Sarfi reached out and swept her arm down at the desk – no, Hama saw, startled; her arm passed through the desk, briefly breaking up into a cloud of pixels, boxes of glowing colour.
‘You’re a Virtual,’ he whispered.
‘Yes. And do you want to know where I live?’ She stepped up to her mother and pushed her hand into Gemo’s skull.
Gemo observed his lack of comprehension. ‘You don’t know much about us, do you, even though you presume to judge us? Hama, pharaohs rarely breed true.’
‘Your daughter was mortal?’
‘The Qax’s gift was ambiguous. We watched our children grow old and die. That was our reward for serving the Qax; perhaps your Commission will accept that historical truth. And when she died—’
‘When she died, you downloaded her into your head?’
‘Nowhere else was safe,’ Gemo said. ‘And I was glad to, um, make room for her. I have lived a long time; there were memories I was happy to shed.’
-Resplendent, "Reality Dust"