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"My father was a master mechanic; I grew up with a screwdriver in one hand and a pair of pliers in the other."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Pokkecon | ||
| A device tied into a good will network. |
| Tsuyoshi finished transferring the first tape to a new crystal disk. Time for a break. He left his apartment, took the elevator and went out to the comer coffeeshop. He ordered a double iced mocha cappuccino and paid with a chargecard.
His pokkecon rang. Tsuyoshi took it from his belt and answered it. “Get one to go,” the machine told him. “Okay,” said Tsuyoshi, and hung up. He bought a second coffee, put a lid on it and left the shop. A man in a business suit was sitting on a park bench near the entrance of Tsuyoshi’s building. The man’s suit was good, but it looked as if he’d slept in it. He was holding his head in his hands and rocking gently back and forth. He was unshaven and his eyes were red-rimmed. The pokkecon rang again. “The coffee’s for him?” Tsuyoshi said. “Yes,” said the pokkecon. “He needs it.” Tsuyoshi walked up to the lost businessman. The man looked up, flinching warily, as if he were about to be kicked. “What is it?” he said. “Here,” Tsuyoshi said, handing him the cup. “Double iced mocha cappuccino.” The man opened the cup, and smelled it. He looked up in disbelief. “This is my favorite kind of coffee … Who are you?” Tsuyoshi lifted his arm and offered a hand signal, his fingers clenched like a cat’s paw. The man showed no recognition of the gesture. Tsuyoshi shrugged, and smiled. “It doesn’t matter. Sometimes a man really needs a coffee. Now you have a coffee. That’s all.” “Well…” The man cautiously sipped his cup, and suddenly smiled. “It’s really great. Thanks!” “You’re welcome.” Tsuyoshi went home. |
| Technovelgy from Maneki Neko,
by Bruce Sterling. Published by Hayakawa's Science Fiction Magazine in 1998 Additional resources -
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Pokkecon-related
news articles:
- 'Courier Commons' By Tomorrow Lab, From Karl Schroeder (and Bruce Sterling?)
| Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus |
| Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone |
| Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA |
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
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'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
