″A Clean Escape″ is a 1985

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

short story by American writer

John Kessel John Joseph Vincent Kessel (born September 24, 1950) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, '' Good News From Outer Space'' (1989), ''Corrupting Dr. Nice'' ...

. The story was first published in ''

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...

'' in May 1985, and later adapted into a play by author in 1986. It features a psychiatrist attempting to cure a special patient of his amnesia. Slowly, as the patient regains his memory, more and more secrets are revealed about who this person is and the truth about their civilization as a whole. The story was adapted by

Sam Egan Sam Egan is a journalist, and a screenwriter and producer for television. Career His credits include writing and producing for such shows as '' Quincy, M.E.'', ''The Incredible Hulk'', '' The Fall Guy'', ''Northern Exposure'', ''The Outer Limit ...

as the script for the first episode of ''

Masters of Science Fiction ''Masters of Science Fiction'' is a television anthology series by some of the producers of '' Masters of Horror''. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007, at 10PM for a run of four episodes. It was originally scheduled to run in six parts, b ...

'', which first aired August 4, 2007. A psychiatrist is treating a weapons manufacturer with

anterograde amnesia In neurology, anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories after the event that caused amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact. ...

, whose memories reboot once every 12 hours, leading him to believe he has just left his family to go to work but has been sent to the company shrink for evaluation. In reality however, much, much more time has passed than the viewer is originally led to believe. As the patient's memories are slowly becoming untangled, showing hints at a corporate conspiracy, but the actual truth of the matter is much worse than that. The corporate power play did happen, but that was decades ago - in reality, the patient had used his business connections to launch a presidential campaign, leading to him being elected

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

. An international incident leads to him deploying an experimental defense technology his company had developed, which proves far stronger than intended, causing a nuclear chain reaction that destroys the majority of humanity. The patient and the psychiatrist are in fact in a government bunker deep beneath the ruins of the United States, and the patient's amnesia is a psychological response to finding the charred remains of his family in the ruins of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

. The psychiatrist, having also lost her family in the disaster, and dying of cancer caused by radiation exposure, has clung to life only to force her patient to accept the truth. Having seen it happen, she commits suicide. The next day, her successor meets with the patient again, whose mind has once again rebooted to that same morning, decades ago.

External links

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Review of the episode (La Lamina Corredora)
1986 plays Science fiction short stories 1985 short stories Short stories by John Kessel Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Short stories adapted into plays {{1980s-sf-story-stub