"Нейл Стефенсон. Snow Crash (Снежная лавина, англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

bicycle messenger, but a hundred times more irritating because they don't
pedal under their own power-They just latch on and slow you down.
Naturally. The Deliverator was in a hurry, flashing his-lights,
squealing his contact patches. The fastest thing on the road. Naturally, the
Kourier would choose him to latch onto.
No need to get rattled. With the shortcut through TMAWH, he will have
plenty of time. He passes a slower car in the middle lane, then cuts right
in front of him. The Kourier will have to unpoon or else be slammed sideways
into the slower vehicle.
Done. The Kourier isn't ten feet behind him anymore-he is right there,
peering in the rear window. Anticipating the maneuver, the Kourier reeled in
his cord, which is attached to a handle with a power reel in it, and is now
right on top of the pizza
SNOW CRASH
14
mobile, the front wheel of his skateboard actually underneath the
Deliverator's rear bumper.
An orange-and-blue-gloved hand reaches forward, a transparent sheet of
plastic draped over it, and slaps his driver's side window. The Deliverator
has just been stickered. The sticker is a foot across and reads, in big
orange block letters, printed backward so that he can read it from the
inside.

THAT WAS STALE

He almost misses the turnoff for The Mews at Windsor Heights. He has to
jam the brakes, let traffic clear, cut across the curb lane to enter the
Burbclave. The border post is well lighted, the customs agents ready to
frisk all comers-cavity-search them if they are the wrong kind of people-but
the gate flies open as if by magic as the security system senses that this
isa CosaNostra Pizza vehicle, just making a delivery, sir. And as he goes
through, the Kourier-that tick on his as9-waves to the border policel What a
prick! Like he comes in here all the time!
He probably does come in here all the time. Picking up important shit
for important TMAWH people, delivering it to other FOQNEs,
Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities, getting it through customs.
That's what Kouriers do. Still.
He's going too slow, lost all his momentum, his timing is off. Where's
the Kourier? Ah, reeled out some line, is following behind again. The
Deliverator knows that this jerk is in for a big surprise. Can he stay on
his fucking skateboard while he's being hauled over the flattened remains of
some kid's plastic tricycle at a hundred kilometers? We're going to find
out.
The Kourier leans back-.the Deiverator can't help watching in the
rearvjew-leans back like a water skier, pushes off against his board, and
swings around beside him, now traveling abreast with him up Heritage
Boulevard and slap another sticker goes up, this one on the windshield! It
says

SMOOTH MOVE, EX-LAX