Dr. Celia Tan asked Eli to describe the last time the room had seemed unfamiliar.
He sat in a screening office at the hospital network, with Tessa beside him and a consent form on the table. The form identified the clinical team that would receive the full record and the limited information the sponsor and selection officials would receive. Eli had read it with Nora before the appointment.
“I was speaking to Tessa,” he said. “A memory fragment seemed to overlap what she was saying. I answered as though I was somewhere else.”
“How long?”
“Seconds, as far as we could tell. I was confused afterward.”
“Did you know at the time that it was a fragment?”
“No. Tessa noticed I wasn’t following her.”
Tan wrote the answer. “You can stop or decline any question. I need enough information to assess safety, but you don’t have to identify another person whose private experience appears in a memory.”
