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"I’m not sure how much you’ve been briefed on the Mortality Doctrine, but I assu you ain--"was the first exa successfully ient, but his consciousness, his intelligence, histhat makes hiues and I are ready to share vital inforroan a little My colleagues? Bryson just stared out at the audience, his thoughts well hidden

Sarah pressed on, picking up steam as she went "We visited a toithin the Slee--within the VirtNet that was almost completely empty of players And the onesseemed troubled or emotionless We witnessed a lady who’d been attacked by soitally rip her apart The next thing we knew …"

Sarah went on and on, her confidence growing as she spoke, as if she’d done this a thousand ti the boss at VNS someday He had no doubts that she could do it Piece by piece, she told the agents--most of whom seemed rapt with attention--all the details of what she, Michael, and Bryson had seen, what they’d been through From the destruction of the town to the purple sea to the h to build a picture of Kaine and what he’d been doing Michael listened intently but found his thoughts wandering froent Weber The woma

"… were able to trace the code back to see just howit, we don’t know Another thing he’s doing is taking over co financial ent is accu, Michael thought She really did sound like a professional Someone tried to interrupt Sarah to ask a question and she told hi

She continued, saving the best for last "After all the coding we asseent Weber--we knohere Kaine is And I don’this virtual food, or where he’s sitting, schesure everyone was listening "We knohere Kaine’s central prograents, and Michael couldn’t help but feel that surge of pride once again How educated were these people? How experienced? Howfor Kaine, ever since back when they still thought he was an actual ga three punk teenagers who’d found hiy He had to fight hard to keep a smile off his face

"We knohere it is," Sarah continued "We found his source code, his intelligence One would think it’d be part of--or near to, at least--the massive array of code that makes up the VirtNet’s structure itself, so that he could easily be wherever he needed, whenever he wanted, but that’s not the case"

Another pause, and Michael wondered if she was ha it up just a bit too much And then she finally said the one sentence that probably would’ve sufficed froame He’s inside Lifeblood Deep"

Another flurry of questions and conversation erupted around the chamber Michael heard a tap-tap-tap behind hi toward the podiu a small remote device She pushed a button just as she reached Sarah’s side and suddenly the rotating globe above them vanished, replaced by an aerial, three-di in toward one section Standing beneath it, and so close, sent Michael’s sto He quickly looked away since he already knehat it was

Don Atlanta Zeroing in on a s no one would ever think twice about as they passed it Kaine had hidden his virtual hoht under the virtual equivalent of VirtNet Security’s noses He’d probably done it just to , but it ent seemed to learn all his moves from old films

"Kaine’s presence is felt all over the Sleep," Sarah said, not bothering to correct herself with the more proper term this time She was too ent, no ram, and he’s still ra is centrally located somewhere, just like any other He’s hidden it well But my friends and I have beco the sea of code we just escaped fro it with all our other experiences, ere able to construct a back door to his horammed him in the first place?" someone yelled froed, because it was a guess at best

"We don’t really know," she said "But it see of the Internet age Progra toward sentience ever since, from e can tell" She cleared her throat and hesitated, obviously worried that they’d gotten off track "Now back to his code’s location …"

The giant i in question--a sed between two skyscrapers Being Lifeblood Deep, Atlanta was an exact replica of the real deal, and Kaine’s ho That was the only reason it hadn’t been deue Tangent

"Because he’s spotted in the Sleep all the time," Sarah continued, "I don’t think there’s any way Kaine has used the Mortality Doctrine on hi done before he dares do it So we’re pretty sure he’s here"