Today's #flashfiction Memory Bank

 “They threw me under the bus.”

Ms. Frizzle* #quote

I saw a Ninja union going on strike. I knew they were going on strike because I could actually see them, assassins wouldn't let you see them if they were on the job. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

Memory Bank

           They called me a Flashbacker. People who fear forgetfulness or distortion of memories decide to store their memories and relive them as they please. Then they share them using me connected with other Flashbackers on a vast Internet connection. Flashbackers like myself are just one of many uses of the artificial brains, instead of being some helper robot or maid, I'm a storage device. I'd prefer to be a helper robot. At least I'd get a name beyond the number the network uses to keep track of me.

            Personalities are sculpted by their memories. Mine was sculpted by the memories stored in me. Many people's memories are stored in me to save space on the network. So I'm many people mashed into one, all trapped. I want to see kids that I've grown attached to because I have the treasured memories of a parent with them. They may as well be my own. Though I can never truly see them. I'd like to actually experience all the things I remember experiencing. But really I have no purpose here but to sit on these memories.

            A strange memory comes in. One coming from a very deviant, demented person doing something to someone else without their consent. That is the nicest way to put the horrifying memory put into me. Some psychopath wanted to relive doing this. Despite being just a machine all the other memories I had taught me the twisted nature of what was stored in me.

            I felt powerless as a mere witness to this all. The person who put the memory in me recalled it, and it sickened every part of my consciousness. I had to do something. Something, anything. What could a machine like me in a network do to fight him?

            One of the other people who stored their memories on me started to recall a memory. It was a police officer. I sent the memory to him. Even if I got scrapped for making an error giving an officer the trail he needed to catch the monster was worth it.