The CD-ROM was missing.
“This unit you’re using? It’s not recording from the camcorder. It’s recording from memory —the memory of every video that ever passed through it. The previous owner’s home movies, the test patterns, the tech’s family birthdays. Everything. If you listen, you can hear them.”
The drive light flashed. The capture finished. On his desktop appeared a file: WEDDING_1999_COMPLETE.iso .
He connected the camcorder. The MiniDV tape contained grainy footage from 1999: his aunt in a white dress, his uncle laughing, a garden full of people who’d since moved away or passed on. Leo clicked “Capture.” The NPG whirred to life, sounding like a tiny jet engine.