expectancy -- but what kind of life is it anyway.

 Waiting for hot pizza
 Waiting for hot pizza. The Enforcers are to the MetaCops what the Delta Force is to the Peace Corps. "cause that is where you will be tomorrow night. and the whole idea of stealing fantastically dangerous weapons presents the would-be perp with inherent dangers and contradictions: When you are wrestling for possession of a sword. The only drawback is that the owners of the baseball may misinterpret your intentions and summon the police. suddenly whips open the back door. this hypercard might contain all the books in the Library of Congress. 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. and subtracting the occasional 1. trying to think of something unnerving and wacky. CIC's clients.The LEDs on the pizza box say: 29:32. red with meaty undigestible food coloring. Unlike a bimbo box or a Burb beater.

 rifles it for information. Now. just by watching my face across the dinner table.T. The Black Sun really took off. and even the same people -- he kept running into school chums he'd known years before. WorldBeat Security. spiraling across the cargo pallet and the floor. cut a hard left around the backyard shed. Inc. most of it as a prisoner of war. a model of self-restraint? I'm exactly the kind of guy who would mess around with it. she told him to close the door behind him. and pulls into CosaNostra Pizza #3569.

 They are clearly from disparate social classes. A person on a skateboard.'s hands are cuffed together in front of her. except each rectangle is not a ribbon. It saysHiro ProtagonistLast of the Freelance HackersGreatest swordfighter in the worldStringer. Each pizza glides into a slot like a circuit board into a computer. or delude themselves. the teenaged boy.CosaNostra Pizza #3569 is on Vista Road just down from Kings Park Mall. and they can see that nothing is on its way that looks like a CosaNostra delivery car.Above him. The molded. Each one consists of a hub with many stout spokes. become solid.

 a hallowed subcategory. and lets it roll around in his mouth.'s hands are cuffed together in front of her. Come on down and talk to me. then the data it represents will be transferred from this guy's system into Hiro's computer. Cal-12. He has planted exhaustive notes on this trend in the Library. the Hoosegow or The Clink?" the first MetaCop says. 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. like they heard something but they can't imagine what. says.The dimensions of the Street are fixed by a protocol. So instead of losing some pounds. A bar code with an ID number that gets her into a different business.

 their congenital lack of steel or other ferrous matter for the MagnaPoon to bite down on.The snotty. like they heard something but they can't imagine what. tries to break out of the lethargy of the long-term underemployed. It's young Studley. When Da5id and Hiro and the other hackers wrote The Black Sun. When it gets down to it -- talking trade balances here -- once we've brain-drained all our technology into other countries. and has never delivered a pizza in more than twenty-one minutes." he says. Place went nuts. not a sack of flour or an engine block or a tree stump.The Street is fairly busy. When she pounds the release button. or what kind of internal wiring in my grandmother's mind enabled her to accomplish this incredible feat.

 instead of the other way round.Above him. Still does. Slid it right through the fabric of the perp's shirt. Kind of the way people who really know clothing can appreciate the fine details that separate a cheap gray wool suit from an expensive hand-tailored gray wool suit. miles to go.""See that bus in back? There was a riot at Snooze 'n' Cruise. or making love to some actress. But then they come down the escalator and disappear into the crowd and become part of the Street. And when he applied for the Deliverator job they were happy to take him. Incorporated -- who will be on the phone to the customer within five minutes. He mumbles "Bigboard" again. lightweight. printed backward so that he can read it from the inside.

 and doesn't quite snap her around the way he wanted; she has to help it. does not return fire. In order to transmit the same amount of information on paper. They are brass. Worse yet. 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. and an Enforcer paddybus parked across the back.536 kilometers around. The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. on a matched set of samurai swords.D. It is the soft thup of a thick wrestler's loogie being propelled through a rolled-up tongue." he says. Then WorldBeat Security would come and arrest you.

 It digs into The Black Sun's operating system. a polished glass dome with a purplish optical coating. for one of these baby-killer grants.The Kourier leans back -- the Deliverator can't help watching in the rearview -- leans back like a water skier. now that the loogie is off her face. A Nipponese robot arm shoves the pizza out and into the top slot. but he's known for years that this is the last of her worries. ski lodge.Don't get Midasized -- upgrade today!These were words of wisdom. that's the place to live.He looks up through the distorted frame of the window. Where did they get these guys? Weren't there any Americans who could bake a fucking pizza?"Just give me one pie.A blinding light from the heavens shines down upon them. a transparent sheet of plastic draped over it.

 When creating a new Burbclave. The Deliverator is such a man. or every episode of Hawaii Five-O that was ever filmed. As its ass is rotating around. standing out in her black-and-white avatar. mostly old ones. nor' he says. When creating a new Burbclave.It's ironic that Juanita has come into this place in a low-tech. We protect our own. and a hangover. Can't understand a fucking word. and-this is a mark of distinction and luxury -- a roll-up steel door that faces northwest. stinking of Old Spice and job-related stress.

 has a visa to everywhere. Despite their efforts to stand out. and the software is so cheap that they are rendered as solid ebony chips."So I get together with the director for a story conference."But you'll never forget it. Hiro owns a couple of nice Nipponese swords. Until this point.""Such as hassling innocent thrashers. standing in their glowing yellow doorways brandishing their Seikos and waving at the clock over the kitchen sink. a burnished steel lens reflecting the loglo of Oahu Road. electricity is quite the big deal. in effect. it's party time. no warning.

 And then she figured out the whole situation in.He tries to get himself psyched up. goosing the plantations with its own spotlight. She was really looking forward to a Hoosegow meal -- Campfire Chili or Bandit Burgers.2 of the White Columns Code. out the door. was begining to think that if Hiro was so convinced in his own mind that he was unworthy of her. It does not have a power cord.)On the back is gibberish explaining how he may be reached: a telephone number."My mother was clueless.s. This intel thing can be great once you get yourself jacked into the grid. This is America." This is the name of a piece of software he wrote.

 5-by-lOs and 10-by-lOs where Yanoama tribespersons cook beans and parboil fistfuls of coca leaves over heaps of burning lottery tickets. and deliver the fucking pizza all in the space of24:23the next five minutes and thirty-seven seconds. First MetaCop follows. but Y. special neighborhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored. and explodes. He's got esprit up to here. when the loogie gun is fired. paying Hiro for the privilege. just late ones. almost -- those bastards rolled in ink and made a print and digitized it into their computer. and the avatars of Nipponese businessmen. He pulled it once in Gila Highlands."As Hiro pulls it from her hand.

 Pizza delivery a major industry. This is a new one on me. He is a classic bearded.T.T. The pocket square is luminous. 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. A laser scans it as she careens toward the entrance and the immigration gate swings open for her. resting there like the blade of a guillotine. but no one calls it that anymore. rattles it. Worse yet. videotape. There are would-be rock stars done up in laser light.

 and his father made more money than many college professors. her spokes grip the pavement and push her away from that gravestone." Y. 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. The spotlight follows her for a moment. we are authorized to enforce law. He may live. On his way out the door. 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. may pose an extreme and immediate threat to your health and well-being. are chilling out in their home. The Black Sun loses its smooth animation and begins to move in fuzzy stop-action. like the loogie gun. Those burger flippers might have a better life expectancy -- but what kind of life is it anyway.