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Kioshi. The longer Page stayed inside Mai's body, the more he learned and
experienced thus the larger his files grew. My guess was Kioshi would either
hold Page for some kind of ransom, or hope to charm or trick Page into
becoming part of the Toyoma family. Knowing Kioshi as I did, I guessed the
latter. He could be very persuasive. Witness me, sitting here, watching over
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his possessions like some kind of cyber guard dog. "Page, what did you do
with Mai?"
Page waved Mai's hand dismissively. "She's asleep. Maybe a little high . . .
maybe a lot high, but I wouldn't let her hurt the body. I needed to be able to
control it, so I could try to get out."
"I don't understand," I said, wishing that I could talk Mai or Page into going
into the restaurant. I needed coffee to think this hard before dawn.
Mai's fists pounded the brocade. "I'm being held hostage!"
A couple of the cleaning staff looked up at her hysterical words. I raised my
hands to show them it was okay, that I was trying to help. "Page, you have to
calm down. You're going to give Mai a heart attack."
"Serve Kioshi right. Kill off his girlfriend." Page scrunched Mai's face into
a fair approximation of a pout. It looked a bit forced or stiff. It was clear
that Page didn't have the more subtle motor control down entirely.
I rubbed my face with my hands. "Okay. So what's the problem? You've got
control of Mai. Why can't you just launch her LINK and zip out?"
Page pulled Mai's knees up to her chest. Resting her head on them, he wrapped
her arms around her legs. I could see Mai's polka-dot underwear. Page,
obviously, hadn't learned how to sit in the miniskirt Mai was wearing.
"Mai's a one-way," Page said. "Except to Kioshi. I've thought about calling
him up again, but the connection is tiny she doesn't even receive video. And,
well, if I went out that way, Kioshi would know I was escaping. I want to be
sneaky."
"How small? Have you tried compressing the file or maybe splitting it up?"
Mai's eyes narrowed. "You'll never find my soul thinking like that."
I ignored his snide comment. "I'm trying to help you, Page. Don't you have a
backup copy somewhere that you could activate?"
"It's the Dragon of the East who compulsively keeps old versions of herself.
But they're her ancestors. She worships them like that because they're dead."
"Are you saying you can't copy yourself?"
"What do you think I am? Paint by the numbers?"
I pointed a finger at him. "Have you ever tried? Has Mouse?"
Page tilted Mai's head to watch me out of the data jack. Slowly, Page shook
Mai's head.
"So what is it?" I asked. "Are you afraid of what it might mean if you're just
an easily copied program? Is pride holding you back?"
"Pride?" Her voice was like a whisper. "Why do you say that?"
I sat back into the chair. I played my most popular priest line. "You sound
like you already know the answer to that."
Mai's head shook. "No, I don't. What makes up a person exactly? I mean, if I
were to lose all my memories, would I still be me?"
"People suffer memory loss all the time with things like Alzheimer's."
Mai's legs dropped to the floor. "But, I'm not people, am I?"
"No," I said. "You're not."
Mai's face crumpled. A tear hovered at the corner of her eye. My peripheral
vision caught sight of a group of people coming into the hotel. Seeing Mai,
they stopped and whispered excitedly to one another.
"And you'd better wake up Mai. Her zombies are coming."
"It's okay. I was just leaving anyway."
That sounded just a bit too fatalistic. "Hold on," I said. "Where are you
going?"
"Out." He pouted again, this time using her face more realistically.
"Why don't I call you? You can come to me. My LINK works as well as anyone
else's," I lied. It would be a risk to open up my line long enough to get Page
inside, but he could easily live in my combat computer until I delivered him
to Rome. And maybe, with the right amount of persuasion, I could get Mouse to
the Vatican, too. Then I'd be in the clear. Mouse could tell the board of
inquiry that I didn't help him escape, and then I'd give him back Page. The
Pope could have a copy to search for a soul. Then everybody would be happy."
"Okay," Page said. "You sure you don't mind?"
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"I'll need Mai's personal number. I tried once before and got blocked."
"I think I can find that," Page said.
I smiled. "Then I'm happy to help."
The zombies were finding reasons to creep closer to where we were sitting.
They suddenly needed a brochure from the rack behind the sofa Mai's body
perched on, or to see the view out of the window beside me. I took Page by
Mai's arm. "We should go somewhere more private."
With a fierce glance at the zombies, I propelled Mai's body into the elevator.
One of the zombies tried to get on with us, but I pulled out my badge.
"Private," was all I had to say. The door closed on the zombie's disappointed
face. I imagined rumors of Mai's whereabouts would start spreading instantly.
As long as they didn't mention me, I didn't care.
I took Page to my room. "Why don't you lay her down? Let her wake up somewhere
comfortable."
"Oh, good idea."
Page dropped Mai's body onto the bed and nearly missed. Her neck turned at an
uncomfortable angle, half off the pillows. Her legs splayed out loosely,
hitching her skirt into a bundle. Her normal eye seemed glassy. Mai's skin
beaded with sweat, although the hotel kept the room well below seventy
degrees.
"Are you sure Mai is okay?"
"She'll be better once I'm out of her," Page said. "Then she can sleep it
off."
Page flopped Mai's arms and legs around like a rag doll. She looked just a bit
too much like a corpse in rigor mortis and I found I had to look away. So I
pretended to adjust the pillows on the other double bed. I sat down. When I
hazarded a glance, Page had arranged Mai to look more comfortable, but drool
leaked from her paling lips.
"Let's make this quick," I said for more reasons than my own. After getting
Mai's LINK address from Page, I added, "Okay. I'll call on three. Be ready."
Mai's eyes shut.
"One," I said, as I opened up a LINK window and started dialing. The second I
was online I could feel the presence of the Swiss Guard. "Two." The Guard
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