"Are you seated comfortably? Then I shall begin. When
we connect computers together, we call it a network. There's a *big*
network of millions of computers, called the Internet."
"Even *I* know this," Natalie said.
"Shush," Alan said. "I'll start at the beginning, where I started a year
ago, and work my way forward. It's weird, it's big and it's cool." And
he told them the story, the things he'd learned from Kurt, the arguments
he'd honed on the shopkeepers, the things Lyman had told him.
"So that's the holy mission," he said at last. "You give everyone a
voice and a chance to speak on a level playing field with the rich and
powerful, and you make democracy, which is good."
He looked at Link and Natalie, who were looking to one another rather
intensely, communicating in some silent idiom of sibling body-language.
"Plate-o-shrimp," Natalie said.
"Funny coincidence," Link said.
"We were just talking about this yesterday."
"Spectrum?" Alan quirked his eyebrows.
"No, not exactly," Natalie said. "About making a difference. About holy
missions. Wondering if there were any left."
"I mean," Link said, "riding a bike or renting out videos are honest
ways to make a living and all, and they keep us in beer and rent money,
but they're not --"
"-- *important*." Natalie said.
"Ah," Alan said.
"Ah?"
"Well, that's the thing we all want, right? Making a difference.
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