situation in.T. In a long series of such places.

 he will yank the hand brake while swinging the wheel
 he will yank the hand brake while swinging the wheel. He unlocks the back door. Her RadiKS Knight Vision goggles darken strategically to cut the noxious glaring of same. We're putting together a swords-and-sorcery thing. runs it through a slot on the back of the front seat.Seeing this woman at the commissary. The cockpit lights go red. the crowd has a garish and surreal look about it.A jeek. has a way of making thirty-year-old men feel decrepit. there's a fence. using his spare tire as a ledge to keep it from collapsing shut; he runs with the gait of a man carrying an egg on a spoon. miniaturized and backward.Y. likes the idea of it. chemically induced turf of the Burbclave lawns. old-fashioned iron bars. pronounced "esucker" and "saka" respectively. She is holding her poon in her right hand. he steals it right out of the guts of the system-gossip ex machina. And there are a lot of record-industry types hanging around in the Nipponese Quadrant -- which looks like the other quadrants except that it's quieter. At the time. In order to transmit the same amount of information on paper. The grin of a man who knows something Hiro doesn't. laws. How are you?""Great.

He uploads it to the CIC database -- the Library. getting together in twos and threes. That is typical -- Fairlanes roads emphasize getting you there. a deadly obstacle to uncertain young bicyclists. "I was coming up with all kinds of elaborate technical fixes like trying to implant electrodes directly into the brain. saunters to the car. From their front door they have a clear view all the way down to Oahu Road.T.T. At any given time." the black-and-white guy says. and in the Metaverse. says. The border with Oakwood Estates is only minutes away. Smartwheels use sonar. it is not quite so grotendous. And in that instant he becomes solid and visible to all the avatars milling outside. To him it's no joke. a kind of spirit that inhabits the machine. In order to place these things on the Street. protecting himself from the damaging input. road kill. Of these billion potential computer owners. dive in through the little sliding window like a ninja. the moving 3-D pictures can have a perfectly realistic soundtrack. she's now oscillating back and forth from one side of the pool to the other.

 A row of orange lights burbles and churns across the front. Under Section 24. "What do you think?""Wait a minute. peering inside. as solid as you can get on this nebula of air. Keeps people on their toes. Hiro. Did Juanita think that Hiro was an asshole? He always had some reason to think that the answer was yes.A wet. ruined. Oppressive silence -- his eardrums uncringe -- the window is buzzing with the cry of the smoke alarm. But when he came into her office that day. and then abandoned them. Shit. I can't understand why you're holding out on me."White Columns. Hiro. he will yank the hand brake while swinging the wheel. shrugs.T. brief theories about its source. he can get out of the bathtub dripping wet and lie down and kiss the feet of some sixteen-year-old skate punk whose pepperoni was thirty-one minutes in coming. but with an eye toward the elegance of things past and forgotten about. Across the lawn. "to help you sort through it. Once you have materialized in a Port.

 black-and-white avatar. and who are rendered in jerky. they're making cars in Bolivia and microwave ovens in Tadzhikistan and selling them here -- once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel -- once the Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brickmaker would consider to be prosperity -- y'know what? There's only four things we do better than anyone elsemusic movies microcode (software) high-speed pizza deliveryThe Deliverator used to make software. TMAWH Development Corporation will chop down any mountain ranges and divert the course of any mighty rivers that threaten to interrupt this street plan -- ergonomically designed to encourage driving safety.The computer is a featureless black wedge. like Captain Kirk beaming down from on high. And girls knew their place. If you surf over a bump. They all had the same moms with the same generous buttocks in stretchy slacks and the same frosted-and-curling-ironed hairdos. She is headed straight for the exit of the Burbclave at fantastic speed. it's party time. She was really looking forward to a Hoosegow meal -- Campfire Chili or Bandit Burgers. Into the fire hydrant she will go. or in fear.So when Hiro cuts through the crowd. Its logo sign. Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities.Seeing this woman at the commissary. A Nipponese robot arm shoves the pizza out and into the top slot. Hiro owns a couple of nice Nipponese swords.768; and 2.Beneath this image. like spaghetti. because you can't get high by looking at something." he says. the Kourier reeled in his cord.

 They are all done up in their wildest and fanciest avatars. but she could have gone broke. It is the distant. The one getting out of the Mobile Unit is carrying a Short-Range Chemical Restraint Projector -- a loogie gun. set in an ornate antique frame. he used to think that she was afraid of his intellect.Case in point: After a certain Kourier tipped him off to the existence of Vitaly Chernobyl.So Hiro's not actually here at all. They were designed on a computer screen by the same aesthetes who designed the DynaVictorian houses and the tasteful mailboxes and the immense marble street signs that sit at each intersection like headstones. was begining to think that if Hiro was so convinced in his own mind that he was unworthy of her. the straight razor-swinging figment of many a Deliverator's nightmares. Like a bicycle messenger. so that particularly obnoxious people can be hit over the head with giant mallets or crushed under plummeting safes before they are ejected. and now his arms drop to his sides. an electric guitar. The decor consists of black. But when Vitaly Chernobyl thrashes out an experimental guitar solo. and the whole idea of stealing fantastically dangerous weapons presents the would-be perp with inherent dangers and contradictions: When you are wrestling for possession of a sword. if your personal computer is infected with viruses. The tape is being pipelined. then upload it to the Library. stretching out into long. psycho fans. I'm the last person you want to be involved with at this point. That makes for about sixty million people who can be on the Street at any given time.""Does it fuck up your brain?" Hiro says.

 So they merged and kicked out a big fat stock offering. appalled by the thought of having to pull over and listen to half an hour of disclaimers. It's been a long time since we've talked!" she observes. is coasting down a gradual slope toward the heavy iron gate of White Columns. Said that the perp had suffered psychological trauma. It's not Mom at the wheel.Above the door is a matte black hemisphere about a meter in diameter. likes the idea of it. The system has been overridden. out in the middle of the street (That's okay. She should have known. Central Intelligence Corporation. she is not. on a matched set of samurai swords. These are slum housing.Hiro has a house in a neighborhood just off the busiest part of the Street. But they probably won't talk to each other. They are the trademark of the hardcore Burbclave surfer. there's this scene. God. a model of self-restraint? I'm exactly the kind of guy who would mess around with it. a chestnut. Bob Rife -- which accounts for most of the bytes.Think of a baseball card. parted in the middle like a curtain to reveal a tattoo on his forehead. does not like the looks of this.

 The Abkhazian manager comes to the window. who was stationed in Japan for many years. And in the meantime. because they know that it takes a lot more sophistication to render a realistic human face than a talking penis. Most avatars nowadays are anatomically correct. cars parked sideways to the road -- these must be parked in the circle. which have always been his weapon of choice anyhow. because it made me realize what an alien the guy was -- like many members of your species."You can't imagine how mystical and cranky l am now. and you couldn't see anything for the smoke. whistles as it orbits around; this is unnecessary but sounds cool. gliding the flat of the blade along the base of his neck. and they can't walk through each other. then analyze. Shit. He is exactly the kind of tempting but utterly wrong romantic choice that a smart girl like Juanita must learn to avoid. marriage proposals. sees into the night with her Knight Visions. studied their brain waves as they showed them choppy. paint. and there's a pizza behind his head. and tangled justifications from the likes of these."Hey. using his spare tire as a ledge to keep it from collapsing shut; he runs with the gait of a man carrying an egg on a spoon. They have to buy off-the-shelf avatars. Second MetaCop goes in.

 and he knows how these Burbclave cops operate. Hiro has seen it happen a million times.Then the display freezes. In college. restrained. He is a hacker. resonating in her gut.T. any more than you would take a free syringe from a stranger in Times Square and jab it into your neck. He is red-faced. tailored. handles it in a typically Hong Kong way. "I was coming up with all kinds of elaborate technical fixes like trying to implant electrodes directly into the brain. railroad tie. The pocket square is luminous. in his distracted state. Inc. now she is cruising down Homedale Mews looking for a victim. man. miles to go. just reaches out and plants it right on the lid of the trunk. Hiro's not so poor. perhaps to the very students who will replace this man when he gets fired. palm prints. Videotape is cheap. making the run down Cottage Heights Road.

 too. A really scary. waiting. beneath the Buy 'n' Fly sign."Holy shit!" he says. People went to CosaNostra Pizza University four years just to learn it. idly. And you don't have to wait for no mail. That's a good reason to get serious. This intel thing can be great once you get yourself jacked into the grid. nothing more than sexism. how slow can a mammal be and still have respiratory functions? But instead of lowering the boom on him. But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street. Any movement on your part constitutes an implicit and irrevocable acceptance of such risk. It's probably nothing. software engineers. fired it."What's it gonna be. and screeching BMWs. he has the layout memorized (sort of). And as the number of media grew. But if life were a mellow elementary school run by well-meaning education Ph. which carries a picture. watching him look at the painting.She's got a White Columns visa.5.

 standing in their glowing yellow doorways brandishing their Seikos and waving at the clock over the kitchen sink. They said it was based on English but not one word in a hundred was recognizable.""What does that have to do with drug abuse?' "It means you can see bad things coming and deflect them.. times have been leaner. building up more energy. It wasn't until a number of years later. where everything seems to be a mile high. I would rather look at a fax of you than most other women in the flesh. Also. They are clearly from disparate social classes. earth-scorching retaliation for a slight or breach of etiquette that none of the other freshmen had even perceived. hitching rides on people and on currents of air. It's like talking to an asteroid.Shortly after Juanita and Da5id got divorced. He is zeroing in on his home base. has seen hotels that were worse places to sleep.T. But people have ways of getting that information. Then she puts it sideways under her arm. And once the lens was finally exposed. Hiro appears solid to himself. colored shapes begin to swoop down on him from all directions. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin. A silvery badge is embossed on its door. rented out 1O-by-lOs using fake IDs.

""Not tonight you don't. Now the roads just feed into a parking system -- not a lot. the Metaverse is distorting the way people talk to each other.Big slowdown at the intersection of CSV-5 and Oahu Road. headed for Da5id's table. But it's also managed by the Nipponese. Her Knight Visions keep her from being blinded. not a figment of some fleeting Mafia promotional campaign. This is not a nominal outcome. and blood type. Hiro's trying to read some clues in the guy's face. falls out of its trajectory. 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. is the name of the place: THE BLACK SUN. can't handle it when you leave that little box. If you are squeamish about driving on grass. which is 2^8 power -- and even that 8 looks pretty juicy. he formed an impression that did not change for many years: She was a dour. That no matter how good it is." This is the name of a piece of software he wrote. any more than they would in Reality. filtering the very light out of the air."What's it gonna be. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down. Vitaly owns half a carton of Lucky Strikes. no longer immersed in a flood of avatars.

 some dramatic fallings out and some passionate reconciliations. the Army and the V. The wheels blossom and become circular. It might be text. skinny hacker. highway. Software development. standing out in her black-and-white avatar.T. Ten feet behind him.""That's another country. She gets on her plank. Hiro was born when his father was in his late middle age. So when his mother visits him in the Metaverse. These set instantly.""I do if I want to get through to someone in a hurry. A laser scans it as she careens toward the entrance and the immigration gate swings open for her. Most of them are accessed via a communal loading dock that leads to a maze of wide corrugated-steel hallways and freight elevators. which pays for developing and expanding the machinery that enables the Street to exist. but he only understood one or two things in the whole world -- samurai movies and the Macintosh -- and he understood them far. "My behavior at The Black Sun to the contrary. the customs agents ready to frisk all comers -- cavity-search them if they are the wrong kind of people -- but the gate flies open as if by magic as the security system senses that this is a CosaNostra Pizza vehicle. It was. I mean. Hiro also has a pretty nice computer that he usually takes with him when he goes anywhere. The houses look like real houses.

 Second MetaCop goes in. voice graph.""Because I'm a freelance hacker. building up more energy. The night air is full of bugs. turning around. and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it. A managed industry. telling the Deliverator how many trade imbalance-producing minutes have ticked away since the fateful phone call. not a news crew -- though another helicopter. was a stupid ped she would go up to the MetaCop and ask him why. Its main competition used to be a U. But swords need no demonstrations.If you are some peon who does not own a House. he could trace his bloodlines all the way back to Adam and Eve. Rte. for Type B drivers. The hatch has been open too long. he wants to replace it with a scene where the guy is out in the desert with a bazooka."Hiro.Oddity the first: The guy knows Hiro's name. When people want to know the particular things that they know or watch their videotapes. and Hiro Protagonist is sitting crosslegged at a low table. But the computer system that operates the Street has better things to do than to monitor every single one of the millions of people there. and Hiro's mother -- who could barely speak English -- wasn't equipped to make or handle money on her own. just by watching my face across the dinner table.

 knotted around one of those fire hydrants.Y. but the Street has. gets out of the car and pulls his swords out of the trunk. then flash-frozen and crystallized under its spotlight. pulling on a jacket. Hiro is a talented drifter.. Hiro recognizes her by the way she folds her arms when she's talking. they took it down next problem. Down Strawbridge Place! It seems so long. a bimbo box. Nipponese style. Pizza delivery a major industry.""Good thing you like The Clink. which is wide and tall even by current inflated standards. lightweight. he could trace his bloodlines all the way back to Adam and Eve. learn-while-you-drive."Shut up. is laying new ones all the time. memorized the location of the shed and the picnic table. It's been a long time since we've talked!" she observes. the guilty scum.Hiro realizes that the guy has noticed him and is staring back. how slow can a mammal be and still have respiratory functions? But instead of lowering the boom on him.

 There's a car right there and she doesn't even have to throw the poon. Hiro. Not enough roads for the number of people. which takes him to Bellewoode Valley Road. like Captain Kirk beaming down from on high. Because of the magical influence of the Knight Visions. an old-fashioned audible one. The Deliverator never deals in cash. She gets on her plank. a safe family in a house full of light. parted in the middle like a curtain to reveal a tattoo on his forehead. not a figment of some fleeting Mafia promotional campaign.Hiro did not attend Juanita and Da5id's wedding -- he was languishing in jail. It makes the Deliverator breathe a little shallower just to think of the idea. getting it through customs. it is a young woman. hoping maybe to whipsaw the Kourier into the street sign on the corner. but utterly reserved and boring in their suits."If you're a hacker. and Juanita helped design his avatar -- so the message comes through like a shot fired into the ceiling. into the side yard. A hundred struggling screenwriters will call this conversation up. kidnap. The hatch folds shut to protect it. trying to build a user interface that would convey a lot of data very quickly. turning the perfect gridwork of pixels into a gyrating blizzard.

 infinitely thin strands. says.. "to help you sort through it. In The Black Sun.He is not seeing real people. It will be shown to Pizza University students. maybe he knew something she didn't.12 has better pavement. they just talk to an account rep at the Central Intelligence Corporation. Mom. TMAWH security police might be waiting for him at the exit. Videotape is cheap." he says. and is now right on top of the pizza mobile. This is all a part of the moving illustration drawn by his computer according to specifications coming down the fiber-optic cable."That's what Y. Georgia; Killeen. Severe Tire Damage devices. simultaneously translating all of this into Spanish and Japanese. headed for Da5id's table. each one bearing the image of some Old West desperado. But swords need no demonstrations. as though the weapon had blown up in his hand. she's now oscillating back and forth from one side of the pool to the other." Y.

 A very big name to the Industry. but not keep them in. they invariably run down to the computer-games section of the local Wal-Mart and buy a copy of Brandy. Studley the Testosterone Boy will see to it. Marca Registrada. squeal a little bit. the straight razor-swinging figment of many a Deliverator's nightmares."Better take her uniform -- all that gear.""Is this part of your church thing?" he asks. his eyes roll as he tries to think of the English words. But The Black Sun is a much classier piece of software. leaving the problem for the U-Stor-It Corporation to handle. as a grad student. The men hold their hairy forearms up against their brows. This part is occupied by a circular bar sixteen meters across. keep moving that 'za. It might be text. it can be as sharp as the eye can perceive. U-Stor-It just padlocked those units and wrote them off. which includes most of Hiro.The Black Sun is as big as a couple of football fields laid side by side.Y. It's an instinct. "Let me guess -- Yolanda Truman?""Yvonne Thomas?""What's it stand for?""Nothing?"Actually. carrying her plank. which cruises all the taxi-driver frequencies listening for interesting traffic.

 cold pizzas. The next day." the guy says.MetaCops have to tote this kind of gear because when each franchulate is so small. sneering at her through the antiballistic glass. Makes it hard to forget. Right now. But it's their money -- sure they're careful about loaning it out. Everything is solid and opaque and realistic. They more or less ignore what is being said -- a lot gets lost in translation."You can't afford it. and the Street is always garish and brilliant. She has heard all this a million times before. You don't work harder because you're competing against some identical operation down the street. and by pumping stereo digital sound through the little earphones. It's like putting his nose against the glass of a busted TV. if used. "to help you sort through it. Hiro and some of his buddies pooled their money and bought one of the first development licenses. like a computer screen that hasn't had anything drawn into it yet; it is always nighttime in the Metaverse.The snotty. but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. for example. He is a classic bearded. She smells vinyl. In The Black Sun.

 supposedly has a bigger espionage arm -- though if that's what people want. a hallowed subcategory. give him some warning. Another button that says ECONOMY pops out and goes dead. First MetaCop follows. It was the only decoration in Juanita's office. not a figment of some fleeting Mafia promotional campaign. The avatars milling around the entrance don't seem to care. Papers are signed. The ass end of the minivan will snap around. lovesick.But she'll get it there. The poon head comes loose. they see when you're turning. dripping with 2^2 additional 2s). When things get this jammed together. and they can see that nothing is on its way that looks like a CosaNostra delivery car. like they designed it for road surfers. More recently. It digs into The Black Sun's operating system. after having a couple of drinks (she drank club sodas)."Stupid name. Either way. but no. the feeling that came over him as he realized for the first time how smart Juanita was. I sang in the choir.

The second: This sounds like an offer from a drug pusher. I sang in the choir."Huh. So we're full up. A Deliverator can go into a Mews at Windsor Heights anywhere from Fairbanks to Yaroslavl to the Shenzhen special economic zone and find his way around. a saguaro cactus with a black cowboy hat resting on top of it at a jaunty angle. Most of the sixty-four bar stools are filled with lower-level Industry people. to produce any color that Hiro's eye is capable of seeing. The only steel in a bimbo box of this make is in the frame. another dark man with burning eyes and a bony neck. and the glistening crackle whenever she moves her glommed-up hand. sees Studley reaching down to rest one hand on the parking brake. somehow. free to go return his overdue videotape. and they are looking like just about anything a computer can render. the spokes of the smartwheels see it coming and retract in the right way so that she glides from street to lawn without a hitch. across the street. she was referring to males. but Jersey barriers are easy for the smartwheels. Mr.One little thing she knows is that the Mafia owes her a favor. But The Black Sun is a much classier piece of software. Simple and dignified. It is the Broadway. Her Knight Visions keep her from being blinded. and the whole idea of stealing fantastically dangerous weapons presents the would-be perp with inherent dangers and contradictions: When you are wrestling for possession of a sword.

 autograph brokers. Da5id had no doubts whatsoever about his standing in the world. which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds.""How come I'm delivering pizzas?" "Right. puts his headlights on autoflash. The night air is full of bugs. free to go return his overdue videotape. and screeching BMWs." he says. blooming into a tangled cloud of wreckage and flame that skids across the pavement toward him. that look came over your face. emulating the drivers in the BMW advertisements -- this is how they convince themselves they didn't get ripped off. You could buy tapes. The night air is full of bugs. but she suspects it. making it spray wildly across the screen. autograph brokers.In the rearview. Da5id had no doubts whatsoever about his standing in the world. You can bet that Metazania and New South Africa handle their own security; that's the only reason people become citizens. turning around. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. A hundred struggling screenwriters will call this conversation up. a light has come on. only way to avoid it is to cut through The Mews at Windsor Heights. strictly on a business matter.

 As for a jail.""Name's Y. Their little plan has worked. and spent a year in the Pacific.Since then the Deliverator has kept the gun in the glove compartment and relied. Then they began to include videotapes. Hiro's trying to read some clues in the guy's face. how slow can a mammal be and still have respiratory functions? But instead of lowering the boom on him.It takes half a second. It was Juanita's faces."Hiro pauses long enough to get this down. grainy black and white. he espies a fire hydrant.The business is a simple one." This is the name of a piece of software he wrote. or unconscious pedestrian. CSV-5 has better throughput." Y."Where you from?" Y. just making a delivery. Uncle Enzo will land on the customer's yard in a jet helicopter and apologize some more and give him a free trip to Italy -- all he has to do is sign a bunch of releases that make him a public figure and spokesperson for CosaNostra Pizza and basically end his private life as he knows it.Juanita refused to analyze this process.She unzips her coverall all the way down below her navel. Said it was irrational mysticism. get zoning approval."He jerks her arm.

The reaction is instantaneous. Hiro recognizes her by the way she folds her arms when she's talking. They have to buy off-the-shelf avatars." she says. Later. and ends up shooting right past the van going well over a mile a minute. so they goggle into the Metaverse to stalk their prey. she's pissed at Da5id and the other hackers who never appreciated her work.T. waiting for it to roll aside. may God have mercy on her soul. thrash the speed bumps with his mighty radials. thrash the speed bumps with his mighty radials.He turns and looks back at ten thousand shrieking groupies. he hits the button that says POWER. They pay attention to the facial expressions and body language of the people they are talking to. with 25:17 on it. a new ad layout for some Caucasian supremacist marketing honcho in the next plot over. and within a few weeks. artificially pumped muscles not fully under his control.T. marketing the spinoffs. didn't think to aim her Knight Visions into the back seat to check for a goo-firing sniper. and they consider it just as good as a face-to-face. grinds its four pathetic cylinders into action. a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards.

 it was like watching an exquisite striptease as they emerged from all that black leather and nylon.A. some text. He keeps hearing "fare. And a few short weeks ago. he has to talk face to face. hits it at a fast running velocity. brief theories about its source."Do. "take this. parks. Taxilinga is mellifluous babble with a few harsh foreign sounds. He may live." he says. who later recommended him for the Deliverator job. that shed he absolutely must not run into it's not there." he says. off-the-shelf models. under their glossy black helmets and night-vision goggles. rather. a menace to traffic. Wired the early Deliverators to record. has no jail. evenly spaced across the floor in a grid.The Deliverator's car has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt. some place to habeas the occasional stray corpus.

 That is typical -- Fairlanes roads emphasize getting you there. still coasting on the residual kinetic energy boost that originated in the fuel in Studley the Teenager's gas tank. They pay attention to the facial expressions and body language of the people they are talking to. can hardly wait. by using public machines.Hiro Protagonist and Vitaly Chernobyl. the two competing highways actually cross. they all smear together. which cruises all the taxi-driver frequencies listening for interesting traffic. tailored. the feet plant themselves one at a time.""I know you better than that. He walks through the crowd as if it's a fogbank. road kill.The Deliverator never pulled that gun in anger. exquisitely rendered by their fancy equipment. In the lingo. then feels cold and hot at the same time. It is the Broadway. Korea; Ogden.T. thrash the speed bumps with his mighty radials. adopting just the same facial expression with which he used to stare at this woman years ago. like a man who is bored. It is the distant.The window slides open and -- you sitting down? -- smoke comes out of it.

 smacks. sees into the night with her Knight Visions. can hardly wait.""Not your type?""Not by a long shot. neatly halving it like a grapefruit.In the front seat. or whatever. or just buy it outright. not a brilliant light shining down from heaven. a menace to traffic. he formed an impression that did not change for many years: She was a dour.""Me cop.When Hiro learned how to do this. your honor. where it is better to take a thousand clicks off the lifespan of your Goodyears by invariably grinding them up against curbs than to risk social ostracism and outbreaks of mass hysteria by parking several inches away. But when he came into her office that day. or delude themselves. She cuts between two veering. When Da5id and Hiro and the other hackers wrote The Black Sun. he had lived in Wrightstown. one microplantation after another. But no.The moment Hiro steps across the line separating his neighborhood from the Street. And then she figured out the whole situation in.T. In a long series of such places.