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"Why do I have to get shot?"
"You had it coming, really," she murmured. He shrugged. "At least, it's only
temporary now. If I get killed, it's no big deal, not any more."
"It is to me. I'm not used to this place yet."
He smiled sympathetically. "And the job does need doing."
"Then why aren't you doing it?"
"Working, you mean? Oh, I am."
"Not unless you're a gigolo."
When his laugh drowned her out, she poured what was left of her drink--ice and
all--into his naked lap. Laughing even louder, he rolled off the edge of the
dock into the water. Then he cupped his palm and sent a sparkling sheet of
spray arching onto the dock. "What ... ?" she spluttered. "Had to rinse the
dock off, didn't I? If I sat in that stuff it might turn John Thomas into an
alcoholic, and he has enough vices already."
Now it was her turn to laugh. The bright sun was already drying the dock's
ancient planks to their normal bleached appearance. It would do as much to
her, even if she did not choose to exercise her new skills.
When her late husband climbed back onto the dock, she eyed him with a grin.
"Want me to dry him out for you?"
"It's no use, you know." He lay back down beside her. "He likes the sauce too
much."
"What sauce?"
"Saucy, aren't you?" He laughed once more and turned toward her. She met his
lips with hers. A moment later she sighed. "I wish we wanted more than ..."
"Just a kiss?"
"It'll do for now." She touched the side of his head, ruffled his hair, and
added, "Don't edit out that gray. I like the way you look." He still wore his
late-forties image, but leaner, fitter, stronger. "So do I.
You, I mean. Old men like to play with little girls."
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"Little! I wasn't this big in my real thirties. Except ..." She patted
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her hips, which had indeed been larger when she was meat and young. She still
remembered the pain of dieting. "Last night you wanted ..." She had already
found the hang of regulating the age of her virtual body, and even its degree
of padding. He had produced a handful of small scrolls. "ITS," he had said.
"Image transformation routines, more versatile than that general purpose thing
Marvin issued you. Swallow them all." And then she had been able to be more
selective in what she changed, to enlarge parts of her at will, or shrink, or
tighten. Psychic plastic surgery. Plastic psychic surgery. Whatever. "Were
those ITS from the Image Shop?"
He shook his head vigorously. "No way, Rosa. And you're just right, right
now."
She set her glass down beside his. Instantly, both were once more full.
"You said you're working. Right now?"
"It's easy to do more than one thing at a time here."
"Like Marvin? Or ... ?"
"Yeah. Duplicate yourself. It's just copying a computer file. Then you send
the dopple off to be an accountant or drive a truck or whatever while you stay
in bed."
"There were times." Rose shook her head. She had been an accountant for so
long, and there had been so many mornings ... Albert had kept a bag of marbles
in the freezer. He grinned as if he could read her mind.
"I'll never get another chance to use them."
"Don't even think about it!"
"We could make a couple of dopples to do it. Or maybe just one, of you."
"She'd still suffer, wouldn't she?"
"Not if you don't let her."
For a moment, Rose looked confused. But then her face cleared and she said,
"You can edit the file."
He nodded. "Sometimes the job is one that bores you stiff. So you make a
'you' that can stand it, or even enjoy it."
"But I'm not a masochist! That wouldn't really be me!"
He gave her an exaggerated leer. "It would be close enough. Like a state of
mind, only one that can walk around. And you can keep contact, enough to keep
tabs on what it's doing and thinking. You can even merge with it, updating
both sets of memories."
"If that's optional, then you must be able to cut it loose entirely.
Make it a new individual, like a twin or a clone."
She looked intrigued. "How ... ?"
"Uh-uh. New residents can't afford to dopple. You'll have to do the work for a
while. Then, once you've banked enough data energy ..."
"Though I suppose you don't have to. If you enjoy your work, I mean."
"It can still be convenient," Albert said. "Sometimes you have to be in two
places at once. Or you don't want to decide between two different careers, so
you dopple and pursue them both."
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Rose propped herself on one elbow to stare into his face. "But how do you do
it?"
"You need the right IT. But you can't get that until you can afford it."
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"Can't I even make a little one?"
Looking thoughtful, he held out one hand. Light seemed to pool in his palm,
sparkle, and congeal, and there was a miniature Albert, as naked as the large,
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