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01/12/10(Tue)22:30 No.7563994
File1263353454.jpg-(312 KB, 1200x838, 1981 computer criminals paleof(...).jpg)
 Out on the street, Monty slouched along past nearly-naked mannequins and giant screens blaring ads. The scrolling lines on the screens made his brain ache. The press of traffic on the sidewalk buffeted him from side to side as Christie strode next to him, oblivious to the people that parted around her. She took a drag and blew an acrid cloud into the face of a streetside laserdisk vendor that tried to stop her, driving him back cursing, the copy of Moonwalker tumbling to the ground.
The giant screens on the Panasonic building were showing loops of smiles and handshakes. Twenty feet in front of him, a pair of thugs in riot gear pummeled a couple of afro-headed kids while a third smashed open their plastic case, sending floppy discs fluttering to the ground. The wind caught some and sent them cartwheeling into traffic. The sheep knotted up as they approached, crossing in two neat single-file lines, eyes straight ahead. Monty caught a blip of a garbled protest from one of the kids through a mouth of blood.
The street was mostly empty - the ones that could afford to drive around didn't do it during the daytime around here, where they were as likely to be carjacked as have their tires slashed at an intersection. Monty tried to remember the last time that he had ridden in a car. His parents had owned one, back before the Arabs started pinching off the oil.
It had come at a bad time - poor people that would have spent their meager earnings on immediate gratifications could get their entertainment for free if they knew how. The technology was already out there, and people had the incentive to learn. The entertainment industry was drying up, and as more people turned to pirated information, the cycle was what?
Exponential?
Monty didn't know. |
