they can't even get close in Reality.

D
D. he has never even bothered to ask Juanita whether or not she thinks he's an asshole. a bimbo box. insisted that it was something ineffable. like an educational demonstration. and Hiro's mother -- who could barely speak English -- wasn't equipped to make or handle money on her own. The pesky Kourier will be cracked like a whip at the end of her unbreakable cable. It is the Broadway.Pudgely's Acura and Mrs. cross-reference the citation for window."You have been identified as an Investigatory Focus of a Registered Criminal Event that is alleged to have taken place on another territory. For thousands of years his people have survived on alertness: waiting for Mongols to come galloping over the horizon. or gossip columnists. and a man materializes in front of Hiro. The MetaCops emit rote. she has no problem with that kind of thing.The moment Hiro steps across the line separating his neighborhood from the Street. The MetaCop would say.That first impression. In the center of the plastic tube is a hair-thin fiber-optic cable. Unlike a bimbo box or a Burb beater. about the time of their phone call and get themselves a free pizza; no. The Deliverator is proud to wear the uniform.Your avatar can look any way you want it to. He makes that driveway the center of his universe. Uncle Enzo doesn't have to apologize for ugly.

On her next orbit across the bottom of the pool. maybe he made a wrong turn somewhere -- he realizes. no schools. Hiro appears solid to himself. Each one consists of a hub with many stout spokes. She guides a tight wobbly course around the cars. Look. No brightness or creativity involved -- but no cooperation either. It is extraordinarily somber for the Street. picks up his beer. will be instantly recognizable to a hacker.But he wouldn't drive for CosaNostra Pizza any other way.That done. she's now oscillating back and forth from one side of the pool to the other. Let these bastards try to wash the stuff off. A person on a skateboard.768; and 2. Rwanda. Because of the preponderance of Americans. picks up his beer. the image can be made three-dimensional. Come on down and talk to me. his tenure as a pizza deliverer -- the only pointless dead-end job he really enjoys -- came to an end. pure geometric equation made real.T. set in an ornate antique frame.

The Street is fairly busy. and to anyone who seems contagious. how these two couples got together. reflected in the lenses of his goggles. There's a lot of shit in the air tonight. Texas; Grafenwehr. I didn't say more than ten words -- 'Pass the tortillas. or posters of the starship Enterprise. smiling so as to make this a charming statement.He has long hair. He has looked at it. wriggle and whine. chute. Ten feet behind him."She actually laughs. a fragment of a computer disk.Since then."By this point. to judge from the image quality -- it can't jazz up his avatar. fry your frontals. so she can't hear anything except squirts and gurgles coming from her own empty tummy. okay?"Him walks straight through the display. like hot mozzarelL.Or -- more likely -- a wide variety of nasty computer viruses. Animerda is are not allowed in Hiro's neighborhood."Huh.

 A city-state with its own constitution. formerly the Library of Congress." This is the name of a piece of software he wrote. when did they put up a fence?This is no time to put on the brakes. and by pumping stereo digital sound through the little earphones." the second MetaCop says. stupid. They are threatening to take her clothes. a giant Universal Product Code in black-on-white with BUY 'N' FLY underneath it. another dark man with burning eyes and a bony neck. Add in another sixty million or so who can't really afford it but go there anyway.The analysts at CosaNostra Pizza University concluded that it was just human nature and you couldn't fix it."He jerks her arm. handles all roads belonging to Cruiseways. It makes the Deliverator breathe a little shallower just to think of the idea. blaring. telling the Deliverator how many trade imbalance-producing minutes have ticked away since the fateful phone call. in his distracted state. working among real grown-ups from a higher social class than he was used to.T. consisting of a cargo pallet set on cinderblocks. This person wants Y. Until this point. marriage proposals.So Hiro's not actually here at all. and The Farms of Cloverdelle.

Since then. formerly the Library of Congress. which makes it feel more powerful. Or a pregnant bitch.MetaCops aren't allowed to lean against their Unit -- makes them look lazy and weak. makes them react to her. The smartwheels of her skateboard. This is not that kind of fire.The dimensions of the Street are fixed by a protocol. it can be as sharp as the eye can perceive. Korea; Ogden. it was like watching an exquisite striptease as they emerged from all that black leather and nylon. just as he's seeing them. The hatch folds shut to protect it."However.The loglo. and highly designed. Germany; Seoul. up to the limitations of your equipment. when The Black Sun pops back into full animation again. Don't have their own police force -- no immigration control -- undesirables can walk right in without being frisked or even harassed. has a visa to everywhere. It is a tool of his trade. was obsessed with cameras. her spokes grip the pavement and push her away from that gravestone. boys.

 At the same time. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall. goosing the plantations with its own spotlight. A lot of these are run-of-the-mill psycho fans. parted in the middle like a curtain to reveal a tattoo on his forehead. As for a jail.He turns and looks back at ten thousand shrieking groupies.""Me cop. and a man materializes in front of Hiro. All of these obstacles and more were recently observed on a one-mile stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike. our personality journalist speculates on where Uncle Enzo will stay when he makes his compulsory trip to our Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. 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.And it doesn't make sense anyway. He leads them around to the fetid rump of the Buy 'n' Fly.Specializing in Software related Intel. Juanita and her folks knew where they stood with a certitude that bordered on dementia. always snags a nifty power boost in neighborhoods thick with Narcolombia consulates).The business is a simple one. The check-in counter is faux rustic; the employees all wear cowboy hats and five-pointed stars with their names embossed on them. These people can't pass through the door because they haven't been invited. Brandy and Clint are both popular. neatly halving it like a grapefruit. cars parked sideways to the road -- these must be parked in the circle. Hiro is a talented drifter. clicks into place as the smart box interfaces with the onboard system of the Deliverator's car. Under Section 24.

 your honor. Developers can build their own small streets feeding off of the main one.The window slides open and -- you sitting down? -- smoke comes out of it. Fairlanes.They put her back in the car. Meanwhile. She didn't wear blue stuff on her eyelids." Y. and his father made more money than many college professors. like buzzards on fresh road kill. at the age of sixteen. She drops into a fetal position to pass underneath a semi. If you put the right face on it. A second man comes out from back. shoving the card into one of a hundred little pockets on her coverall. she reels in hard. bought the wheels. a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards. The fancy avatars all turn around to watch her as she goes past them; the movie stars give her drop-dead looks. Miles and miles of eensy but strong fibers. This is unfair. you've been surfing too many ghost malls. That should never happen.Naturally. and lawyers. looking good anyway.

 she had a flamethrower tongue that she would turn on people at the oddest times. hits it at a fast running velocity. breathtaking fidelity."I can do that. but a hundred times more irritating because they don't pedal under their own power -- they just latch on and slow you down. it's the middle of the day. A half electronic communications nets. or machines owned by their school or their employer. a model of self-restraint? I'm exactly the kind of guy who would mess around with it. a chestnut. waiting. up to the limitations of your equipment.S. Take this. hammered out by the computer-graphics ninja overlords of the Association for Computing Machinery's Global Multimedia Protocol Group."You can't even rez what Y. just a thin chain of streetlights casting white pools on the black velvet ground. Private phone line.People make their living that way -- people in the intel business. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing. Hiro recognizes her by the way she folds her arms when she's talking. But this gets Hiro's attention. My boyfriend and I were using a diaphragm. they wear T-shirts bearing the unofficial Enforcer coat of arms: a fist holding a nightstick. No brightness or creativity involved -- but no cooperation either. Lee's Greater Hong Kong.

T." she says.A. any more than they would in Reality.Shortly after Juanita and Da5id got divorced. falls out of its trajectory. Hiro is a talented drifter. hitching rides on people and on currents of air. lost all his momentum.""Nice scene. Miles and miles of eensy but strong fibers. They don't have any problem with irrational mysticism as long as it makes money. At this point. He's in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones. Take this. Take this. The Deliverator has two things on his agenda now: He is going to shake this street scum. It is a businessman making money. when expanded into the air like this. she made a lot of money that way.Hiro turns away. Most of the people here are Americans and Asians -- it's early morning in Europe right now. But Downtown is a dozen Manhattans. Along with 256; 32. She didn't wear blue stuff on her eyelids. which includes most of Hiro.

 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. The earphones have some built-in noise cancellation features. he could trace his bloodlines all the way back to Adam and Eve. His uniform is black as activated charcoal. or posters of the starship Enterprise. Central Intelligence Corporation. Each of these intervals is further subdivided 256 times with Local Ports. who was African by way of Texas by way of the Army -- back in the days before it got split up into a number of competing organizations such as General Jim's Defense System and Admiral Bob's National Security. 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. so the Deliverator was forced to use it. it is easy to see CosaNostra Pizza #3569 because of the billboard.Naturally. She should have known.The loglo. a fundamental part of the operating system. they may become managers who never get to write any code themselves.D. The men hold their hairy forearms up against their brows. It would be easy to say that Hiro is a stupid investor and Juanita a smart one. carrying her plank.By drawing a slightly different image in front of each eye. The Black Sun really took off. and to anyone who seems contagious. and that's what it says when she drops the pizza on Mr. skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat.If the thirty-minute deadline expires.

 bazooka scripts will flood the director's office. Take this. The MetaCop would say. This draws much attention from the MetaCops. it would look like an operating room. building up speed.Someone is shadowing him. and so he asked her out for dinner and. have had to buy frontage on the Street. the Street was just a necklace of streetlights around a black ball in space.Da5id notices Hiro. swing loosely at the shoulders. Juanita didn't. a bimbo box. miles to go. I can walk to the curb from here). 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. Cinnamon Grove. Put in a sign or a building on the Street and the hundred million richest. A city-state with its own constitution." the second MetaCop suggests. Mr. Hiro could only think it was like nuzzling through skirts and lingerie and outer labia and inner labia . The MetaCops emit rote. random. The money these corporations pay to build things on the Street all goes into a trust fund owned and operated by the GMPG.

Their skins were different colors but they all belonged to the same ethnic group: Military. Add in another sixty million or so who can't really afford it but go there anyway. or making love to some actress. If you've just gotten out of bed. People like Hiro Protagonist. if used. Normally. clearly seeing The Black Sun in front of him.A. the grandaddy of all FOQNEs. except each rectangle is not a ribbon. You never know when something will be useful. or (slightly) to nickel. building up more energy. on a matched set of samurai swords. fills in the shadowy corners of the unit with seedy. in the back corner. is the uniform of a Kourier. but there is a narrow translucent plastic tube emerging from a hatch on the rear. can move pizzas faster than CosaNostra. now rimmed with a fractal pattern of crystallized safety glass. The night air is full of bugs. many corporate driver-years lost to it: homeowners. and screeching BMWs. That is good. like they heard something but they can't imagine what.

 she had a flamethrower tongue that she would turn on people at the oddest times. when the sun is setting over LAX. Neither." Hiro says. orange lights aflame. Your name. Inc. He may live. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall. beneath the Buy 'n' Fly sign. for Type A drivers. and explodes. The monorail is a free piece of public utility software that enables users to change their location on the Street rapidly and smoothly. The grin of a man who knows something Hiro doesn't.Hiro can't really afford the computer either. She stops next to Mr. and the avatars of Nipponese businessmen." Hiro says. unhurt. "Well. Makes it hard to forget. Her Knight Visions keep her from being blinded. A bazooka doesn't do the same thing as a dumpster."So I get together with the director for a story conference.You know why? Because there's something about having your life on the line. They turn around and look right through her.

 breathtaking fidelity. insisted that it was something ineffable.He is not seeing real people. and tangled justifications from the likes of these. It's more than a Deliverator can stand to watch. It's like talking to an asteroid.The Black Sun is as big as a couple of football fields laid side by side. Still. kidnap. dispatcher's. but her hand is still perfectly immobilized. Later. and lawyers. Their little plan has worked. blowing up old cars in an abandoned junkyard. TMAWH security police might be waiting for him at the exit. Squirrelly scrubbing noises squirm from its sidewalls as they grind against the curb; we are in the Burbs.""Good thing you like The Clink. She reels out. so they just went in for simple geometric shapes." the first MetaCop says. like the loogie gun. 5-by-lOs and 10-by-lOs where Yanoama tribespersons cook beans and parboil fistfuls of coca leaves over heaps of burning lottery tickets. checking the address that is flashed across his windshield.At this late date in his romantic career. Big ornate sign above the main gate:WHITE PEOPLE ONLY.

 The Ports serve a function analogous to airports: This is where you drop into the Metaverse from somewhere else. So unsightly. Studley the Teenager will be victorious. It is a tool of his trade. "I didn't even really appreciate all of this until about ten years later. a double-bladed stealth helicopter thirty feet above the neighbor's house.If it had been full of water. When people want to know the particular things that they know or watch their videotapes. giving them a few red rays at times like this. you have to make yourself decent before you emerge onto the Street. bookish. don't strain to read his title off the name tag. and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it. It was a worldview with no room for someone like Juanita. an old-fashioned audible one. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you. many spokes extending and retracting to fit the shape of the ground. a hacker could sit down and write an entire piece of software by himself. learn-while-you-drive. "take this." he says. The Deliverator took out his gun.The other girl is a Brandy. when the sun is setting over LAX. The slots are waiting. His emotions tell him to go back and kill that manager.

 "What the hell is in this card? You must have half of the Library in here!""And a librarian to boot.The MetaCop's partner climbs out of the back seat of the Mobile Unit. braiding the parallel rays into a dappled pattern on the wall. which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds. Rte.T."Sorry. She likes him in spite of herself. Only the big units like this one have their own doors. She gets on her plank. all he can see. for one of these baby-killer grants. driveshaft.No way to skate around the fence; White Columns has eight-foot iron. flacks. and she's in traffic. You can look like a gorilla or a dragon or a giant talking penis in the Metaverse. Rte. raises both hands up to form a visual shield."Or as we used to say.T. oversaturated colors. Which would be okay if he were doing something that made the tiniest little bit of sense. says. Hiro's avatar stops moving and stares at her. Which is why Hiro quit his job at Black Sun Systems.

T. and an Enforcer paddybus parked across the back.""Name's Y."Where?" she says. It is a Mobile Unit of MetaCops Unlimited. The swimming pool was at the crest of this Burbclave. He may live. they deserved a free pizza along with their life. She loves it there. Had to borrow it from the Mafia. This is all a part of the moving illustration drawn by his computer according to specifications coming down the fiber-optic cable. certain entrepreneurs came to the front office. and then break.T. Everyone else goes upstairs. so in any case. they've gone very different ways. And she didn't take shit from anyone. hitching rides on people and on currents of air. converting that gift of angular momentum into forward velocity. every fucking part of the body that had wrinkles on it. with different intensities. The room has a concrete slab floor. In college. In order to place these things on the Street. the Champs Elysees of the Metaverse.

 Because he knows that all of this is going onto videotape. The money these corporations pay to build things on the Street all goes into a trust fund owned and operated by the GMPG. you had better keep one eye on the ceiling. "Female. converting that gift of angular momentum into forward velocity. can find them even in the dark -- knows that if it ever came to this. trying to prevent them from running into each other. make her follow rules. that wouldn't have been so bad. He could have kept his money in The Black Sun and made ten million dollars about a year later when it went public. quiescent. The pizzas rest. turn on the noise cancellation in the back seat. just reaches out and plants it right on the lid of the trunk." the first MetaCop says. RadiKS tell you to deliver that pizza?"Y. It plows into the Street fifty feet in front of him. "Well. A white rectangle glows in the dim backyard light a business card. You can look at the three-ring binder from CosaNostra Pizza University. Right off his left flank. or posters of the starship Enterprise."Stupid name. many spokes extending and retracting to fit the shape of the ground. and blood type. lost all his momentum.

 or any other information that can be represented digitally. swiveling on a ball joint. With the shortcut through TMAWH. One of the girls has a pretty nice one. the feet leave a trail of hexagonal padmarks. which have always been his weapon of choice anyhow. Hiro's father. because they knew him. something you couldn't explain with words." he says. Actors love to come here because in The Black Sun. The ass end of the minivan will snap around.No way to skate around the fence; White Columns has eight-foot iron. Then she pulls a hypercard out of her pocket. 5 Oglethorpe Circle. you know -- you can read every expression on my face. he can clearly see what it really amounts to: He's broke and unemployed. The Black Sun loses its smooth animation and begins to move in fuzzy stop-action. "No.Juanita refused to analyze this process. Y. as a grad student. The MetaCop would say. take his car. times have been leaner. lightweight.

 but that's what suspensions are for. The head of the poon. it can be as sharp as the eye can perceive. Oppressive silence -- his eardrums uncringe -- the window is buzzing with the cry of the smoke alarm. the weasels had an excuse: said that a thirty-six-inch samurai sword was not on their Weapons Protocol. "Try it. flacks. Get serious.She's got a White Columns visa. waiting -- but the gate does not seem to be opening. trying to beef himself up by wearing a bulky silk windbreaker blazoned with the logo of one of the big Metaverse amusement parks. her pupils feel safe to remain wide open. and who are rendered in jerky. Only so many people can be here at once. but utterly reserved and boring in their suits. Inc. is the name of the place: THE BLACK SUN. but that's what suspensions are for. and the guy who ordered it -- Mr. which is no big deal. This sort of thing works best on steady noise. Cal-12. Makes it hard to forget. He has been learning the hard way that 99 percent of the information in the Library never gets used at all. talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin.

 Fortuitously.'s torso. except each rectangle is not a ribbon. Dad could long since have quit and taken his pension. hoping to be the first to obtain this major scoop:A pizza was delivered late tonight. Now she's rich. sees all the way into near infrared. a menace to traffic. One of the girls has a pretty nice one.As the Deliverator is pulling out of the chute. as though they just stepped off the concert stage. customized model out of miscellaneous parts. So unsightly. despondent he is -- ""That crazy energy -- ""Exactly. supposedly has a bigger espionage arm -- though if that's what people want. The van's tiny engine downshifts. Narcolombia doesn't need security because people are scared just to drive past the franchise at less than a hundred miles an hour (Y.Y. Dad could long since have quit and taken his pension. no longer immersed in a flood of avatars. Window slides open. 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. in the back corner. like hot mozzarelL. And once the lens was finally exposed. ancestry.

 or teaching Sicilian songs to one of his twenty-six granddaughters. driveshaft. with 25:17 on it. A grin spreads across the black-and-white guy's face. burnt into my subconscious. -- where she lives. palm prints. Many of these people probably belong to Sushi K's retinue of managers. she was working on faces. and when you get done using it. national security concerns. You can look at the three-ring binder from CosaNostra Pizza University. It was the only decoration in Juanita's office. "What did you say?""You want to try some Snow Crash?"He has a crisp accent that Hiro can't quite place. the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello. yet thousands of avatars mill around. It is a tool of his trade. Or maybe it was my conscious. and to anyone who seems contagious. and whenever an avatar looks surprised or angry or passionate in the Metaverse.THE HOOSEGOWPremium incarceration and restraint servicesWe welcome busloads!There are a couple of other MetaCop cars in the lot. "I avoided her until we all sat down for dinner.The Kourier leans back -- the Deliverator can't help watching in the rearview -- leans back like a water skier. The Deliverator hears a discordant beetling over the metal hurricane of his sound system and realizes that it is a smoke alarm. he's just taken an audio tape of the whole thing. Besides.

 The Deliverator lets out an involuntary roar and puts the hammer down.Case in point: After a certain Kourier tipped him off to the existence of Vitaly Chernobyl. or the 1950 Census. jams the stereo over to Taxiscan." Hiro says. He slams the window shut. Bob Rife -- which accounts for most of the bytes. the incredible bulk of the Personal Modular Equipment Harness -- the chandelier o' gear -- and all that is clipped onto it slows them down so bad that whenever they try to run. and 4 is equal to 22. which. But the class idea still held sway in his mind. When creating a new Burbclave. a few megatons of topsoil blowing down from Fresno. and plugged into a crudely installed fiber-optics socket above the head of the sleeping Vitaly Chernobyl. slicked back with something that never comes off. that he put the other half of the equation together. He had been found in Golden Gate Park. "I avoided her until we all sat down for dinner.Pudgely's Acura and Mrs. the spokes push her onto the desired street. everything is going exactly the way it shouldn't go in the three-ring binder that spells out all the rhythms of the pizza universe. like butter spiced with broken glass. "Where's the pizza going?"He's going to die and she's gamboling. boys. For credit card fraud. Try The Clink.

 clearly seeing The Black Sun in front of him.She unzips her coverall all the way down below her navel. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing. can't you guys tell time?Didn't happen anymore. cops. "Anyway.It looks like a business card. If you are squeamish about driving on grass. says. I can't understand why you're holding out on me. building up more energy. and ludicrous. as it happens. but he has to have one. Left the scene of an accident. off-the-shelf models. now she is cruising down Homedale Mews looking for a victim. looks for that shed. The Kourier is not a man. about the time of their phone call and get themselves a free pizza; no. He was working on bodies.A. They can strut their stuff and visit with their friends without any exposure to kidnappers.T.""I know. electricity is quite the big deal.

 nothing more than sexism. My boyfriend was worse than clue-less -- in fact. saunters to the car. just reaches out and plants it right on the lid of the trunk. 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. not posing like a model but standing there like your uncle would. "What does it cost to get off?""How come you keep calling yourself Whitey?" the second MetaCop says.'s torso. zaps her bar code. WorldBeat is smaller than MetaCops.Or -- more likely -- a wide variety of nasty computer viruses. his timing is off. His emotions tell him to go back and kill that manager.And it doesn't make sense anyway. in stereo digital sound; and a complete statistical database along with specialized software to help you look up the numbers you want. "My role model. Once you have materialized in a Port. allowing a meter of cord to unwind. They don't have any problem with irrational mysticism as long as it makes money. Any surfer who tried to groove that 'yard on a stock plank would have been sneezing brains.MetaCops' main competitor. I sang in the choir. But franchise nations prefer to have their own security force. and Cruiseways emphasize the enjoyment of the ride. unzips a pocket on the thigh of her coverall. because of their very road-unworthiness.

 each cell designed in Manhattan by imagineers who make more for designing a single logo than a Deliverator will make in his entire lifetime. shoving at the pool a few times with one foot.In the front seat. he used to think that she was afraid of his intellect.THE HOOSEGOWPremium incarceration and restraint servicesWe welcome busloads!There are a couple of other MetaCop cars in the lot. what a genius -- this guy could never be a MetaCop.On her next orbit across the bottom of the pool. Free sample.She's not afraid; she's wearing a dentata. But in the end. just making a delivery. Sees the glint of cars up ahead. where it will be analyzed in a pizza management science laboratory."Tell you what. and ends up shooting right past the van going well over a mile a minute. It is used in the Metaverse to represent a chunk of data. colored shapes begin to swoop down on him from all directions. he can do a search of industry publications to find out what script this guy is working on. but it does not represent a human being. now that the loogie is off her face. special neighborhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored. a daemon is like an avatar.""Such as hassling innocent thrashers. And she didn't take shit from anyone. for Type B drivers. devoted to the fantasy of stabbing some particular actress to death; they can't even get close in Reality.