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close enough to smell Kioshi. His body is perfumed with the comforting smells
of fish sauce and lotus seed paste. Mai takes a deep, steadying breath of the
scent. "These flames, are they a hologram?"
"No, oyabun." The Korean shakes his head. "The Buddha himself put her name on
the wall."
"Buddha? This is what Takahashi says?"
"No, the police. The news. Everyone." The Korean's gaze takes in the cluster
of remaining Maizombies nervously. "There are plenty of witnesses who swear to
it, oyabun. When Takahashi shot& at the target, the target transformed into
the Buddha and wrote Mai's name on the wall."
"That's crazy," Mai whispers into the lapel of Kioshi's suit coat.
"You are the chosen one," the zombie-girl holding the necklace shouts. "Buddha
has enlightened you!"
A sharp, thin knife appears in the Korean's fist. Kioshi raises a warning
hand, "No," he says softly. His arm tightens around us. "Let's go inside."
I am relieved at Kioshi's suggestion. I would like to get out of Mai's nexus
and back to the LINK.
"Yes," Mai says, echoing my thoughts. "Let's get Page out of my head. I can
hardly think with Page taking up all this space."
"Yes, of course. You must be exhausted. You've never carried an AI this long
before." Kioshi nods to the Korean. "Come with us. You will tell us more of
what happened."
"Uh, that's another thing, oyabun. There is someone in the office to see you."
Kioshi shakes his head. He removes his sunglasses to rub at the space between
his eyes. "This is not a good time for visitors." When he looks at the Korean,
I am surprised again by the lightness of his eyes. They are a pale blue, like
the sky.
"Yes, oyabun, I know. But this man was very insistent."
"Who is it?"
"He calls himself Mouse."
Chapter 37 Morningstar, the Adversary
The sky opened up above the empty city of Mina, Saudi Arabia, and I fell.
Trying to flap wings no longer there, I cried out in anguish and hatred. I hit
the ground, shoulders first, rolled down a steep, cobblestone incline, and my
belly smacked into a white stone pillar. I lay curled around the pillar,
unmoving. My whole body felt crushed. Through the pain, I could feel the hot
sun beating on my naked back.
I let out a hiss of pain, and, for a brief moment, I could see the steam of my
breath the coldness of Hell having stayed with me.
I looked up the length of the sandy brick obelisk. My Father, it is said, has
a sense of humor. I supposed there was some twisted joke in jettisoning me
here, at the base of one of the three fifty-foot-high pillars that represented
me during the hajj. It was here that, in a month or so, hundreds of thousands
of Muslims would gather to symbolically stone me. Though workers were supposed
to remove all the pebbles tossed by the pilgrims and return them to the desert
between Muzdulifah and Arafat, a few of the missed offerings pressed sharply
into my flesh as if to say, "Get it, get it?"
"Yes, very funny. Ha. Ha," I said, shutting my eyes against the relentless
gray-white of the cloudless sky. A tear pooled at the corner of my eye. My
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newly formed flesh did a remarkable job of mimicking the pain of cracked ribs,
torn ligaments, and a dislocated shoulder. At least there was no bullet hole.
Yes, I should be grateful, I thought, as I tasted the metallic tang of blood
in my saliva yes, thanks ever so much, Dad.
The memory of the split second I had spent in Hell threatened to break my
spirit the way the fall broke my body.
When I rebelled in Heaven, my supreme willfulness created Hell. Hell was the
physical manifestation of the empty space of my soul separated from God bitter
cold, desolate, and so very, very alone. Close enough almost to feel Their
loving presence, but forever closed off from it. A tear streaked down my face.
The wetness froze against my cheek, only to melt again in the desert heat.
"Bastard," I said through gritted teeth. Righting myself with a groan, I
pushed against the man-made cobblestone basin around the pillar. I wobbled on
my raw and scraped knees. I clenched my jaw against the pain and snapped my
shoulder back into place. I'd be damned if I'd give Them the satisfaction of
seeing me beaten although, in a way, I already was.
Though it was true that I had made Hell in my own image, God was omniscient
there as He was in Heaven. Which meant the jig was up. Any secrets I might
have been keeping to myself here on earth, where freewill canceled out God's
omniscience, were now exposed to the enemy, the Hosts of Heaven.
In a word, I was fucked.
I was also naked as a jaybird. When I incinerated my body in the Tokyo
restaurant, I left behind my clothes and earthly belongings. Right now, I
missed the wrist-phone and external LINK especially.
With muscles trembling from the effort, I pulled myself out of the pit. Sweat
and sand stung in the numerous cuts and scrapes on my arms, knees, and back. I
had to stop and take a breather at the top of the incline. I laid my head down
in my arms.
"Merciful Allah!"
I looked up to see a horrified man and an unimpressed camel. If I had to
guess, I would say he was a Bedouin. He wore long flowing robes of black and
white and a turban. A skin suit of deep blue, no doubt protection from the
Medusa glass, covered his face and hands.
He reached out a hand to me. "So, it's true. You are a man. I saw you fall
from the sky," he said in Arabic through a filter in the face mask. "How is
this possible?"
I took his hand, and let him help me to my feet. I scanned the horizon. Other
than his camel, he was alone.
"You're lucky I found you here," he said. "There will be no one in this city
for months, and the desert is very unforgiving, especially since the Medusa.
Luckily, we are not far from Mecca. Come, let me take you there."
When he averted his eyes at my nakedness, I grabbed his head between my hands
and gave it a twist. I heard his neck crack. My shoulder throbbed from the
effort, but he died instantly, and, I noted happily, bloodlessly. I stripped
him of his clothes while his camel watched with big, brown doe eyes. She
grunted when I kicked his naked body into the pit, but didn't resist when I
took her reins.
The Hilton in Mecca had everything I needed, including an external LINK [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]