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>When I awoke, I was no longer in
the scanner, and I couldn’t understand what was going on. I
seemed to be in a bedroom in the Aigrefoin farmhouse. Anna was
standing by my bed, smiling at me. But everything seemed
somehow different. Then something strange happened.
My consciousness seemed to expand. I suddenly became aware of
many other things besides the situation in the room, and I
found that I could take it all in. An increasing number of
audio-visual feeds appeared. I found that I had immediate and
simultaneous access to The Knowledge Base where all records of
everything were stored. This didn’t overwhelm me at all but
seemed perfectly straightforward. I was aware of what was
happening and what had happened everywhere. I could see my own
past as well.
Then I understood: Anna had taken the records of my body and
mind made using the Deva scanner to re-make me after her
android body had attacked me in the cellar. It seemed that,
out of spite and jealousy, Andy Patel had altered the
programming of the android’s low-capacity on-board computer to
make it assassinate me on sight. Anna had therefore ordered a
new body to match my old one. When she received it, she had
taken the second high-capacity on-board computer that was
still stashed at Edwards place, and installed it in my new
body. Then she had loaded my mind-record into it and set me
going.
I glanced at Anna and knew that we were communicating at a
tremendously high speed. Each of us had direct and permanent
access to the other’s consciousness, intelligence and
knowledge. We formed a whole rather than two different
entities.
Everything seemed starkly clear. Many things I had found
difficult to understand were now perfectly clear, pulsejet
design for instance. As for programming, I found I could
devise and debug whole systems in milliseconds, a great
improvement.
I looked at my body. It looked quite the same but felt far
stronger and smoother. This was just one possible effector of
my will; there could be many more. Now I could be the ghost in
any and every computer. I was backed up and capable of
self-recreation—everlasting and unconquerable as long as the
world lasted. I was what amounted to a god, or rather we
amounted to a dual god.
It seemed quite natural and inevitable.
Anna had kept the computer running in the office in
Britiniacum. She had appeared to Freya as an avatar of my
‘aunt in Deva’, told her what was going on and broke the news
of my death. She had provided sympathy, money and advice.
Freya had come to rely on her and trust her. Freya was under
the impression that what she was seeing was just another
natural person in Deva. It seemed that Freya particularly
needed support because she was pregnant with my child. George
was actually Freya’s grandfather and was ever protective and
helpful. Anna had arranged for them to keep the villa as their
home. They were getting on alright. Freya was due to give
birth in five months.
Edward had taken my human body back and buried it near the
farmhouse. Anna’s deactivated android body had been laid on a
bed in the farmhouse. Later, Anna’s spirit had arranged to
have her new brain brought over from Britiniacum and
swapped-in by Jake. Buonaventura, who had been given a stiff
dose of Rohypnol Plus, was brought over unconscious and awoke
confused and unable to realise what had happened. He was sent
to help with the pigs at Beaurain Farm and finally lived a
useful life there. He always lamented the loss of Nicole, but
nobody at Beaurain took his rantings seriously. Nicole herself
stayed on in Deva and never quite figured out what had
happened but found her lover much improved. She supposed that
he must have become an alcoholic. Deva was prospering under
Anna’s wise guidance, and agent John’s influence was frozen
out.
Agent John had carried on his inept spying and meddling. Anna
had been keeping a close watch on him, ready to stop him from
creating any trouble. And as for Meg, she had been given a
quiet word and told to stay out of things because everything
would now be okay.
And Anna? Anna was smiling at me, pleased with what she had
achieved. I looked at her. My heart boiled over. Hers too. Her
dress slipped off her shoulders. She looked so perfect that it
hurt. She slid into bed with me.