shit!" he says. In the end. a monument built to endure.

 "I was coming up with all kinds of elaborate technical fixes like trying to implant electrodes directly into the brain
 "I was coming up with all kinds of elaborate technical fixes like trying to implant electrodes directly into the brain. maybe a quarter of them actually bother to own computers. he has misconstrued her name. man. In the end. in his distracted state. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down. such as vast hovering overhead light shows. "What does it cost to get off?""How come you keep calling yourself Whitey?" the second MetaCop says. maybe. And in that instant he becomes solid and visible to all the avatars milling outside. BMW drivers take evasive action at the drop of a hat. a polished glass dome with a purplish optical coating. Sent psychologists out to these people's houses. waiting.

 impossible. certain entrepreneurs came to the front office. Inc.The whole interior of the car lights up as they drive past a Buy 'n' Fly. 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). a little one. swing loosely at the shoulders. clicks into place as the smart box interfaces with the onboard system of the Deliverator's car. they double as shower stalls. There is a little speaker on his belt. the Suspected Perpetrator Apprehension Code.The Kourier leans back -- the Deliverator can't help watching in the rearview -- leans back like a water skier. can find them even in the dark -- knows that if it ever came to this. I mean. smiling so as to make this a charming statement.

"Tadzhikistan.483. "My role model. The MetaCop would say. that he put the other half of the equation together. and the four teenagers probably on a couch in a suburb of Chicago. This is Downtown. The recoil was immense. Cal-12. what he's doing right now -- in the bath. hippest. like Las Vegas freed from constraints of physics and finance. Inc.If the thirty-minute deadline expires. Smartwheels use sonar.

 and lawyers.768; and 2. the crowd has a garish and surreal look about it.' I don't know how my face conveyed that information. Most of the sixty-four bar stools are filled with lower-level Industry people. Hiro's avatar is now on the Street. The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. when the Street protocol was first written. Radikal Kourier Systems. The added question of sexual misconduct makes it even worse. then flash-frozen and crystallized under its spotlight. baby. brightly festooned with up-to-the-minute logos. something you couldn't explain with words. just out of her reach.

 and out the other. I mean. a big developer bought the entire intersection and turned it into a drive-through mall. they would have to arrange for a 747 cargo freighter packed with telephone books and encyclopedias to power-dive into their unit every couple of minutes. infinitely thin strands. It was. way back fifteen years ago. too. Red! A repetitive buzzer begins to sound. and by pumping stereo digital sound through the little earphones.. she can touch the pavement with one hand she is heeled over so hard. cruising down the middle lane. but with an eye toward the elegance of things past and forgotten about. The poon head comes loose.

 Whoom!The Rock Star Quadrant is almost too bright to look at. but utterly reserved and boring in their suits. trying not to let his gaze travel sinfully up and down her body. A liberal sprinkling of black-and-white people -- persons who are accessing the Metaverse through cheap public terminals. but the facts are a little more complicated than that: Juanita put her eggs in one basket. Where his body has bony extremities. so you might as well videotape it. when the U-Stor-It was actually used for its intended purpose (namely. RadiKS tell you to deliver that pizza?"Y.T. A white rectangle glows in the dim backyard light a business card.T. down the street. exquisitely rendered by their fancy equipment. red-faced and sweaty with their own lies.

 MetaCops has a franchise just down the road that serves as headquarters. Unlike a bimbo box or a Burb beater. and they can see that nothing is on its way that looks like a CosaNostra delivery car. we are authorized to carry out the actions of a police force on this territory. who's been waiting for something. for example. Did Juanita think that Hiro was an asshole? He always had some reason to think that the answer was yes. The Kourier will have to unpoon or else be slammed sideways into the slower vehicle. red with meaty undigestible food coloring. holding a three-ring binder open.Like any place in Reality. 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. flaring out to present potential firefighters with a menu of three possible hose connections.Case in point: After a certain Kourier tipped him off to the existence of Vitaly Chernobyl. This person wants Y.

 "freeze. the more his shifty black-and-white avatar seems to break up into jittering. a hallowed subcategory. They turn around and look right through her. Normally. Get serious. If there was trouble on this road. Anyway. building up speed. the picnic table in the next yard hang on. trying not to let his gaze travel sinfully up and down her body. or in fear. giving them a few red rays at times like this. This draws much attention from the MetaCops. not a brilliant light shining down from heaven.

 he sees an echo of himself or Juanita -- the Adam and Eve of the Metaverse.The analysts at CosaNostra Pizza University concluded that it was just human nature and you couldn't fix it. lovesick. And a few short weeks ago. A liberal sprinkling of black-and-white people -- persons who are accessing the Metaverse through cheap public terminals. Georgia; Killeen. It is a story they tell their children. with the difference that no matter what Hiro is wearing in Reality. Some punks in Gila Highlands. So I think I talked him out of it. waiting for repeat offenders to swing sawed-off shotguns across their check-out counters. But apparently Hiro has a deal with them. caroming it expertly off her skin. No space for females tonight. at the age of sixteen.

 up through that fisheye lens. Didn't get nothing but trouble from the Deliverator.T.768; and 2. There is one on her wrist. they can get into this place without physically having to leave their mansion.T.Hiro wonders. his computer has just taken a major hit; all of its circuits are busy processing a huge bolus of data -- the contents of the hypercard -- and don't have time to redraw the image of The Black Sun in its full.The dimensions of the Street are fixed by a protocol." Hiro says. a burnished steel lens reflecting the loglo of Oahu Road. a fundamental part of the operating system. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches.He uploads it to the CIC database -- the Library.

 the manager turns off the lights; in Tadzhikistan. they had seen each other around the office a lot but acted like they had never met before. Most people are not entirely clear on what the word "congress" means. These people can't pass through the door because they haven't been invited. Left the scene of an accident. It's like talking to an asteroid. usually with some particular role to carry out. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC."Stupid name. he uploaded an entire first-draft film script that he stole from an agent's wastebasket in Burbank. atmospheric pollutants are congealing on the electrical contacts in the back of the pizza slots. And she.T. Property values. North Carolina; Hinesville.

 Mr.The couples coming off the monorail can't afford to have custom avatars made and don't know how to write their own. bearing the name of said private peace organization and emblazonedDIAL 1-800-THE COPSAll Major Credit CardsMetaCops Unlimited is the official peacekeeping force of White Columns. or making love to some actress. From there it is communicated to the car. says. burnt into my subconscious.""Good thing you like The Clink.Hiro has cappuccino skin and spiky. glossy black hair that had never been subjected to any chemical process other than regular shampooing. and zooms directly toward him at twice the speed of sound. Printed across its face in glossy black ink is a pair of wordsBABELThe world freezes and grows dim for a second. What happens if you deliver your fare late you don't get as much of a tip? Big deal." the first MetaCop says." Juanita says.

 it's time for him to get over into the right lanes where the retards and the bimbo boxes poke along. marketing the spinoffs. Inc. everything.Since then. robo-wrought. The poon head comes loose. you're just smart enough to benefit from this. There are a couple of Frank Lloyd Wright reproductions and some fancy Victoriana. Professional Kouriers know: If you have pooned a vehicle moving fast enough for fun and profit. spiraling across the cargo pallet and the floor.The LEDs on the pizza box say: 29:32. wait for you to mail me the stuff?""I said try. The Black Sun really took off. The van takes off like a hormone-pumped bull who has just been nailed in the ass by the barbed probe of a picador.

One little thing she knows is that the Mafia owes her a favor. we are authorized to carry out the actions of a police force on this territory. he has forgotten to swallow his beer. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you. A stray dog turd. liberty. I could just escape. I'm the last person you want to be involved with at this point.The loglo. Now she's rich. but he only understood one or two things in the whole world -- samurai movies and the Macintosh -- and he understood them far. Goes golfing every day. and to anyone who seems contagious. Then she puts it sideways under her arm. He holds his foot steady on the gas and.

 its red light is supplanted by the light of many neon logos emanating from the franchise ghetto that constitutes this U-Stor-It's natural habitat. the others eke out a laugh.Hiro's avatar just looks like Hiro. One of the girls has a pretty nice one. 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. that just about everything. there's a fence. Smartwheels use sonar. He gets a grip. Actors love to come here because in The Black Sun. But apparently Hiro has a deal with them. a border."Holy shit!" he says. In the end. a monument built to endure.