A/N- All right, so here we are again. Thanks so much for my reviews, they put a smile on my face and a skip in step. Since there seems to have been some confusion, Chi is driving Zima and Dita to the address Minoru gave them. Less chance of getting spotted that way, I supposed. I don't know about the length of the chapters, short and fast paced is just how I'm feeling this particular story. Don't worry, I'll try to write more chapters to make up for how short they are. On to Chapter 6-

Chi pulled into the driveway. "Here it is."

"Thank you," Zima said. "You've done us a great service, at a risk to yourself."

Chi shook her head. "Please. I appreciate it, but just get out of the car before anyone sees you."

Zima looked as though he wanted to say more, but her just nodded and got out of the car. Dita did the same. Chi drove away into the night as they approached the door.

Zima rang the doorbell, note in hand.

"I've got it!" yelled a voice from inside. A moment later, a woman opened the door. She was small, not much taller than Dita. There were several streaks of purple in her dark brown, shoulder length hair. Dita guessed her to be about forty, but she had certainly taken care of her body. Her tight tank top and shorts showed off smooth, hard muscles. "Hello?" she said, knitting her eyebrows together in an attempt to recognize them.

"Miss Naito, I presume?" Dita said. Zima had done all the talking since they'd escaped a week ago.

"Mm- hm," Kameko Naito affirmed. "That doesn't tell me who you are."

"Minoru sent us. Give her the note."

Zima handed over the note, and the woman took it. "Minoru? Is he all right?"

"He's doing well, Miss Naito. A friend of his just died, but he has been handling it well."

"Right… Motsuwa. I remember now." She tore open the note and read it. As her eyes traveled down the paper, her expression became more and more disbelieving. Dita watched as she read it a second and third time. The note explained their story, what Minoru had done for them, and their need for a place to stay. At last, Kameko looked up. "Is he joking? What's going on here."

"No joke, Miss Naito," Dita said. She remembered how Zima had convinced Chi of their good intentions. "We can prove it to you. Do you have a persecom?"

"Yes." Kameko turned and yelled into the house. "Marie? Come here for a minute, please!"

"What is it?" a female voice came from inside the house. In a moment, a persecom was standing next to Kameko. She was designed to look about eighteen years of age, with long, wavy, dirty blonde hair. Dita gave her a once over, she looked like a newer model, five years old or so. "What's going on, Kameko?"

"Here- read." Kameko gave Minoru's note to the persecom.

She read it once, then looked up at Dita and Zima. "Is this real?"

"That's up to you." Zima extracted the cable from his earport. The persecom understood. She opened her own earport, which looked exactly like a human ear to the untrained eye, and hooked up the cable. Dita watched as her and Zima's eyes glazed over like Chi's had earlier that day. The entire process took about five minutes. Dita stood and watched stoically; Kameko shifted nervously from foot to foot.

When it was over, Kameko's persecom took out the cable and handed it back to Zima. She turned to Kameko and nodded slowly. "The letter is genuine. We can trust them."

Kameko hesitated. Dita stiffened. "If it's a problem, we can just go somewhere else."

"No," Kameko said. "Come in. Minoru is an old friend of mine, I owe him this." With that, she and her persecom stepped aside and let them in, closing the door. The two of them walked towards another room. Dita and Zima followed.

The room was a large kitchen. There was no table, but an island surrounded by tall stools at the center. The four of them took seats here.

"So which one of you is which?" Kameko asked.

"I'm Dita, and this is Zima."

"All right. No need to be formal, you can just call me Kameko. This is Marie. I have a room for the two of you in the basement. How far are we from the people who are looking for you?"

"About two hundred miles," Zima said. "but that doesn't make much difference. They'll look wherever they get word of a sighting."

"We'll have to do something about the way you look then," Marie said. "Forgive me, but you have a rather distinctive look."

"Good point. It's getting rather late," he commented.

Kameko checked her watch. "You're right. I've got an early morning tomorrow, and I need some sleep. Why don't we show you your room, and we'll talk more tomorrow?"

Dita and Zima followed Kameko and Marie to their basement, half of which had been finished into a small bedroom. The walls were painted a dark cranberry, the hardwood floor was covered with a Persian rug of similar coloring. There was a small window with off white curtains at the top of one wall. The double bed had burgundy sheets, pillows, and blankets and a cream colored comforter. On one side of the bed was a small mahogany bookcase that doubled as a night table, and on the other side was a floor lamp. On top of the bookcase where a few knick knacks and a porcelin vase filled with silk flowers. There was an open closet in one wall, and a painting on the other.

"Well, here it is," Kameko said. "I decorated this myself, I thought we could use it as a guest room…" She smiled. "But I guess it's come to something a little bit more important, hm? See you in the morning." With that, she left.

"Good night," Marie said.

"Same to you," Dita responded, and Zima nodded. Marie left them alone in the room, closing the door behind her.

Zima walked over to the bed and stretched out on it. "Well, this has been quite the day, hasn't it?" he said.

Dita got onto the bed and curled up next to him. "That's the truth. Zima?"

"What?"

"She said she 'thought we could use it as a guest room.' I'm assuming she meant the persecom?"

"Hm. That is interesting, now that you bring it up. But I'm not surprised. Minoru is much like Motsuwa was. He believes persecoms have the same basic rights humans do. I didn't expect him to send us to someone who thought anything less."

"That's good. 'night."

"Good night, love."

Dita slowly slipped into shut down.

Zima and Dita both 'woke up' at the same time the next morning. They didn't really need 'sleep,' per se, but they had to shut down to recharge or risk wear on their systems.

"Good morning," Zima said, kissing Dita's forehead.

"Good morning. Think Kameko left yet?"

"Let's go see."

They got out of bed and headed upstairs. Kameko was sitting at the island, drinking a cup of tea. Marie was standing at the counter with her back to them. Kameko looked up when they entered.

"'morning, you two," she said as Marie put a plate of eggs down in front of her.

"'morning," Marie echoed with a smile.

"Sleep well?" Zima asked, sitting down. Dita noticed his complete ease with a little jealousy at hopped up on the stool beside him.

"Would have liked it to have been longer," Kameko said. It was only seven in the morning, and barely light outside. "I have a meeting with my publisher, and it's a pretty rough drive, especially with the traffic. I'm sorry I have to leave, but I'm sure Marie will find you something to do."

"Thank you," Dita said. "I don't know if we expressed it clearly enough last night, but we are very grateful for you letting us stay here. I don't know how long it will be for, but-"

"As long as you need," Kameko seemed slightly confused. "but from Minoru's letter, I got the idea that this was going to be permanent." She checked her watch again. "I have to run. I'll be back around eight, I'll pick some food up for myself on the way. You all have fun. Ciao." She grabbed a briefcase off the floor and headed for the door.

Marie was doing the dishes. "Is there anything we could help you with?" Dita asked.

"If you could grab her plate and glass and bring it over here, that would be great." Dita did so. "Thanks." Dita and Zima moved to lean against the counter while Marie worked on the dishes. "I have big plans for us today," she said. "I thought we could go shopping. You're going to be recognized in no time flat if you keep walking around in black trench coats. There's a good mall near here."

Dita looked a Zima with one raised eyebrow. He shook his head. "Marie," Dita asked, "won't anyone think it's strange to see three persecoms walking around alone?"

"Not at all. First off, it's pretty hard to tell that any of us are persecoms. And second, I do it all the time. As long as I don't bother anyone, they won't bother me. I have my own job, my own money- it's not that strange anymore. They don't care, as long as you've got one of these." She held up her left wrist. On it was what looked like a watch but was really and Electronic Currency Management System, or ECMS. They had become common over the last twenty years, eliminating the wearer's need for paper money or credit cards.

"All right," Dita said. "If you say it's safe…"

"It most certainly is," Marie assured them, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "Shall we get going, then?"

"Mmmmmph." Marie settled herself into one of the comfortable chairs of the bookstore's café. "That was quite a day. We've been here for three hours."

Dita and Zima felt about the same. The two of them had acquired the beginnings of a new wardrobe. Marie had bought some clothes for herself, some art and office supplies, a couple of books, some jewelry, a few CD's, a hat, a pair of sunglasses, a giant decorative paper umbrella, and a dashboard hula dancer. Dita and Zima had had a little trouble keeping up, but they felt like they had gotten something accomplished. They knew their new housemate a little better now.

"I should tell you," Marie said. "It's not usually just the two of us in the house. Kameko has a girlfriend, Allie, who's away for a couple of weeks."

Dita and Zima looked at each other, engaging in about the ten thousandth moment of silent communication since all their troubles had began. Dita spoke, voice hushed. "Will it bother her that Kameko is harboring two fugitives in her basement? It doesn't seem to bother Kameko all that much, for some strange reason…"

Marie blinked. Then she chuckled, surprised. "Minoru didn't tell you, did he? Why he sent you to Kameko?"

"We were in kind of a rush," Zima said. "There wasn't much time for explanations."

Marie smiled. "Kameko lived in the United States for twenty years… she was a member of a top secret branch of the CIA. Allie is still working there. They've dealt with stranger things than a couple of persecoms trying to escape permanent shutdown."

Dita thought this over. She looked at Zima, there was a slightly distant look on his face. He's checking files to find out if it's true… he should have something on Kameko if she's a citizen, I don't know about this Allie character…"

Zima looked at Dita and nodded. "It checks out. Some of my files were damaged when Minoru took out my tracking system, but this is intact."

"So you two don't have to worry," Marie said. "You can stay with us as long as you like."

Okay, I'm on vacation for two weeks now, so don't expect and update for a bit. I tried to make this chapter a little bit longer to keep everyone satisfied while I'm gone. I'll bring a notebook and work on it, I promise. I was actually going to write a little more to this chapter, but I need to deal with my little brother right now. He's being massively distracting and trying to steal my computer. Drop me a review if you've a minute to spare.