Paradox Read Online Free PDF Page A

It has a huge lumpy head and a long dirt-colored body that disappears into a cloud of dust.
    “But what is it
doing
here?” the boy mutters.
    Ana turns to look at him more closely. He’s wearing a gray jumpsuit with a black vest, sturdy hiking boots, a towering backpack. Ana’s heartbeat quickens.
    “The rocket,” she says, suddenly getting it. “The open door. You were in that other compartment!”
    He turns and looks at her, an odd expression on his face.
    “I’m Ana,” she says quickly.
    “Ana,” he says, his smile tentative, as if she’s a strange puzzle he’s trying to figure out. “I’m Todd.”
    The earth trembles under them again, and Ana steps farther back from the edge. The boy—Todd—shudders. “I’m sorry,” he says. “That creature freaks me out. I can’t figure out what it’s doing here.”
    “But you did come on the rocket?”
    Todd nods. She doesn’t remember him, of course, no more than she does anything else in her life, but something about the way his hair hangs across his forehead has the unexpected
ping
of familiarity.
    Ana smiles awkwardly. “Sorry. I’m—well, I’ve got some memory issues. Surgical retrograde amnesia. That’s whatmy letter said. I have no personal memories at all. Just basic knowledge and some muscle memory, though I don’t seem to have any trouble with keeping new memories. I can remember everything since I woke up on the rocket.”
    Todd is silent for a second, then says, “I guess I have the same condition. My first memory is waking up in the rocket.” He raises his left arm, pulls down his sleeve, and flashes his own circlet at her. Ana can see the numbers on his band moving. “I know we’re here from Earth. We’re supposed to follow the map and reach the colony on the shores of Maraqa. That’s about it.”
    “Maybe the memory wipe is standard procedure,” Ana says, but she can’t suppress a stab of disappointment. There was a moment when she’d thought this might be her chance at getting some insight into who she is and why she’s here. On the other hand, things are no worse than they were an hour ago—in fact, they’re quite a bit better. She has a companion, and two broken minds have to be better than one.
    “We ought to keep moving,” she says, glancing down at her circlet. “Twenty-three hours sounds like ages, but I have a feeling—”
    There’s a crack like thunder, and the edge of the crater wall collapses, the ground dropping away beneath Ana’s feet. For a second she’s part of a cascading rockslide; then Todd grabs her backpack and pulls her free.
    “We need to put some distance between us and that thing,” Todd says.
    “No kidding,” Ana says. “Let’s go!”
    Todd sets a brisk, steady pace, his boots kicking up puffs of dusty soil. His purposeful strides make it clear he knows where he’s going, but he hasn’t activated his map. “You know the way from here?” Ana asks.
    He nods. “I pulled it up just a few minutes ago. There aren’t a lot of different path options at this point.”
    They are following a narrow, dusty path that winds through the rugged landscape for a mile or two before disappearing into a dark bank of trees: the Dead Forest, which dominates the near horizon. Beyond the forest, the Timor Mountains stand like a row of sentinels blocking their view of the sea. Ana thinks back to her own bird’s-eye view of the route. Todd is right. There’s just one way to go forward.
    “Something else, though,” he says. He glances at her sideways. “This amnesia? I’m not sure how it is for you, but I do seem to know certain things about this planet—the terrain, the landscape, facts. You know?” He looks anxious, as if he’s begging her to tell him his condition makes some kind of sense.
    “It sounds a little like my muscle memory,” Ana says. “My body does its own thing sometimes, before my mind even catches on.”
    “Who knows how this stuff works?” he says.
    Ana feels a grin pulling at