>From: dansmith@well.sf.ca.us (Daniel Smith)
Subject: Chiba, after the game
Date: 16 Dec 90 23:03:37 GMT


	Bucky gets up and walks away from Effinger's Game, and waves
goodbye to the CyberParrot, Miranda.  "fly swift and sure, and Merry
Christmas!"

	He takes a quick trip to the washroom, surveys the new additions
to the graffiti collection and then pokes his head out of the oft-repaired
entrance for a moment...sniffs the night air.  Something's different.

	He walks up to the bar, shaking off the effects of the game.
His green shirt, and the shoulder underneath, now repaired from the activity
of nanohealers....ah yes, wasn't that a Shrike in the bar a while ago?
	

	"Ratz", catching the barkeep's attention, "where are we?"

	"Herr Bucky, is that bolo on too tight?  choking off blood
to the brain, perhaps...hmm?"

	"what I mean is, this was Chiba City when I walked in.  Now it looks
amazingly like Seattle...I see the old freeway, I see what's left of the
Space Needle.  The ferries look different..."

	"Yes Bucky, s'true.  Go look again..."

	So Buck strides through the bar again.  A few razorbeings seem
to look up and scan him...no detectable aramament of any kind, but
lots of stuff can be hidden these days, doesn't mean anything.  He peers
out...

	Robson Street!?  Now its Vancouver... he hesitantly walks away
a few steps.. yep, some of the landmarks, the old Eaton's store, Strawberry
Fields, the Sheraton off in the distance.  Getting Wierd.  He half-dashes
back through the door.  Ignores the ritualistic scan of the patrons
as he walks over to the bar again...somewhat glares at them.

	"Ratz, what the hell is going on?!  I can read, and I really
keep up on things, there aren't any Farcaster Portals around yet, or
are there?"

	"Buck, do not trouble... if you look again it may be Hong Kong,
it may be The Embarcadero."  His ancient yellow teeth, etched face, brown
eyes with a sense of humour behind them, that have seen thousands of
taut, tension-filled episodes in the Chat, do not lie.  "There will
always be a waterfront.  The styrofoam shoals; ya the seagulls"

	Just then YA Firefight breaks out.  Bucky leaps over the counter
and crashes among many bottles of Jack Daniels.  Ratz just calmy ducks
and looks at him amusingly.  "bit of an acrobat, yes Bucky?"

	The bar returns to some semblance of normality, Ratz hollering
for the umpteenth time "Nobody takes anyone out in the Chat!", as
some snicker, and others breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't
them...  The cleaning 'bots scurry out to drag the body, they'll
dump it in the alley, where the Ghouls will take over.

	Bucky walks around the bar and sits on an old stool, rests
his elbows on the never quite dry mahogany.  Deja Vu.  How many
nights had he come in here and just hung out, leaving later
with wet patches of Kirin on his elbows?

	"So Ratz, about the seagulls..."

	"Ya, what I say is...don't worry about it, we're just virtual,
right?"

	Sigh, right.  He gets up and walks over to the wall where
a portal is that feeds back to Reality, looks at the viewscreen.
A young man with some weekend stubble sits at his kitchen table
at an old 2d terminal, nice view of Angel Island behind him.  He
looks at Bucky and says through the screen "lighten up, go play Effingers
game again, go get shot at, have a margarita, enjoy your virtual
existence".  He winks and fades out.

	Bucky goes back to the bar to contemplate.  Pulls out some
New Yen, orders Tsing Tao.  A long-haired, bearded man in an open grey
overcoat, sword (of all things) hanging from his side walks up
to Bucky.  "Hey Buck!",

	"Hey, Captain Inode!  long time no see!"

	"You up for a game of Effinger's?"

	"hmmph!  No, not just yet.  What's the sword for CapNode?"

	"Hacking!", Captain Inode exclaims with a mischievious grin spreading
throughout his elvish face.

	"Yes, well, A good hack would be just the thing for me right now,
I was starting to get bummed out about just being a virtual character,
being flung around the net with no control, but now I've decided to
take advantage and explore"

	"Yea, well Bucky, just think what you could have been, I mean,
check this out"

		Gross Income Statement - 1996
Ledgers			 3575.34	NY
Fine Point Pen		95984.00	NY
Data Protection ICE    100000.00	NY

	"Yuk!  think of it, the life (and lie) of a spreadsheet,
the tediousness of a boilerplate document!  Nah, I'm glad I'm
a character in some bar that can't decide just where or what it is,
with patrons that are trigger happy, this is more exciting!"

	"yes!  now you have the idea!"

	"yea, let's go get our decks, and come back here, I have
a real net.run in mind"

	Bucky grabs his beer, CapNode quickly orders a "Watney's
if you would be so kind Mr. Ratz", and they head out.  Right
outside the door, they run into a slightly shabbily dressed man,
who seemingly was designed for life in a wind-tunnel.  Bucky
recognizes the mole-ish dispositio.

	"Finn!  We were just coming to see you!"

	"Yea well, certain software clued me in, thought I'd
save you a trip...let's get to a secure place.  Buck, that tie,
you walk out of a western?  And you, Captain Inode, Hacking
indeed!"

	"How did you hear of that Finn?"

	"Loose bricks, juiced chips!"

--
daniel@island.com       Daniel Smith, Island Graphics, (415) 491 0765 x 250(w)
daniel@world.std.com    4000 CivicCenterDrive SanRafael MarinCounty CA 94903
dansmith@well.sf.ca.us  I must write this, or Island will take away my coffee.
                        Susan is at sprice@well.sf.ca.us