Chapters 14-16 Summary

Chapter 14 is dated February, 2051. Thomas Riemann is in his virtual environment watching news of a recent court case regarding the rights of copies. He follows the issue closely, since he has reason to be concerned should copies ever be legally considered a continuation of the flesh-and blood person they simulate. He had committed a crime while his flesh-and-blood body was alive.

Thomas goes over the crime in his mind. As a young man he had met a woman named Anna on a visit to Hamburg in 1983. He was the son of a wealthy bank president, she was a drug dealer. Soon he was returning to Hamburg to see her and taking her with him on trips around the world while hiding his affair from his conservative father.

Thomas was in love with Anna and was about to ask her to marry...