LeeSki_SkiMore's SciFi Site: Future.Novel: Lev.UP, page 21

Eller finished off his breakfast of caffeine, sugar and safesmoke. He felt dull, but
ready to be home. To be really safe. He was excited about showing the stormboard's new
computer to OBee. The thought of ripping it up with that hot-box made Eller impatient
to be gone from the module that seemed to be barely crawling along the module shunt
towards the station.
Docking-sensors barely activated, Eller jumped from the module, hitting the local
ramp at a brisk pace. The jerky motion of the rarely serviced ramp told him he was close
to home. As he headed for the fringes of the sub-berg the influence of the digi-god
lowered. The pixel-rich private-corp and store nets became fewer and fewer, replaced
more and more by the min.lev pixels of divi.dole level VR.
The walkways and ramps were littered by the fringes of the Sprawl's population who
had only the divi.dole's guaranteed minimal pixel personas and minimal level
publicware. Dream-druggers, sickware-pushers, and wierds hid there. Where they were
periodically hacked at by the cops, JCs, gladiator net pimps, dreamstick sEllers, and
others not quite as nice. Home turf of the Three-D's: Digitally Disguised Dirt.
Beware slumware.
Eller dulled down. He shed the Chi' 'creter max.pix look that included his enviroware
and rockware backgrounds. Camoware mimicked his surroundings, while he played
'follow me' with the govware's spyware, to be insured of a trouble-free slide home.
The fine, powdery dust that permeated the sub-bergs at the fringes of the Sprawl
announced itself to Eller's nose, making him sneeze.
The Storm Cellar, as Eller and OBee called their home, rushed towards him. From
express, to local, to exit, Eller skipped to the fixed walkway right at his door. He clic'd
on the door, but it stayed solid. It said to him, "If you're here to try out for the boarder
position I'll be with you in a few flops." OBee's smile-cracked, dried up, and wrinkled
face appeared, covering the doorway. Eller knew OBee was just screwing around, but he
didn't feel like trading put-downs while standing in the street right then. He hacked into
the homenet, unlocked the door, cleared away the giant smiling face, as he quietly
entered the sanctuary of his home.
"Well, what's eating the studware? You get dumped again?" said OBee, interested by
the lack of the usual reaction to his well worn joke. "What gives? You're back too early
or too late. Can't tell which one."
"Listen Shorty, I've got a job for you or do I need to advertise for a tech."
Eller tossed his heavy storm jacket at a chair already upholstered with clothes, then he
turned. The shock-proof black box arced throught the air towards his partner. Still
quick, in spite of his age, and crippled condition, the old boarder shot his hoverchair
forward. A powerful hand snatched it from the air. A whistle escaped his lips as he
reverently rotated the heat emitter-covered object. OBee knew he was holding a couple
of thousand totally independent teraflops-a-second.
Slyly watching OBee, Eller added, "Oh. Yeah. The tattletale in that isn't coded."
"You mean you hacked this?" said OBee, who looked as if the hot comp had burned
his fingers. "Damn it! I thought I was only deeper in debt." OBee shrank down into his
chair where he visibly lamented the depth of the hole Eller had dumped him into.
"If the cops show before I can open this thing up to kill the canary, I'll kill you
instead," said OBee darkly, as he brightened inside. After all, it did look like he was
holding the answer to their problems. He slid off to the workshop area where Eller's
board rested, waiting for its resurrection. Eller followed, but had to go through giant
piles of excrement that appeared in his path.
Eller watched as OBee placed the computer into a heavily shielded box constructed
for working on gabby hardware. Toolbars appeared floating in the translucent top of the
workbench. OBee clic'd on a sparking and crackling icon that floated above the bench.
He took hold of the fiber-guided micro-laser drill. He eased it into the uni-port on the
comp's panel.