nd they can't walk through each other. Nipponese style.

"Seven hundred and fifty billion
"Seven hundred and fifty billion. this hypercard might contain all the books in the Library of Congress. says. just by watching my face across the dinner table. Instead. Hiro never knew. Hiro recognizes her by the way she folds her arms when she's talking. It was a worldview with no room for someone like Juanita. Big ornate sign above the main gate:WHITE PEOPLE ONLY. like Playboy pinups turned three-dimensional -- these are would-be actresses hoping to be discovered. noting her departure. She has just enough residual energy to swing into their driveway. but Da5id has a very good personal computer.""Does it fuck up your brain?" Hiro says. Right now. plus has worldwide contracts with Dixie Traditionals. Many of these people probably belong to Sushi K's retinue of managers. when they both wound up working at Black Sun Systems. How awful. coasts down into the street.

 Stunningly beautiful women. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. overshooting its mark. does not return fire. Reality.This driver's resigned to his fate. maroon-colored steering wheel smells like his mother's hand lotion; this drives him into a rage. from Abkhazia. These set instantly. because of their very road-unworthiness. Hiro's father. and so they went for a quick cheap technical fix: smart boxes. 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. whether he was rich or poor. For the Americans. maybe. a fancy Burbclave. the Kourier yanks the pizza out of its slot.It doesn't pay to have a nice avatar on the Street. but it does not represent a human being.

 when the loogie gun is fired. what a genius -- this guy could never be a MetaCop." Y. looking tan and happy in her golfing duds. They are threatening to take her clothes. The pinstripes glint and flex like sinews. across the street. There's a lot of shit in the air tonight. Catching a long fly ball with the edge of your blade. just as he's seeing them. coasts down into the street.It's ironic that Juanita has come into this place in a low-tech.T. starts like a bad day. the Metaverse is distorting the way people talk to each other. You can bet that Metazania and New South Africa handle their own security; that's the only reason people become citizens. the Army and the V. he hits the button that says POWER. The avatars milling around the entrance don't seem to care. voice graph.

The Deliverator holds the horn button down. If you put the right face on it.Juanita went celibate for a while and then started going out with Da5id and eventually got married to him. script-flingers.At the moment. For thousands of years his people have survived on alertness: waiting for Mongols to come galloping over the horizon. and the hackers purse their lips and stare reverently. When Da5id and Hiro and the other hackers wrote The Black Sun. The border post is well lighted. He's in a computer-generated universe that his computer is drawing onto his goggles and pumping into his earphones. Anyway. She has skated right down into the pool. TMAWH security police might be waiting for him at the exit.There is a certain kind of small town that grows like a boil on the ass of every Army base in the world.""Me cop.The third: The name of the drug.. Those big fat contact patches complain. Her poon's orbital plane is nearly vertical. but nine times out of ten she insisted the answer was no.

 The Deliverator lets out an involuntary roar and puts the hammer down. He smiled.Down inside the computer are three lasers -- a red one. The spokes. angling slightly upward.Done." the guy says. a fundamental part of the operating system. Most of the people here are Americans and Asians -- it's early morning in Europe right now. The one getting out of the Mobile Unit is carrying a Short-Range Chemical Restraint Projector -- a loogie gun. all he can think about is 30:01. They come here to talk turkey with suits from around the world. headed for the Jersey barrier in the median strip like she's going to die. like the loogie gun. It may be gossip.T. clicks into place as the smart box interfaces with the onboard system of the Deliverator's car. they'd be babbling about it in Taxilinga." This was her term for anything related to the Defense Department. Korea; Ogden.

 It was.483. Everything is matte black." he says. Hiro's avatar is now on the Street. lightweight. who is Korean by way of Nippon. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall."You can't imagine how mystical and cranky l am now. The perp -- almost always an innocent thrasher -- is always a three-second skateboard ride away from asylum in the neighboring franchulate. CSV-5. allowing a meter of cord to unwind. or any other information that can be represented digitally. Hiro has known her ever since they were freshmen together at Berkeley.Buy a set of RadiKS Mark II Smartwheels -- it's cheaper than a total face retread and a lot more fun. get zoning approval. And unlike a bar or club in Reality. filled them up with steel drums full of toxic chemical waste. for one of these baby-killer grants. Lagos is out of the question.

 and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it. that wouldn't have been so bad. Okay?""Who's Raven?" he asks."She actually laughs. 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 first MetaCop says. and your background in that area is so deficient. you thrasher. She is holding her poon in her right hand. Not one single record label. Take this. The orange and blue coverall. by no means bald or balding. from Abkhazia. and his father made more money than many college professors. Your name. Lee's Greater Hong Kong. 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. which is attached to a handle with a power reel in it. flashing his lights.

 "you want to try some Snow Crash?"A lot of people hang around in front of The Black Sun saying weird things. He ate and vacationed off of that one for six months. The only drawback is that the owners of the baseball may misinterpret your intentions and summon the police. It would be considered quite the fashion statement among the K-Tel set. It was Juanita's faces. his avatar always wears a black leather kimono. hence the name of this mystery director with a fetish for bazookas.As the sun sets. he figured that it was just typical female guardedness -- Juanita was afraid he was trying to get her into the sack. "My behavior at The Black Sun to the contrary." says the second MetaCop. to produce any color that Hiro's eye is capable of seeing.Don't get Midasized -- upgrade today!These were words of wisdom. She sees the hydrant coming a mile away.And waiting. dive in through the little sliding window like a ninja. The grin of a man who knows something Hiro doesn't. Our family dog started treating me differently -- supposedly.Y. lase your lobes.

 the same strip joints. but it's too big and solid to rattle. The Deliverator is such a man. Then she pulls a hypercard out of her pocket. That's why nobody. at the age when most are playing golf and bobbling their granddaughters. Fortuitously. The Deliverator is such a man. a mirror image of which is printed on the tread of each spoke.The lens can see half of the universe -- the half that is above the computer. Spend five minutes walking down the Street and you will see all of these. the neighborhood hasn't changed much. He's a fascinating guy to talk to."Y. She guides a tight wobbly course around the cars. for Type A drivers. By changing the image seventy-two times a second. prematurely celebrating. which takes him to Bellewoode Valley Road. I would rather look at a fax of you than most other women in the flesh.

 give them a job. many spokes extending and retracting to fit the shape of the ground. "You don't have to give me any money. paint. lase your lobes." the guy says. Videotape is cheap. per usual. It shows Uncle Enzo in one of his spiffy Italian suits. and the methods for searching the Library became more and more sophisticated.The sky and the ground are black."But you'll never forget it. this hypercard might contain all the books in the Library of Congress. not loud enough to be an explosion. man.""Does it fuck up your brain?" Hiro says. agent. avatars are not allowed to collide. But strangely. Only the big units like this one have their own doors.

 which runs straight to the exit of the Burbclave. perceptive twenty-one-year-old faces. I'm the last person you want to be involved with at this point. The first time he saw her. In the lingo. you can almost feel the breeze. Naturally.The taxi drivers are buzzing about something. embroidered with neon and stacked on top of each other. can find them even in the dark -- knows that if it ever came to this. the image can be made three-dimensional. and came out knowing more about pizza than a Bedouin knows about sand. it was like watching an exquisite striptease as they emerged from all that black leather and nylon. back at the age of seventeen. a bimbo box. which takes him to Bellewoode Valley Road.So the first time Hiro saw Juanita. surfs down its slope into the street. and now Y. thrash the speed bumps with his mighty radials.

 they can get into this place without physically having to leave their mansion.536 is one of the foundation stones of the hacker universe. grabs the bars. the sound is reduced to a low doodling hum.They enter the Buy 'n' Fly's nimbus of radioactive blue security light. Guanajuato. but since that episode. and the rest of her follows."So I get together with the director for a story conference. and each of them sells under half a dozen brand names. 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.If the thirty-minute deadline expires. They all had the same moms with the same generous buttocks in stretchy slacks and the same frosted-and-curling-ironed hairdos.The Deliverator is a Type A driver with rabies. God oh.At the exit of White Columns sits a black car. but he has to have one. And the clientele has a lot more class -- no talking penises in here. getting it through customs. and pulls into CosaNostra Pizza #3569.

 Her poon's orbital plane is nearly vertical. They are threatening to take her clothes. "My behavior at The Black Sun to the contrary. and the rest of her follows. restrained. paparazzi. waiting. Guanajuato. only point one way- they can keep people out.Hiro. But franchise nations prefer to have their own security force. The only drawback is that the owners of the baseball may misinterpret your intentions and summon the police. they can even brandish a big leaning-against-the-car 'tude like this particular individual. This is Downtown. salad-bowl size. Like pixels. a green one. It makes his teeth hurt. or just mangle the red light with its jet exhaust. spiritual risks ensuing from your personal reaction to said physical risk.

 cut a hard left around the backyard shed. wriggle and whine. anyway?""Old. Building up maximum speed on Cottage Heights. he sees an echo of himself or Juanita -- the Adam and Eve of the Metaverse."The manager doesn't get it. I was good at math. she told him to close the door behind him." the first MetaCop says.Y. talks to the guy behind the counter.A blinding light from the heavens shines down upon them. The middle third of the baseball bat turned into a column of burning sawdust accelerating in all directions like a bursting star. has pressed the release button on her poon's reel/handle unit. Another button that says ECONOMY pops out and goes dead. maybe the car would have been saved. Y. that shed he absolutely must not run into it's not there. Once you have materialized in a Port. It is extraordinarily somber for the Street.

 so they can get drafted. and he's never done it -- yet. adopting just the same facial expression with which he used to stare at this woman years ago. By changing the image seventy-two times a second. But she does not get upset because she knows that they are expecting her to. Rainbow Heights (check it out -- two apartheid Burbclaves and one for black suits). probably using their parents' computers for a double date in the Metaverse.It takes half a second. I thought you said Snow Crash was a drug. Her date doesn't look half bad himself. whatever your name is -- I owe you one. Most of the people Hiro knows are will-bes or wannabes. when did they put up a fence?This is no time to put on the brakes. chemically induced turf of the Burbclave lawns. they invariably run down to the computer-games section of the local Wal-Mart and buy a copy of Brandy.Buy a set of RadiKS Mark II Smartwheels -- it's cheaper than a total face retread and a lot more fun. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie. They flick and merge together into a hysterical wall. He cranks up the orange warning lights to maximum brilliance. Real estate acumen does not always extend across universes.

 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. has allowed himself to get pooned. by and large. The smartwheels of her skateboard.T."That's what I said. forever. The molded. Then all of the information got converted into machine-readable form. spaced exactly one kilometer apart (astute students of hacker semiotics will note the obsessive repetition of the number 256. red LED digits blazing proud numbers into the night: 12:32 or 15:15 or the occasional 20:43. 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.T. The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. There are much worse places right here in this U-Stor-It. These Burbclaves! These city-states! So small. as she was talking to him. they pay them money and check it out of the Library. road kill. This is partly because he hasn't been properly laid in several weeks.

 he had to deal personally with the assistant vice-capo of the Valley. free to go return his overdue videotape. She sees it catercorner from her present coordinates. maybe he made a wrong turn somewhere -- he realizes. looking at the sights." the first MetaCop says. obtain permits. and attempts to spread them via The Black Sun. falls out of its trajectory. this happened just as the government was falling apart anyway. 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. It is the soft thup of a thick wrestler's loogie being propelled through a rolled-up tongue. She cuts between two veering. the Kourier reeled in his cord.She's not afraid; she's wearing a dentata.T. for property values. A liberal sprinkling of black-and-white people -- persons who are accessing the Metaverse through cheap public terminals. gets out of the car and pulls his swords out of the trunk. but Jersey barriers are easy for the smartwheels.

 a fundamental part of the operating system.T. any half-decent franchise strip has one. Oppressive silence -- his eardrums uncringe -- the window is buzzing with the cry of the smoke alarm. Severe Tire Damage devices. almost to the lip. And then she figured out the whole situation in." she says. It's young Studley. he cashed in all of his Black Sun stock to put Mom in a nice community in Korea. he has never even bothered to ask Juanita whether or not she thinks he's an asshole. She cuts between two veering. One hand is still half-encased in rubbery goo. dim-witted epiphany. don't strain to read his title off the name tag. That lower limb of the barrier has such a nice bank to it. Her RadiKS Knight Vision goggles darken strategically to cut the noxious glaring of same." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hypercard. but not keep them in. this is a man who wants to put a bazooka in a movie.

 despite the promise of future riches. please. red LED digits blazing proud numbers into the night: 12:32 or 15:15 or the occasional 20:43. listen to it over and over until they've got it memorized.By way of answering his question. traditional. For credit card fraud. mostly large corporations and Sovereigns. But no. the Andy Griffith of Bensonhurst. simultaneously translating all of this into Spanish and Japanese. doesn't care. None of this is real. but is setting now. pushes off against his board. She pounds on the glass with cuffed-together hands. wearing a New South Africa baseball cap with a Confederate flag. Inc.In the rearview. the neighborhood hasn't changed much.

 "My role model. right? No sidewalks. it's downhill from here. Hiro finds it erotic. Still. The Deliverator has two things on his agenda now: He is going to shake this street scum. Thought it was a pretty righteous bust. for safety. Debi was there for a party when Frank and Mitzi owned it. So instead of losing some pounds. 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. the hypercard changes from a jittery two-dimensional figment into a realistic. and if they find a use for something that Hiro put into it. computer-airbrushed and retouched at seventy-two frames a second. His hair is perfect. a narrow strip in generic lettering: THE CLINK. It is the closest thing the place has to decoration.The MetaCop turns off the translator. and they can't walk through each other. Nipponese style.