Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Piero Schiavo Campo

in private. Small groups of avatars were sure to be people actually connected in real life. One couple, in particular, struck me as worthy of notice. It consisted of two personages who weren’t even pretending to follow the music with their heads or bodies. One, in Chinese clothing, had oriental features seemingly sculpted in wood. The other flaunted an eighteenth-century costume, and gesticulated awkwardly. Neither was verified, and the info cube – newly active after our trip on the Chinese web – didn’t supply their names. “See those two men, the Chinese and the one in red?” “Yes Captain. Want me to cut their throats?” “I’m interested in the Chinese, but I can’t find his name. Anything you can do?” “Sure,” he replied. A few seconds later the chat cube delivered a reply from Silver. “His name seems to be Meng-Tzu. Mean anything to you?” It did, and how! I hadn’t collared Mencio yet, but I’d caught Alessandra Selmo Rossi red-handed. I had enough evidence to lock her up indefinitely. Not yet, though. Having found the loose end of the bundle, I was impatient to unravel it and see where it led. The dancers’ selection mechanism had moved

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