The Mystical Avatar

On-line games avatars may be our first direct introduction to artificial intelligences. In this story, set in Munich about 30 years in the future, the first games operator who encounters them is himself a member of Subud (see - it's real). The avatar, endowed with intelligence, search engine access, and very little experience, finds himself influenced by the mystical leanings of his operator (who, in his turn, finds himself gaining a heightened insight as well as some unexpected side-effects). Together they try to make sense of themselves, while the games company keeps a close eye on them, having its own agenda. An after-death experience helps to clarify things, after the operator is killed by a competitor games company, but he survives to complete a unique bonding of intelligences.