She watched as the tool highlighted recurring terms with clinical precision. He wasn’t just remembering words; he was remembering work. Helen cross-checked his fragments against geological literature, finding them again and again in papers about geothermal anomalies and seismic risk. The pattern was too specific to ignore.
By the third night, her curiosity had tipped into obsession. She compiled a list of his clearer terms and sent them—without context—to a contact in the university’s Earth Science department. “Any recent research jump to mind when you see this vocabulary?” she asked. The reply came within hours.