AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

their thoughts as letters and words that an AfterNet terminal can recognize. The terminal can then project the interface, essentially a web browser, back to the disembodied person at the frequency unique to that person. This allows many disembodied to use a single terminal. In dedicated mode, however, a disembodied person can control a standard web browser that is visible on the display of the terminal, making it possible for the living and the disembodied to see the same thing.
    Another obstacle: Every disembodied person exists at an exact frequency, or field fingerprint, which makes it possible to identify that person. Unfortunately, most disembodied cannot prove who they were when alive. This uncertainty, of course, leads many of the disembodied to claim they were Jesus Christ or Napoleon or Elvis when alive.
    In fact, it is a crime to claim an identity not your own, but it is a crime difficult to prove. It is also difficult to find a penalty with which to punish the disembodied. International law considers denying access to the AfterNet, which would be the ultimate penalty, a violation of human rights. Of course, in many countries, the disembodied are denied many of the rights the living enjoy, such as the right to vote and own property, all related to the difficulty of proving identity and residence.
    Since the discovery of the afterlife, however, the living can use an AfterNet terminal to record their field fingerprint so that they may claim their identity after death.
    Although a living person’s field can be recorded, most of the living cannot use an AfterNet terminal. It requires extraordinary concentration to imagine the letters and words that an AfterNet terminal can recognize. For some reason, it is easier, although still difficult, for the disembodied to use an AfterNet terminal.