Technobabel

"Fine," was all Babel had to say. Lanier fell silent and watched the helicopter descend. It touched down on the rooftop smoothly, and the side door slid open. As Babel and Lanier went out to meet it, Lanier saw a familiar tusked face. "Well, well, well," Hammer said. "Isn't this a pleasant surprise?" The ork calmly held his hand-ca

"You said you were given the virus you used on Renraku? By whom?" Babel shrugged as he stared out the window at the city lights. "Weren't you listening to all of those interrogations, Lanier?" he said. "It was the Matrix gave it to me. All living things have a need to survive and will act when their survival is threatened. What do you think would happen to the Matrix if the megacorporations discover the secrets of technomancy? It would be open war, which could destroy the Matrix. It doesn't want that." "Are you saying the Matrix is intelligent? I can't believe that." "Believe what you like." Babel smiled wearily. "It doesn't matter either way. I know I encountered a vast… 'intelligence' is the only word I can give it, during my initiation, and it told me I had to do this to protect the technomancers from being exploited by the megacorps. Or worse yet, turned into lab rats so the corps could figure out how our abilities worked. What I didn't know was that this 'intelligence' was just as manipulative as the megacorps, if not more. It's vast, Lanier, more than any of us can imagine. We're nothing to it, like ants crawling in and around its home. To be used as it wants, then stepped on." "What are you going to do now?" Lanier asked. "Renraku is going to want your head." "They have to find me first," Babel said. "I'm going to go on walkabout for a while. I have a lot to think about. The ancient people believed you could find yourself out on the road. There's a lot more to the world than just Boston, and I've got a little 'severance pay' from Renraku stashed away. Traveling isn't all that hard when you know the right paths." "Why not come to work for me? I could certainly use you." "Like Renraku used me? Like it used me? I don't think so. I'm through with being used. I'm tired of it. All I ever wanted was to have magic in my life. Now I've got some, but it didn't come cheap. I'm not going to work for you or Fuchi or anyone except on my terms. I've got my freedom, and I mean to hold on to it." "But you have nothing to show for all this. Just some money, and that's not going to last forever." "On the contrary, I have a whole world to explore. Two whole worlds, in fact. I have the freedom of being nothing more than a ghost, a blank, a shadow. Allied to no one." The chopper pilot set down in a cleared lot in the Rox, and Babel hopped out. He backed away from the helicopter and smiled at Lanier through the streaks of blood on his face, pushing aside his dark hair in the wash of the helicopter's rotors. "I have my freedom!" Babel called out. "Do you?" Lanier looked the young man in the eyes for a moment, then reached out and shook his hand. "Good luck, Babel." The technoshaman shook his head. "No, not Babel. Not Michael. Renraku made Michael Bishop, and he's dead. The Matrix made Babel and now he's gone too. I'm a freelance, a sell-sword. If you need a name for me… Ronin is as good as any." Lanier slid the door shut, and the chopper rose into the night. Ronin, the masterless samurai, warrior of the Matrix, stood and watched them go, then disappeared into the shadows of the urban jungle.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. -Matthew 7:1 The Corporate Court reconvened at the appointed time, the justices filing into the central chamber of the Zurich-Orbital to take their places at the bench. Ly