#decoded au

He stumbled back and swore at the harsh clang of metal colliding with his face. He fumbled in front of him and found a doorknob, and quickly opened it to low yellow artificial light.

And to an even younger, smaller kid, sitting on a thin rug surrounded by gears and stray wires.

“What the heeeeck – heck is going on here?” Jay caught himself, extra aware of his younger audience.

The child gasped and sat back. “Who are you?”

Jay found himself taking a second look at the room around him. Shelves haphazardly piled with parts, scrolls and scrolls of blueprints, a horribly messy worktable…it looked exactly like… ”Dr. Julien’s workshop?” He wondered.

“You know where this is?”

He stared wide eyed at the child. “You’re – no way,” he shook his head. “Zane?”

“Is that my name?”

Jay knelt down next to him. “I…I think it is. You…” he took stock of the small frame in front of him. It didn’t make any sense, unless Dr. Julien built additional models through the years, but… “You look like him, at least.” He frowned. “Do you not know?”

Artificial tears welled up in his eyes. “I cannot remember.”

Jay swept him in a hug and shushed the tears. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s okay.” He leaned back, holding Zane’s shoulders and looking him in the eye. “I remember, right?”

His small companion nodded tearfully. Jay nodded with him and gave him an encouraging smile. His eyebrows shot up as he scanned the room again. “And the kid from before said we needed to find a key…”

Zane perked up. “A key?” He wiggled out of Jay’s hands and sprung to his feet. He quickly crossed the room to the cluttered worktable. “I saw one – I think. I just,” he screwed up his eyes. “I cannot,”

“Remember…” Jay trailed off. “Memory! Of course! Come here, little Zane.” Zane returned to his spot on the rug. “Now, please don’t freak out, okay?” Gentle fingers pressed a small spot just under Zane’s jaw, opening a panel just below his shirt collar. Zane glanced between it and Jay with wide eyes.

“Wh-what is that?”

Jay ran his hands down his arms in a soothing motion. “It’s okay, little buddy, it’s okay. I think I can help you remember. I just need to look at that panel, okay?” Zane shakily nodded and unbuttoned his shirt. Jay sighed in relief as the panel opened fully, revealing a familiar, albeit much simpler, control panel.

With a memory switch turned to off.

“Hold still, buddy.” He flipped it on and sat back as Zane jolted. The room around them spun, the gears scattered on the floor flying up to hang on shelves and hooks around the room, the wires dashing off to follow them into drawers and organizers, and even the worktable’s chaotic contents hastily reorganized themselves, to Jay’s amazement.

As the world came to a halt, he turned back to the child in front of him. Zane was now buttoning his shirt back up, and there was an affirming fire in his blue eyes that Jay hadn’t seen before.

He met Jay’s look with a grim smile. “Thank you. And well done.”

Jay stared around the room in wonder as it slowly melted away into shadow, leaving him and Zane on the rug. “What’s going on?”

Blue eyes stared intensely at his own. “Zane needs your help. I was easy – a tutorial level, I believe you would call it.” Jay furrowed his eyebrows in concern. “But it will not be so easy from here on. I believe you will need help.”

“One of the others…” Jay murmured, and Zane nodded.

“At least.”

Both of them glanced down to where the child’s feet were fading into shadow, the rug having disappeared as they spoke.

He looked sharply at Jay.

“Get help. Get back. Get the key.”