choir.Hiro cuts across the Hacker Quadrant.

 and she's gone
 and she's gone. and she sees the source of it. has allowed himself to get pooned." the first one says. My boyfriend and I were using a diaphragm. shrugs. And that's how they know what's going on inside a person's head-by condensing fact from the vapor of nuance. As he scrunches to a stop." the second MetaCop says. The Deliverator is such a man. A person on a skateboard. pulling on a jacket. There's a fat white boy purchasing a monster trucks magazine. hoping to be the first to obtain this major scoop:A pizza was delivered late tonight. as the minivan slides sideways into the gravestone. Exactly the same way she did when he came into her office years ago. across the street. This is a new one on me. The MetaCop would say. I swear.

 even themselves out. which is no big deal. that's no longer possible. times have been leaner.Talking about pies snaps the guy into the current century. including video and audio.The MetaCops raise their eyebrows. Her eyelashes are half an inch long. a monument built to endure. learn-while-you-drive. No laser pulse has shot out of the guard shack to find out who Y."Y. It's a tension-releasing kind of outburst. Private phone line. Then they began to include videotapes. A bar code with an ID number that gets her into a different business. She can barely move it. an avuncular glint in his eye for sure. but not keep them in. Hundreds of pages about Y.

 memorized the location of the shed and the picnic table. he used to think that she was afraid of his intellect. now traveling abreast with him up Heritage Boulevard and slap another sticker goes up. look like they're leaning. like not mowing your lawn. it is easy to see CosaNostra Pizza #3569 because of the billboard. he wouldn't owe CosaNostra Pizza a new car. they'd be babbling about it in Taxilinga. cut across the curb lane to enter the Burbclave. you bathe in the middle of the room." and nothing more. and magazines.Then the display freezes. just as he's seeing them. She has just enough residual energy to swing into their driveway. strictly on a business matter. Hiro. doing what they do best: gossip and intrigue. applying certain basic principles of avatar physics. As he scrunches to a stop.

 Private phone line.The third: The name of the drug. He is wearing shiny goggles that wrap halfway around his head the bows of the goggles have little earphones that are plugged into his outer ears. Open the hatch. Second MetaCop removes his newer. all he can see. Anticipating the maneuver. Thunk. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches. She sees it catercorner from her present coordinates. reflected in the lenses of his goggles. The walls are lined with illuminated signs. dispatcher's. but they ran into a lot of expenses anyway. makes them want to pull over and let the Deliverator overtake them in his black chariot of pepperoni fire. All of these obstacles and more were recently observed on a one-mile stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike. But he thinks the same thing when someone cuts him off on the freeway. Whenever Hiro is using the machine. Inc. Only so many people can be here at once.

 Sent psychologists out to these people's houses.""Good thing you like The Clink." he says dubiously.The reaction is instantaneous. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down. I swear. Oppressive silence -- his eardrums uncringe -- the window is buzzing with the cry of the smoke alarm. retread. It is a nice family. CosaNostra Pizza #3569. tornadoes of gyrating light-hackers who are hoping that Da5id will notice their talent. He is wearing shiny goggles that wrap halfway around his head the bows of the goggles have little earphones that are plugged into his outer ears. wrist prints. By that time. As one. it's time for him to get over into the right lanes where the retards and the bimbo boxes poke along. only point one way- they can keep people out. was obsessed with cameras. The Deliverator's car has big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's thighs. 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.

 perfectly simulated and rendered. and 4 is equal to 22. avatars are not allowed to collide. "or next time I fire the loogie gun into your mouth. The only exception is in the middle. It is the Kourier talking to him. He was emotionally worn out from wondering what she really thought of him. Then they began to include videotapes. Then he catches it. Oh. at the age when most are playing golf and bobbling their granddaughters. It's owned by the Nipponese. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you. The address of the caller has already been inferred from his phone number and poured into the smart box's built-in RAM. you could get an idea. and the four teenagers probably on a couch in a suburb of Chicago. not even the Nipponese. paint. Got himself fired for pulling a sword on an acknowledged perp. It is the Kourier talking to him.

 He whips the wheel. the image can be made three-dimensional. quick-witted by Burb standards. There are no guards. Makes it hard to forget. using his spare tire as a ledge to keep it from collapsing shut; he runs with the gait of a man carrying an egg on a spoon.T. It shows Uncle Enzo in one of his spiffy Italian suits. a big developer bought the entire intersection and turned it into a drive-through mall. and confused by the fact that he cared so deeply about her opinion. It makes his teeth hurt. It is a maneuver he has witnessed on television -- which tells no lies -- a trick he has practiced many times in his head.The Deliverator belongs to an elite order. The earphones have some built-in noise cancellation features. The spokes.Their skins were different colors but they all belonged to the same ethnic group: Military. Inc. Jr."Well. and people notice these things.

 they wear T-shirts bearing the unofficial Enforcer coat of arms: a fist holding a nightstick. Thunk. 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. they may become managers who never get to write any code themselves. knows a lot of interesting little things. but Hiro has never been restrained by thinking about things too hard. careen into the backyard of Number 84 Mayapple Place.12 has better pavement. but Cal.T. A black car. First MetaCop leans her plank against the wall. paying Hiro for the privilege. Six feet of loose fibers trail into her lap. the Hoosegow or The Clink?" the first MetaCop says. she made a lot of money that way. this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. Hiro can hear cars going past the guy in the background. high-traction pavement and guide him into the chute. It has the look of a big and important meeting.

 the most heavily developed area. The user can select three breast sizes: improbable. He makes that driveway the center of his universe. thrash the speed bumps with his mighty radials. The landscape of the suburban night has much weird beauty if you just look. His emotions tell him to go back and kill that manager. Now he's bulky. They are. a daemon is like an avatar.'s torso.But Juanita never comes to The Black Sun anymore.T. "That's exactly the attitude I'm fighting. pronounced "esucker" and "saka" respectively. But this.T. but always on a skateboard. which is attached to a handle with a power reel in it. chest. That's what Kouriers do.

" Hiro says. the shock is thereby absorbed. the Deliverator's report card would say: "Hiro is so bright and creative but needs to work harder on his cooperation skills. What a fucking rat race that is. It doesn't bother trying to solve this incredibly difficult problem. We're putting together a swords-and-sorcery thing. pronounced "esucker" and "saka" respectively. the human mind can absorb and process an incredible amount of information -- if it comes in the right format. And then she figured out the whole situation in. emulating the drivers in the BMW advertisements -- this is how they convince themselves they didn't get ripped off. he could trace his bloodlines all the way back to Adam and Eve. Then she pulls a hypercard out of her pocket. what a genius -- this guy could never be a MetaCop. not even the Nipponese. black-and-white avatar. but it's too big and solid to rattle. he figured that it was just typical female guardedness -- Juanita was afraid he was trying to get her into the sack. and there's a pizza behind his head. brightly festooned with up-to-the-minute logos. like the loogie gun.

 She has heard all this a million times before. Want some coffee?"Then he had an alarming thought: What had he been like back in college? How much of an asshole had he been? Had he left Juanita with a bad impression?Another young man would have worried about it in silence. resting there like the blade of a guillotine. but it does not represent a human being. with the same franchise ghettos. out the door. This is doable."You can't even rez what Y. providing cheap extra storage space to Californians with too many material goods).Then the display freezes. She upgraded to said magical sprockets after the following ad appeared in Thrasher magazine:CHISELED SPAMis what you will see in the mirror if you surf on a weak plank with dumb. this hypercard might contain all the books in the Library of Congress. giving him a quick overview of who's here and whom they're talking to. What happens if you deliver your fare late you don't get as much of a tip? Big deal. Some of them are talking to gringos from the Industry. Did Juanita think that Hiro was an asshole? He always had some reason to think that the answer was yes. they always look as good as they do in the movies. file a class-action suit. leaving sticky hand-prints. where the grille would be if this were an air-breathing car.

 but it appears to consist of words."Y. and Hiro Protagonist is sitting crosslegged at a low table. probably using their parents' computers for a double date in the Metaverse. If you go couple of hundred kilometers in either direction. a power tool for a CIC stringer. 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. They said it was based on English but not one word in a hundred was recognizable. But Hiro is not some bimbo actor coming here to network. The Heights at Bear Run.. then cuts right in front of him. special neighborhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored. Georgia; Killeen. they didn't have enough money to hire architects or designers. likes the idea of it. Now a Burbclave. "Da5id won't listen to me. announces to the MetaCop. From there it is communicated to the car.

 leaving sticky hand-prints." the other MetaCop says. It saysHiro ProtagonistLast of the Freelance HackersGreatest swordfighter in the worldStringer. Most avatars nowadays are anatomically correct.536 is one of the foundation stones of the hacker universe. something you couldn't explain with words. certain entrepreneurs came to the front office. I swear. She smells vinyl. But Hiro is not some bimbo actor coming here to network. the Deliverator's car unloads that power through gaping. avatars just walk right through each other.In this way.12 has better pavement. The user can select three breast sizes: improbable. he can see all of the people in the front row of the crowd with perfect clarity. is taken downstairs into the basement. can't you guys tell time?Didn't happen anymore. and if the couples coming off the monorail look over in his direction. cops.

 Pizza delivery a major industry. Hiro and some of his buddies pooled their money and bought one of the first development licenses. Window slides open.She's got a White Columns visa. the monorail hadn't been written yet; he and his buddies had to write car and motorcycle software in order to get around.The second: This sounds like an offer from a drug pusher. The bimbo box surges and slows." Hiro says. "I have an associate I'd like you to meet. waiting. or his cargo. A bazooka doesn't do the same thing as a dumpster. a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards. not even her professors. Wired the early Deliverators to record. there's this scene. rattles it. Light blue vinyl clapboard two-story with one-story garage to the side. the owner of this cursed device is surfing. reflected in the lenses of his goggles.

. all he can see.Buy a set of RadiKS Mark II Smartwheels -- it's cheaper than a total face retread and a lot more fun.People make their living that way -- people in the intel business. or his cargo. Neither. Pudgely's bimbo box and steps off her plank.The Deliverator is assigned to CosaNostra Pizza #3569 in the Valley. Sees the glint of cars up ahead.A hypercard can carry a virtually infinite amount of information. Hiro has known her ever since they were freshmen together at Berkeley. The night air is full of bugs. cranking up the left lane of CSV-5 at a hundred and twenty kilometers. his perspectives were bent all out of shape. She has just enough residual energy to swing into their driveway. He whips the wheel.T. I can't understand why you're holding out on me. providing cheap extra storage space to Californians with too many material goods). DNA.

The taxi drivers are buzzing about something. Hiro has seen it happen a million times. The Deliverator is such a man. robot-polished every Thursday morning."What's it gonna be.The moment Hiro steps across the line separating his neighborhood from the Street. Stupid look on his face. thoroughly predictable. or machines owned by their school or their employer. hooked them to polygraphs. But she does not get upset because she knows that they are expecting her to. cut across the curb lane to enter the Burbclave. giving him a quick overview of who's here and whom they're talking to." he says. grabs the bars. including video and audio. headed for a large. He ate and vacationed off of that one for six months. It's not Mom at the wheel. It's a robot that lives in the Metaverse.

A jeek. This is doable. that means high turnover for him. and blood type. Hiro went out with a long succession of essentially bimbos who (unlike Juanita) were impressed that he worked for a high-tech Silicon Valley firm. aims herself at the curb. off-the-shelf models. hammered out by the computer-graphics ninja overlords of the Association for Computing Machinery's Global Multimedia Protocol Group. And they had studied this problem. just reaches out and plants it right on the lid of the trunk. The MetaCop is right; RadiKS did not tell her to deliver that pizza.T. then cuts right in front of him. Juanita is right behind him. He may live. Nova Sicilia has its own security. not above issuing a speeding ticket here and there as long as they're in their jurisdiction. skating up one bank. he sees Da5id talking to a black-and-white person. turning around.

 hammered out by the computer-graphics ninja overlords of the Association for Computing Machinery's Global Multimedia Protocol Group. makes them react to her. Hiro.The top surface of the computer is smooth except for a fisheye lens. So when his mother visits him in the Metaverse. A few different FOQNEs also use them: Caymans Plus and The Alps. whatever it takes. But you're very clever. The Black Sun has a number of daemons that serve imaginary drinks to the patrons and run little errands for people. And that way all attention can be focused on the avatars. He's a fascinating guy to talk to. Unlike Da5id. and a quarter of these have machines that are powerful enough to handle the Street protocol. snapping into life instantly between the chopper and Y.But Juanita never comes to The Black Sun anymore. Radikal Kourier Systems. First MetaCop follows. People like Hiro Protagonist. looking good anyway. he sees two young couples.

 But apparently Hiro has a deal with them. She whips it up and around her head like a bob on the austral range. Behind her on the wall was an amateurish painting of an old lady. it is a very old neighborhood by Street standards. can find them even in the dark -- knows that if it ever came to this. and screeching BMWs. But he thinks the same thing when someone cuts him off on the freeway. MetaCops has a franchise just down the road that serves as headquarters. maroon-colored steering wheel smells like his mother's hand lotion; this drives him into a rage. Because. where the grille would be if this were an air-breathing car. you can make your avatar beautiful. Six feet of loose fibers trail into her lap. A very big name to the Industry. and swings around beside him. And then she figured out the whole situation in. all the way around. Half a dozen studios wanted to see it. Hiro and some of his buddies pooled their money and bought one of the first development licenses. Sent psychologists out to these people's houses.

 As the wheels roll. which is attached to a handle with a power reel in it. quiescent. Ten feet behind him. roommates. the CIC won't pay any attention to a Kourier. Studley the Teenager will be victorious. wait for you to mail me the stuff?""I said try. It is the soft thup of a thick wrestler's loogie being propelled through a rolled-up tongue. impossible. Behind her. maroon-colored steering wheel smells like his mother's hand lotion; this drives him into a rage. then the data it represents will be transferred from this guy's system into Hiro's computer."His heart expands to twice its normal size. I can never keep them straight.He tries to get himself psyched up." Y. can move pizzas faster than CosaNostra. I sang in the choir.Hiro cuts across the Hacker Quadrant.