Epilogue 345 FIRST LIFE Cathy and Deena had agreed to meet at the ’Circus. Deena had some business meeting in Coventry Street, so it would be a short walk for her, and Cathy just liked walking along Haymarket and then stopping at the Memorial fountain. She sat there by the fountain, a little away from the men at work who were fi xing something on the other side. There were lots of people, as usual. Cathy loved watching people. Early in her career she had tried doing portraits, but that was not her thing. The herbs were more beautiful, in a weird way more personal, more alive than humans. She thought she would not be able to exhaust that area in a hundred years, even though the archives showed that she had already scanned more than 2 000 of her works on that topic, with more waiting in the attic. She did like people in general, though a little less intensely those folks with their virtual glasses, or even those peeking at the world through their phones. Like that kid there in the corner, chuckling to himself as he pointed his phone around. What was it that drove people into 3space? Was the real world already not good enough? Just look at that marvellous sophisticated rich tapestry of human life everywhere! Why would anyone want to escape to that clean, sterile, cold virtual life, was simply beyond her. Deena’s work was different. Even though she was building 3D models, she made a point of not including humans, not a single silly blocky pixely avatar, and somehow this very thing made her buildings appear all the more humane. Strange, but that’s how it worked. Still no Deena. Not to hurry. More 3lifers there, crossing the street. Steve had proposed that Deena and Cathy get busy designing those virtual spaces for the 3lifers, which could even mean quite some income. Deena seemed half curious but Cathy had dismissed the idea. She did not want to touch that piece of crap. Their web shop was already enough to worry about. And . . . oh no – the backup! She had forgotten to ask Steve about the backup. Her PC had reported an error upon her last scan job. What should she do? Steve, help!