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?????: Oh perfect, you're awake!

?????: How are you feeling?

/ /

?????: Of course, of course... you have been waiting for a long time!

?????: My name is Helen, I am the founder of the Online Afterlife. It is a pleasure to finally meet you.

HELEN: I don't usually get to come in and see patients, but...

HELEN: ...After your procedure we shall be seeing a lot more of each other!

HELEN: I thought I would come in and go over a few things before we begin.

HELEN: Are you excited? You must be ecstatic!

/ /

HELEN: Of course, of course...

HELEN: Well, on behalf of myself and my company...

HELEN: We would like to thank you for choosing to move on with us.

HELEN: :)

HELEN: Now, there is no need for you to feel worried about your procedure today!

HELEN: To help you to adjust when you wake, I will be present, as well as the team that has treated you today.

HELEN: When you feel ready, we can spend a bit more time looking further into your case, and from there, begin to get you settled into your Online Afterlife.

HELEN: You must be excited, yes?

HELEN: We have your requested digital estate - containing your most valuable files and profiles - safely secure in your designated server waiting for you!

HELEN: Before you know it, you will be reconnected with everything Online that you have no doubt been missing. I am excited for you to begin continuing your history!

HELEN: :)

HELEN: But first, I need you to sign this contract that would've been mentioned to you during your meetings.

/ /

HELEN: :)!

HELEN: Oh! Silly me... it seems I've forgotten to bring it with me!

HELEN: One moment darling! I will be right back!

?????: Hello. My name is Barnaby.

BARNABY: Thank you for choosing to move on with us.

BARNABY: I am here to check that everything is as it should be.

BARNABY: In preparation for your procedure, I mean.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: Everything seems fine to me.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: How are you feeling?

/ /

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: I see.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: You've met Helen, it seems. I saw her leave before I came in.

BARNABY: Did she have you sign a contract?

Yes, I've signed it! /

BARNABY: .....!

BARNABY: I see.

BARNABY: So... she went to retrieve it.

BARNABY: It might be a while before she returns.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: So...is this what you want?

BARNABY: To move onto an Online Afterlife, I mean.

BARNABY: Instead of a Physical one.

Yes. / /

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: As you are more than aware...

BARNABY: ...The Online Afterlife gifts you the ability to not only continue your previous life, but relive and rebirth it as you see fit through cyberspace.

BARNABY: You'll be able to re-experience memories that you hold dear through your files, profiles, and online footprint.

BARNABY: You can mingle with anyone in any state of living as long as they're Online, and be able to keep up with happenings in the world in real time.

BARNABY: There becomes no need to fret about trying to source these things as you would have to in a Physical Afterlife. Everything you need is at your metaphorical fingertips, whatever the Internet has to offer you is yours.

BARNABY: You don't need to wait for your friends and family to move on - to them you appear just as you have always done on their screens.

BARNABY: There are no restrictions either - we would never limit what you have access to in your Afterlife, as you will have read -

BARNABY: Your Quality of Afterlife is of utmost importance to us.

BARNABY: You are free to do as you please. There'd be no need to worry about time, outside responsibility, or interruption.

BARNABY: The Online Afterlife gives you a life that is truly endless...

BARNABY: It sounds like an amazing promise, doesn't it?

BARNABY: Spending eternity in an Online Afterlife, I mean.

Yes, it sounds good to me. /

BARNABY: The Quality of Afterlife agreement is clear, in that there are to be no restrictions when it comes to what you have access to in the Online Afterlife.

BARNABY: You can continue to browse sites you will have done previously, and you are free to explore the net - no matter how deep you choose to go - and experience a lifetime of constant discovery.

BARNABY: The only barriers are passwords and other blockers, monetary or otherwise, which are unfortunately outside of our control.

/

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: Hm.

BARNABY: I am not necessarily concerned about that.

BARNABY: Your choosing to do things that may be potentially... problematic, I mean.

BARNABY: My concern...

BARNABY: My concern is that you may be the type of person who is vulnerable to existing Online only in places that have been developed to use your psychology against you.

BARNABY: Places that use it in order to keep you there for as long as possible - not for your gain, but rather, for their own.

BARNABY: Should you be that type of person, you perhaps already know what I am talking about, as it is something you have experienced.

BARNABY: Perhaps...you have already spent much of your previous life there.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: I don't have access to your case file...

BARNABY: ...But if you have profiles that already exist in these spaces, then this will become much harder to resist and - due to the nature of the Online Afterlife - much harder to control.

/

BARNABY: The Online Afterlife provides no off-switch.

BARNABY: There is no transfer to the Physical Afterlife, should you grow tired of the Online Afterlife.

BARNABY: There is no exit, no way out.

BARNABY: The internet is a vast space, of course...

BARNABY: There is plenty of space on the internet to explore and create.

BARNABY: This is proving to be more difficult to inspire year on year, however...

BARNABY: I have witnessed an unfortunate slow monetisation and homogenisation of the Internet and it's content.

BARNABY: It continues as more sites are reconfigered with the intent for a prolonged usage rather than a usage that is beneficial to the user.

BARNABY: It will become unavoidable as your files start to decay and become obsolete, as your profiles and favourite spaces are shut down or changed in favour of profit - so much so that it could alienate you.

BARNABY: As a result of this, you would become cut off from community, information, and history, and be forced to exist among billions who share a space that is controlled by so few. These things are very worrying. Does this not concern you?

No one can control the Internet. /

BARNABY: Helen's Online Afterlife is not a space that is entirely separate, it relies on what already exists.

BARNABY: She has not listened to me. These concerns should've been a priority.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: The server will keep you online until...the server is no more.

BARNABY: Much like the Physical Afterlife, immortality is not necessarily a guarantee.

BARNABY: Yes, you will exist in this state of living for far longer than your current, but this time is still finite.

BARNABY: Helen, however, is finding ways to ensure this inevitability will not come for a long, long time. To ensure immortality is more or less achieved.

BARNABY: Even if it means finding a way to take the Online Afterlife beyond this planet when it cannot sustain us any longer.

BARNABY: ..........

BARNABY: You know yourself better than I or Helen ever will.

BARNABY: You know your mind, your patterns of behaviour. You know what will happen to yourself should you experience an extensive amount of time Online.

BARNABY: ...I am concerned it will not give you the Quality of Afterlife you were perhaps expecting.

/ The things that you are concerned about will not affect me.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: I can help you out.

BARNABY: I can get you out of this procedure, I mean.

BARNABY: As you said, you've not signed anything yet.

BARNABY: They won't notice that you've gone.

BARNABY: Helen won't notice.

BARNABY: I can make sure of that. We will probably see hundreds of patients today. She won't notice.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: My apologies...

BARNABY: It seems I have spoken out of term. Please disregard what I have said to you.

BARNABY: It was unprofessional of me.

BARNABY: We are ready to begin.

Are you ready to move on?

Yes. /

BARNABY: I see.

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: .....

BARNABY: Everything is ready.

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