9am special

Light.

It was 9am. The bright glow of the omni-lights lining Demos bed confirmed it. Blindly, he reached up and thumbed a switch on a flat device to kill the flood. Morning was here, and there was nothing he could do about it. Demo sat up, taking the open book labeled "Network Intrusion Detection (Second Edition)" off his chest, careful to keep his place from the night before. Without thought, his arm swung back and grasped for a can of coffee covered with Kanji. While slamming the import in one quick action, he leaned over and pressed a key on his deck. Two seconds later, a stream of music from London was piped into the room. He rubbed his eyes once, and grabbed the copy of "Neruomancer" with a marker stuffed about 150 pages deep. For the next hour, he was somewhere else.

3 chapters later, Demo was reluctant, but ready to enter reality. Pulling out his chair, he opened a small tin labeled "Penguin mints" and consumed 3 tabs of self destruction. They dissolved in his mouth, releasing chemical dependency into his blood. He punched deck.

A message from V.

The info he needed for the contact in China. Just in time too. The Chinese government was starting to develop laws on VoIP, and he wanted to sneak in before the curtain came down. He forged a friendly letter to his contact, dripping with digital honey. The technology was good, it would fit them like micropore, if only they'd hear him out. He proofed it twice, then hit "go".

Minutes ticked, he blacked for 20 of them. After a few brief conversations with friends, he packed 2 books, and his lifebook. As he left his room, lights turned off, monitors went black, and the stream from London flat lined. They would save their energy for his return.