Less than a year after kotb: ichi, kotb: ni begins
where the previous left off, in Berlin, Germany, and a bathtub where G,
formally Gordon and now in Vivian's first doppelganger body, watches through
her new talents a squad of Polezei come to arrest her. Not long after G
emerges from the building with little more than a bathrobe and shotgun.
Omsmon
Enterprises has sunk, literally as Atlantis sinks to the bottom of the Ocean,
as dead as its founder. Serge, on a quest to find out if the Theban Merneptah
is really dead and to learn more about the powerful hacker Mercury, leaves the
happily reunited Vivian and Satomi for America, and becomes embroiled in
danger surpassing his ability and experience. Aided by Merneptah's brother, an
L.A. Detective he closes in on Mercury.
Vivian and Satomi relax in Algiers,
Algeria, paying guests of the Dictatorship, until a search returns with the
results Vivian has been looking for, the location of one of the androids she
saw in a vision when changing bodies and invaded by G - one of the androids
that was present when Gordon was killed, sacrificing himself to save her life.
Vivian won't forgive him for killing her first lover as a means of employing
her, however.
Together the lovers travel through West Africa to find the
information Vivian seeks; she learning more than anticipated as capabilities
of her doppelganger body she didn't know existed are revealed, to Europe
during a world crisis as androids all over the world massacre Chinese - but
only Triads to those who know, and the new relationship straining under
Vivian's growing obsession with Gordon.
There the two enemies meet each
other, but the obsession has changed and a far more disturbing encounter takes
place that does shatter the bond between Vivian and Satomi, irrevocably some
would think. Satomi wanders Europe and returns to Germany and the fixer Hansel
used to help Vivian escape Atlantis, where Hansel, killed by G, but re-cloned
by an international spy agency, frees himself and rescues her.
Vivian, G and
Serge all conclude their parts in this story by returning to Japan, returning
to their homes and powerbases. G, having collected all the intelligences he
needs uses his ally Mercury and the power of the Internet to produce a power
that will give him control over it. Serge, met by two Japanese police
officers, has an plan on how to track down Mercury's physical form safely.
Vivian returns to the Triad and her Sifu.
Reviewers said kotb: ni was better
than kotb: ichi, although some didn't like the split between some of the main
characters, Vivian et. al. and Serge never meeting for the entirety of the
story. The chapter where G and Mercury have their 'Grand Compiling', where
thousands of connected minds of the internet are trapped and used to increase
their processing power was described as an 'epiphany'. That it had an abrupt
end is noted and deliberate. There is no real conclusion to this part of the
story, it is just the beginning of a grander tale.
Currently the story is in
alpha mode, that is the version readable is the first version I have written
and no changes have been made from feedback or to fix grammar or generally
improve the story.
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