NOVEL FROG Chapter 49: Life After Echo
My mind was buzzing with possibilities as I sat down in the chair across from Dr Basam. I had almost given up on becoming a cop. You couldn't become a cop when your father owned his own country.
If I went by Eden Braverhund that would make it easier for me to hide our connection. After all, it was a very common last name. Growing my hair out would help too.
Sure, a few people would find out. That was unavoidable. It was still better than having everyone who read my badge associating me with my father.
“Are you even listening?” The doctor asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
“No.” I replied. “Honestly I was thinking about how I might finally be able to join the police force.”
“Well then, I would advise you to pay attention.” Dr. Basam said. “Because the more stress you are under the more likely Ger-, I mean Echo, will surface.”
She leaned forward in her chair. “What is going on isn't dissociative identity disorder. You won't get amnesia and this isn't a mind protecting itself in response to trauma.”
“DID is like a breaker switch that comes on when the subject feels overwhelmed or powerless. Echo is wired into your brain more like a virtual machine. You can use it to pull information or run specific tasks but it's separate from you.”
“Unfortunately the more you use it the less that separation matters. Eventually shortcuts will start to form in your brain that link directly to Echo, bypassing you entirely.”
“So it's like a bad habit.” I said, beginning to understand what she was getting at. “The more you do it the harder it is to break. Smoke one cigarette and you're fine, smoke for a year and you might never quit.”
“Pretty much.” Dr. Basam nodded. “Gershwin was very good at designing traps. Echo is one of those traps. At first it seems useful. A whole world of knowledge opens up and skills you never practiced become second nature. You will know what to say to get what you want. Manipulation becomes easy.”
“The emotional highs and lows will rock you, making normal life seem muted and dull. Extreme behaviors will follow, drinking, drug use, sex, and violence. Then when your life is a shit show and you've forgotten who you are Echo will take the wheel permanently. And you won't even fight it.”
“So what should I do?” I asked, all too aware of how plausible that scenario was. I could imagine myself following down that path, descending to hell one step at a time.
“I don't know how to shut off Echo or prevent my mind from accessing them.” I said. “So how do I prevent them from taking over? How did you do it?”
“Ah, well it gets weaker with each generation. I have my mother's memories and they dilute the poison significantly. He was only twenty-four when he died and I'm over fifty so the ratio is in my favor.” She replied.
“Wait…he was around my age?” I was shocked. It made sense, hund lifespans pre-augmentation topped out at twenty-five. Sure, he would have improved himself to slow his aging and stay sharp. But it blew my mind to imagine a twenty-four year old causing that much damage.
Hunds reached maturity at ten, his children would have died around the time he was fourteen. That left ten years for him to work on his project. No wonder he had done whatever it took to speed things up. He was fighting against time, trying to finish his work before he died of old age.
“Yes, now you are beginning to understand. Context is key here.” Dr. Basam explained.
“Survivors like your Aunt GG or my mother were infected early, the ratio was strongly in his favor. Now decades later GG’s personality has deviated significantly. The poison is still there, but it is diluted. As you age and gain life experience Echo will have less and less to offer. You won't need them and their hold on you will weaken.”
There was one problem. “So if I go into the police force now chances are I will be tempted to use Echo.”
“Exactly.” She nodded. “Echo would be very useful to a rookie cop.”
“So what do I do?”
“You take time and learn the skills the hard way in an environment where you won't be so stressed that you take shortcuts. That's what I did when I went to medical school. How about this,” Dr. Basam took my hands in hers.
“I say we take a year off and focus on your skills. You can train with Simon's people, not because I want you to become some kind of killing machine. That is not the goal.”
I winced at the idea of seeing myself in fatigues running around playing soldier but I was listening.
“Part of it is stress inoculation. You need to learn how to operate under stress without lashing out or using Echo. But it is also so that if you have to defend yourself it will be you behind the wheel, not Echo. You have seen how Echo fights and it isn't pretty.”
“Next comes continuing education. If you learn the things Echo knows then your brain won't connect with them as often. That means science, medicine, history, coding, and a whole list of random subjects like baking and fashion.”
“Wait… is Gershwin the reason that Aunt GG is good at designing clothes?” I asked.
“It probably has something to do with it but don't tell her I said that or she will punch me in the nose. I do mean that literally, she has done it before.” Dr. Basam warned.
“What did you say that made her punch you?” I asked, momentarily distracted from my problems by this juicy bit of gossip.
“I told her that ¡HipHop! had better quality stitching than RKC.” She ran a fingertip along the inseam of her pants. “These tear less easily and have a bit more stretch built in. RKC might look better if the fit is right but these are more forgiving.”
“Wow, I can see why she punched you. You're probably right and she must have hated that.” I laughed.
“Well there is that, and my mother threw her out of a helicopter at least once. So she may be holding a bit of a grudge.” Dr. Basam shrugged. “But that's life.”
“Yeah. I suppose it is, isn't it?” I leaned back in the chair to think, a mannerism I had borrowed from my father. So there was a way forward for me after all.
I could take a year to work on myself. That was probably a lot smarter and safer than joining the force before I had gotten used to living with Echo. Hopefully the gang war would die down by then too.
Simon would probably be happy to have me close by while I adjusted. I didn't want things to become strained between us so we would have to work on navigating this new reality together. I knew we would figure it out though.
If nobody attacked me for a year I could be reasonably certain that the danger was over. So yeah, this made sense. It was a good plan.
“I've decided to follow your advice and take a year off to work on myself.” I said.
“Wonderful.” Dr. Basam purred. “I will tell Nemeria the good news. I'm sure she can’t wait to see you.”
I froze. Why was my Aunt Nemeria getting involved? She had abandoned me over a decade ago and barely talked to me since. It wasn't like she lived far away either. “What the actual fuck? Why would I ever want to see her?”
“Because…” Dr. Basam leaned in closely like she was about to share a secret. “You're going to be able to punch her in the face without getting in trouble.” She whispered, smiling smugly.
“That’s a very good reason.” I admitted, realizing how much I liked this idea. “Top ten, easily. I'm in.”
“I thought you might like that. Simon could teach you but he feels that beating the snot out of each other might damage your relationship and frankly he has a valid point.” Dr. Basam picked up her notebook.
“Wait… you said something about beating the snot out of each other.” I frowned. “That doesn't sound fun.”
“Too bad, you already agreed.” Dr. Basam consulted her notes. “Alright, now that the immediate issue is dealt with we can focus on the rest of our check in. How are you doing socially? Have you made any new friends?”
I thought of my recent interactions with the Gravekeeper and Simon's warhunds. “Define friends.” I said.