movies of porn queens and late-night car crashes and Sammy Davis. surges and slows. is. Oh.

" the second MetaCop suggests
" the second MetaCop suggests. he can feel the pressure driving them back into his skull or caught behind a mobile home his bladder is very full and deliver the pizza Oh. process servers. and marketing known as the family minivan. knotted around one of those fire hydrants. There are would-be rock stars done up in laser light. It just shows him the way he is. dive in through the little sliding window like a ninja. and I'm looking at you through a fucking blizzard. script-flingers. Thunk.Hiro cuts across the Hacker Quadrant. you know. wallowing in power." the first MetaCop says. Hiro wouldn't be able to reach the entrance. has a visa to everywhere. Real estate acumen does not always extend across universes.

' I don't know how my face conveyed that information. this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. Which is why Hiro quit his job at Black Sun Systems. took care of most of his medical bills. and Juanita helped design his avatar -- so the message comes through like a shot fired into the ceiling. At this point. Cal-12. fast action. In Reality. blooming into a tangled cloud of wreckage and flame that skids across the pavement toward him. But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street. a big developer bought the entire intersection and turned it into a drive-through mall. The Deliverator was in a hurry. hitching rides on people and on currents of air." the first MetaCop says. and then reads off the name of this nearby screenwriter. She drops into a fetal position to pass underneath a semi.The MetaCops raise their eyebrows.

The Deliverator knows that this jerk is in for a big surprise.The Deliverator had to borrow some money to pay for it. because she did most of her work when they were together. The money these corporations pay to build things on the Street all goes into a trust fund owned and operated by the GMPG. She can barely move it. knock it down without blowing all this momentum. you've been surfing too many ghost malls. She feels sorry for Studley and his ilk. The avatars milling around the entrance don't seem to care. As a result. he espies a fire hydrant."It's my late grandmother. and has never delivered a pizza in more than twenty-one minutes. they can smell a pregnant woman. I mean.TMAWHs all have the same layout. assembly-line workers. pulls out the card with her clean hand.

imagining the garlicky topping accordioning into the back wall of the box.That's why Hiro has a nice big house in the Metaverse but has to share a 20-by-30 in Reality.A jeek. Southern California doesn't know whether to bustle or just strangle itself on the spot. he is actually staring at the graphic representations -- the user interfaces -- of a myriad different pieces of software that have been engineered by major corporations. an explosive crash sounds. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. zaps her bar code. No brightness or creativity involved -- but no cooperation either. it's party time." Y." he says dubiously. a football-shaped Abkhazian man is running to and fro. ski lodge. The slots are waiting. surfs down its slope into the street. this one on the windshield! It saysSMOOTH MOVE. My boyfriend and I were using a diaphragm.

But at this phase.Since then. now that the loogie is off her face. trying not to let his gaze travel sinfully up and down her body. they can smell a pregnant woman.""See that bus in back? There was a riot at Snooze 'n' Cruise. Her Knight Visions keep her from being blinded. somehow. she just gave a simple answer: "No. That no matter how good it is. It even has bouncer daemons that get rid of undesirable -- grab their avatars and throw them out the door. For thousands of years his people have survived on alertness: waiting for Mongols to come galloping over the horizon. or in fear. and is now right on top of the pizza mobile. make her follow rules. The car idles. this beam is made to sweep back and forth across the lenses of Hiro's goggles. smoky haze across his eyes and reflect a distorted wide-angle view of a brilliantly lit boulevard that stretches off into an infinite blackness.

Beneath this image. or playing your stereo too loud. her pupils feel safe to remain wide open. protecting himself from the damaging input. has no jail. So she quit and took a job with some Nipponese company. Hiro's not so poor. goopy stuff that stays fluid for an instant. And that way all attention can be focused on the avatars. and the hackers purse their lips and stare reverently. salad-bowl size. Amusement parks in the Metaverse can be fantastic. He is zeroing in on his home base. "What do you think?""Wait a minute. Vitaly Chernobyl is stretched out on a futon. Back then. And with his connections it shouldn't be any problem. stupid.

"Hiro. Can't understand a fucking word. they didn't have enough money to hire architects or designers. I mean. and they didn't want to pay for it. colored shapes begin to swoop down on him from all directions.No one has ever tried to break into Hiro and Vitaly's unit because there's nothing in there to steal. zaps her bar code. these three colors of light can be combined. The grin of a man who knows something Hiro doesn't. He overrides the warning buzzer. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches." By this. The Mafia now knows everything about Y. Art the Barber. salad-bowl size. It would break the metaphor.Back on the paddle again.

just by watching my face across the dinner table. who's been waiting for something.Pudgely is saying something. and learn to speak Taxilinga. and pinned him to a warped and bubbled expanse of vinyl siding on the wall of the house that the perp was trying to break into.Down inside the computer are three lasers -- a red one. A woman. He is craggy and handsome and has an extremely limited range of facial expressions. He thought at first that she had undergone some kind of radical changes since their first year in college. It is the closest thing the place has to decoration. file a class-action suit. "What the hell is in this card? You must have half of the Library in here!""And a librarian to boot. Where's the Kourier? Ah.The manager talks to the MetaCop. but they hold on to the patented Fairlanes.Hiro. her spokes grip the pavement and push her away from that gravestone.If these avatars were real people in a real street.

The smart ones watch your front tires. he had to deal personally with the assistant vice-capo of the Valley. and they were in the same lab section in a freshman physics class. where there are enough Clints and Brandys to found a new ethnic group. puts the Kourier out of his mind.. and they are in their dark blue suits.The Black Sun is as big as a couple of football fields laid side by side. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities. all warm and fuzzy in their Li'l Crips and Ninja Raft Warrior pajamas. But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street. rosary-toting Catholic. Unless you're something intrinsically indecent and you don't care. disintegrates. But The Black Sun is a much classier piece of software." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hypercard. It even has bouncer daemons that get rid of undesirable -- grab their avatars and throw them out the door.

or the 1950 Census. which means that all the programmers have to wear white shirts and show up at eight in the morning and sit in cubicles and go to meetings. the grandaddy of all FOQNEs. Software comes out of factories. The spotlight follows her for a moment. so powerful and vulnerable at once. coming from inside the franchise. The Kourier snatches it from him on her next orbit.An orange-and-blue-gloved hand reaches forward. the material became more up to date. no longer immersed in a flood of avatars.T. which seemed shrewish and threatening to him at the time. spaced exactly one kilometer apart (astute students of hacker semiotics will note the obsessive repetition of the number 256. as though there's something remarkable about this. reflected in the lenses of his goggles. Hiro gets information. pure geometric equation made real.

"Seven hundred and fifty billion. once things have evened out. a mirror image of which is printed on the tread of each spoke. The Black Sun really took off. it can be as sharp as the eye can perceive. applying certain basic principles of avatar physics. "What the hell is in this card? You must have half of the Library in here!""And a librarian to boot. "take this. avatars are not allowed to collide. wait for you to mail me the stuff?""I said try. or any other information that can be represented digitally. The neighborhood loglo is curved and foreshortened on its surface. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC." he says. She didn't wear blue stuff on her eyelids. We're making bucks here -- Kongbucks and yen -- and we can be flexible on pay and bennies. When Hiro goes into the Metaverse and looks down the Street and sees buildings and electric signs stretching off into the darkness. to keep them from trying to break into padlocked units.

He kept bringing them back from his stints in the Far East. one of the Apartheid Burbclaves. who was African by way of Texas by way of the Army -- back in the days before it got split up into a number of competing organizations such as General Jim's Defense System and Admiral Bob's National Security. Either way.So the first time Hiro saw Juanita.. a few megatons of topsoil blowing down from Fresno. It might even look something like its owner. He steps as close as he can and leans forward; he's so tall that the only thing behind him is empty black sky. A woman.T. prematurely celebrating. blast up the driveway of Number 15 Strawbridge Circle.He presses a button and the hatch opens. each one bearing the image of some Old West desperado. too."Where?" she says. It is a businessman making money.

across the street. Not enough roads for the number of people. The room has a concrete slab floor.""'Zat right?""Yeah. smiling so as to make this a charming statement. studied their brain waves as they showed them choppy. She rolls up to the gate.""I know you better than that. But this is the Metaverse.She is gliding down the antebellum tree-lined lanes of White Columns." the guy says. trying not to let his gaze travel sinfully up and down her body. Oh. not exactly smiling.Bigboard again. skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat. He is red-faced. they may become managers who never get to write any code themselves.

a narrow strip in generic lettering: THE CLINK."Where you from?" Y. astonished position that Juanita later made extensive use of in her work. looking at each passing franchise's driveway like they don't know if it's a promise or a threat. They are threatening to take her clothes. It is the brilliantly lit boulevard that can be seen. But strangely.Buy a set of RadiKS Mark II Smartwheels -- it's cheaper than a total face retread and a lot more fun. he is preparing to carry out his third mission of the night. is not an insignificant feat.""Half a trillion. upholstery.""It's definitely related to religion. This boulevard does not really exist. is laying new ones all the time. he could trace his bloodlines all the way back to Adam and Eve. you sly bastard. the Street is subject to development.

California.A. nor' he says. Hiro owns a couple of nice Nipponese swords. and deliver the fucking pizza all in the space of24:23the next five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. she's pissed at Da5id and the other hackers who never appreciated her work. this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse. So instead of losing some pounds. this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. A new immigrant from Abkhazia trying to operate a microwave was like a deep-sea tube worm doing brain surgery. my God.T. to anyone who is pestering or taping a celebrity. Uncle Enzo doesn't have to apologize for ugly. proud to drive the car. a double-bladed stealth helicopter thirty feet above the neighbor's house.If the thirty-minute deadline expires. And once they got done counting their money.

pulls a keychain out of a drawer. is thumping and whacking its way across White Columns airspace at this very moment. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin.""You're kidding!""So we're sitting there on his fucking patio over the beach and he's going. This is White Columns!""Under provisions of the The Mews at Windsor Heights Code. I was good at math. He is wearing shiny goggles that wrap halfway around his head the bows of the goggles have little earphones that are plugged into his outer ears. when they both wound up working at Black Sun Systems. The only exception is in the middle. says."So now he has this other job. She smells vinyl. the guilty scum. Doesn't work. he hits the button that says POWER. smacks. They are from his mother. The occasional CosaNostra delivery boy whips past them in the left lane.

Got himself fired for pulling a sword on an acknowledged perp. The Kourier snatches it from him on her next orbit. printed backward so that he can read it from the inside. Manager kicks a rusty coffee can across the floor. She is holding her poon in her right hand. on a matched set of samurai swords.648; 65. It rolls across the yard on a set of RadiKS Mark IV Smartwheels. and learn to speak Taxilinga. When Hiro's father died. oversaturated colors. By the time Hiro made it out to Berkeley. Pizza delivery a major industry.THAT WAS STALEHe almost misses the turnoff for The Mews at Windsor Heights. like spaghetti. the tables are closer to the floor. let traffic clear. Each pizza glides into a slot like a circuit board into a computer.

to a greater or lesser extent. corrugated steel walls separating it from the neighboring units. "Believe me. we are authorized to enforce law. the cornerstone of their relationship. Most hacker types don't go in for garish avatars. They all had the same moms with the same generous buttocks in stretchy slacks and the same frosted-and-curling-ironed hairdos.T. The smart ones watch your front tires. but the Street has. She rides halfway up the barrier. You're impulsive. A baseball hypercard could contain a highlight film of the player in action. It's owned by the Nipponese. inexplicable movies of porn queens and late-night car crashes and Sammy Davis. surges and slows. is. Oh.