"Oh, you could probably just call that a welcome from the human race." Sorber replied curtly, trying to calm himself and uncertain as to whether the object of the frightening pursuit might have actually been his new companion. "I'd better take a look at the bumper, see what damage they did?" he searched for a practical course of action to give him some focus.

"Alex," Kim addressed him by his forename for the first time, her calm voice cutting through the turbulence of his thoughts. "Alex, you're shaking, maybe we should...." she paused, searching for the right vocabulary, "...get some refreshment?"

Sorber's hands still shook a little as he lifted the cappuccino to his mouth. The warm liquid with its milky froth offered some reassurance, some semblance of normality, after the drama of the expressway. He looked at his watch, its display telling him that it was barely even mid-morning, but what a morning it had been so far. They found themselves in Quincy's, an aluminium-sided diner not far from the off-ramp, set somewhere amidst the rambling industrial estates down by the docks - a part of town that Sorber wasn't too familiar with. They placed themselves discreetly at the back of the establishment and Sorber slunk into the red vinyl seat, hoping that some of the tension would leave his body.

Quincy's reverberated to the sounds of subdued chatter and cutlery connecting with crockery, the air laced with the familiar scents of coffee and cooked food. The diner afforded them a welcome respite from danger, a temporary home out of the rain. Harsh fluorescent tubes lit the dining area, giving the handful of customers a jaundiced hue to their faces. A tray of fruit - peaches, oranges and kiwi - sat untouched upon the counter and, for a moment, Sorber imagined it was the real thing - not the tasteless genetically enhanced produce that passed for fresh food these days. Innocuous synthesised muzak, the theme tune from some daytime talk show, wandered around aimlessly in the background from a miniature television screen mounted on the wallspace by each of the diner's booths. 'Real people in real situations?' announced the show's asinine presenter as scenes of panel members fighting with one another cascaded into view. 'Today on The Jupiter Jones Show?' the teenaged host continued, ?stripper versus stripper'. A variety of silicone-breasted women, most barely clothed, paraded themselves before the cameras as the audience howled its approval.

"Some might describe these women as artificial, as medical oddities..." burbled the host.

Sorber looked aghast at the women and then did his best to ignore the show. He had more pressing problems. Kim, opposite him in the booth, watched in fascination, never having seen anything like it before.

After a minute, she turned away from the screen and regarded him kindly, her artificial eyes taking in light from the visible spectrum only - though her vision system was capable of seeing far more.

"Are you feeling better now?" Her tone was soft, almost tender.

"Yeah - thanks," Sorber said, at last feeling his nerves settle. "Listen, I'm sorry that got to me so much, I've been tailgated before but no one's ever rammed me like that."

"Why do you think they did it?" Kim's brow furrowed appropriately as she spoke, before quickly assuming its normal smooth appearance.

"Well..." Sorber looked around to see if anyone was in earshot, but the few customers in the place were all engrossed in their own conversations or the actions of the surgically altered women on the television sets, all too busy to pay any attention to the couple in the corner. He leaned in close to her and whispered. "You're worth a lot of money. You're unique and you're capable of a variety of different... tasks."

Kim leaned forward too, their faces just inches apart.

"Explain," she said loudly, not understanding that Sorber's closeness inferred the lowering of voices.

He smiled at her and continued, "What I mean is... I think you're a big responsibility. Maybe bigger than I realised."

Kim took no offence at Sorber's remarks, and for a few seconds he wondered if it was even possible to offend her.

"I have to say," Kim sat back in her seat, "that this is not quite what I expected."

"I didn't know you were capable of expectation, after all, we only activated you fully this morning." Sorber slipped quickly into analyst-mode, wondering if the machine seemed to want to express something to him - its feelings perhaps?