BE chapter 7 summary

[Joseph Tracy]

BE Chapter 7 summary

Maxine goes to Justin and Vyrva’s to check out Deep Archer.
Otis and Fiona go into her room to play with assorted action figures first buying clothes for Melanie with her gold card and ending in the violent destruction of Melanies Mall and singing ‘It’s cool at the Mall”
Lucas arrives late after search for weed,  wearing UTSL t-shirt  ( Use the source Luke)
Max says she is not good at these things. Lucas says not a game. Justin says has gaming influences, visuals by Luke, Lucas credits other influences:  “Neo-Tokyo from Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Metal Gear Solid by Hideo Kojima, or as he’s known around my crib, God.” 
“The further in you go, as you get passed along one node to the next, the visuals you think you’re seeing are being contributed by users all over the world. All for free. Hacker ethic. Each one doing their piece of it, then just vanishing uncredited.”
Lucas explains she will be represented by 3D image called avatar. crossing into new world
It’s code says Justin.
We get a back story  of J and L which to summarize, they met in Stanford in computer science working together and soon pitching to VCs until they meet a VC and drink together and he writes big check which they never cash. They see him again at a Soap Box Derby but decide not to ask about check. Later decide they need more discipline and go to NYC Silcon Alley where they get seed money. Continue work on DA. Socializing,getting into trade journals Justin and V put down on house. Lucas lost a lot investing before dot com crash. 
    They take Maxine up to Justin’s workspace, and
“DeepArcher Central,” Lucas with one of those may-I-introduce armwaves. Visual setting synthesis of sunny california ( Justin)and darker rainy windswept dangerous spaces( Lucas).  Maxine opens large screen; Lucas rolls joints.
“A tall figure, dressed in black, could be either sex, long hair pulled back with a silver clip, The Archer, has journeyed to the edge of a great abyss. Down the road behind, in forced perspective, recede the sunlit distances of the surface world, wild country, farmland, suburbs, expressways, misted city towers. The rest of the screen is claimed by the abyss—far from an absence, it is a darkness pulsing with whatever light was before light was invented. The Archer is poised at its edge, bow fully drawn, enters a kind of train station, graphics like she has never seen hesitates then  begins exploring then gets on train and is off. After pleasant ride  she comes to darker seedier space, smells pot, exits and
They have reconvened downstairs at the kitchen table. The more loaded the partners get and the more smoke in the air, the more comfortable they seem to grow talking about DeepArcher, though it’s hacker stuff Maxine has trouble following. “What’s known as bleeding-edge technology,” sez Lucas. “No proven use, high risk,…… 

...“What remailers do is pass data packets on from one node to the next with only enough information to tell each link in the chain where the next one is, no more. DeepArcher goes a step further and forgets where it’s been, immediately, forever.” “Kind of like a Markov chain, where the transition matrix keeps resetting itself.” 
“At random.” 
“At pseudorandom.”...
…”vanishing and relocating as soon as it’s clicked on . . . an invisible self-recoding pathway, no chance of retracing it.” 
“But if the route in is erased behind you, how do you get back out?” 
“Click your heels three times,” Lucas sez, “and . . . no wait, that’s something else . . .”

So that is it.   Maxine goes to  check out Deep Archer, takes her first ride in deep web and gets an idea of what makes Deep Archer unique, 'bleeding edge' both as code and as experience. Also we learn more about Justin and Lucas.