SNOW CRASH

There are a lot of Towne Halls in a lot of Snooze ‘n’ Cruise franchises where you have to check your weapons at the entrance. This is not one of them.

Hiro isn’t sure if that is bad or good. Without weapons, the New South Africans would just beat the crap out of him. With weapons, Him can fight back, but the stakes are higher. Hiro is bulletproof up to his neck, but that just means the New South Africans will all be going for a head shot. And they pride themselves on marksmanship. It is a fetish with them.

“Isn’t there an NSA franchise down the road?” Hire says.

“Yeah,” says the point man, who has a long, spreading body and short stumpy legs. “It’s heaven. It really is. Ain’t no place on earth like a New South Africa.”

‘Well, then if you don’t mind my asking,” Hiro says, “if it’s so damn nice, why don’t y’all go back to your egg sac and hang out there?”

“There is one problem with New South Africa,” the guy says. “Don’t mean to sound unpatriotic, but it’s true.”

“And what is that problem?” Him says.

“There’s no niggers, gooks, or kikes there to beat the shit out of.”

“Ah. That is a problem,” Hire says. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For announcing your intentions-giving me the right to do this.”

Then Hire cuts his head off.

What else can he do? There are at least twelve of them. They have made a point of blocking the only exit. They have just announced their intentions. And presumably they are all carrying heat. Besides, this kind of thing is going to happen to him about every ten seconds when he’s on the Raft.

The New South African has no idea what’s coming, but he starts to react as Hiro is swinging the katana at his neck, so he is flying backward when the decapitation occurs. That is good, because about half his blood supply comes lofting out the top of his neck. Twin jets, one from each carotid. Hiro doesn’t get a drop on himself.

In the Metaverse, the blade just passes right through, if you

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