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DOC :ch14.txt

the little train shot through its tunnel at eighty kilometers
per hour case kept his eyes closed the shower had helped
but hed lost his breakfast when hed looked down and seen
pierres blood washing pink across the white tiles
 gravity fell away as the spindle narrowed cases stomach
churned
 aerol was waiting with his scooter beside the dock
 case mon big problem the soft voice faint in his phones 
he chinned the volume control and peered into the lexan
faceplate of aerols helmet
 gotta get to garvey aerol
 yo strap in mon but garvey captive yacht came be
fore she came back now she lockin steady on marcus
garvey
 turing came before case climbed into the scooters
frame and began to fasten the straps
 japan yacht brought you package
 armitage

confused images of wasps and spiders rose in cases mind
as they came in sight of marcus garvey the little tug was
snug against the gray thorax of a sleek insectile ship five times
her length the arms of grapples stood out against garveys
patched hull with the strange clarity of vacuum and raw sun
light a pale corrugated gangway curved out of the yacht
snaked sideways to avoid the tugs engines and covered the
aft hatch there was something obscene about the arrangement
but it had more to do with ideas of feeding than of sex
 whats happening with maelcum
 maelcum fine nobody come down the tube yacht pilot
talk to him say relax
 as they swung past the gray ship case saw the name han
iwa in crisp white capitals beneath an oblong cluster of jap
anese
 i dont like this man i was thinking maybe its time we
got our ass out of here anyway
 maelcum thinkin that precise thing mon but garvey not
be goin far like that

maelcum was purring a speededup patois to his radio when
case came through the forward lock and removed his helmet
 aerols gone back to the rocker case said
 maelcum nodded still whispering to the microphone
 case pulled himself over the pilots drifting tangle of dread
locks and began to remove his suit maelcums eyes were
closed now he nodded as he listened to some reply over a pair
of phones with bright orange pads his brow creased with con
centration he wore ragged jeans and an old green nylon jacket
with the sleeves ripped out case snapped the red sanyo suit
to a storage hammock and pulled himself down to the gweb
 see what th ghost say mon maelcum said computer
keeps askin for you
 so whos up there in that thing
 same japanboy came before an now he joined by you
mister armitage come out freeside
 case put the trodes on and jacked in

dixie
 the matrix showed him the pink spheres of the steel combine
in sikkim
 what you gettin up to boy i been hearin lurid stories 
hosakas patched into a twin bank on your bosss boat now 
really hoppin you pull some turing heat
 yeah but wintermute killed em
 well that wont hold em long plenty more where those
came from be up here in force bet their decks are all over
this grid sector like flies on shit and your boss case he says
go he says run it and run it now
 case punched for the freeside coordinates
 lemme take that a sec case the matrix blurred and
phased as the flatline executed an intricate series of jumps with
a speed and accuracy that made case wince with envy
 shit dixie
 hey boy i was that good when i was alive you aint
seen nothin no hands
 thats it huh big green rectangle off left
 you got it corporate core data for tessierashpool sa
and that ice is generated by their two friendly ais on par
with anything in the military sector looks to me thats king
hell ice case black as the grave and slick as glass fry your
brain soon as look at you we get any closer now itll have
tracers up our ass and out both ears be tellin the boys in the
ta boardroom the size of your shoes and how long your dick
is
 this isnt looking so hot is it i mean the turings are on
it i was thinking maybe we should try to bail out i can take
you
 yeah no shit you dont wanna see what that chinese
program can do
 well i case stared at the green walls of the ta ice 
well screw it yeah we run
 slot it
 hey maelcum case said jacking out im probably
gonna be under the trodes for maybe eight hours straight 
maelcum was smoking again the cabin was swimming in
smoke so i cant get to the head
 no problem mon the zionite executed a high forward
somersault and rummaged through the contents of a zippered
mesh bag coming up with a coil of transparent tubing and
something else something sealed in a sterile bubble pack
 he called it a texas catheter and case didnt like it at all
 he slotted the chinese virus paused then drove it home
 okay he said were on listen maelcum if it gets
really funny you can grab my left wrist ill feel it otherwise
i guess you do what the hosaka tells you okay
 sure mon maelcum lit a fresh joint
 and turn the scrubber up i dont want that shit tangling
with my neurotransmitters i got a bad hangover as it is
 maelcum grinned
 case jacked back in
 christ on a crutch the flatline said take a look at this
 the chinese virus was unfolding around them polychrome
shadow countless translucent layers shifting and recombining 
protean enormous it towered above them blotting out the
void
 big mother the flatline said
 im gonna check molly case said tapping the simstim
switch

freefall the sensation was like diving through perfectly
clear water she was fallingrising through a wide tube of fluted
lunar concrete lit at twometer intervals by rings of white neon
 the link was one way he couldnt talk to her
 he flipped

boy that is one mean piece of software hottest thing
since sliced bread that goddam things invisible i just now
rented twenty seconds on that little pink box four jumps left
of the ta ice had a look at what we look like we dont 
were not there
 case searched the matrix around the tessierashpool ice
until he found the pink structure a standard commercial unit
and punched in closer to it maybe its defective
 maybe but i doubt it our babys military though and
new it just doesnt register if it did wed read as some kind
of chinese sneak attack but nobodys twigged to us at all 
maybe not even the folks in straylight
 case watched the blank wall that screened straylight well
he said thats an advantage right
 maybe the construct approximated laughter case winced
at the sensation i checked ol kuang eleven out again for
you boy its real friendly long as youre on the trigger end
jus polite an helpful as can be speaks good english too 
you ever hear of slow virus before
 no
 i did once just an idea back then but thats what ol
kuangs all about this aint bore and inject its more like we
interface with the ice so slow the ice doesnt feel it the face
of the kuang logics kinda sleazes up to the target and mutates
so it gets to be exactly like the ice fabric then we lock on
and the main programs cut in start talking circles round the
logics in the ice we go siamese twin on em before they even
get restless the flatline laughed
 wish you werent so damn jolly today man that laugh
of yours sort of gets me in the spine
 too bad the flatline said ol dead man needs his laughs 
case slapped the simstim switch

and crashed through tangled metal and the smell of dust
the heels of his hands skidding as they struck slick paper 
something behind him collapsed noisily
 cmon said the finn ease up a little
 case lay sprawled across a pile of yellowing magazines
the girls shining up at him in the dimness of metro holografix
a wistful galaxy of sweet white teeth he lay there until his
heart had slowed breathing the smell of old magazines
 wintermute he said
 yeah said the finn somewhere behind him you got
it
 fuck off case sat up rubbing his wrists
 come on said the finn stepping out of a sort of alcove
in the wall of junk this ways better for you man he took
his partagas from a coat pocket and lit one the smell of cuban
tobacco filled the shop you want i should come to you in
the matrix like a burning bush you arent missing anything
back there an hour herell only take you a couple of seconds
 you ever think maybe it gets on my nerves you coming
on like people i know he stood swatting pale dust from the
front of his black jeans he turned glaring back at the dusty
shop windows the closed door to the street whats out there 
new york or does it just stop
 well said the finn its like that tree you know falls
in the woods but maybe theres nobody to hear it he showed
case his huge front teeth and puffed his cigarette you can
go for a walk you wanna its all there or anyway all the
parts of it you ever saw this is memory right i tap you sort
it out and feed it back in
 i dont have this good a memory case said looking
around he looked down at his hands turning them over he
tried to remember what the lines on his palms were like but
couldnt
 everybody does the finn said dropping his cigarette and
grinding it out under his heel but not many of you can access
it artists can mostly if theyre any good if you could lay
this construct over the reality the finns place in lower man
hattan youd see a difference but maybe not as much as youd
think memorys holographic for you the finn tugged at
one of his small ears im different
 how do you mean holographic the word made him
think of riviera
 the holographic paradigm is the closest thing youve worked
out to a representation of human memory is all but youve
never done anything about it people i mean the finn stepped
forward and canted his streamlined skull to peer up at case 
maybe if you had i wouldnt be happening
 whats that supposed to mean
 the finn shrugged his tattered tweed was too wide across
the shoulders and didnt quite settle back into position im
trying to help you case
 why
 because i need you the large yellow teeth appeared
again and because you need me
 bullshit can you read my mind finn he grimaced 
wintermute i mean
 minds arent read see youve still got the paradigms
print gave you and youre barely printliterate i can access
your memory but thats not the same as your mind he
reached into the exposed chassis of an ancient television and
withdrew a silverblack vacuum tube see this part of my
dna sort of he tossed the thing into the shadows and
case heard it pop and tinkle youre always building models 
stone circles cathedrals pipeorgans adding machines i
got no idea why im here now you know that but if the
run goes off tonight youll have finally managed the real
thing
 i dont know what youre talking about
 thats you in the collective your species
 you killed those turings
 the finn shrugged hadda hadda you should give a shit
they woulda offed you and never thought twice anyway why
i got you here we gotta talk more remember this and his
right hand held the charred wasps nest from cases dream
reek of fuel in the closeness of the dark shop case stumbled
back against a wall of junk yeah that was me did it with
the holo rig in the window another memory i tapped out of
you when i flatlined you that first time know why its im
portant
 case shook his head
 because and the nest somehow was gone its the
closest thing you got to what tessierashpool would like to
be the human equivalent straylights like that nest or anyway
it was supposed to work out that way i figure itll make you
feel better
 feel better
 to know what theyre like you were starting to hate my
guts for a while there thats good but hate them instead 
same difference
 listen case said stepping forward they never did shit
to me you its different but he couldnt feel the anger
 so ta they made me the french girl she said you were
selling out the species demon she said i was the finn
grinned it doesnt much matter you gotta hate somebody
before this is over he turned and headed for the back of the
shop well come on ill show you a little bit of straylight
while i got you here he lifted the corner of the blanket white
light poured out shit man dont just stand there
 case followed rubbing his face
 okay said the finn and grabbed his elbow
 they were drawn past the stale wool in a puff of dust into
freefall and a cylindrical corridor of fluted lunar concrete ringed
with white neon at twometer intervals
 jesus case said tumbling
 this is the front entrance the finn said his tweed flap
ping if this werent a construct of mine where the shop is
would be the main gate up by the freeside axis thisll all be
a little low on detail though because you dont have the
memories except for this bit here you got off molly
 case managed to straighten out but began to corkscrew in
a long spiral
 hold on the finn said ill fastforward us
 the walls blurred dizzying sensation of headlong move
ment colors whipping around corners and through narrow
corridors they seemed at one point to pass through several
meters of solid wall a flash of pitch darkness
 here the finn said this is it
 they floated in the center of a perfectly square room walls
and ceiling paneled in rectangular sections of dark wood the
floor was covered by a single square of brilliant carpet patterned
after a microchip circuits traced in blue and scarlet wool in
the exact center of the room aligned precisely with the carpet
pattern stood a square pedestal of frosted white glass
 the villa straylight said a jeweled thing on the pedestal
in a voice like music is a body grown in upon itself a gothic
folly each space in straylight is in some way secret this
endless series of chambers linked by passages by stairwells
vaulted like intestines where the eye is trapped in narrow
curves carried past ornate screens empty alcoves
 essay of 3janes the finn said producing his partagas 
wrote that when she was twelve semiotics course
 the architects of freeside went to great pains to conceal
the fact that the interior of the spindle is arranged with the
banal precision of furniture in a hotel room in straylight the
hulls inner surface is overgrown with a desperate proliferation
of structures forms flowing interlocking rising toward a solid
core of microcircuitry our clans corporate heart a cylinder
of silicon wormholed with narrow maintenance tunnels some
no wider than a mans hand the bright crabs burrow there
the drones alert for micromechanical decay or sabotage
 that was her you saw in the restaurant the finn said
 by the standards of the archipelago the head continued
ours is an old family the convolutions of our home reflecting
that age but reflecting something else as well the semiotics
of the villa bespeak a turning in a denial of the bright void
beyond the hull
 tessier and ashpool climbed the well of gravity to discover
that they loathed space they built freeside to tap the wealth
of the new islands grew rich and eccentric and began the
construction of an extended body in straylight we have sealed
ourselves away behind our money growing inward generating
a seamless universe of self
 the villa straylight knows no sky recorded or otherwise
 at the villas silicon core is a small room the only rec
tilinear chamber in the complex here on a plain pedestal of
glass rests an ornate bust platinum and cloisonn studded
with lapis and pearl the bright marbles of its eyes were cut
from the synthetic ruby viewport of the ship that brought the
first tessier up the well and returned for the first ashpool
 the head fell silent
 well case asked finally almost expecting the thing to
answer him
 thats all she wrote the finn said didnt finish it just
a kid then this things a ceremonial terminal sort of i need
molly in here with the right word at the right time thats the
catch doesnt mean shit how deep you and the flatline ride
that chinese virus if this thing doesnt hear the magic word
 so whats the word
 i dont know you might say what i am is basically defined
by the fact that i dont know because i cant know i am that
which knoweth not the word if you knew man and told me
i couldnt know its hardwired in someone else has to learn
it and bring it here just when you and the flatline punch
through that ice and scramble the cores
 what happens then
 i dont exist after that i cease
 okay by me case said
 sure but you watch your ass case my ah other lobe
is on to us it looks like one burning bush looks pretty much
like another and armitage is starting to go
 whats that mean
 but the paneled room folded itself through a dozen impos
sible angles tumbling away into cyberspace like an origami
crane

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

	(10%)	case molly thing back left im head asked didnt began ...
	(7%)	maelcum mon garvey straylight zionite mute helmet theyre yeah monitor ...
	(7%)	ice flatline memory nest human big cyberspace slick screens mark ...
	(7%)	hand youre looked hands back time wall place small whats ...
	(6%)	eyes man hed black face dark past good open back ...
	(5%)	finn tunnel villa man unit guy silicon front lowered junk ...

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