矩阵概览 章首故事"您好！您想尝尝我们的新产品吗？冰摩卡！巧克力口味？” 我刚在商场咖啡厅的椅子上坐下，AR 服务员就跳了出来，就像是塑料座椅上的RFID标签正等着我的屁股与坐垫连接一样。我向咖啡馆发送了我的订单。豆咖，纯黑。我的银行账户上减少了2新元，岌岌可危地接近于零。妈的。
过了几张桌子，我的目标出现了。从他那双棕色的眼睛像乒乓球一样乱转的样子，我可以看出他正在用他的通讯链同时处理多个任务。他手里还拿着一个东西--另一个该死的通讯链。他什么时候拿的？他很聪明，居然用了第二个通讯链，更不用说选择在这个繁忙的商场打电话了。我早些时候入侵了他平常的通讯链，但一无所获。现在我知道原因了。
我咬着嘴唇，试图做出决定--骇入还是扫描？附近一定有两百个以上的通讯链。如果今晚我还没有他涉嫌出轨的证据，我就会丢掉这份工作。房租在1号到期。房租并不高，但如果错过了交租，那该死的门就会被锁上，电器会被关掉，我所有的设置--比如我花钱买的那个虚拟窗口--都会被管理那栋楼的软件远程破坏。这个软件我能搞定。但是我不想亏待我的大屁股兽人房东。
一个人类女服务员把我的咖啡摔在桌子上，然后走向那些看起来更有可能得到小费的顾客，比如我的目标，他穿着4000新元的西装，剪着漂亮的发型。我叹了口气，开始整理无线聊天记录。
“天啊，你看到了吗？”
“不，我没有--”
“妈妈--”
“那双鞋--”
“辣妹，十点钟方向--”
该死的。这家伙的眼睛已经停止了疯狂转动。他在向虚空微笑。我必须干得更快。
我翻阅着胡言乱语，急切地想在他说完之前抓住他的电话。啊，这里有一个。加密的。不是那些购物中心里的时髦少年少女。我释放了我的解密程序，一边喝着价格不菲的豆咖，一边计算着时间。看着他那张英俊的脸庞--毫无疑问，这张脸比我一年赚的钱还多--傻笑着。我的程序在破解加密后发出哔哔声。我开始录音。
“亲爱的，你知道我不能。那个女巫全天候监视着我。我想她已经雇了人……宝贝儿，再过一个月，婚前协议就结束了……"他的声音流畅而有教养，充满了滴水不漏的性感魅力--这是现代科技所能提供的最好的声音。"我保证，宝贝。就这一会。在那之前，让我们保持虚拟关系……”。
我不得不承认他很狡猾。我花了一周的时间观察他，却没有发现他“甜心”的任何蛛丝马迹，也没有一个时刻让我找不到他的行踪。现在我知道原因了。我的客户很幸运，离婚法庭几年前就对网络婚外情做出了裁决。看来这混蛋终究是不会签订婚前协议了。
劇透 - :
“Hello! Would you like to try our New! Iced! Mocha! with Genuine! Chocolate! flavoring?” The AR waitstaff popped up as soon as I sat down in the mall café’s chair, like the RFID tag in the plastic seat was just waiting for my ass to connect with the cushion. I sent my order to the café: Soy-kaf, black. My bank account dropped by two nuyen, bringing it perilously close to zero. Shit.
A couple of tables down, my mark settled in. The way his brown eyes were flicking around like ping-pong balls on crack, I could tell he was multi-tasking on his ‘link. He had something in his hand—another goddamned commlink. When’d he pick that up? Damn him for being smart enough to have a second ‘link, not to mention picking this busy mall to make his call. I’d hacked his normal ‘link earlier and found nothing. Now I knew why.
I bit my lip, trying to decide—hack or scan? Must be two hundred ‘links nearby. If I didn’t have some proof of his suspected infidelity by tonight, I’d lose this job. Rent was due on the first. The room wasn’t much, but miss a payment and the damn door would be locked, the appliances shut off, all my settings—like that Virtual Window I’d splurged on—remotely destroyed by the software that ran the building. The software I could handle. It was my big-ass ork landlord I didn’t want to short change.
A human waitress slammed my coffee on the table, moving off towards customers who looked like better tip prospects—like my mark, with his 4,000 nuyen suit and fancy haircut. I sighed and began sorting through the wireless chatter.
“Oh my God, did you see—”
“No, I’m so not—”
“Mooooommmm—”
“Those shoes—”
“Hot chick, ten o’clock—”
Damn. The guy’s eyes had stopped their frantic motion. He was smiling into space. Got to go faster.
I flicked through the babble, desperate to catch his call before he finished. Ah, here’s one. Encrypted. Not your teeny-bopper mallrats. I unleashed my decryption prog, counting the seconds as I took a sip of the overpriced soy-kaf. Watched as his handsome face—which cost more than I made in a year, no doubt—smirked. My program beeped as it broke the encryption. I began recording.
“Honey, you know I can’t. The witch is watching me 24-7. I think she’s hired someone … . Baby, just one more month and the prenup is over … “ His voice was smooth, cultured, dripping with sex appeal—the best modern technology could provide. ”I promise, baby. The very second. ‘Til then, let’s just keep it virtual … .”
I had to admit he was slick. I’d spent a week watching him with no sign of a honey, not a single moment when I couldn’t account for his whereabouts. Now I knew why. Lucky for my client, divorce courts had ruled a couple years ago on online affairs. Looked like the bastard wouldn’t be making his prenup after all.
