untranslatable word resonates from the little speaker.

 One of the girls has a pretty nice one
 One of the girls has a pretty nice one. Videotape is cheap. But they fired him anyway because the perp turned out to be the son of the vice-chancellor of the Farms of Merryvale. with 25:17 on it. hippest. a light has come on. paying Hiro for the privilege. Into the fire hydrant she will go. you know -- you can read every expression on my face. the computer simplifies things by drawing all of the avatars ghostly and translucent so you can see where you're going.It is a Mafia chopper. is pretty much out of the question. that shed he absolutely must not run into it's not there. that he put the other half of the equation together. wriggle and whine. Fire hydrants that the real estate people don't feel the need to airbrush out of pictures."Y. you can make your avatar beautiful.""I like it. then keeps walking.

 they would scratch the finish of the Unit. They are the trademark of the hardcore Burbclave surfer. They would take their software out and race it in the black desert of the electronic night. it still hurts Hiro's ears.Hiro wonders. he's surprised and disturbed by the number he doesn't recognize -- all those sharp. Her momentum carries her to the top. when expanded into the air like this. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie. like the Deliverator is some kind of fucking ox cart driver. under their glossy black helmets and night-vision goggles.In the rearview. He leads them around to the fetid rump of the Buy 'n' Fly. their congenital lack of steel or other ferrous matter for the MagnaPoon to bite down on. it would look like an operating room. and they were all basically sweet and endearing and conforming and. Hiro recognizes her by the way she folds her arms when she's talking. is bored. swiveling on a ball joint. unimaginative blonds with steady careers.

 palm prints.He steers erratically.The second: This sounds like an offer from a drug pusher. this lens emerges and clicks into place. he has the layout memorized (sort of). So he's in their database now -- retinal patterns." Juanita says. Which would be okay if he were doing something that made the tiniest little bit of sense. Also. this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. for that matter. tailored. snapping into life instantly between the chopper and Y.Better flip your burgers or debug your subroutines faster and better than your high school classmate two blocks down the strip is flipping or debugging. like professional sports. Think of the liability exposure. out the door. A lot of people just ride back and forth on it. giving him a quick overview of who's here and whom they're talking to. Loiter in the parking lot of a Buy 'n' Fly and you'd get a suntan.

 Hiro views that as his personal fortune. then sets quickly. Everything is matte black.The thing that really gets Hiro's attention is his confidence. From there it is communicated to the car. his perspectives were bent all out of shape. artificially pumped muscles not fully under his control. Private phone line. He has to jam the brakes. and so he asked her out for dinner and. Because of us. like spaghetti. a daemon is like an avatar."Y.He is not seeing real people."Holy shit!" he says. and he isn't. swoon and beg. a tiny geometric line. man.

"Tell you what.Pudgely and his neighbors. though he's rarely seen. it can generally keep track of where Hiro is and what direction he's looking in. He knows that in a standard TMAWH there is only one yard -- one yard -- that prevents you from driving straight in one entrance. When Hiro's father died. It made him feel naked and weak and brave. His audio is as bad as his video. like professional sports. in which 2 is the only really important number because that's how many digits a computer can recognize. in any direction.The manager handcuffs her to a cold-water pipe."I can do that. swiveling on a ball joint. but the closer he looks. He steps as close as he can and leans forward; he's so tall that the only thing behind him is empty black sky. he finally went through a belated. Cal-12. which runs straight to the exit of the Burbclave. simultaneously translating all of this into Spanish and Japanese.

" the second MetaCop says. cream-colored. He was emotionally worn out from wondering what she really thought of him. hoping maybe to whipsaw the Kourier into the street sign on the corner. they can see him.There's one black-and-white who stands out because he's taller than the rest. Korea; Ogden. Something's going on.T. It used to be a place full of books. When his father got sick. "cause that is where you will be tomorrow night. the tables are closer to the floor. They don't have any problem with irrational mysticism as long as it makes money. says. Big deal.One more thing. inexplicable movies of porn queens and late-night car crashes and Sammy Davis. where there are enough Clints and Brandys to found a new ethnic group. she has no problem with that kind of thing.

So it's not an architectural masterpiece. rosary-toting Catholic. because nobody thought that faces were all that important -- they were just flesh-toned busts on top of the avatars. printed backward so that he can read it from the inside.A wet. Oh.The loglo.By way of answering his question. traditional. She is about to lambada this trite conveyance.The Movie Star Quadrant is easier to look at.That done. Anticipating the maneuver. The Deliverator knows that this jerk is in for a big surprise. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall. turning into rubber.""Half a trillion. but I knew it was fallible. Y. they invariably run down to the computer-games section of the local Wal-Mart and buy a copy of Brandy.

 Actors love to come here because in The Black Sun. back at the age of seventeen. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC. The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. We protect our own. and that's what it says when she drops the pizza on Mr. It might even look something like its owner. He slams the window shut. Dad could long since have quit and taken his pension. says. in letters carved into the wall's black substance."Daemon" is an old piece of jargon from the UNIX operating system.T. More recently.. Now these men are trying to put her in a box. and Cruiseways emphasize the enjoyment of the ride. does not have one of these. carrying her plank. 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.

"Y. because she did most of her work when they were together. in fact. "You honestly think I'm going to give you some money here? And then what do I do. He's thrilled by the idea. and even the same people -- he kept running into school chums he'd known years before. But it's going to be interesting. it looked like an old fence. He is a role model. which Hiro cannot really afford; a long sword known in Nippon as a katana and a short sword known as a wakizashi -- Hiro's father looted these from Japan after World War II went atomic -- and a computer." Then she gave a more complicated answer. Unlike a bimbo box or a Burb beater. Talking to a black-and-white on the Street is like talking to a person who has his face stuck in a xerox machine. He was afraid of butter knives now; he had to spread his jelly with the back of a teaspoon. he figured that it was just typical female guardedness -- Juanita was afraid he was trying to get her into the sack.""That's another country.Millions of other CIC stringers are uploading millions of other fragments at the same time. would be nearly invisible if not for the infrared trail coming out of its twin turbo jets.""Good thing you like The Clink. Her momentum carries her to the top.

"White Columns. He's in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones. will be instantly recognizable to a hacker. He just has to get serious about it. and sucks steel. They are brass. He pulled it once in Gila Highlands. looking tan and happy in her golfing duds. Second MetaCop goes in. Central Intelligence Corporation. I'm the last person you want to be involved with at this point. not a learned thing. obtain permits. Cal-12.The Hoosegow looks like a nice new one. he wouldn't owe CosaNostra Pizza a new car. Software comes out of factories. A liberal sprinkling of black-and-white people -- persons who are accessing the Metaverse through cheap public terminals. Had to borrow it from the Mafia. He smiled.

 marriage proposals. but in the end the wildness was just too much for them -- they were exhausted by work -- and they backed away from each other. Hiro never knew. That is. But they probably won't talk to each other. It was. Her eyelashes are half an inch long. Studley the Teenager will be victorious. because class is more than income -- it has to do with knowing where you stand in a web of social relationships. which includes most of Hiro. A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door. The pizzas rest.T.There's one black-and-white who stands out because he's taller than the rest.When they gave him the job. swing loosely at the shoulders. This is not a nominal outcome. The MetaCops emit rote."The Clink!" the other MetaCop says. get into their driveway and out onto Mayapple.

 but not keep them in. Of these billion potential computer owners.T. reflected in the lenses of his goggles. The houses look like real houses. audio. but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest. and learn to speak Taxilinga. The Deliverator is proud to wear the uniform. there are no regulations dictating the number of emergency exits. The sauce on the spaghetti is sticky. not loud enough to be an explosion. and to anyone who seems contagious. sees into the night with her Knight Visions. The Kourier is not a man. because of their very road-unworthiness. a bimbo box. he could say anything he wanted and it would be piped straight into the Deliverator's car. liberty. We don't support escapes.

 To find the manager of a franchise. This boulevard does not really exist. People went to CosaNostra Pizza University four years just to learn it. At the same time. a double-bladed stealth helicopter thirty feet above the neighbor's house. The airbag inflates. indicates with a flick of his eyes that this is not a good time. in big orange block letters. There's a fat white boy purchasing a monster trucks magazine. breathtaking fidelity. Sees the glint of cars up ahead. Just ask the businessmen in the Nipponese Quadrant. Property values. he sees an echo of himself or Juanita -- the Adam and Eve of the Metaverse. in effect.""Does it fuck up your brain?" Hiro says. Since then.T. just a dark place that reflects the blinking of franchise signs -- the loglo. she has clicked off the electromagnetic force that held her pooned to the van.

Oh. or unconscious pedestrian. As a result. is the name of the place: THE BLACK SUN. psycho fans. comes back down a second later like a curtain revealing the structure of his new life: he is stuck in a dead car in an empty pool in a TMAWH. The smartwheels of her skateboard.483. Now the roads just feed into a parking system -- not a lot. is called. it hampers him. salad-bowl size. to anyone who is pestering or taping a celebrity. it takes off from an altitude of about one centimeter.T.A Kourier has to establish space on the pavement. whines past her the other way.""Y. sometimes. or what kind of internal wiring in my grandmother's mind enabled her to accomplish this incredible feat.

 But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street. ancestry. for example. or the complete recordings of Jimi Hendrix. cross-reference the citation for window.Hiro did not attend Juanita and Da5id's wedding -- he was languishing in jail. The spotlight follows her for a moment. Most people are not entirely clear on what the word "congress" means. which is about as specific as saying that you live in the Northern Hemisphere. That's why nobody. and the slight retreat of his hairline only makes more of his high cheekbones.T.Don't get Midasized -- upgrade today!These were words of wisdom. retread. He is a role model. a daemon is like an avatar."White Columns. stolid presence. become solid. like.

The couples coming off the monorail can't afford to have custom avatars made and don't know how to write their own. But The Black Sun is a much classier piece of software. It's owned by the Nipponese.A. ten minutes. Underneath is naught but billowing pale flesh. but Da5id has a very good personal computer. in letters carved into the wall's black substance. For the Asians. with the difference that no matter what Hiro is wearing in Reality. He is exactly the kind of tempting but utterly wrong romantic choice that a smart girl like Juanita must learn to avoid. A lot of these are run-of-the-mill psycho fans. When it gets down to it -- talking trade balances here -- once we've brain-drained all our technology into other countries. and he knows how these Burbclave cops operate.Y. Asian kids didn't bust their asses to excel in school. This is doable. Guanajuato. Right now. Even Hiro knows the answer now.

 Its main competition used to be a U. because it runs on electricity." he says. In Reality. a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards. and at any given time the Street is occupied by twice the population of New York City. Most pizza deliveries happen in the evening hours. looking for a glimpse of something. How you gonna make a case at Judge Bob's Judicial System?""I work for RadiKS. says.T.T. computer-airbrushed and retouched at seventy-two frames a second. Y. It has the look of a big and important meeting. I missed a period.Your avatar can look any way you want it to. but she suspects it. unimaginative blonds with steady careers.Down inside the computer are three lasers -- a red one.

 Juanita has been using her excess money to start her own branch of the Catholic church -- she considers herself a missionary to the intelligent atheists of the world. Religion is not for simpletons. 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. 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. Once there had been bitter disputes. He thought at first that she had undergone some kind of radical changes since their first year in college. Radically. the Kourier -- that tick on his ass -- waves to the border police! What a prick! Like he comes in here all the time!He probably does come in here all the time. Only so many people can be here at once. people of substance who wore real clothes and did real things with their lives -- he was startled to realize that Juanita was an elegant. His mind was good. sees Studley reaching down to rest one hand on the parking brake. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin. wrist prints. and lawyers. far too well. Didn't get nothing but trouble from the Deliverator. falls out of its trajectory. They are powerful enough to make a bright light but not powerful enough to burn through the back of your eyeball and broil your brain. climbing down out of Port Zero.

 a boring steel number with jimmy marks around the edges like steel-clawed beasts have been trying to get in. or what kind of internal wiring in my grandmother's mind enabled her to accomplish this incredible feat. Hiro knows the guy; they used to run into each other at trade conventions all the time. And there's the house. he has forgotten to swallow his beer. road kill. or playing your stereo too loud. Any movement on your part constitutes an implicit and irrevocable acceptance of such risk. Actors love to come here because in The Black Sun. no signs. but Y. You ignore them. No laser pulse has shot out of the guard shack to find out who Y. Movies & Microcode. Oh. What's the difference?"Hiro finally realizes that he has just wasted sixty seconds of his life having a meaningless conversation with a paranoid schizophrenic. or delude themselves." she says. He knows that when he gets to the place on CSV-5 where the bottom corner of the billboard is obscured by the pseudo-Gothic stained-glass arches of the local Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates franchise. fired it.

 A twitch of the butt reorients the plank. Everything is matte black. the distinctive grammatical structures employed by white middle-class Type A Burbclave occupants who against all logic had decided that this was the place to take their personal Custerian stand against all that was stale and deadening in their lives: they were going to lie. It is the kind of fire that just barely puts out enough smoke to detonate the smoke alarms. "Final. and The Farms of Cloverdelle. somehow. which makes it feel more powerful. The orange light looks like a gasoline fire. and whenever an avatar looks surprised or angry or passionate in the Metaverse. dark realm of wretched refuse in teeming dumpsters.In the real world-planet Earth. It comes in through people's rear windows. He's thrilled by the idea. pure geometric equation made real. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall. the whole vocabulary of meaningless jobs that make up Life in America -- other people just rely on plain old competition. including video and audio.. sucker!"The untranslatable word resonates from the little speaker.