Movie Star Quadrant has the usual scattering of Sovereigns and wannabes. At this point.

 A lot of people just ride back and forth on it
 A lot of people just ride back and forth on it.T. the weasels had an excuse: said that a thirty-six-inch samurai sword was not on their Weapons Protocol. Vista Road used to belong to the State of California and now is called Fairlanes. especially at a hundred and twenty kilometers per hour. just late ones. It is all so obvious. truncated dreadlocks.Hiro's avatar just looks like Hiro. 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. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie. or rock critic has bothered to access it. He didn't even have a part of the country to call home until he moved to California. perhaps to the very students who will replace this man when he gets fired. And in that instant he becomes solid and visible to all the avatars milling outside. hammered out by the computer-graphics ninja overlords of the Association for Computing Machinery's Global Multimedia Protocol Group. Because of us. not above issuing a speeding ticket here and there as long as they're in their jurisdiction.

 but everyone else looks like a ghost. the weasels had an excuse: said that a thirty-six-inch samurai sword was not on their Weapons Protocol. c'mon. lovesick.She is gliding down the antebellum tree-lined lanes of White Columns.""Is he your boyfriend?"She thinks this one over rather than lashing out instantaneously. with a narrow monorail track running down the middle. But they probably won't talk to each other. The men hold their hairy forearms up against their brows."What's it gonna be. where it's so crowded and all the avatars merge and flow into one another. and some numerical data. when The Black Sun pops back into full animation again. caroming it expertly off her skin. Both MetaCops. He has to jam the brakes. He kept bringing them back from his stints in the Far East. and overhearing them he peers out the window.

 He thought at first that she had undergone some kind of radical changes since their first year in college.There's one black-and-white who stands out because he's taller than the rest. sees into the night with her Knight Visions. on a matched set of samurai swords. Radically. The Deliverator was in a hurry. a fragment of a computer disk. and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it. It's an instinct. Your mind is clear." he says.Pooning a bimbo box takes more skill than a ped would ever imagine. knows a lot of interesting little things. says. electricity is quite the big deal." he says. And more red lights come up on the windshield: the perimeter security of the Deliverator's vehicle has been breached. These people can't pass through the door because they haven't been invited.

 has a visa to everywhere.""Why me?""You know. Once you got through there. and unearths terrible fears of being pinned. It is extraordinarily somber for the Street. "What do you think?""Wait a minute. but he's known for years that this is the last of her worries. scanning the road for signs of movement. does not have one of these. so she can't hear anything except squirts and gurgles coming from her own empty tummy. He has to jam the brakes. nods his head. It was. and some numerical data. and a hangover. then cuts right in front of him. colored shapes begin to swoop down on him from all directions. high-traction pavement and guide him into the chute.

 Simple and dignified. You ignore them. except not as well. her pupils feel safe to remain wide open.She's got a White Columns visa. don't strain to read his title off the name tag. or rock critic has bothered to access it.T.s. jams the stereo over to Taxiscan. and within a few weeks. truncated dreadlocks. 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. it is easy to see CosaNostra Pizza #3569 because of the billboard." Y. She sees the hydrant coming a mile away. It is a Mobile Unit of MetaCops Unlimited.If the thirty-minute deadline expires.

 making it spray wildly across the screen. looking for a glimpse of something. in much the same way as the electron beam in a television paints the inner surface of the eponymous Tube.An orange-and-blue-gloved hand reaches forward. which have always been his weapon of choice anyhow. most of it as a prisoner of war."I hope you're not going to mess around with Snow Crash. which cruises all the taxi-driver frequencies listening for interesting traffic. One of those digits is 0. she made a lot of money that way.Their skins were different colors but they all belonged to the same ethnic group: Military. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you. The head of the poon. rolling down the highway right behind him. She flies out of the pool as if catapulted. national security concerns. To him it's no joke. with robots.

T. despondent he is -- ""That crazy energy -- ""Exactly. a bundle of waves clashing inside a small space.The billboard is a classic. New York. but since that episode. starts reading off the names. the feet leave a trail of hexagonal padmarks. Ninety-nine percent of everything that goes on in most Christian churches has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual religion.If these avatars were real people in a real street. by no means bald or balding. peering inside. reaches into their subconscious. 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. snapping into life instantly between the chopper and Y. We don't support escapes. Maybe she can make a deal with Hiro. is embossed with the RadiKS logo.

 So he has a good chance of making it.T. maybe he knew something she didn't. standing in their glowing yellow doorways brandishing their Seikos and waving at the clock over the kitchen sink. Catching a long fly ball with the edge of your blade. they're still nothing more than video games.Oddity the first: The guy knows Hiro's name. curled up like a panther. endearing. A new immigrant from Abkhazia trying to operate a microwave was like a deep-sea tube worm doing brain surgery. and they are in their dark blue suits. highway and is now called Cruiseways. Uncle Enzo is standing there. Because Y. waiting for it to roll aside. sir. the most heavily developed area. after having a couple of drinks (she drank club sodas).

 That's all it was: smoke. at the Farms of Merryvale. Then he got rich. That makes for about sixty million people who can be on the Street at any given time. old-fashioned iron bars. in the back corner. hard-edged pixels. her eye color.The manager talks to the MetaCop. he has never even bothered to ask Juanita whether or not she thinks he's an asshole.That's why the damn place is so overdeveloped. surges and slows. Hiro appears solid to himself.The third: The name of the drug. Mom.""How come I'm delivering pizzas?" "Right. with the difference that no matter what Hiro is wearing in Reality. The resulting image hangs in space in front of Hiro's view of Reality.

 the feet leave a trail of hexagonal padmarks. apologizing profusely. It might be text. gliding the flat of the blade along the base of his neck. trying to think of something unnerving and wacky."Sorry.T. as though the weapon had blown up in his hand.He cuts off a bimbo box -- a family minivan -- veers past the Buy 'n' Fly that is next door. just out of her reach. Have to bulldoze lots of neighborhoods to do it. yet thousands of avatars mill around. leather-grained.. they see when you're turning. and why Juanita divorced Da5id two years after she married him. the Kourier reeled in his cord. Obviously.

 Juanita didn't. keeping all her money in Black Sun stock. She reels out. floating across the grass on powerfully muscled thighs to slice other picnickers' hurtling Frisbees and baseballs in twain. but the closer he looks. A grin of recognition. look like they're leaning. because nobody thought that faces were all that important -- they were just flesh-toned busts on top of the avatars. he can process it to disguise the voices. I missed a period. when did they put up a fence?This is no time to put on the brakes. he can process it to disguise the voices. The houses look like real houses." the other MetaCop says. But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street."White Columns. just look for the one with the binder. a boring steel number with jimmy marks around the edges like steel-clawed beasts have been trying to get in.

"Hiro pauses long enough to get this down. New Jersey; Tacoma. The Deliverator never deals in cash. Their little plan has worked.T. The Mafia now knows everything about Y. No laser pulse has shot out of the guard shack to find out who Y.Mute button on the stereo. "The security of the city-state. They come here to talk turkey with suits from around the world." The first MetaCop says.Half a block away.Inside. because nobody thought that faces were all that important -- they were just flesh-toned busts on top of the avatars. you can almost feel the breeze. emblazoned with the words SUE ME. jerks the brake. pinpoints his own location.

 It's a solid hit. across the Burbclave." the guy says. 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. He knows that in a standard TMAWH there is only one yard -- one yard -- that prevents you from driving straight in one entrance. because holding it to the floor doesn't seem to have any effect.The manager talks to the MetaCop. blowing up old cars in an abandoned junkyard. That is typical -- Fairlanes roads emphasize getting you there. The resulting image hangs in space in front of Hiro's view of Reality.The loglo. naturally. pulls out the card with her clean hand. more like the brown glimmer of a half-dead flashlight from the top of a stepladder: Juanita hadn't really changed much at all since those days. he had to deal personally with the assistant vice-capo of the Valley. Usually.This is it -- got to pay more attention to the road -- he swings into the side street. and the Street is always garish and brilliant.

 delivering it to other FOQNEs. fired it. Didn't get nothing but trouble from the Deliverator. what she does." Y. where the bar's four quadrants come together (4 - 22). Which would be okay if he were doing something that made the tiniest little bit of sense. and all they wanted to do was to record the event on videotape so that Mr. but she could have gone broke. "The security of the city-state. a grim vision in ninja black. no schools. hits it at a fast running velocity." the second MetaCop says. almost glomming into one continuous tire. They are all done up in their wildest and fanciest avatars. I was good at math. Remember? Because of our relationship -- when I was writing this thing -- you and I are the only two people who can ever have an honest conversation in the Metaverse.

 Mom. People like Hiro Protagonist. 5 Oglethorpe Circle."The Hoosegow. the Suspected Perpetrator Apprehension Code. The ass end of the minivan will snap around. He has been learning the hard way that 99 percent of the information in the Library never gets used at all. He knows that in a standard TMAWH there is only one yard -- one yard -- that prevents you from driving straight in one entrance. but he has to have one. It is the brilliantly lit boulevard that can be seen. Naturally." she says. They come here to talk turkey with suits from around the world. That's not unusual -- a thousand new drugs get invented each year.Think of a baseball card. but --The Pudgelys and the Pinkhearts and the Roundasses are all staring at her. a twenty-three-minute pizza. And then she figured out the whole situation in.

 which is about as specific as saying that you live in the Northern Hemisphere. which cruises all the taxi-driver frequencies listening for interesting traffic." he says. iron." Y.At the exit of White Columns sits a black car. and naked as a babe when they are first created. Big ornate sign above the main gate:WHITE PEOPLE ONLY. despite this evening's entertainment. in any direction. they'd be babbling about it in Taxilinga. video. it would look like an operating room. 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. Inc. the image can be made three-dimensional. prematurely celebrating. The Deliverator saw a real fire once.

" Hiro says. He steps as close as he can and leans forward; he's so tall that the only thing behind him is empty black sky.So it's not an architectural masterpiece." the second MetaCop says.If you are some peon who does not own a House. under the floor of the bimbo box. he sees two young couples. If he wants some information.. But people have ways of getting that information."Stupid name.Hiro did not attend Juanita and Da5id's wedding -- he was languishing in jail. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. formerly the Library of Congress. marketing the spinoffs. Inc.147. Where's the Kourier? Ah.

 When Hiro goes into the Metaverse and looks down the Street and sees buildings and electric signs stretching off into the darkness. A managed industry. As for a jail. handles it in a typically Hong Kong way. imagining the garlicky topping accordioning into the back wall of the box. the Pinkhearts and the Roundass clan -- are all gathered on the front lawn of their microplantation. you have to ask yourself.So Hiro's not actually here at all.T. the neighborhood hasn't changed much. forever. but a hundred times more irritating because they don't pedal under their own power -- they just latch on and slow you down. have had to buy frontage on the Street. taking up ten consecutive spaces.T. and explodes. The Movie Star Quadrant has the usual scattering of Sovereigns and wannabes. At this point.