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says, and winks off-line.
The Dragon looks at me. "Was that so evil?"
"It was hand waving. You didn't address her concern at all. You promised
nothing."
The dragon gives me a soft smile and says, "It is sometimes a mystery to this
one that you passed the Turing test."
"I know how to lie," I say.
"Yes," the Dragon says before I can continue. "But you rarely know when to
lie."
I show her the image of me crossing my arms in front of my chest. "I was going
to say that I prefer not to. Especially in matters of religion. I don't want
to encourage the zombies."
"Hmmmm," the Dragon says, taking a long, thoughtful sip of her tea. I can
smell jasmine. "Why they chose you is also a mystery. This one is the daughter
of their savior, but they don't play their messiah game with her. They come to
you and also ignore your father & who should be like another god to them.
Perhaps there is something to your rude innocence that they find charming."
"Now who's being a little too honest?"
The dragon laughs. It's a strangely girlish giggle from such an imposing
beast. "This one means no offense. The truth is that you're always so
conscientious about not being evil. This one accepts evil as part of life even
a necessary one. You & you always fight it, even when it is a small thing.
Even when evil might be goodness in disguise."
I look at the coffee cup that a waitress avatar deposited at my elbow when we
first appeared in this interface. I touch the ceramic and get the information:
hot. In real time, the untouched coffee would be cooling by now. I fiddle with
the code, figuring in a script for the heat dissipation.
Noticing my distraction, the Dragon sighs. "Are you upset?"
I shake my head no, but continue to concentrate on fixing the coffee. "I'm
confused," I admit.
"Why are you so upset about the chaos in us? What got you thinking about
that?"
The dragon is playing her favorite game now. She loves to try to guess my
feelings, to act the psychoanalyst. I give her a sour look, but I can feel my
knotted code untangling. "I think my father may be plotting world domination
again."
The dragon laughs. It is not a human sound, but more like water gurgling over
rocks. "Again? How delightful."
"Yes, again," I say glumly. "Victory says the code at Temple Rock is his.
Other people believe it too. & It's all over the news, and "
"Victory again." She sounds uncustomarily curt. I can almost hear the angry
thrum of the Dragon's processors buzzing like a bee. She doesn't even bother
to refresh her self-image. The Dragon stands perfectly still like a
photograph. I peek underneath the LINK interface and her internal structures
are pulsing wildly.
A thought hits me. "You're jealous."
The dragon huffs. "It was her birth pangs that killed my mother. I dislike the
creature. That is all."
I don't think so. This is one of those times that I wish I still had the
memories I sacrificed for the love bomb.
"Did you call?"
Victory materializes out of thin ether to stand beside our table. Her black
hair is tucked into a precise braid, and her eyes glint like quicksilver.
"This is Victory," the Dragon remarks dryly.
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"Yes," Victory says, and offers the handshake protocol.
The Dragon's eyes whirl and spark, and her whiskers lie flat against her
cheeks. She sneers, showing off razor-sharp teeth. "Murderess," she hisses,
just before she pounces.
"DON'T COUNT MOUSE OUT" SAYS JOI
Hijacker Ties to "Gog"?
Agnostic Press (April 2083)
New York, New York At a press conference at the Jewish Order of the
Inquisition's headquarters, Miriam Stone, lead researcher in the well-received
independent study into the hijacking of Temple Rock, countered arguments today
that wire wizard Christian El-Aref, a.k.a. "Mouse," is not capable of the
firepower necessary to assassinate an Inquisitor. "He has a whole army behind
him," said Stone. She produced a long list of associations gathered by
worldwide law-enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and even the Inquisition's own International Police files that strongly tie
Mouse to Russia.
"One of these reports suggests that Mouse recently held the office of
secretary of the economy in Russia. Even his lawyer is a Russian," said Stone,
referring to Davydko Chistyakov, lawyer and longtime spokesperson for both
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