"I told you, my situation isn't exactly the same as David's." Schiller spoke somewhat helplessly. He turned, took a box of cookies from a nearby drawer, broke one apart, and pointed at the cracked pieces and fallen crumbs. "This is me."
Then he pointed at several different cookies in the box. "This is David."
"But David's personalities also evolved from different fragments of his memories," Charles said.
Schiller shook his head. "But they've already evolved into complete personalities, with their own traits and memories. They don't see themselves as a whole with the other personalities. They don't even consider themselves the same kind. That's significantly different from me."
"Still, I agree with you. Since they came from the same person's memories and received the same kind of energy, there must be similarities between them, and that energy must contain traces of David."
"The quickest and most convenient method would naturally be to reclaim their energy directly, then identify the similar parts. But you believe that might go against David's wishes, so there may be another way."
"What is it?"
Schiller considered it. "When David broke apart, he gave his energy to his memory fragments. Even in death, he didn't want his memories to vanish. That means David must love those memories, and keeping them alive has become his obsession."
"Perhaps David wouldn't react if one or two personalities were in danger. But if many personalities faced the threat of disappearance, the David hidden within their consciousness would probably gather together on his own to stop that danger."
Charles seemed to understand. "So rather than us looking for David, we should let David come looking for us?"
"Exactly." Schiller nodded. "You said Moira was building some kind of machine that could reclaim the energy of all the personalities. I think that's