SNOW CRASH

onto it the way they do. And it sustains the media. It creates a lot of information flow-movies, news reports-you know.”

“So you’re creating your own news event to make money off the information flow that it creates?” says the journalist, desperately trying to follow. His tone of voice says that this is all a waste of videotape. His weary attitude suggests that this is not the first time Rife has flown off on a bizarre tangent

“Partly. But that’s only a very crude explanation. It really goes a lot deeper than that. You’ve probably heard the expression that the Industry feeds off of biomass, like a whale straining krill from the ocean.”

“I’ve heard the expression, yes.”

“That’s my expression. I made it up. An expression like that is just like a virus, you know-it’s a piece of information-data— that spreads from one person to the next Well, the function of the Raft is to bring more biomass. To renew America. Most countries are static, all they need to do is keep having babies. But America’s like this big old clanking, smoking machine that just lumbers across the landscape scooping up and eating everything in sight. Leaves behind a trail of garbage a mile wide. Always needs more fueL Ever read the story about the labyrinth and the minotaur?”

“Sure. That was on Crete, right?” The journalist only answers out of sarcasm; he can’t believe he’s here listening to this, he wants to fly back to L.A. yesterday.

“Yeah. Every year, the Greeks had to pony up a few virgins and send them to Crete as tribute. Then the king put them into the labyrinth, and the minotaur ate them up. I used to read that story when I was a kid and wonder who the hell these guys were, on Crete, that everyone else was so scared of them that they would just meekly give up their children to be eaten, every year. They must have been some mean sons of bitches.

“Now I have a different perspective on it. America must look, to those poor little buggers down there, about the same as Crete looked to those poor Greek suckers. Except that there’s no coerdon involved. Those people down there give up their children willingly. Send them into the labyrinth by the millions to be eaten up. The Industry feeds on them and spits back images,