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Extractions. That’s how today started. There has been made a rather tight schedule for me.

Hamilton invited me yesterday for lunch in a delicate facility at Portland’s yacht harbour. Money is clearly back in town. Hamilton thought it was time to share our thoughts. That’s how he described the meaning of this appointment. He was very considerate and asked me several questions which I had to answer frankly. For example if I wanted to stay, now some people had left. And if I still trusted the organization. I told him that I definitely wanted to stay. And concerning my trust in Braintec I told him that I was disappointed in the way he handled Rosanne. That issue was one of the things he wished to discuss with me. And Sonja. That was obvious. The exodus from Braintec was concerning him. I told him I know nothing more about Sonja than he does. That she’s still missing and a bit confused according to me.

About Rosanne I have been very honest. I have persuaded him that it’s for certain people with a tendency obviously some kind of addiction to get an upload every couple of days. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as it are nice memories. He agreed on that one, but it couldn’t be right when we were going to write down our own “prescriptions”. Too many uploads can putt someone off his stroke. Yes, prescriptions was the word he used. Even he saw the uploads as some kind of drug or medicine.

About myself I have been honest as well. That I longed for a new upload every time. What I felt when I needed one. The emptiness that needed to be filled up. The nicely drifting away into something not yourself. The expanding of my whole being into a multiple character. About the leaps in time you were able to make. About the experience suddenly being in another body, man, woman, child, old. Hamilton listened intensely and was quiet for a long time after I finished. He hesitantly broke the silence when he said: “Have you ever spoke to Sheila about this, about these experiences?” I said that I mentioned it to Sheila and to Jessica as well, but that only Jessica asked me once what it was doing to me and what it meant to me. If he wanted it to be further investigated, then absolutely not by Sheila. I said to him: “It is a matter of trust if you talk about this with someone else. And I don’t feel that trust with Sheila.” Hamilton said he could understand that. After some hesitation he added: “It seems to be my job to recollect all the sheep across the whole world.” This was the father behind the salesman speaking. That was obvious. “If you adopt such an attitude I give you a change to convince both Jessica and Rosanne to come back. “

About Rosanne he said that she had been invaluable for the project. About her power of persuasion to recruit new test subjects. And her commercial skills. “After all it was she who managed to make contacts with the Dutch Ministry of Defense for a very special project,” said Hamilton. “But that’s not the only reason why I would like to have her back here, she has so much experience. That is invaluable for us.” “What is preventing you?” I said. “E-mail, write, apologize and tell her how you really think about her and let her know that you’re really worried about her health.” “Speaking about health,” Hamilton said. “For you we must arrange a very strict schedule for the uploads and extractions”. “I suggest: an extraction every two days and an upload every third day, take it or leave it.” I needed some time to think about this. He was suddenly very stern, as the father of the company. I accepted his suggestion anyway without having a discussion. Finally he had the best in mind for all of us, not only for the company, but clearly for us. That is what this conversation was showing.

When we walked outside at the car park after the conversation I asked: "Have you ever thought about having an implant yourself?” “Yes, of course, several times. Especially when I saw your enthusiastic faces after a successful upload.” “Why don’t you have one yet?” I asked him. “Maybe later, when I’m old. At this moment I have too much on my mind.” We smiled when we stepped in and drove back to Braintec.

We didn’t spoke about Steward and neither about Dr. Tachikawa. That made me thinking. Was it coincidence, did it matter? I kept it the way it was. That Hamilton wasn’t a bad guy. He wanted the best for us.