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as well be a window to another room. Sheldon only
recognized that it was his own face when he saw on it the look of utter panic
and likened it to his own state of mind.  
    Yes, it was him,
most certainly him , but who was he? He looked around and saw that
he found himself in a bathroom. He searched for any clue that would help him
figure out how he might have gotten there and why he couldn’t remember
anything. He found nothing. With his face in his hands, moaning like a
frightened child, he crouched on the floor, if only to escape the horrified
gaze of the face in the mirror.
    He felt his
pulse accelerating. A horrible pain seemed to exist in every single cell in his
body.  It was as if his very mind was hurting. It was all there,
all the information about his identity and his whereabouts, but between his
mind and that information stood an impenetrable wall of pain.
    He stood up and
started screaming. He pounded the walls with his fists. He fell on his knees,
rocking back and forth. Everything hurt. The pain and the fear were becoming
unbearable. He heard a knock at the door and it snapped him out of his state.
    “Sheldon, are you ok buddy?”
    He recognized
the voice - it was his best friend. The voice conjured up a name: Maclaine
Ross. With the memory of that name, everything started coming back, including
his own. He was Sheldon Ayers, the world’s most accomplished mindguard. He was
in the home of Horatio Miller and had come here at Miller’s personal request.
Horatio Miller needed his services. In exchange, he had offered to place him in
contact with his grandfather’s virtual consciousness. Sheldon stood up and
faced the mirror again.
    “Sheldon!” Mac’s
voice became impatient. Sheldon heard him test the locked door.
    “Sheldon!”
     
    ●
     
    The door opened
and Sheldon calmly stepped out. He was pale and he seemed to have sweated
abundantly. His gaze was wild and his pupils dilated.
    “Are you all right, man?” Ross
asked. 
    “Fine,” he said, walking past his
friend, paying him no attention.
     
    ●
     
    “Ah, Mr. Ayers, I
half expected you’ve run away. I was terribly concerned that perhaps you didn’t
enjoy my wine.”
    Miller’s joke
was lost on Sheldon. “The wine was fine,” he said and promptly sat at the
table. He seemed unwell. He appeared to be shaking.
    “Are you all
right, Mr. Ayers? You seem ill. Should I get you anything?”
    “Nothing, thank
you,” Sheldon answered, avoiding eye contact.
    “All right,
well, let’s finalize this then,” Miller suggested.
    Ross, who had
thus far simply stared at his partner expecting an explanation, turned around
and placed the palm of his hand on Miller’s holopad. The device collected his
DNA and proceeded to encrypt the contract.
    “We leave in
three months,” Ross said. “I suggest you start preparing as soon as possible.
There are biweekly training camps and you can find a spot in one of them next
week, but I’m sure you already know that.”
    “That won’t be
necessary,” Miller said smiling.
    Ross knew of
Horatio Miller’s reputation as an adventure traveler. The man had explored many
new worlds, together with his friend Nikolaos Apostolos, co-founder of Mylonas
Industries, until the latter’s mysterious disappearance on one of their trips.
    “With all due
respect to your extreme survival experience, Educator, this is a desert region.
It’s probably more dangerous than anything you might have encountered on your –
“  
    “It’s not him!”
Sheldon said abruptly. Horatio Miller gave him a look that Ross couldn’t
decipher.
    “It’s my
daughter,” Miller told them, never taking his eyes off Sheldon. “She will be
joining you on the mission, not me. The information package you need to protect
is inside her mind.”

Chapter 4
     
    No matter your
place or your point in time, the study of history – if performed correctly –
will teach you that you are in the most fortunate possible time, in the best of
all