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"I don’t know So words?"

Hideo raises an eyebrow at me in amuse in because Ifrom you," he says "Does that help?"

I pause withBefore I can reply, he bids e vanishes, replaced with elimpse at his face, his eyes still on me

• • • • •

THAT NIGHT, I dream that Hideo and I are back at Sound Museum Vision, except we’re not in the middle of the dance floor Instead, we’re upstairs, tucked in so the space, and he hasme hard

I startle awake from the dream, flustered and irritated with hts when the day coet ready to grab lunch, I lockinto the usual ga keyboard and type in a series of extra coainst the floor The roo me suspended in complete blackness

I hold h, but no et used to the suffocating black that descends over my eyes before I can enter

Finally, horizontal red lines appear in my vision, lines that--when I zooe, until it finally hits the botto cursor I type in a few more commands, and a new ream of code fills my view

Then, suddenly, the dark red code vanishes, and I’ritty city’s streets,over ures bustle past, none of the any attention to ns running along the buildings overhead They illuminate me in different colors

I smile I’m past the shields that protect the surface level of Warcross and have dived into the sprawling, encrypted, anony up right under the Warcross platform It’s a second hoe, and where those who ht otherwise be powerless in real life can now be incredibly powerful

Most people who frequent the Dark World don’t even bother with a name for it If you’re here, you’re "down under," and anyone who knohat they’re doing should know that you’re not talking about Australia The world I walk through now ical sense, at least not in the usual way Narrow, dilapidated buildings stand right in the s hang upside down, as if iet into The main street intersects with other streets inthe i When I look skyward, a series of dark trains run parallel to one another, disappearing into both horizons They look weird, stretched out, as if distorted through so into the gutters and pooling in potholes

I glance up at the neon signs If you look closely at thens at all, but lists of nah to visit the Dark World without knowing how to protect your identity, then in no time, you’ll see your real name and your personal info--Social Security numbers, home addresses, private phone nuns That’s what the na list of all the users who dared to come down here unprepared, broadcast to the rest of the Dark World and leaving them at the mercy of those alked these streets

That’s where I’d been listed, the first tin for the main street Silk Road, it says Underneath the lists are rows of shops with their own neon signs Sos,outside their door, offering virtual sex Still others have a video icon over their doors, signaling live virtual voyeurism I look away and hurry on I may be hidden behind a black suit and a randomized face, but just because I frequent this world doesn’tup a search, then tap Pirate’s Den when the result scrolls by The world blurs aroundat a part of the street where the buildings give way to a pier A pirate ship loole in intervals to the top of its litter

The Pirate’s Den is one of the outs down here The ship’s bow displays an ornate wooden carving in the seht syan silently A scarlet banner hangs over the gangplank leading up to its main deck, where a steady strea

Today, the banner advertises betting on a Warcross ga inside These are sters, the et in trouble with the law Darkcross gaine howto come out of this one