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of a trideo camera floated above the door, slowly rotating. A closed-circuit trideo set in the window broadcast the passing shoppers. The view panned back and forth, as if the holo-camera was doing the recording. It would have been a neat trick if the trideo set’s tracking hadn’t been so bad. The picture was smeared with static.
    Pita rapped on the door of the shop, then waited for the clerk to buzz her in. It was a tiny store, just a couple of meters wide and deep. The shelves on either side were lined with home entertainment equipment, most of it second-hand. Large yellow price tags hung from each item. The center of the store was taken up with bins of off-the-rack electronics: fiber-optic cables, datachips, mini-amps, and interface plugs. Glass counters held cheap knock-offs of designer watches and electronic toys, made in some Third World sweat-shop.
    The shopkeeper was a female dwarf who sat on a tall stool behind one of the counters. She was hunched over a cyberdeck, her short legs dangling. Half of her head was shaved, revealing multiple datajacks. A cable stretched from one of the jacks to the deck. On the other side of her head, her hair hung down in a thick braid. Her fingernails were covered in a thin layer of polished metal, making light clicking noises as she drummed them against the counter. Her eyes were unfocused at first, but then she blinked and looked up at Pita.
    "Can I help you?" she asked, gently tugging the jack from the slot above her ear.
    Pita started to shake her head. What would a dwarf clerk from a crummy little shop like this know about ork trideo pirates? But she’d come this far. Might as well ask.
    "I’m looking for someone." Pita said. "Yao Wah. Yao is the first name. He’s a pirate who shoots trideo for Orks First! I thought you might know him. He’s my friend’s brother and I need to tell him someth—"
    The dwarf’s eyes narrowed. "What makes you think I know this Yao?"
    Pita shrugged. "I don’t know. I thought maybe he came in here to buy equipment."
    The dwarf stared at her impassively.
    "Guess I was wrong." Pita said, reaching for the door. "I know him."
    "You do?" Pita turned around quickly.
    "Yeah. He’s a class-A slot." the dwarf said, wrinkling her nose. "Stiffed me for a signal booster. Owes me five thousand nuyen. But is the fragger going to pay me? I doubt it. He’d rather deal with his own kind."
    Pita waited, sizing up the dwarf. "Do you know where I can find Yao?"
    "You could try posting a message on the Matrix. Orks First! runs a bulletin board on the Seattle network."
    "I don’t even have enough nuyen to use the public telecom." Pita said. "Besides, I need to see him in person."
    "You need to meet the meat." the dwarf said. "Why?"
    "Something’s happened to his brother. I need to tell Yao about it, face to face."
    "This brother’s important to him? You think Yao would answer if I posted something about the kid?" Pita nodded. "Tell him it’s a message about Little Pork Dumpling. Then he’ll know it’s for real. He used to call his brother that because he was so fat when he was little."
    "Right. Wait one." The dwarf slotted the jack back into her head and closed her eyes. After a second or two she opened them again. "It’s done. A friend of his is passing the message along."
    "That’s great!" Pita said. "When can I meet him? And where?"
    "Right here." the dwarf answered. "But not until he pays his bill, plus interest for the three months it’s overdue. And don’t get any ideas about going off to find him yourself. The door’s locked and armed. If Yao wants the meet, he’ll come. We’ll see if his ‘little pork dumpling’ is worth five thousand nuyen to him."

5
    Yao was shorter than he looked on trideo. He was about Pita’s height, but had broader shoulders and a thicker neck. He looked like an older version of Chen, with the same straight black hair and Asian eyecast. He wore his hair "high and tight"—shaved over the ears and spiky on top. It was