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"...Er," said Dem. He put the most excellently tasty cheese away. Though it was most excellently tasty,it tended to distract him from thinking clearly. "Show a little selfishness, will you?" he said instead. "Thepoint is that those people won't necessarily die. They might still have a chance of going home. They'dget over it eventually. Whereas dead people never go home. ...Hang on a bit. Some visual aid mighthelp.""What-"Dem vanished."..." said not-Tim, but before he had time to wonder if he was trapped in the room and start to panic,Dem reappeared with his arm tight around the neck of a struggling Keanu-spawn.Not-Tim blinked. "Winston-"The teen had stopped struggling somewhat, taking relief in the warmth after the stark cold of themountain cave. "Who are you?" he gasped out, trying to pry Dem's arm from his neck."He's the one responsible for your life," Dem answered. "And the one who'll be responsible for yourdeath."Dem was groping in his pocket with his free hand, looking for his gun. There was a heck lot of mostexcellently tasty cheese in there. Cheese, cheese, cheese, fishcake, cheese... ah, there's the gun; ohcrap, that Reeves guy had just gone kung fu on him and that kind of hurt and whoa that kid could bite;and suddenly Dem felt the gun yanked out of his grip and pointed at him.He sighed.Not-Tim shot him, his other arm protectively around Winston.Dem looked at the bullet hole and shrugged. "You can't kill me," he said. "I'm immortal."Not-Tim let go of Winston and nodded. "Okay," he said with a wry smile. "Right. But I'm not. Findsomeone else to play your little game."And he shot himself in the head.'Caution: Dry Floor' read the sign that greeted not-Tim when he opened his eyes. He stared at it, andthen at the subtitle beneath: "Not Suitable for Dead Fish".Not-Tim sat up slowly and put a hand to the spot on his head where the bullet had entered; there wasnothing there now.He looked up. Not too far from him was a counter, and behind it a teenage boy engaged in anengrossing game of Icy Tower.Not-Tim got up and walked up to him. "Uh," he started, "where am I?"The teen glanced briefly at him, then did a double take and half-fell out of his chair, stumblingbackwards and taking with him the computer mouse and a stack of papers. He got back to his feet,hyperventilating as he backed against the wall."Third mother of Zarquon," he breathed. "It's Keanr Reeves."Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he fainted.'Keanr'? not-Tim wondered in puzzlement as he went behind the counter to the teen, whose nametagidentified him as Taxon. Not-Tim shook him, but Taxon was out cold.Not-Tim looked back up. On the desk was a standard short-FAQ: "Am I dead? Yes. Really? Yes.Where's the toilet? Down the corridor, third door to your left."A funny sound from the computer indicated that Taxon had just lost his Icy Tower game. Stacked nextto the computer were a mess of dodgy-looking DVDs, including three which proudly identifiedthemselves as the Matirx trilogy starring Keanr Reeves.**