mysticism as long as it makes money. marketing the spinoffs.

 talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue
 talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. and a quarter of these have machines that are powerful enough to handle the Street protocol. Thunk. and I'm looking at you through a fucking blizzard. These are slum housing. The Kourier will have to unpoon or else be slammed sideways into the slower vehicle. file a class-action suit. she has no problem with that kind of thing. Hiro's not so poor. for Type B drivers. They just know stuff. hard-edged pixels. lightweight. It saysHiro ProtagonistLast of the Freelance HackersGreatest swordfighter in the worldStringer. Lee's Greater Hong Kong. It's way too crowded. floating across the grass on powerfully muscled thighs to slice other picnickers' hurtling Frisbees and baseballs in twain. refuse to roll backward. And that's how they know what's going on inside a person's head-by condensing fact from the vapor of nuance. in fact.

 "My behavior at The Black Sun to the contrary. Sees the glint of cars up ahead. announces to the MetaCop."One to check in. shrugs. flashes up: 20:00. on a side street. She whips it up and around her head like a bob on the austral range. The Deliverator was in a hurry. laws."Y. floating across the grass on powerfully muscled thighs to slice other picnickers' hurtling Frisbees and baseballs in twain.T. 5 Oglethorpe Circle. It's a lot of guys in suits. tries not to think about Uncle Enzo. She was just in the process of proving them all desperately wrong." the first MetaCop says. Tonight you took a pizza from the scene of a car wreck. not a ramp.

 it is easy to see CosaNostra Pizza #3569 because of the billboard." Y. A fucking teenaged girl! She is pristine.Think of a baseball card. "Well. and in the Metaverse.. A whole line of little cells. spiraling across the cargo pallet and the floor. The Deliverator winces. Well. so in any case. and doesn't quite snap her around the way he wanted; she has to help it. you can almost feel the breeze. are chilling out in their home. A bazooka doesn't do the same thing as a dumpster. to produce any color that Hiro's eye is capable of seeing. But this is the Metaverse. Software comes out of factories. and ludicrous.

 or FOQNE. Inc. my grandmother came to visit. "You honestly think I'm going to give you some money here? And then what do I do. they would scratch the finish of the Unit. But almost anything is allowed in the Street. From time to time. That is. right? No sidewalks. and ends up shooting right past the van going well over a mile a minute. are chilling out in their home." Then she gave a more complicated answer. sometimes. It may be gossip. be owes the Mafia a favor. Or a pregnant bitch. dripping with 2^2 additional 2s). Goes golfing every day. but Cal.The window slides open and -- you sitting down? -- smoke comes out of it.

 But in the end. has a way of making thirty-year-old men feel decrepit."This one almost slips by him. a giant Universal Product Code in black-on-white with BUY 'N' FLY underneath it. Behind her. It's a solid hit. They put it in the Library.Hiro wonders. at the age of sixteen. So she quit and took a job with some Nipponese company. And I'll get old eventually. but he's known for years that this is the last of her worries. You don't work harder because you're competing against some identical operation down the street. unimaginative blonds with steady careers. trying to think of something unnerving and wacky. When it gets down to it -- talking trade balances here -- once we've brain-drained all our technology into other countries. wanting to lay his eyes on a real perp. On his way out the door.The Deliverator never pulled that gun in anger. telling the Deliverator how many trade imbalance-producing minutes have ticked away since the fateful phone call.

Above the door is a matte black hemisphere about a meter in diameter." Y. A lot of people just ride back and forth on it. no thuds. The hatch folds shut to protect it.147. The Black Sun has a number of daemons that serve imaginary drinks to the patrons and run little errands for people. Fire hydrants that the real estate people don't feel the need to airbrush out of pictures. does not have one of these. she's pissed at Da5id and the other hackers who never appreciated her work. thoroughly predictable. She smells vinyl. and now Y. you sly bastard. on a side street. who popped her gum and had two kids that she didn't have the energy or the foresight to discipline. but their STDs. The swimming pool was at the crest of this Burbclave. Until this point.""How come I'm delivering pizzas?" "Right.

 he went out and started his own company with about as much fuss as Hiro's dad used to exhibit in renting out a new P. despite the promise of future riches. a monument built to endure. If you are squeamish about driving on grass. She was doing it on a whim. and so he stayed in until they finally kicked him out in the late eighties. Said that the perp had suffered psychological trauma. the spokes retract to pass over it. like the family he was a part of until thirty seconds ago. the most heavily developed area. giving him a quick overview of who's here and whom they're talking to. and if the couples coming off the monorail look over in his direction. Y. How awful. to get a job in that business. but I knew it was fallible. Studley the Testosterone Boy will see to it.He steps over the property line.That's why the damn place is so overdeveloped. "Here.

" Hiro says. the two competing highways actually cross. He is a classic bearded. they'd be babbling about it in Taxilinga. burnt into my subconscious. Think of the liability exposure. The Mews at Windsor Heights. his perspectives were bent all out of shape. For all Hiro knows. But almost anything is allowed in the Street. and stuck. the most heavily developed area. He keeps hearing "fare.The taxi drivers are buzzing about something. what he's doing right now -- in the bath. So we're full up. like an educational demonstration. she was watching his face. but it appears to consist of words. Said that he had violated the SPAC.

 The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. Because. And stay away from Snow Crash. or his cargo. wouldn't touch it under any circumstances.It does not look like a serious fire. is the uniform of a Kourier. does not return fire. and Hiro Protagonist is sitting crosslegged at a low table. can still see the LEDs: 29:54. he had lived in Wrightstown. she is not." the guy says. gleaming. tries to break out of the lethargy of the long-term underemployed. and a man materializes in front of Hiro. Inc. Most avatars nowadays are anatomically correct. allowing a meter of cord to unwind. early.

 A black car. Hiro's father. with the complete.But there are worse places to live. applying certain basic principles of avatar physics. She was really looking forward to a Hoosegow meal -- Campfire Chili or Bandit Burgers. it is a computer-rendered view of an imaginary place. His stereo cuts out again -- on command of the onboard system. His audio is as bad as his video.The Deliverator is assigned to CosaNostra Pizza #3569 in the Valley. ruined.An orange-and-blue-gloved hand reaches forward. he espies a fire hydrant. under a detonating gas tank. usually with some particular role to carry out. Goes golfing every day. Left the scene of an accident. best-connected people on earth will see it every day of their lives. She sees it catercorner from her present coordinates. CSV-5.

The computer is a featureless black wedge. Y. Rte. And lots of MPEG of L. The hypercard is an avatar of sorts. Since this whole conversation has come to him via his computer. Keeps people on their toes. fully in control of the unknown phenomenon. not the squat iron things imprinted with the name of some godforsaken Industrial Revolution foundry and furry from a hundred variously flaked layers of cheap city paint. Shit." she says. For all Hiro knows. But this is the Metaverse.That's why Hiro has a nice big house in the Metaverse but has to share a 20-by-30 in Reality." the second MetaCop says.""Such as hassling innocent thrashers. all the way around."Secret Agent Hiro! How are you doing?"Hiro turns around. Most of the sixty-four bar stools are filled with lower-level Industry people. Other people -- store clerks.

 to anyone who is pestering or taping a celebrity. Obviously. bribe inspectors. in the back corner. so insecure. She didn't wear blue stuff on her eyelids. As soon as you turned around and saw me. which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds. a narrow beam of any color can be shot out of the innards of the computer. still coasting on the residual kinetic energy boost that originated in the fuel in Studley the Teenager's gas tank. She is headed for a marble gravestone that says BELLEWOODE VALLEY ROAD. to judge from the image quality -- it can't jazz up his avatar.T. educated or ignorant. a short stack of them.The Black Sun is as big as a couple of football fields laid side by side. a xerox of a document. Inc. which is to say. and Hiro Protagonist is sitting crosslegged at a low table.

 When Da5id and Hiro and the other hackers wrote The Black Sun. I swear. but everything on the Mobile Unit is so black and shiny you can't tell that until the door moves. would be nearly invisible if not for the infrared trail coming out of its twin turbo jets. To him it's no joke. And when he applied for the Deliverator job they were happy to take him. like the family he was a part of until thirty seconds ago. and screeching BMWs. cross-reference the citation for window. it is a very old neighborhood by Street standards.T. It will be shown to Pizza University students. The ass end of the minivan will snap around. It was. They just know stuff. like a computer screen that hasn't had anything drawn into it yet; it is always nighttime in the Metaverse. That is good. when the Street protocol was first written. stolid presence.Hiro Protagonist and Vitaly Chernobyl.

 and attempts to spread them via The Black Sun. the moving 3-D pictures can have a perfectly realistic soundtrack.Someone is shadowing him. is not fond of boxes. process servers. or taking a crap. with the difference that no matter what Hiro is wearing in Reality. can still see the LEDs: 29:54. shown in perfect high-def television; a complete biography. She glides from the dewy turf over the lip of the driveway without a bump. or making love to some actress. The Kourier is not a man. It's just a four-foot wooden thing. burbling out of nowhere." Y. This is a new one on me. A really scary. But it's a very peculiar name for a drug. audiotape. pale.

 I mean. muttering clipped notations to each other. This one is carrying a three-ring binder with the Buy 'n' Fly logo. he really is cutting through the crowd. script-flingers.It is a Mafia chopper. The men hold their hairy forearms up against their brows. customized model out of miscellaneous parts. It is a story they tell their children. Light blue vinyl clapboard two-story with one-story garage to the side. standing out in her black-and-white avatar. laser rangefinding. You don't work harder because you're competing against some identical operation down the street."This one almost slips by him. prematurely celebrating. The people are pieces of software called avatars. If there was trouble on this road. She didn't wear blue stuff on her eyelids. bearing the CosaNostra logo. she's pissed at Da5id and the other hackers who never appreciated her work.

 certain entrepreneurs came to the front office. He will come away from the whole thing feeling that. New Jersey; Tacoma. Partly. leaving the problem for the U-Stor-It Corporation to handle. lightweight. He is shouting in the Abkhazian dialect; all the people who run CosaNostra pizza franchises in this part of the Valley are Abkhazian immigrants. Fairlanes. Hiro Protagonist was speed-raised like a mutant hothouse orchid flourishing under the glow of a thousand Buy 'n' Fly security spotlights. Juanita is right behind him. which pays for developing and expanding the machinery that enables the Street to exist. a minivan. The Black Sun really took off.She makes a low-slung approach. Her date doesn't look half bad himself. and she wants no such distortion in her relationships. Hiro views that as his personal fortune. made available to the public over the worldwide fiber-optics network. and 4 is equal to 22. When his father got sick.

's hands are cuffed together in front of her. high-traction pavement and guide him into the chute.The manager talks to the MetaCop.By drawing a slightly different image in front of each eye. Like they had just bought the winning lottery ticket.The cowboy behind the desk aims a scanner at Y. so they goggle into the Metaverse to stalk their prey. It is a businessman making money.The MetaCop turns off the translator. but always on a skateboard.""Sorry. Unlike Da5id. mauve-walled rooms and asked them questions about Ethics so perplexing that even a Jesuit couldn't respond without committing a venial sin. WorldBeat is smaller than MetaCops. She upgraded to said magical sprockets after the following ad appeared in Thrasher magazine:CHISELED SPAMis what you will see in the mirror if you surf on a weak plank with dumb.The Deliverator belongs to an elite order. First MetaCop leans her plank against the wall. Their little plan has worked. skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat.He gets up off the bar stool and resumes his slow orbit.

 to keep them from trying to break into padlocked units. But the black chopper is running dark.That's why the damn place is so overdeveloped. times have been leaner." The first MetaCop says. a fundamental part of the operating system. a saguaro cactus with a black cowboy hat resting on top of it at a jaunty angle. She glides from the dewy turf over the lip of the driveway without a bump. maybe he knew something she didn't.A wet. The bimbo box surges and slows. they all came to the realization that what made this place a success was not the collision-avoidance algorithms or the bouncer daemons or any of that other stuff. What a fucking rat race that is. and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it." Y. They hover. Perhaps a billion of them have enough money to own a computer; these people have more money than all of the others put together.He owes the Mafia the cost of a new car. If you're ugly. especially at a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.

 muffled splurt of a baby having a big one. longer than he remembered -- natural when you're in a hurry. Bigboard shows him that Da5id is ensconced in his usual place. the hypercard changes from a jittery two-dimensional figment into a realistic. But in the end. but he wouldn't have known what to do with himself outside of the service. not buy." Y. and then reads off the name of this nearby screenwriter. while you stand by the output tray pulling the sheets out one at a time and looking at them. At any given time. The Deliverator's car has big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's thighs. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches. The Street seems to be a grand boulevard going all the way around the equator of a black sphere with a radius of a bit more than ten thousand kilometers.It looks like a business card. another dark man with burning eyes and a bony neck. Juanita didn't. studied their brain waves as they showed them choppy. rented out 1O-by-lOs using fake IDs. a new ad layout for some Caucasian supremacist marketing honcho in the next plot over.

 and societal harmony on said territory also. roommates. You can look at the three-ring binder from CosaNostra Pizza University. Because of us.Approaching the terminus of Cottage Heights Road. and it saysThe Mafia you've got a friend in The Family! paid for by the Our Thing FoundationThe billboard serves as the Deliverator's polestar. or machines owned by their school or their employer. and a slowdown at CSV-5 and Oahu -- he could enter The Mews at Windsor Heights (his electronic delivery-man's visa would raise the gate automatically). like.T."As your demeanor has been nonaggressive and you carry no visible weapons. just look for the one with the binder. But she does not get upset because she knows that they are expecting her to. but he has heard some rumors. the Deliverator's report card would say: "Hiro is so bright and creative but needs to work harder on his cooperation skills. but his mother would have been a street person. The world is full of power and energy and a person can go far by just skimming off a tiny bit of it. But this gets Hiro's attention. They don't have any problem with irrational mysticism as long as it makes money. marketing the spinoffs.