true hallucinations.htm - Shroomery

true hallucinations.htm
Breakfast was another story. Whatever contribution the beer had made to the evening's conversation it must have been minimal,
because within a few minutes of sitting down to breakfast he was fully wound up all over again.
"Last night you spoke of your ambitions to visit the Amazon. This is a commendable dream. But believe me, I know the Amazon well, a
jungle the size of a continent; it is not like these islands here. Here you do well to stay with the priests and to make your expeditions, one
week, two weeks into the forest. But in Amazonas to do serious work you will have sustain yourself in the field for perhaps months. You will
need a boat, equipment, bearers. Believe me, I know. It is not for shoemakers. Therefore I make you a proposal. You have said your work is
nearly completed here, that you are going soon to Japan to earn money for South America. Give up this plan and do instead the following.
FEMMI, as it turns out, has a deep interest in the Brazilian Amazon. Two years ago I was part of a resource assessment team that made some
interesting discoveries. As it happens we are sending our people back for a serious second look. Our teams are thirteen in number and some of
these are natural scientists such as yourself. The new team is nearly formed but Bock-ermann, if he approves of you, would accept my
recommendation that you join the team as the thirteenth member. You will be well paid, and our expectations are only that you would
complete the monograph that you have already planned. You see, by having scientists with us we can write off part of our tax liability, and
anyhow we are believers in the worth of pure science. This plan must be cleared with Singapore, but if they agree then you would go there
nearly immediately. You would meet Bockermann. We give you dental check up, complete physical, new eyeglasses, two weeks of tennis to
get you physically in shape. The cruise liner Rotterdam will call in Singapore in one month. We will ship three speedboats specially outfitted,
all our equipment, and the team on the Rotterdam. In Rio you will continue training two weeks at the Krosnopolski Hotel, where they have
excellent tennis courts. And I tell you something else, my father's old cook is the chef there! We fatten you up some and then we give you
your dream of the Amazon. Well, what do you say?" He sat back, evidently very pleased with himself.
I was caught completely off-guard. He was right about the Amazon being difficult for one person. Wallace himself had said as much. He had
thrown in with the botanist Richard Spruce and the
discoverer of animal mimicry, Walter Henry Bates, in order to do his Amazon exploring. But I was not whom I must seem to Heintz. I was no
academic. I was an international fugitive with a price on my head. And also, I thought, what about my hippie girlfriend studying dance back
on Bali, who was assuming we would travel on to Japan together? To mention any obligation to another person seemed almost ungrateful in
the circumstance. And what about the Nazi connection? Did I really want to go off with a bunch of ex-SS types to the Amazonian rain forest?
On the other hand I was running out of money. And my lady friend had a penchant for torrid affairs carried on in my absence. As for the Nazi
matter, I was confused. I knew that Max Planck was supposedly the only person ever to stand up to Hitler, telling him to keep his hands off
the pure science of the Institute. Heintz had also gone far out of his way to let me know that his brother, also part of FEMMI, was married to
what he described as "a Nigerian lady so black she is almost blue," and his own choice of women was definitely non-Nordic.
I thought to myself. "Here is the knock of fate and opportunity. What now, McKenna?" I looked from his face to hers. They both seemed truly
expectant. "This is a generous offer, extraordinary really."
"Then you accept?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. You have chosen well. You are no shoemaker. This I like."
"Yes. Thank you. As you know, I am returning to Bali this afternoon. I have collections and obligations there that I must attend to. Also I
confess that I am without much money."
"This is no problem. Set your affairs in order in Bali. I will cable Singapore to arrange money for your air passage from Bali to the home
office. There is only one thing." At this his steely gaze became even harder and he fixed me in a glacial stare. "You must be interviewed by
Bockermann himself. He can see into the soul of a human being. If there is one iota of falsity in your character or your story he will detect it.
Then there is no deal. This is terribly important, we must have no shoemakers!" The schmiss had become an angry line once more.
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