Shao walked with the gaping steps and carefully measured speed of all
cyb's.  His chip implants buzzed with excitement at the brawl he saw down the
street, but he carefully held back the instinct to join the fight.  His eyes
shift and rotated with the fast, deliberate force of the MicroVideo Optic(tm)
implants he had acquired from the local chop shop. Touching his right temple,
the implant began to record the fight.  He dreamt of getting that one story,
that one vidream that would make him famous and more importantly rich.
Approaching the fight he kept his implanted eye closely attached to the 
important parts of the fight, the parts he knew people wanted to see.  The
parts where people got hurt.  Where blood was shed.  Where thought gave over 
to instinct, and where hidden desires and dreams came true.  Much like the
ancient Roman arenas, the press's job was to keep people entertained.  And he
did that, and did it well.  But this time it was more important.  The better
he did, the more money he got.  Suddenely the LED screen on his visor flashed.
	
	"Red?  This must be important!", he thought to himself, too curious to
stay angry at being distracted any longer.  He hit his temple again, this time
much faster and harder.  The sensor implants in his legs moved fast, detecting
his blood pressure go up and his sweat glands working overtime.  His adrenal
boosters in the parts of his legs that were still real turned to full power 
and he ran towards the closest dataterm booth he saw.  Throwing the current
occupant harshly out onto the street, he quickly pulled the plug from his
wrist and jacked into the matrix.
	
	"Drek!  What took you so long!", glared a large oblong polygon, being
the image that the user chose to use in replacement of his actual image. The 
matrix made you do this to keep the system speed up; With over 10 million 
cyb's jacked in at one time, the system would get bogged down with high-res
graphics.  The polygon was starting to turn rather red.  Shao's heat sensors
were flaring, since even though there was no real heat the matrix was
programmed to make you think there was.
	
	"Sorry sir.  I was trying to cover a huge brawl when you called me.
I'm sure you have something much more important then the fight though,"  he
replied with a hint of sarcasm.
	
	He seemed startled by this, as if he had never had someone say
something sarcastic to him in his life.  However, he recovered very
professionally.  "Shao, how would you like a job that'll guarantee you a
million euro's?"
	
	Shao thought to himself about this.  It was of course the chance of a
lifetime; not many people got a chance to make 100 thousand euro's in their
life, not to mention one million.  Of course, anything with that kind of
oppurtunity had to be dangerous.  The question was, how dangerous?  Was it
worth risking his life for a million?  The solo's, the lone hunters, the
assasins, the mercenaries of the street did it all the time; and that was for
a mere 10th of that.  Why shouldn't he try?  He decided to at least find out
what it was about.
	
	"Mr Tadin, I really appreciate the offer, but before I make a
decision, what do I need to do for you?", inquired Shao.
	
	"Well its rather simple, actually.  We know about your past with the
net.  We know about you icing those deckers two years ago to get into the
Eurodyne account.  This is my proposal: Get me some information and you will
be rewarded.  Not only with money, but this could be a long term job, if you
live long to enjoy it.  Mr. Takei, I am prepared to offer you five thousand
euro's a week for the rest of your life if you take this job.  Think it over.
You can reach me at Naktel information department.  Here's my card.  Call me
when you make a decision."  And with that, he left.
	
	"Wait a minute!" But it was too late.  Shao did a quick scan for
anyone that might have followed him into the matrix and, finding nothing,
departed.