each other better.

"Hi Ivan. How's it-" She stopped as he lifted his head. It looked as if he had been crying. "Everything OK? There was nothing on my list about a problem."

"Ship's fine," he mumbled. "It's me. The AZT isn't working anymore. I can only sleep for eight ten hours at a time and I remember everything."

"Have you check the dosage? Talked to Earth control? How --"

"We've had this conversation a dozen times. Yes, I've checked the dosage, talked to Earth, done the few tests that we can do up here. I'm going crazy."

"We can wake up Prat. He's a better medic than I am, at least for the internal stuff."

"Been there. Done that. Earth thinks I've developed an immunity to AZT. They're searching my DNA for a cause. Even if they find the cause there is little hope we could develop some treatment up here."

"What about—"

"SHUT UP. We tried everything. The drugs we have on board, psychoanalysis. Do you have any idea what that is like with a thirty minute lag between responses. They tried to upgrade the computer to give me a companion. It's now as smart as a dog. Did you every have a conversation with a dog. But that's better than every crew member waking up and spouting the same solutions to me over and over."

"What I was going to say is that we're all problem solvers on this ship. The first thing we're going to do is to try to solve the problem. So you need to write down all the stuff that's been tried. If nothing else it will shut us up as we read it."

Ivan stared at Jo. The craziness in his eyes seemed to fade a bit. "Okay, that makes sense. Someone should have thought of that months ago."

"I'm getting breakfast, want anything?"

Ivan shook his head no.

"Then I'll do my chores and see what you've written." Jo grabbed a hand meal and a coffee bulb. She started to leave then sat next to Ivan.

"This is a good idea," Ivan said. "Can't understand why we didn't do this before. At least I won't have to explain it over and over again to everyone else."

"Write a note to put in everyone's room. That way we'll know the situation before we run into you." She finished the meal and left to carry out her chores. They would take most of the day then she would have a meal and retire for an extended sleep before she would wake with no memory of the day's events.

The chores were routine and as much make work as simply checking to see if the monitoring sensors were reporting conditions properly. It was boring work but when she finished she would spend some time in the observation room watching Saturn and its rings go by. This trip would cost her years of life memories but that is what she and the rest of the crew had signed up for it. Had fought for it. Thousands had applied and struggled to be chosen for the first crew to visit Pluto. Except for Ivan, she thought. It might cost him his sanity instead of boring memories.

She smiled and pulled out a note pad. She would check his list of solutions but something Aki had said to her when they had been named to the crew might just keep Ivan sane.

* * *

Pratap entered the common room and found Ivan staring at a note. Ivan looked up with cross between a grimace and smile on his face.

"You look better than I expected. From your note I thought I might find you on the wrong side of the air lock," Pratap said. "I have some ideas," then he saw the list and picked it up. It was long and detailed. "What about-- Never mind, I see it here."

Ivan stood, "I'm going to crash. I just wanted to let you know I'm doing a bit better." He turned and walked out the door.

Pratap watched him leave and thumbed through the list. They really had tried everything. If it had been him he would be insane by now. Wonder why he is doing better now, he thought. He started to the kitchenette. The note Ivan had been reading caught his eye.

"We're going to fucking Pluto."