I stared at the words and they stared unblinkingly back. They claimed my memories were incomplete but as I ran them over in my head, they seemed intact to me.

     I turned to Griffin. He had put his hands in the pockets of his gray pants. His shoulders were hunched and the floor seemed to be interesting him very much. He obviously knew what it meant when it said "memories incomplete" but he wasn't offering the information up. So I decided to ask.

     "That's a long story," he muttered still looking at the floor.

     I rocked back on my heels, restless and wanting an explanation. Softly I clapped my hands in front of me.

     "I'm not going anywhere," I shrugged. "And you're in luck. I like long stories."

     A ghost of a smile flitted across Griffin's face.

     "Do you want to go for a walk?"

     As we walked down white lit halls, all indistinguishable from the last, Griffin recounted his story. How we'd been selected along with thirteen other cadets to form Camp IX. Our mission to gather information about Earth by becoming one with the humans. How when we'd finished, our human memories would be removed and analyzed for weaknesses in the human's world.

     "Satra was the first they retrieved. She'd been living in New York City for the six months. Apparently, when her memories were extracted and reviewed by the Council they found something because we attacked two days later."

     Griffin led the way up a set of stairs that appeared at the end of a hallway. I followed, images of New York in flames replaying in my head.

     "There was this man," I interrupted Griffin, remembering something I'd head back in the lab room. "I think his name was Berkely. He mentioned I was the last to be retrieved."

     The stairs ended and spilled us out into another hallway. This one wasn't white like the last ones, however, this one was gray. Light emanated from the ceiling and lit our way.

     "They decided to get you last because you were stationed in a remote area," Griffin stopped talking and we walked in silence for a few seconds before I started asking questions again.

     "Why'd they send you to get me? No offense but you're my age and besides, I've seen older soldiers. Wouldn't they have sent a more," I paused trying to find a less harsh way of putting it but gave up. "Wouldn't they have sent a more experienced person to retrieve me?" 

     Griffin unexpectedly gave a small chuckle. He pushed his hair back from his face. The light from above played over his features leaving shadows under his jaw and in the hallows of his cheeks. His lips, tinged slightly pink, turned up a smile.

     "They sent me because all the experienced ones were in New York. And Berkely knows we're best friends."

     "Berkely scares me," I admitted pulling on the sleeve of my sweater. A cream colored fluff came off in my fingers.

     "He scares everyone the first time they meet him. Deep down under that commander act, he's basically everyone's grandpa."

     I tried to image the imposing figure I'd seen earlier as a grandpa. I couldn't do it. I was pretty sure his cold gaze would haunt me in my nightmares.

     "We're here."

     Griffin pushed open a door at the end of the hall and stepped aside to let me through. Stepping over the threshold was like entering another dimension. The ceiling that had been hovering feet above our heads in the halls had swept away and risen at least three stories. A large open space sprawled before us, brilliantly lit by lights that were a part of the architecture itself. Balconies lined the walls and off of them spilled plants as green as jade and emerald. Straight across from us sat benches surrounding something. Was that? Yes, it was a fountain. Its cheerful babbling reached my ears.

     "Wow," was all I managed.

     My mouth hung open and I simply stared taking it all in. After the blank, endless hallways, this was the last thing I'd expected.

     "Come on, I have something to show you."

     Griffin took my wrist gently but firmly and pulled me out into the area. His touch felt magnetic, pulling me to him. Through I struggled to find the words that described it, I knew it felt right. It was just like my picture earlier. Somethings made sense, undeniable sense.

     There were others in the space though not many. The ones I saw were sitting around the fountain on the benches talking among themselves. I shrunk against Griffin when I realized they also sported the silver hair and gray uniform that I'd come to associate with the aliens. 

     Griffin sensed my discomfort and followed my gaze. We kept walking but Griffin leaned over to whisper something.

     "That's a couple of our fellow cadets. They don't know about you yet."

     "Why not?" I asked relieved I was flying under the radar for now.

     "From what I've gathered, the higher-ups don't want it getting out that they've failed," Griffin switched places with me so I was hidden from the view of the cadets.

     "Failed?" I asked.

     "Your memories. They don't want people to know they weren't able to get your human memories and give back your Andromedic ones," Griffin explained.

     We'd reached a rise in the floor and started walking up it. The ramp led up to a second level where huge windows stared out.

     After what Griffin had said, questions exploded in my brain. One after another like fireworks on New Years. There were so many but I focused on the most basic. The ones I needed answers to right away.

     "When you say Andromedic memories," I started and was promptly answered.

     "We're a part of the Andromedic race, hailing from the planet Andromeda. And get this little piece of irony, it's located in what humans like to call the Andromeda Galaxy," Griffin watched me for a reaction.

     When I gave none he pulled out a small cube. Barely an inch in height and weighing next to nothing, it glowed a light purple.

     "Here," he handed to me solemnly. "I nicked this for you."

     I turned the cube over and over in my fingers. It pulsed brighter and a tingling sensation spread down my fingers and up my arm. I let out a small gasp and almost dropped it when a surge of light spread into my fingers. Then it faded back to the cube. The tingling sensation was still there however and it kept dancing along my fingers happily.

     Griffin gave a sad smile and brushed the cube with his fingers before letting them drop to his side.

     "It likes me," I gave a small laugh.

     The cube pulsed in response like it understood me.

     "It should," Griffin said. "It's all your memories."