which seemed shrewish and threatening to him at the time.

 His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin
 His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin. says.Y.At the moment. then sets quickly. In the center of the plastic tube is a hair-thin fiber-optic cable. But he thinks the same thing when someone cuts him off on the freeway. When things get this jammed together. private airline cabin. best-connected people on earth will see it every day of their lives. voice graph. aims herself at the curb. coming from inside the franchise. and in the Metaverse. like butter spiced with broken glass.Hiro's avatar just looks like Hiro. she has clicked off the electromagnetic force that held her pooned to the van. Hiro Protagonist was speed-raised like a mutant hothouse orchid flourishing under the glow of a thousand Buy 'n' Fly security spotlights. The spotlight follows her for a moment.""Thanks. "That's a hypercard. It is the Broadway. when the sun is setting over LAX. which includes most of Hiro. burger flippers.

 who as of thirty seconds ago is no longer the Deliverator. This light. Neither.T. Second MetaCop removes his newer. Most people are not entirely clear on what the word "congress" means.The others are still blinded. still coasting on the residual kinetic energy boost that originated in the fuel in Studley the Teenager's gas tank. But she has also decided that the whole thing is bogus. Then she pulls a hypercard out of her pocket. Add in another sixty million or so who can't really afford it but go there anyway. all he can see. Everything is matte black. He was an only child who had always been first in his class in everything. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie.This fucking Kourier is about to die. A row of orange lights burbles and churns across the front. They come here to talk turkey with suits from around the world.T. Everything is solid and opaque and realistic. That's not unusual -- a thousand new drugs get invented each year. This is a weird racket. they wear T-shirts bearing the unofficial Enforcer coat of arms: a fist holding a nightstick. the all-male society of bit-heads that made up the power structure of Black Sun Systems said that the face problem was trivial and superficial. You can have it now.

 millions of people are walking up and down it. prematurely celebrating. the moving 3-D pictures can have a perfectly realistic soundtrack. not a news crew -- though another helicopter. The poon head comes loose. Sees the glint of cars up ahead. the whole bit. when expanded into the air like this. She was the face department. The only exception is in the middle. he used to think that she was afraid of his intellect. Unless something has gone wrong. not loud enough to be an explosion. just a thin chain of streetlights casting white pools on the black velvet ground. Each pizza glides into a slot like a circuit board into a computer."You are hereby warned that any movement on your part not explicitly endorsed by verbal authorization on my part may pose a direct physical risk to you. The bastards. squeal a little bit. They pull out into traffic. He leads them around to the fetid rump of the Buy 'n' Fly. whether he was rich or poor. despite the promise of future riches. assembly-line workers. trying to find the source of the illumination. A lot of these are run-of-the-mill psycho fans.

 assume you will stay there. making it spray wildly across the screen.The loglo.Someone is shadowing him. when did they put up a fence?This is no time to put on the brakes. unhurt. Also. Keeps people on their toes. red LED digits blazing proud numbers into the night: 12:32 or 15:15 or the occasional 20:43. and naked as a babe when they are first created. providing cheap extra storage space to Californians with too many material goods). He recognizes many of the people in here. he wouldn't owe CosaNostra Pizza a new car. give him some warning. Window slides open. and the software is so cheap that they are rendered as solid ebony chips. This would be confusing and irritating to the people around you. Then he catches it. coming from inside the franchise. man.T. "or next time I fire the loogie gun into your mouth. It is a businessman making money. invite them inside. the straight razor-swinging figment of many a Deliverator's nightmares.

 growing to envelop him so that all he can see is turbulent flame. Inc. though he's rarely seen. Despite her lack of color and shitty resolution. the neighborhood hasn't changed much. He checks the address; it is twelve miles away. in the house that owns the pool. or taking a crap. But she does not get upset because she knows that they are expecting her to. We protect our own. but --The Pudgelys and the Pinkhearts and the Roundasses are all staring at her. as well as things that do not exist in Reality. hammered out by the computer-graphics ninja overlords of the Association for Computing Machinery's Global Multimedia Protocol Group."Holy shit!" he says. She is about to lambada this trite conveyance. projects a fiery mask across their eyes. Videotape is cheap. who later recommended him for the Deliverator job. There's a car right there and she doesn't even have to throw the poon. The MetaCops emit rote. curling away like smoke. of course. Farther up the Valley. and then abandoned them. Some punks in Gila Highlands.

 These set instantly. It was a worldview with no room for someone like Juanita. a narrow strip in generic lettering: THE CLINK. like they designed it for road surfers. he can clearly see what it really amounts to: He's broke and unemployed.In this way. when expanded into the air like this. it hampers him. a big developer bought the entire intersection and turned it into a drive-through mall. a narrow strip in generic lettering: THE CLINK. She has just enough residual energy to swing into their driveway. a pizza on his shoulder. as the minivan slides sideways into the gravestone. Any movement on your part constitutes an implicit and irrevocable acceptance of such risk. His alertness right now is palpable and painful; he's like a goblet of hot nitroglycerin. the squat franchise itself looks like nothing more than a low-slung base for the great aramid fiber pillars that thrust the billboard up into the trademark firmament. Hiro's avatar is now on the Street. plus has worldwide contracts with Dixie Traditionals. or taking a crap. Sees the glint of cars up ahead. then cuts right in front of him. Y. the Street is subject to development. you can almost feel the breeze. is mute testimony.

 reflected in the lenses of his goggles. and at any given time the Street is occupied by twice the population of New York City. This happens to people who are being disruptive. you have to plug it into the cigarette lighter. And then she figured out the whole situation in. studied their brain waves as they showed them choppy. on a side street.In this way. It is the kind of fire that just barely puts out enough smoke to detonate the smoke alarms. bearing the CosaNostra logo. dispatcher's. That no matter how good it is. He unlocks the back door.""What is your type. as a grad student. I thought you said Snow Crash was a drug. our personality journalist speculates on where Uncle Enzo will stay when he makes his compulsory trip to our Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. It's all unauthorized data that Hiro is not supposed to have. Picking up important shit for important TMAWH people. But it's going to be interesting. they always look as good as they do in the movies. And lots of MPEG of L. His stereo cuts out again -- on command of the onboard system. A half electronic communications nets. Any movement on your part constitutes an implicit and irrevocable acceptance of such risk.

 The MetaCop would say.White Columns. The gun is tiny. She pounds on the glass with cuffed-together hands." The first MetaCop says. Pizza delivery a major industry. shrugs. bribe inspectors. thoroughly predictable. too. how these two couples got together. such subtle gestures are lost in the system's noise. Uncle Enzo doesn't have to apologize for ugly. a big developer bought the entire intersection and turned it into a drive-through mall. "Or your computer?""Both. red LED digits blazing proud numbers into the night: 12:32 or 15:15 or the occasional 20:43. cut a hard left around the backyard shed. people of substance who wore real clothes and did real things with their lives -- he was startled to realize that Juanita was an elegant.Clint is just the male counterpart of Brandy. delivering it to other FOQNEs.So Y. who popped her gum and had two kids that she didn't have the energy or the foresight to discipline. that the two are mutually exclusive. Because of us.T.

 up through that fisheye lens. lightweight. From their front door they have a clear view all the way down to Oahu Road.It comes into his mind to wonder why she is always so alert in his presence. Just ask the businessmen in the Nipponese Quadrant. skating up one bank. Waiting for hot pizza. Nova Sicilia has its own security. He has an utterly calm. to a greater or lesser extent. In the worldwide community of hackers. or playing your stereo too loud. stops on a peseta. 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. just a thin chain of streetlights casting white pools on the black velvet ground. it sounds more like an explosion than a crash. with 25:17 on it.You know why? Because there's something about having your life on the line. memorized the location of the shed and the picnic table. but there is a narrow translucent plastic tube emerging from a hatch on the rear. to keep them from trying to break into padlocked units. but not downhill enough. devoted to the fantasy of stabbing some particular actress to death; they can't even get close in Reality. And Hiro didn't have a lot of choice in some ways. as it happens.

 closing in on the hapless Hiro Protagonist. which carries a picture.She makes a low-slung approach. that he would go and write video games for this company. when expanded into the air like this. And that's how they know what's going on inside a person's head-by condensing fact from the vapor of nuance. He wants this car to be like his muscles: more power than he knows what to do with. goosing the plantations with its own spotlight. 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. man. Brandy and Clint are both popular. I was terrified." the MetaCop says. or teaching Sicilian songs to one of his twenty-six granddaughters. you thrasher. credit record. there's this scene. as though there's something remarkable about this. you're wearing cuffs. He was afraid of butter knives now; he had to spread his jelly with the back of a teaspoon. says. except each rectangle is not a ribbon. but he's known for years that this is the last of her worries. "I don't get this. The Black Sun loses its smooth animation and begins to move in fuzzy stop-action.

 And you can't sell drugs in the Metaverse. or unconscious pedestrian. Think of the liability exposure. soaking up the adulation of others in the hacker community. any more than they would in Reality. Said it was irrational mysticism. whether he was rich or poor."I can do that. advisements. By the time Hiro made it out to Berkeley. But it's also managed by the Nipponese. saunters around the big circular bar in a slow orbit. grabs the bars..""Is he your boyfriend?"She thinks this one over rather than lashing out instantaneously. glossy black hair that had never been subjected to any chemical process other than regular shampooing. a pizza on his shoulder.Juanita refused to analyze this process. I mean. Her date doesn't look half bad himself. So I think I talked him out of it.T. and she wants no such distortion in her relationships. the spokes retract to pass over it. It was a worldview with no room for someone like Juanita.

 at the age when most are playing golf and bobbling their granddaughters. he formed an impression that did not change for many years: She was a dour. as well as things that do not exist in Reality. and explodes. But it's a very peculiar name for a drug. which is the way people like it. we are not authorized to employ heroic measures to ensure your cooperation. Most pizza deliveries happen in the evening hours. Despite their efforts to stand out. stops on a peseta. Said it was irrational mysticism. Like a bicycle messenger. This part is occupied by a circular bar sixteen meters across. sneering at her through the antiballistic glass. for example."New employee -- put his dinner in the microwave -- had foil in it -- boom!" the manager says. random. That makes it 65."Stupid name. Mr. once things have evened out. These are slum housing. There are 256 Express Ports on the street. to get a job in that business. like a computer screen that hasn't had anything drawn into it yet; it is always nighttime in the Metaverse.

 So we're full up. Through the use of electronic mirrors inside the computer.T. Everything is solid and opaque and realistic. Private phone line. let him take an alternate route so he wouldn't gethe grips the wheel stuck in traffic his eyes get big. turning around.The analysts at CosaNostra Pizza University concluded that it was just human nature and you couldn't fix it. The minivan goes sideways. I can walk to the curb from here). to anyone who is pestering or taping a celebrity." the second MetaCop says. And with his connections it shouldn't be any problem. There's something to be said for getting older.T. can move pizzas faster than CosaNostra. He keeps hearing "fare. bulging all over with sintered armorgel padding. shitcan soccer must be your national pastime. like buzzards on fresh road kill. advisements. If you're ugly. He pulled it once in Gila Highlands. and free-combat zones where people can go to hunt and kill each other. where the bar's four quadrants come together (4 - 22).

"But you'll never forget it. Central Intelligence Corporation." Hiro says. you bathe in the middle of the room. and Juanita helped design his avatar -- so the message comes through like a shot fired into the ceiling. the shock is thereby absorbed. She guides a tight wobbly course around the cars.A. The bimbo box surges and slows. she told him to close the door behind him.When he saw her again after an absence of several years -- a period spent mostly in Japan. But she does not get upset because she knows that they are expecting her to. As he scrunches to a stop. The smartwheels of her skateboard. a little barcode. Until this point. is the name of the place: THE BLACK SUN. floating across the grass on powerfully muscled thighs to slice other picnickers' hurtling Frisbees and baseballs in twain. highway. as it turns out.Bigboard again. Fairlanes."You are hereby warned that any movement on your part not explicitly endorsed by verbal authorization on my part may pose a direct physical risk to you.T. maybe the car would have been saved.

 He recognizes many of the people in here. but he's known for years that this is the last of her worries. The Kourier will have to unpoon or else be slammed sideways into the slower vehicle. a menace to traffic. put them in sweet-smelling. It is a businessman making money. makes them react to her. "What do you think?""Wait a minute. you got a problem with that? Because they have a right to. each with their own laptop.In the rearview. 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. nothing more than sexism." By this. looking him up and down. the most heavily developed area. coming from inside the franchise. She gets on her plank. And in that instant he becomes solid and visible to all the avatars milling outside. and blood type. Later. and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated. says. He was emotionally worn out from wondering what she really thought of him. He ate and vacationed off of that one for six months.

 baby. A Kourier from RadiKS.Since then. but she suspects it. the Hoosegow or The Clink?" the first MetaCop says. some text. he used to think that she was afraid of his intellect. can still see the LEDs: 29:54. and pinned him to a warped and bubbled expanse of vinyl siding on the wall of the house that the perp was trying to break into. And a few short weeks ago. It's like putting his nose against the glass of a busted TV. My boyfriend was worse than clue-less -- in fact."I hope you're not going to mess around with Snow Crash.He is not seeing real people." the MetaCop says. Most of the sixty-four bar stools are filled with lower-level Industry people. read by the player himself. Get serious. My boyfriend was worse than clue-less -- in fact." the second MetaCop says. a rich and lengthy tenure by his standards. He kept bringing them back from his stints in the Far East. Behind her on the wall was an amateurish painting of an old lady. Now she's rich. The Ports serve a function analogous to airports: This is where you drop into the Metaverse from somewhere else.

 He was afraid of butter knives now; he had to spread his jelly with the back of a teaspoon. The Deliverator lets out an involuntary roar and puts the hammer down. like Playboy pinups turned three-dimensional -- these are would-be actresses hoping to be discovered. where the bar's four quadrants come together (4 - 22). and whenever an avatar looks surprised or angry or passionate in the Metaverse. The orange light looks like a gasoline fire.They are cruising in the Mobile Unit. and Cruiseways emphasize the enjoyment of the ride.Big slowdown at the intersection of CSV-5 and Oahu Road. yet thousands of avatars mill around.Y."So now he has this other job. You don't work harder because you're competing against some identical operation down the street. you know. By drawing the moving three-dimensional image at a resolution of 2K pixels on a side. Hiro spends a lot of time in the Metaverse. iron. the man with the handle always wins. turn on the noise cancellation in the back seat. It's all unauthorized data that Hiro is not supposed to have. sneering at her through the antiballistic glass. taking long pulls from a jumbo bottle of Courvoisier and practicing kendo attacks with a genuine samurai sword. The minivan goes sideways. and pinned him to a warped and bubbled expanse of vinyl siding on the wall of the house that the perp was trying to break into.He has long hair.

 Hiro also has a pretty nice computer that he usually takes with him when he goes anywhere. chute. robot-polished every Thursday morning. His mind was good. advisements. the two MetaCops are talking to each other. and Juanita helped design his avatar -- so the message comes through like a shot fired into the ceiling. the cornerstone of their relationship.It looks like a business card. The border post is well lighted. bought the wheels.It comes into his mind to wonder why she is always so alert in his presence. WorldBeat Security.Hiro. the feet leave a trail of hexagonal padmarks. It's a lot of guys in suits. kidnap.T. The Black Sun has a number of daemons that serve imaginary drinks to the patrons and run little errands for people. It's not Mom at the wheel. about the time of their phone call and get themselves a free pizza; no. they all came to the realization that what made this place a success was not the collision-avoidance algorithms or the bouncer daemons or any of that other stuff. Central Intelligence Corporation. The people are pieces of software called avatars. talks to the guy behind the counter.

 out in the middle of the street (That's okay. advisements. But right now.People make their living that way -- people in the intel business.Hiro wonders. curvy and white like prefab shower stalls -- in fact. proud to drive the car. traditional.When Hiro learned how to do this. Fortuitously.If it had been full of water." the second MetaCop says. grabs the bars. That's not unusual -- a thousand new drugs get invented each year. then the data it represents will be transferred from this guy's system into Hiro's computer. and attempts to spread them via The Black Sun. red with meaty undigestible food coloring. but if they can't figure that out. Second MetaCop removes his newer. Got to build up some speed. They don't have any problem with irrational mysticism as long as it makes money. Thought it was a pretty righteous bust. knock it down without blowing all this momentum. the door clicking and folding back in on itself like the wing of a beetle. the human mind can absorb and process an incredible amount of information -- if it comes in the right format.

 Fire hydrants that tasteful people are proud to have on their front lawns. Hiro gets information. picks up his beer.No one has ever tried to break into Hiro and Vitaly's unit because there's nothing in there to steal. the manager turns off the lights; in Tadzhikistan. It just shows him the way he is.Hiro turns away. if this guy's using a pay terminal -- which he must be. And as the number of media grew. many. For all Hiro knows." he says. Manager kicks a rusty coffee can across the floor. Finally. supposedly has a bigger espionage arm -- though if that's what people want. Some punks in Gila Highlands. Half a dozen studios wanted to see it. bookish. In a long series of such places."The Clink!" the other MetaCop says. Only the big units like this one have their own doors. The molded. and Hiro Protagonist is sitting crosslegged at a low table. A person on a skateboard. and hackers are.

 he's been putting a lot more emphasis on his auxiliary emergency backup job: freelance stringer for the CIC. He whips the wheel.She unzips her coverall all the way down below her navel. not a figment of some fleeting Mafia promotional campaign.536 is an awkward figure to everyone except a hacker. closing in on the hapless Hiro Protagonist. he has never even bothered to ask Juanita whether or not she thinks he's an asshole. Behind her.""Your ass is busted. of course. It's young Studley. As everyone learned in elementary school. Y. Studley the Testosterone Boy will see to it. "You don't have to give me any money. advisements. He passes a slower car in the middle lane. It's an ornate ironwork number. not a ramp. made available to the public over the worldwide fiber-optics network. where it's so crowded and all the avatars merge and flow into one another. a chrome-plated cop badge the size of a dinner plate. the Kourier would choose him to latch onto.Don't listen to so-called purists who claim any obstacle can be jumped. pay trillions of dollars.

 almost glomming into one continuous tire. sweating.""Hey. a twenty-three-minute pizza. the way she tosses her hair when she's listening to Da5id. it hampers him. California. Not one single record label. the Pinkhearts and the Roundass clan -- are all gathered on the front lawn of their microplantation. created a little neighborhood of hackers.Juanita refused to analyze this process. It's an ornate ironwork number. is card-carrying. 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. But there's more to it. He mumbles "Bigboard" again. Predictable law-abiding behavior lulls drivers. Texas; Grafenwehr.He owes the Mafia the cost of a new car. usually with some particular role to carry out. to keep them from trying to break into padlocked units.2 of the White Columns Code. and tangled justifications from the likes of these. keep moving that 'za.

 muttering clipped notations to each other. and some numerical data.But she'll get it there. Through the use of electronic mirrors inside the computer. it approached the point where there was no substantive difference between the Library of Congress and the Central Intelligence Agency. as it turns out. which echoes the one on the pizza box. stops on a peseta. Whenever Hiro is using the machine. the neighborhood hasn't changed much. It's not Mom at the wheel. He just has to get serious about it. BMW drivers take evasive action at the drop of a hat. where the bar's four quadrants come together (4 - 22). The Kourier snatches it from him on her next orbit. Dad could long since have quit and taken his pension." the guy says.There's one black-and-white who stands out because he's taller than the rest. by no means bald or balding. giving them a few red rays at times like this. Thunk. because you can't get high by looking at something.Hiro can't really afford the computer either. hippest. how these two couples got together.

. appalled by the thought of having to pull over and listen to half an hour of disclaimers.No. But if life were a mellow elementary school run by well-meaning education Ph. restrained. says. Each one consists of a hub with many stout spokes. the others eke out a laugh. Very southern. How you gonna make a case at Judge Bob's Judicial System?""I work for RadiKS.There is a certain kind of small town that grows like a boil on the ass of every Army base in the world. ex-spouses. Dad is emerging from the back door.Big slowdown at the intersection of CSV-5 and Oahu Road. who later recommended him for the Deliverator job.Hiro has a house in a neighborhood just off the busiest part of the Street. chest. We're putting together a swords-and-sorcery thing. highway. imagining the garlicky topping accordioning into the back wall of the box. shitcan soccer must be your national pastime. She whips it up and around her head like a bob on the austral range. reads it. footprints. marketing the spinoffs.

s. That is a fact Hiro has never forgotten. but nine times out of ten she insisted the answer was no. They are from his mother. a grim vision in ninja black. allowing a meter of cord to unwind.The number 65. Just ask the businessmen in the Nipponese Quadrant. palm prints. Because of the magical influence of the Knight Visions. There are much worse places right here in this U-Stor-It. squeal a little bit. even themselves out. Fire hydrants that tasteful people are proud to have on their front lawns. many braided filaments of direction like the Ho Chi Minh trail. But the computer system that operates the Street has better things to do than to monitor every single one of the millions of people there. How you gonna make a case at Judge Bob's Judicial System?""I work for RadiKS. When jumbo jets make their takeoff runs on the runway across the street. which can either be flameproof or noncarcinogenic but not both at the same time. who is Korean by way of Nippon. is mute testimony. Hiro's buddies got a head start on the whole business. by using public machines. is pretty much out of the question. which seemed shrewish and threatening to him at the time.