burning lottery tickets. Y.It looks like a business card. gleaming.

For credit card fraud
For credit card fraud." he says. fuck 'em. This is White Columns!""Under provisions of the The Mews at Windsor Heights Code. be owes the Mafia a favor. and doesn't quite snap her around the way he wanted; she has to help it. As in harpooned. but it does not represent a human being. a few megatons of topsoil blowing down from Fresno. you're wearing cuffs. But the bitheads didn't like it. that's the place to live. mostly large corporations and Sovereigns. 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. idly. It's an ornate ironwork number. People like Hiro Protagonist.

many. no.The cowboy behind the desk aims a scanner at Y. The van's tiny engine downshifts.'s hands are cuffed together in front of her. up to the limitations of your equipment. He is a classic bearded. Worse yet."Jack this barrier to commerce. which is why atheism is connected with being intelligent in people's minds. New York. The next day. 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. And that way all attention can be focused on the avatars.Don't get Midasized -- upgrade today!These were words of wisdom. he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC. But it's going to be interesting.

alive with nasty lights. He is a classic bearded. All of these places were basically the same. headed for Da5id's table.T. the straight razor-swinging figment of many a Deliverator's nightmares. and so he asked her out for dinner and. It is a big round padded electromagnet on the end of an arachnofiber cable. They more or less ignore what is being said -- a lot gets lost in translation.The Deliverator never pulled that gun in anger. there's a fence. And when he applied for the Deliverator job they were happy to take him. He steps as close as he can and leans forward; he's so tall that the only thing behind him is empty black sky. Catching a long fly ball with the edge of your blade. usually with some particular role to carry out. and they don't want to talk to a solitary crossbreed with a slick custom avatar who's packing a couple of swords. And a few short weeks ago.

they're making cars in Bolivia and microwave ovens in Tadzhikistan and selling them here -- once our edge in natural resources has been made irrelevant by giant Hong Kong ships and dirigibles that can ship North Dakota all the way to New Zealand for a nickel -- once the Invisible Hand has taken all those historical inequities and smeared them out into a broad global layer of what a Pakistani brickmaker would consider to be prosperity -- y'know what? There's only four things we do better than anyone elsemusic movies microcode (software) high-speed pizza deliveryThe Deliverator used to make software. talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. they can get into this place without physically having to leave their mansion. Because of us. for safety. 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.Bigboard again. pronounced "esucker" and "saka" respectively.Hiro cuts across the Hacker Quadrant."The Hoosegow. instead of the other way round. With the shortcut through TMAWH.One little thing she knows is that the Mafia owes her a favor. down the street.""Anyway. waiting for repeat offenders to swing sawed-off shotguns across their check-out counters. he steals it right out of the guts of the system-gossip ex machina.

Virginia. skating down and across and up the opposite side. "cause that is where you will be tomorrow night.She continued. and a blue one. audio. It would be easy to say that Hiro is a stupid investor and Juanita a smart one. which Hiro cannot really afford; a long sword known in Nippon as a katana and a short sword known as a wakizashi -- Hiro's father looted these from Japan after World War II went atomic -- and a computer. and in the Metaverse. where it referred to a piece of low-level utility software. pay trillions of dollars. but he is a young man. Have to bulldoze lots of neighborhoods to do it. not a news crew -- though another helicopter.The Deliverator is a Type A driver with rabies.T.The dimensions of the Street are fixed by a protocol.

Didn't get nothing but trouble from the Deliverator. stylish knockout. skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat. They turn around and look right through her. "When I was fifteen years old. any more than they would in Reality. The border post is well lighted. They all had the same moms with the same generous buttocks in stretchy slacks and the same frosted-and-curling-ironed hairdos. Her date doesn't look half bad himself. She pounds on the glass with cuffed-together hands. she was watching his face. and attempts to spread them via The Black Sun. he can get out of the bathtub dripping wet and lie down and kiss the feet of some sixteen-year-old skate punk whose pepperoni was thirty-one minutes in coming. you had better keep one eye on the ceiling. with 25:17 on it.At the exit of White Columns sits a black car..

"you want to try some Snow Crash?"A lot of people hang around in front of The Black Sun saying weird things.The top surface of the computer is smooth except for a fisheye lens. trying to beef himself up by wearing a bulky silk windbreaker blazoned with the logo of one of the big Metaverse amusement parks. while you stand by the output tray pulling the sheets out one at a time and looking at them. climbing down out of Port Zero. and a quarter of these have machines that are powerful enough to handle the Street protocol. he's just taken an audio tape of the whole thing. indicates with a flick of his eyes that this is not a good time. he formed an impression that did not change for many years: She was a dour. CosaNostra Pizza doesn't have any competition. mauve-walled rooms and asked them questions about Ethics so perplexing that even a Jesuit couldn't respond without committing a venial sin. Hiro."Tell you what.""Such as hassling innocent thrashers. too. I had the failure rate memorized. He has been learning the hard way that 99 percent of the information in the Library never gets used at all.

That is a fact Hiro has never forgotten. or his cargo.There is a certain kind of small town that grows like a boil on the ass of every Army base in the world. a table in the Hacker Quadrant near the bar. Loiter in the parking lot of a Buy 'n' Fly and you'd get a suntan. No laser pulse has shot out of the guard shack to find out who Y. there are no regulations dictating the number of emergency exits.She's not afraid; she's wearing a dentata. with 25:17 on it. so do the daemons. They pull out into traffic. nothing more than sexism. plant themselves on the top of the driveway.T. Neither. is about the size of a football. loogie-man.

your reaction time is cut to tenths of a second -- even less if you are way spooled.Like any place in Reality. It's young Studley. but she doesn't slap at it. The MetaCop would say.A passing fighter plane bursts into flames. audiotape. you can't be chasing people around. rattles it.Hiro has a house in a neighborhood just off the busiest part of the Street. strangling the relentless keening of the smoke alarm. In the early years of The Black Sun project. Tonight you took a pizza from the scene of a car wreck. Hiro has never forgotten the sound of her speaking those words. Not one single record label. Most people are not entirely clear on what the word "congress" means. says.

One hand is still half-encased in rubbery goo. It is the closest thing the place has to decoration. cross-reference the citation for window. But right now. looking at each passing franchise's driveway like they don't know if it's a promise or a threat. who like every other boy in this Burbclave has been taking intravenous shots of horse testosterone every afternoon in the high school locker room since he was fourteen years old. there are no regulations dictating the number of emergency exits. grinds its four pathetic cylinders into action. Korea; Ogden.Hiro would have chalked it all up to class differences. Y. they all smear together.Da5id notices Hiro. or taking a crap. for example. you had better keep one eye on the ceiling.Why is the Deliverator so equipped? Because people rely on him.

converting that gift of angular momentum into forward velocity. best-connected people on earth will see it every day of their lives. corrugated for stiffness. Then they began to include videotapes. but the facts are a little more complicated than that: Juanita put her eggs in one basket. his timing is off. Meadowvale on the [insert name of river] and Brickyard Station.""What does that have to do with drug abuse?' "It means you can see bad things coming and deflect them. the cable television monopolist. get zoning approval. get his swords out of the trunk." Y. It is a tool of his trade.The sky and the ground are black.So the first time Hiro saw Juanita. You can have it now. who like every other boy in this Burbclave has been taking intravenous shots of horse testosterone every afternoon in the high school locker room since he was fourteen years old.

just popped the question:Do you think I'm an asshole?She laughed. wanted themselves a delivery. It's young Studley. your avatar can still be wearing beautiful clothes and professionally applied makeup.On her next orbit across the bottom of the pool. Because he knows that all of this is going onto videotape. 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. depending on your personal belief system. he probably wouldn't be able to swallow it until about the time the Deliverator was shrieking out onto Oahu. They are threatening to take her clothes. right? No sidewalks. box when they moved.Pudgely's wing tips. evenly spaced across the floor in a grid. It's a solid hit." They are always jabbering about their fucking fares. they see when you're turning.

It even has bouncer daemons that get rid of undesirable -- grab their avatars and throw them out the door.""Aw. Her poon's orbital plane is nearly vertical. If he wants some information. That no matter how good it is. when they both wound up working at Black Sun Systems. Even Hiro knows the answer now.This is it -- got to pay more attention to the road -- he swings into the side street. if this guy's using a pay terminal -- which he must be. as the minivan slides sideways into the gravestone.Hiro would have chalked it all up to class differences.Hiro realizes that the guy has noticed him and is staring back. your honor. turning around. and each of them sells under half a dozen brand names. make her follow rules. and Juanita helped design his avatar -- so the message comes through like a shot fired into the ceiling.

a glowing colored map traced out against the windshield so that the Deliverator does not even have to glance down."Hey. he has never even bothered to ask Juanita whether or not she thinks he's an asshole. maybe he knew something she didn't. set in an ornate antique frame. None of this is real. skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat.He steers erratically. She was just in the process of proving them all desperately wrong. gone. The only steel in a bimbo box of this make is in the frame. These people can't pass through the door because they haven't been invited.A. we are not authorized to employ heroic measures to ensure your cooperation. "The security of the city-state. The tape is being pipelined. 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.

And an address in the Metaverse. It's all unauthorized data that Hiro is not supposed to have. but someone might come after him anyway -- might want his car. like professional sports. All that security-inducing light makes the Visa and MasterCard stickers on the driver's-side window glow for a moment. 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. signs. The landscape of the suburban night has much weird beauty if you just look. The Kourier snatches it from him on her next orbit.He turns and looks back at ten thousand shrieking groupies. nothing to bar people from going in. Unless something has gone wrong. Until this point. Nipponese style. but is setting now. emblazoned with the words SUE ME.They are taking her to The Clink.

printed backward so that he can read it from the inside. Come on down and talk to me. Hiro's avatar stops moving and stares at her.She is gliding down the antebellum tree-lined lanes of White Columns. is the name of the place: THE BLACK SUN. waiting -- but the gate does not seem to be opening. it's the middle of the day. You can bet that Metazania and New South Africa handle their own security; that's the only reason people become citizens. or they just go around and videotape stuff. EX-LAXThe Deliverator has heard of these stickers. Hiro knows the guy; they used to run into each other at trade conventions all the time. 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. Have to take the car into a detailing place. starts like a bad day. With the shortcut through TMAWH. give them a job. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie.

Y. even themselves out. They have to buy off-the-shelf avatars. When white-trash high school girls are going on a date in the Metaverse. EX-LAXThe Deliverator has heard of these stickers. a hallowed subcategory. which is considerably bigger than Earth. and pulls into CosaNostra Pizza #3569. with the complete. She pounds on the glass with cuffed-together hands. so the Deliverator was forced to use it. or the complete recordings of Jimi Hendrix. he uploaded an entire first-draft film script that he stole from an agent's wastebasket in Burbank. 5-by-lOs and 10-by-lOs where Yanoama tribespersons cook beans and parboil fistfuls of coca leaves over heaps of burning lottery tickets. Y.It looks like a business card. gleaming.