Nullform #1 by Dem Mikhailov

Chapter 1

Operation log:

Hydration — complete.

Assembly — complete.

Resuscitation — complete.

Did green letters just flash before my eyes? But my eyes are closed. How am I seeing letters? Words, even...

Assembly? Hydration? What's that supposed to mean? Damn, my head hurts. And my left elbow... and my lower back. It hurts so bad I want to puke. Constant, exhausting pain. Horrible pain. Not like I got hit or something. It's more serious, something chronic... I know it for sure... or do I just feel it?

"HEY! ELEVEN! Come on, wake up!" I heard an impatient, angry voice on my right.

The voice was a woman's, and she was shouting right into my ear.

"Double ones! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

I tried to move my lips, only managing to grind my teeth and croak out a few hoarse noises. This set of miserable actions and sounds coalesced into a barely-audible request:

"Don't yell at me..."

"There's no time for this, Eleven! None. Ugh, why did I agree to this? Get up! The alarm's about to go off!"

"Alarm?" My mind felt sluggish, like I couldn't catch up with what she was saying. Nothing made sense.

Almost nothing.

I was being ordered to stand up. She was calling me Eleven, which wasn't my name. My name... what's my name? My name... I can't remember.

Who am I?

Nothing but indifferent silence echoed in my head. My mind was desperately searching for the information I wanted, diving into the depths of my memory — I could even hear the splash of imaginary waves — but I found nothing below the surface. I wasn't even surprised. Then it hit me. I realized the oceans of my memory were empty. No life to speak of, not even one little fish that could give me at least a shred of information about my past. All the wriggling life forms of my memory had been caught in a fine net and taken far away, so far that my mind had no chance of ever finding them.