PROLOGUE: RUMORS OF HAZARD
The last thing Albert Pillock remembered was sitting in the
crapper behind the Mandelbrot Tap's tiny kitchen and thinking
that it was about time he B-cupped.
That thought had been enough to materialize the utility
pop-up he needed. It looked like a small woman whose grey hair was
covered by a green kerchief. A coverall of the same color was
embroidered with the logo of Iron Lady B-Cup Security. It was
sitting on the edge of the sink, snapping gum, swinging its feet,
and saying, "You'd think people would remember to back up their
memories in the kitchen or the living room, but no, no. I've got
to work in the toilet!"
Now his hands were tight on the arms of a padded black
leather chair. He was facing a broad desk, and across that the
heart-shaped face and silvery hair of his host computer's
persona. She was wearing a sweatshirt decorated with an
off-center, multi-colored bullseye and the words "Strange
Attraction."
He had to swallow before he could manage to say, "What
happened, Ada?"
"You got killed."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Did you record it?"
"Of course. Though I couldn't move fast enough to B-cup
you." Ada gestured toward a wall covered with bookcases that
were already fading to a poster whose flashing neon letters said:
ÿ