I have no words. This is just amazing.

Lovely beginning, but I got lost in the stream of memories due to the inclusion of the sci-fi moments. It’s all lovely really, and nicely executed, just that the balance of the recognizable with the fantastical was a bit off for my tastes.

I agree with THX about the sci-fi moments. “O’Riley flickering into code” still has me a bit puzzled. It’s not a good thing when a reader is thrown out of the story and forced to reread something.

Welllll… it is about an AI losing its identity. Kind of hard to leave out the SF there. If I’m not mistaken, Mickey’s crafting his story within the Halo universe, and although I have played the game on occasion, I am not really familiar with the details. So this is an uneducated guess at best.

I really enjoyed this story. The vagueness of the memories let the reader to insert their own memories – making for a far more emotional experience.