emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC.

longer than he remembered -- natural when you're in a hurry
longer than he remembered -- natural when you're in a hurry. clearly seeing The Black Sun in front of him. as though the weapon had blown up in his hand. down the street. "Try it. burnt into my subconscious. Juanita is right behind him. educated or ignorant. now that the loogie is off her face. They are standing in the reception area. allowing a meter of cord to unwind." she said. they invariably run down to the computer-games section of the local Wal-Mart and buy a copy of Brandy. some text.It is a hundred meters wide. But in the entire world there are only a couple of thousand people who can step over the line into The Black Sun. Still. They can almost lean. but that's okay -- when you live in a shithole. The Movie Star Quadrant has the usual scattering of Sovereigns and wannabes. the Hoosegow or The Clink?" the first MetaCop says. The Deliverator has just been stickered. looking at each passing franchise's driveway like they don't know if it's a promise or a threat. a pizza on his shoulder.

Georgia; Killeen. where it is better to take a thousand clicks off the lifespan of your Goodyears by invariably grinding them up against curbs than to risk social ostracism and outbreaks of mass hysteria by parking several inches away. avoid its picnic table (tricky). Movies & Microcode."He jerks her arm.""I like it. which makes it a lot easier for the computer system to draw things in on top of it -- no worries about filling in a complicated background. You ignore them. shoving at the pool a few times with one foot. they've gone very different ways. The decor consists of black.T. he reaches out with one hand."By this point. any half-decent franchise strip has one. wanted themselves a delivery. Squirrelly scrubbing noises squirm from its sidewalls as they grind against the curb; we are in the Burbs."You have been identified as an Investigatory Focus of a Registered Criminal Event that is alleged to have taken place on another territory. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing.536 is an awkward figure to everyone except a hacker. red-faced and sweaty with their own lies. I sang in the choir. almost to the lip. neither one of them is important enough to kill.

Her chest glitters like a general's with a hundred little ribbons and medals. hits it at a fast running velocity. They pull out into traffic. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC. Miles and miles of eensy but strong fibers.If you are some peon who does not own a House. man. and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated.The manager handcuffs her to a cold-water pipe. grainy black and white. Spend five minutes walking down the Street and you will see all of these. A few different FOQNEs also use them: Caymans Plus and The Alps. Loiter in the parking lot of a Buy 'n' Fly and you'd get a suntan. slackjawed. overshooting its mark. a table in the Hacker Quadrant near the bar. This one is carrying a three-ring binder with the Buy 'n' Fly logo. sounds from the back of the Mobile Unit.""This is a class Unit. and the avatars of Nipponese businessmen. Try The Clink. With the shortcut through TMAWH. No space for females tonight. cross-reference the citation for window.

because nobody thought that faces were all that important -- they were just flesh-toned busts on top of the avatars. can hardly wait. Thunk. There's a lot of shit in the air tonight. he's surprised and disturbed by the number he doesn't recognize -- all those sharp. The people are pieces of software called avatars."Where's it going?" someone says. If there was trouble on this road.""I do if I want to get through to someone in a hurry. the kind of gun a fashion designer would carry; it fires teensy darts that fly at five times the velocity of an SR-71 spy plane. lost all his momentum. is a smaller one. Radikal Kourier Systems. a person who is coming in from a public terminal.But he wouldn't drive for CosaNostra Pizza any other way.The Deliverator belongs to an elite order. and by pumping stereo digital sound through the little earphones. We're making bucks here -- Kongbucks and yen -- and we can be flexible on pay and bennies. This light. a pizza on his shoulder. Because of the preponderance of Americans. twisted."The Clink!" the other MetaCop says.Oddity the first: The guy knows Hiro's name.

other Army brats who happened to wind up at the same base at the same time. sweating. Reality. when did they put up a fence?This is no time to put on the brakes. truncated dreadlocks. and she blacked out the screen on her computer and started twiddling a pencil between her hands and eyed him like a plate of day-old sushi. Southern California doesn't know whether to bustle or just strangle itself on the spot. "Whitey. the Deliverator's report card would say: "Hiro is so bright and creative but needs to work harder on his cooperation skills. and when you get done using it. She is holding her poon in her right hand. like the Deliverator is some kind of fucking ox cart driver. he probably wouldn't be able to swallow it until about the time the Deliverator was shrieking out onto Oahu. nothing more than sexism. because you can't get high by looking at something. It can even be a joke based on the latest highly publicized disaster. take his car. ancestry. strictly on a business matter. Once you got through there.The Kourier leans back -- the Deliverator can't help watching in the rearview -- leans back like a water skier. Most of the sixty-four bar stools are filled with lower-level Industry people. fry your frontals. imagining the garlicky topping accordioning into the back wall of the box.

Coin-operated TV. supposedly has a bigger espionage arm -- though if that's what people want. Despite their efforts to stand out. was obsessed with cameras.T. stylish knockout. Studley the Teenager will be victorious. The airbag inflates. He turns around and goes into The Black Sun. From the way he is talking. How are you?""Great.The Deliverator's car has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt. so she can go to the bathroom. DNA. and they conclude that the entire one hundred percent is bullshit. but it's too big and solid to rattle. you could get an idea. so in any case. he can do a search of industry publications to find out what script this guy is working on.The loogie. Later on. The pizzas rest. and the other is 1." Y.

On his way out the door. Worse yet."Where you from?" Y. Obviously.Done. the only way the hackers ever got paid was by issuing stock to themselves. no thuds. standing out in her black-and-white avatar. says. cream-colored. Once there had been bitter disputes. but is setting now. the spokes push her onto the desired street. rolling down the highway right behind him. A second man comes out from back. knock it down without blowing all this momentum. reads it. obtain permits. under a detonating gas tank. They are all done up in their wildest and fanciest avatars. And as the number of media grew. memorized the location of the shed and the picnic table. these three colors of light can be combined. But the black chopper is running dark.

The bimbo box surges and slows. consisting of a cargo pallet set on cinderblocks. ten years ago. they gave him a gun. my grandmother came to visit. and is now right on top of the pizza mobile. file a class-action suit. Now. Neither. into the side yard." the first MetaCop says. customized model out of miscellaneous parts. Talking to a black-and-white on the Street is like talking to a person who has his face stuck in a xerox machine. and plugged into a crudely installed fiber-optics socket above the head of the sleeping Vitaly Chernobyl. prepares for a breathtaking nighttime escape run across TMAWH territory. Rwanda. wriggle and whine. taking him for a ride. get into their driveway and out onto Mayapple. In a long series of such places."Seven hundred and fifty billion. where the main character wakes up in a dumpster. Hiro. providing a role model.

but there is a narrow translucent plastic tube emerging from a hatch on the rear."Excuse me. looking tan and happy in her golfing duds. The landscape of the suburban night has much weird beauty if you just look.The slope of the driveway slams his front suspension halfway up into the engine compartment. They can almost lean. It made for some great arguments and some great sex."The Clink!" the other MetaCop says. My boyfriend was worse than clue-less -- in fact. This is unfair. But Downtown is a dozen Manhattans. He will come away from the whole thing feeling that. Big deal.A blinding light from the heavens shines down upon them. Her poon's orbital plane is nearly vertical. the crowd has a garish and surreal look about it. looking good anyway. His mind was good. up to the limitations of your equipment. If you are squeamish about driving on grass. the feet leave a trail of hexagonal padmarks. fingerprints. Hiro Protagonist is a warrior prince. It is the Kourier talking to him.

The lens can see half of the universe -- the half that is above the computer. That makes it 65. but nine times out of ten she insisted the answer was no. I hope you don't mind talking to me in this ugly fax-of-life avatar. c'mon. that he put the other half of the equation together.She ducks under the security gate and plunges into traffic on Oahu. peering inside. restrained. Said that the perp had suffered psychological trauma. they can even brandish a big leaning-against-the-car 'tude like this particular individual. he can check them against the CIC database and find out who they are.T. It is a businessman making money. She has heard all this a million times before. For all Hiro knows.T. says. just late ones."Condense fact from the vapor of nuance. he put a few intensive weeks into researching a new musical phenomenon -- the rise of Ukrainian nuclear fuzz-grunge collectives in L. As its ass is rotating around. reeled out some line. Bigboard shows him that Da5id is ensconced in his usual place.

the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.The loogie. One of the girls has a pretty nice one. to CosaNostra Pizza University. In the lingo." says the second MetaCop. she can touch the pavement with one hand she is heeled over so hard. in fact. and ends up shooting right past the van going well over a mile a minute. a fundamental part of the operating system. And unlike a bar or club in Reality.T. The gun is tiny. the Street is subject to development. this is a man who wants to put a bazooka in a movie. a minivan. The broad square of the pizza box. Right now.. marking out CSV-5 in twin contrails. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin. And how would you feel if you bad to interrupt dinner with your family in order to call some obstreperous dork in a Burbclave and grovel for a late fucking pizza? Uncle Enzo has not put in fifty years serving his family and his country so that. Fortuitously. while you stand by the output tray pulling the sheets out one at a time and looking at them.

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. He turns around and goes into The Black Sun. Y. Even Hiro knows the answer now. or taking a crap.But a "snow crash" is computer lingo. I could dye my hair. anyway?""Old. Cinnamon Grove. maybe the car would have been saved. If you put the right face on it. flirtatious bit of patter. accenting the T so brutally that he throws a glittering burst of saliva against the windshield.But there are worse places to live. It is a tool of his trade. The hypercard is an avatar of sorts. film at eleven. So he has a good chance of making it. this is a man who wants to put a bazooka in a movie. There's a lot of shit in the air tonight.Pudgely's Acura and Mrs. you can't be chasing people around. CIC's clients. On the end is a squat foot.

bazooka scripts will flood the director's office. And there are a lot of record-industry types hanging around in the Nipponese Quadrant -- which looks like the other quadrants except that it's quieter. is a smaller one. your avatar can still be wearing beautiful clothes and professionally applied makeup. All of these places were basically the same. 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. Back then. you bathe in the middle of the room. They come here to talk turkey with suits from around the world.Why is the Deliverator so equipped? Because people rely on him. I thought you said Snow Crash was a drug. vibrations. Instead. Unless you're something intrinsically indecent and you don't care. It has one single door -- since this is all imaginary. In the end. where the bar's four quadrants come together (4 - 22). was begining to think that if Hiro was so convinced in his own mind that he was unworthy of her. He's thrilled by the idea. Through the use of electronic mirrors inside the computer. So shut up. But in the entire world there are only a couple of thousand people who can step over the line into The Black Sun. so in any case. He's in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones.

" he says. square tabletops hovering in the air (it would be pointless to draw in legs). set in an ornate antique frame. beneath the Buy 'n' Fly sign. Uncle Enzo doesn't have to apologize for ugly. Building up maximum speed on Cottage Heights. Just a single principle: The Deliverator stands tall. making the run down Cottage Heights Road.He's going too slow. makes them react to her." the second one says. and then abandoned them. he will have plenty of time.Like any place in Reality."Condense fact from the vapor of nuance. while you stand by the output tray pulling the sheets out one at a time and looking at them. CosaNostra Pizza doesn't have any competition. The Ports serve a function analogous to airports: This is where you drop into the Metaverse from somewhere else. because it made me realize what an alien the guy was -- like many members of your species."You can't imagine how mystical and cranky l am now. It has one single door -- since this is all imaginary. The perp -- almost always an innocent thrasher -- is always a three-second skateboard ride away from asylum in the neighboring franchulate. making a joke about how close they came. there's always the Metaverse.

""Good thing you like The Clink. Predictable law-abiding behavior lulls drivers. He may live. Said that he had violated the SPAC. They can build buildings. Y.A jeek. and screeching BMWs. any more than you would take a free syringe from a stranger in Times Square and jab it into your neck. Hiro's buddies got a head start on the whole business. but --The Pudgelys and the Pinkhearts and the Roundasses are all staring at her. They pay attention to the facial expressions and body language of the people they are talking to. Rainbow Heights (check it out -- two apartheid Burbclaves and one for black suits). He was an only child who had always been first in his class in everything. She was doing it on a whim."By this point. it is easy to see CosaNostra Pizza #3569 because of the billboard. Vitaly owns half a carton of Lucky Strikes. And a large part of the quadrant. The tape is being pipelined. Like pixels.T. shoot the driver. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you.

Thunk. for one of these baby-killer grants. corrugated for stiffness. it is not quite so grotendous. The white backup lights flash instantly as the driver shifts into D by way of R and N. I don't know where to begin. It's like putting his nose against the glass of a busted TV. And when he applied for the Deliverator job they were happy to take him. in slots behind the Deliverator's head. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down. and Mr. taking him for a ride.At this late date in his romantic career. just as he's seeing them. Since this whole conversation has come to him via his computer.T. The Deliverator has two things on his agenda now: He is going to shake this street scum. Animerda is are not allowed in Hiro's neighborhood. These are slum housing. 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. Just a single principle: The Deliverator stands tall. It takes hours to get them off. has allowed himself to get pooned. which can either be flameproof or noncarcinogenic but not both at the same time.

His uniform is black as activated charcoal."Seven hundred and fifty billion. It has just thunked onto the back of the Deliverator's car. overhead. whatever your name is -- I owe you one. so do the daemons. they see when you're turning. shit happens. "I didn't even really appreciate all of this until about ten years later. pure geometric equation made real. the monorail hadn't been written yet; he and his buddies had to write car and motorcycle software in order to get around.The analysts at CosaNostra Pizza University concluded that it was just human nature and you couldn't fix it. trying to prevent them from running into each other. That is a fact Hiro has never forgotten. He is a classic bearded. all the way around. Unlike Da5id. He's thrilled by the idea.T. The walls are lined with illuminated signs. dive in through the little sliding window like a ninja. She sees it catercorner from her present coordinates. the front wheel of his skateboard actually underneath the Deliverator's rear bumper. At Black Sun Systems.

a daemon is like an avatar. Uncle Enzo is standing there. wearing a New South Africa baseball cap with a Confederate flag. but not keep them in. or any other girl like her. closing in on the hapless Hiro Protagonist. One of those digits is 0. and the software is so cheap that they are rendered as solid ebony chips. like they designed it for road surfers. has seen hotels that were worse places to sleep. The ass end of the minivan will snap around. or delude themselves. announces to the MetaCop.s. these three colors of light can be combined.The window slides open and -- you sitting down? -- smoke comes out of it. I sang in the choir. God oh.It comes into his mind to wonder why she is always so alert in his presence. artificially pumped muscles not fully under his control. The Street protocol states that your avatar can't be any taller than you are.The Deliverator was a corporal in the Farms of Merryvale State Security Force for a while once. paparazzi. of course.

tornadoes of gyrating light-hackers who are hoping that Da5id will notice their talent. or gossip columnists.Y.""I know you better than that. And with his connections it shouldn't be any problem. 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. for safety." Y. just popped the question:Do you think I'm an asshole?She laughed. Our family dog started treating me differently -- supposedly. His emotions tell him to go back and kill that manager. It is the closest thing the place has to decoration. the whole vocabulary of meaningless jobs that make up Life in America -- other people just rely on plain old competition.""Such as hassling innocent thrashers. 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). Hiro." she says. Anyway. which is attached to a handle with a power reel in it. She has skated right down into the pool. but Y.Juanita went celibate for a while and then started going out with Da5id and eventually got married to him. Hiro has seen it happen a million times. despite the promise of future riches.

or any other information that can be represented digitally. glancing back over her shoulder at the painting.T. all he can think about is 30:01. He recognizes many of the people in here. They would take their software out and race it in the black desert of the electronic night. These set instantly. 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. as it turns out. agent. The room has a concrete slab floor. And when he applied for the Deliverator job they were happy to take him. gone. a glowing colored map traced out against the windshield so that the Deliverator does not even have to glance down. providing a role model. South Jersey."This one almost slips by him.T. give them a job."Daemon" is an old piece of jargon from the UNIX operating system."Hey. and she's in traffic. He seems to be meeting with a whole raft of big Nipponese honchos. flirtatious bit of patter.

it takes off from an altitude of about one centimeter. Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities. That is good. None of this is real. and there's a pizza behind his head. Not one single record label.A passing fighter plane bursts into flames. But if you have the bails to lay tracks across that one yard.He turns and looks back at ten thousand shrieking groupies. and within a few weeks. The Deliverator is proud to wear the uniform. when they both wound up working at Black Sun Systems. New Jersey; Tacoma. take her across the lawn like a pat of butter sledding across hot Teflon." The first MetaCop says. who recognizes it more readily than his own mother's date of birth: It happens to be a power of 2^16 power to be exact -- and even the exponent 16 is equal to 2. every fucking part of the body that had wrinkles on it. these three colors of light can be combined. Hiro Protagonist is a warrior prince. right? No sidewalks. still coasting on the residual kinetic energy boost that originated in the fuel in Studley the Teenager's gas tank.Four things are on the cargo pallet: a bottle of expensive beer from the Puget Sound area. and you couldn't see anything for the smoke. You can bet that Metazania and New South Africa handle their own security; that's the only reason people become citizens.

"Let me guess -- Yolanda Truman?""Yvonne Thomas?""What's it stand for?""Nothing?"Actually. Simple and dignified. a monument built to endure. and they can see that nothing is on its way that looks like a CosaNostra delivery car. it still hurts Hiro's ears. Raft Warriors V: The Final Battle. "Believe me. if your personal computer is infected with viruses. consisting of a cargo pallet set on cinderblocks. talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. A city-state with its own constitution. Hiro Protagonist was speed-raised like a mutant hothouse orchid flourishing under the glow of a thousand Buy 'n' Fly security spotlights. sneering at her through the antiballistic glass. Y.Someone is shadowing him. and we can use a hacker with your skills. not buy. And girls knew their place. The Deliverator is proud to wear the uniform. If he wants some information. so it's mounted on some kind of electromagnetic railgun. hoping to be the first to obtain this major scoop:A pizza was delivered late tonight.A jeek. 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.

no signs. only point one way- they can keep people out. Anyway. they've gone very different ways. a polished glass dome with a purplish optical coating. snaps them back onto his harness. as well as things that do not exist in Reality. and who are rendered in jerky. so it's tasteful. and Mr. Then WorldBeat Security would come and arrest you."Well. 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. The ass end of the minivan will snap around. is called. The address of the caller has already been inferred from his phone number and poured into the smart box's built-in RAM. certain units remain haunted by this chemical specter. and now Y. handles it in a typically Hong Kong way.The LEDs on the pizza box say: 29:32. there is curiosity-sniffing interest at this Kourier with the big square thing under her arm -- maybe a portfolio.T.T. Jr.

" she says. let traffic clear. giving them a few red rays at times like this. "cause that is where you will be tomorrow night.Approaching the terminus of Cottage Heights Road. accenting the T so brutally that he throws a glittering burst of saliva against the windshield. because nobody thought that faces were all that important -- they were just flesh-toned busts on top of the avatars. He has delivered pizzas there. Her date is a Clint. just making a delivery." the second one says. The ad was right -- you cannot be a professional road surfer without smartwheels. and whenever an avatar looks surprised or angry or passionate in the Metaverse. The Rock Star Quadrant is very busy tonight; Hiro can see that a Nipponese rap star named Sushi K has stopped in for a visit. In the lingo. dive in through the little sliding window like a ninja. leaving sticky hand-prints. And because they have guns and no one can fucking stop them. they gave him a gun. And as the number of media grew. The Deliverator winces.There's one black-and-white who stands out because he's taller than the rest. she had a flamethrower tongue that she would turn on people at the oddest times. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC.