Doc14.html

DOC :ch21.txt

the music woke him and at first it might have been the
beat of his own heart he sat up beside her pulling his jacket
over his shoulders in the predawn chill gray light from the
doorway and the fire long dead
 his vision crawled with ghost hieroglyphs translucent lines
of symbols arranging themselves against the neutral backdrop
of the bunker wall he looked at the backs of his hands saw
faint neon molecules crawling beneath the skin ordered by the
unknowable code he raised his right hand and moved it ex
perimentally it left a faint fading trail of strobed afterimages
 the hair stood up along his arms and at the back of his
neck he crouched there with his teeth bared and felt for the
music the pulse faded returned faded
 whats wrong she sat up clawing hair from her eyes 
baby
 i feel like a drug you get that here
 she shook her head reached for him her hands on his upper
arms
 linda who told you who told you id come who
 on the beach she said something forcing her to look
away a boy i see him on the beach maybe thirteen he
lives here
 and what did he say
 he said youd come he said you wouldnt hate me he
said wed be okay here and he told me where the rain pool
was he looks mexican
 brazilian case said as a new wave of symbols washed
down the wall i think hes from rio he got to his feet and
began to struggle into his jeans
 case she said her voice shaking case where you
goin
 i think ill find that boy he said as the music came
surging back still only a beat steady and familiar although
he couldnt place it in memory
 dont case
 i thought i saw something when i got here a city down
the beach but yesterday it wasnt there you ever seen that 
he yanked his zipper up and tore at the impossible knot in his
shoelaces finally tossing the shoes into the corner
 she nodded eyes lowered yeah i see it sometimes
 you ever go there linda he put his jacket on
 no she said but i tried after i first came an i was
bored anyway i figured its a city maybe i could find some
shit she grimaced i wasnt even sick i just wanted it so
i took food in a can mixed it real wet because i didnt have
another can for water an i walked all day an i could see
it sometimes city an it didnt seem too far but it never got
any closer an then it was gettin closer an i saw what it
was sometimes that day it had looked kinda like it was wrecked
or maybe nobody there an other times i thought id see light
flashin off a machine cars or somethin her voice trailed
off
 what is it
 this thing she gestured around at the fireplace the dark
walls the dawn outlining the doorway where we live it gets
smaller case smaller closer you get to it
 pausing one last time by the doorway you ask your boy
about that
 yeah he said i wouldnt understand an i was wastin
my time said it was was like an event an it was our
horizon event horizon he called it
 the words meant nothing to him he left the bunker and
struck out blindly heading he knew somehow away from
the sea now the hieroglyphs sped across the sand fled from
his feet drew back from him as he walked hey he said
its breaking down bet you know too what is it kuang 
chinese icebreaker eating a hole in your heart maybe the dixie
flatlines no pushover huh
 he heard her call his name looked back and she was
following him not trying to catch up the broken zip of the
french fatigues flapping against the brown of her belly pubic
hair framed in torn fabric she looked like one of the girls on
the finns old magazines in metro holografix come to life
only she was tired and sad and human the ripped costume
pathetic as she stumbled over clumps of saltsilver sea grass
 and then somehow they stood in the surf the three of
them and the boys gums were wide and bright pink against
his thin brown face he wore ragged colorless shorts limbs
too thin against the sliding bluegray of the tide
 i know you case said linda beside him
 no the boy said his voice high and musical you do
not
 youre the other ai youre rio youre the one who wants
to stop wintermute whats your name your turing code 
what is it
 the boy did a handstand in the surf laughing he walked
on his hands then flipped out of the water his eyes were
rivieras but there was no malice there to call up a demon
you must learn its name men dreamed that once but now it
is real in another way you know that case your business is
to learn the names of programs the long formal names names
the owners seek to conceal true names
 a turing codes not your name
 neuromancer the boy said slitting long gray eyes against
the rising sun the lane to the land of the dead where you
are my friend mariefrance my lady she prepared this road
but her lord choked her off before i could read the book of her
days neuro from the nerves the silver paths romancer nec
romancer i call up the dead but no my friend and the boy
did a little dance brown feet printing the sand i am the dead
and their land he laughed a gull cried stay if your woman
is a ghost she doesnt know it neither will you
 youre cracking the ice is breaking up
 no he said suddenly sad his fragile shoulders sagging 
he rubbed his foot against the sand it is more simple than
that but the choice is yours the gray eyes regarded case
gravely a fresh wave of symbols swept across his vision one
line at a time behind them the boy wriggled as though seen
through heat rising from summer asphalt the music was loud
now and case could almost make out the lyrics
 case honey linda said and touched his shoulder
 no he said he took off his jacket and handed it to her 
i dont know he said maybe youre here anyway it gets
cold
 he turned and walked away and after the seventh step hed
closed his eyes watching the music define itself at the center
of things he did look back once although he didnt open his
eyes
 he didnt need to
 they were there by the edge of the sea linda lee and the
thin child who said his name was neuromancer his leather
jacket dangled from her hand catching the fringe of the surf
 he walked on following the music
 maelcums zion dub

there was a gray place an impression of fine screens shift
ing moire degrees of half tone generated by a very simple
graphics program there was a long hold on a view through
chainlink gulls frozen above dark water there were voices 
there was a plain of black mirror that tilted and he was
quicksilver a bead of mercury skittering down striking the
angles of an invisible maze fragmenting flowing together
sliding again

case mon
 the music
 you back mon
 the music was taken from his ears
 how long he heard himself ask and knew that his mouth
was very dry
 five minute maybe too long i wan pull th jack mute
seh no screen goin funny then mute seh put th phones on
you
 he opened his eyes maelcums features were overlayed
with bands of translucent hieroglyphs
 an you medicine maelcum said two derm
 he was flat on his back on the library floor below the
monitor the zionite helped him sit up but the movement
threw him into the savage rush of the betaphenethylamine the
blue derms burning against his left wrist overdose he man
aged
 come on mon the strong hands beneath his armpits
lifting him like a child i an i mus go

...

Top topics in this doc (% words in doc assigned to this topic)

	(15%)	hand youre looked hands back time wall place small whats ...
	(9%)	sand dead walked wind fire sea fresh silver jacket wasnt ...
	(9%)	music arms call learn sat symbols gravity arrival torn youve ...
	(7%)	eyes man hed black face dark past good open back ...
	(6%)	real dont long center word doorway huh doesnt ears dust ...
	(6%)	case molly thing back left im head asked didnt began ...
	(6%)	linda simple rain cigarette rear returned framed drew castle fading ...

[Index]