Net Force - Tom Clancy [51]
Essay is on a roll today, aint he?
Tyrone looked to his left and saw James Joseph Hatfield grinning at him.
Essay came from the initials S and A. Which came from Sore Ass, which came from Brontosaurus, which was what the computer set called Sean Hughes. Tyrone didnt know who had come up with the original nickname, but it was dead on. The guy had all the wit and grace of a big dino tanked on sleeping pills.
Jimmy Joe was a hillbilly from West Virginia, small, so white he was bright, with eyes so bad he had to wear thick glasses instead of contacts. He was also one of the best netriders in the whole school, and he held the record for completing the first ten levels of Black Mysts of Total Catastrophe fastest, not just in the school but anywhere. And he was Tyrones best friend.
Hey, Jimmy Joe. Hows the flow?
Dee eff eff, Tyrone. This stood for DFT-data flowin fine.
Listen, I talked to Jay Gee. He needs our help.
Jay Gee needs our help? Praw that.
Nopraw, Tyrone said. Somebody is poppin strands.
Tell me somethin I dont compro, bro. Somebody is always poppin strands.
Yeah, affirm, but this is different. Theres a C-l gram-mer looking to rass the whole web.
Nofeek?
Nofeek.
Jimmy Joe shook his head. Eyes up, rider. If Jay Gee cant grope him, how are we gonna do it?
He had a point. Jay Gridleys reputation among the set was large.
We got links he doesnt scan, Tyrone said. We can backline, OHT, little feek like that.
Yeah, yeah, nopraw pross that. I can blip the aolers. Induct-deduct fine lines, do the One Horse Towns. Build a scoop. We could seine minnows. I know a couple of hangers in CyberNation, they got some pretty good nets there. You think about joining? CyberNation, I mean.
I think about what my dad would say if I tried, Tyrone said.
I copy that. My old man would blow a major fuse, but it looks like the place to live. Then again, this is too warm, slip. Us, riding with Jay Gee.
Yeah-
Tyrone ran into a wall. Only it wasnt really a wall, it was Essay.
Watch it, tits!
Tyrone backed up two steps fast. He hadnt been paying attention. Essay must have forgotten where he was going and stopped to puzzle it out. Stupid. But maybe not as stupid as walking right into his back!
Sorry! Tyrone said.
Yeah, you gonna be, Essay began. Im gonna mush you-!
But before he could finish the threat, Belladonna Wright walked past, trailing the scent of some musky, sexy perfume.
Essay shifted his thinking from his big stupid head to his small stupid head. He turned to watch Bella-as did Tyrone-and she was something to see in her green microskirt and halter top, walking high on her cork slope-plats. A grade up and the best-looking girl in D.C. easy. Essay had as much chance getting next to her as he did flying to the moon by waving his big old arms, but that didnt stop him from looking-though that was all he would do. Bella was currently hardlinked with Herbie Bonebreaker LeMott, the captain of the Epitome High School wrestling team. He was a senior, and he made Essay look little. When Theo Hatcher had sneaked up behind Bella once and accidentally put his hand on her butt, Theo had spent six weeks with his arm in a blue fiberglass cast for his trouble, courtesy of LeMott. Bella could have any guy in school broken in half with two words into Bonebreakers ear, and even Essay knew that.
Jimmy Joe grabbed one of Tyrones arms and steered him back the way they came. Ride, rider, ride! Time his brain clicks back on-line, we need to be scanning else-where!
Tyrone understood-he definitely prossed that, nopraw at all. On some level, though, he was really pissed off. He