Read Online The Facilitator by Sahara Kelly - Free Book Online Page B

continued, facilitations were completed, and nothing untoward occurred to upset the delicate balance, or remind Martine of the Taber incident. Johann had not spoken at all of it—their guts told them both that unguarded conversation was unwise. And dream-John seemed not to want to discuss the business.
    So Martine let it go, content to love and be loved, to explore new sexual adventures with a special man, to experience the pleasure of a fulfilling affair.
    She learned that he was as talented as she was in the matter of facilitation. Just how talented was made clear on the day he met her outside her patient’s room with a suggestion.
    “Mrs. Alder loves her great-granddaughter. She wants to see her in Venice.” He watched Martine’s face.
    “Hmm.” She blinked at him. “Okay. I can go with that. Why are you telling me this?”
    “Because the little girl hasn’t turned three yet. She wants to see her grown up with her own life before she dies. She wants to see her with her own husband.”
    “Very traditional.”
    “Mrs. Alder is a hundred and nineteen. I think she’s entitled.”
    Martine smiled. “Can’t argue with that.”
    “So here’s my suggestion. Let’s facilitate her together.”
    “Really? Together ? Double-team her?” Martine knew her eyes were probably popping out of her head at the unusual suggestion. “Is that even possible ?”
    “Theoretically, I think so. Yes.” His gaze was steady, his face expressionless. “I spent some time with R&D last week, talking over this very scenario. They’ve adapted some of the equipment for a dual interface. There’s no logical reason why it won’t work.”
    Martine considered the idea. “Interesting.”
    “We’d be charting new territory, Martine. But I reckon it would let us open up a crowd scenario. Right now, you know we can’t really handle more than a couple of people in the neural interface. It’s just too complex for one brain to manage. But here’s a chance to see if we can expand our horizons a bit. And R&D are drooling at the thought of all the data they’ll have to play with.”
    “Mrs. Alder’s family’s on board?”
    He nodded and passed her the small tablet with all the relevant information on it. She scanned it quickly, noting the approval checks scattered all over the electronic data. “Okay then. I’m good with trying this.”
    “Excellent.” He touched her shoulder briefly. “I’ll let the nurses’ station know, drop this off at the facilitation desk and meet you back here in ten minutes or so?”
    “Yessir.” She gave him a mock salute and a cocky grin. “Just enough time for a quick energy bar.”
    He winked and moved away as she turned for the rec room and the vending machines. An energy bar wasn’t a bad idea before a facilitation, if it was going to be straightforward.
    This was a new experience, but she didn’t expect it to be an unpleasant one. Johann was right. Most of her facilitations involved just her and the patient. The setting wasn’t difficult—extracted from various memory cells where images were stored in precise detail. Things like temperature, scents, colors—all nicely compartmentalized in the human brain, just waiting for the right knock on the door to come out and play.
    Her own image within the facilitation was also dictated by the patient, more or less. She was always female, of course. But her hair color, body type and so on…these were all at the whim of the customer.
    Where it got tricky was if somebody, like Mrs. Alder, wanted to spend their last moments in the middle of a crowd. Usually, they were persuaded to find another cherished memory and use that instead. It was just too much of a challenge for the facilitator’s brain and the facilitation equipment to generate a large number of people as well as create a unique setting.
    And, up until now, most departing patients seemed to prefer those last moments to be quiet, beautiful and shared by only two spirits…theirs and their