SNOW CRASH

process the Sumerian language anymore. Kind of in the same way that a virus moves from one computer to another, damaging each computer in the same way. Coiling around the brainstem.”

“Lagos devoted much time and effort to this idea,” the Librarian says. “He felt that the namshub of Enki was a neurolinguistic virus.”

“And that this Enki character was a real personage?”

“Possibly.”

“And that Enki invented this virus and spread it throughout Sumer, using tablets like this one?”

d4I~j~~ A tablet has been discovered containing a letter to Enki, in which the writer complains about it.”

“A letter to a god?”

“Yes. It is from Sin-samuh, the Scribe. He begins by praising Enki and emphasizing his devotion to him. Then he complains:

‘Like a young … (line broken)

I am paralyzed at the wrist.

Like a wagon on the road when its yoke has split, I stand immobile on the road.

I lay on a bed called “01 and 0 No!”

I let out a wail.

My graceful figure is stretched neck to gro~snd, I am paralyzed of foot.

My … has been carried off into the earth. My frame has changed.

At night I cannot sleep, my strength has been struck down, my life is ebbing away.

The bright day is made a dark day for me.

I have slipped into my own grave.

I, a writer who knows many things, am made a fool.