NeoNET

Hey, you ever shot a Cavalier Arms pistol? Run the Matrix with a Fuchi cyberdeck? Got any Dorada muscleware installed? Used a high-end FTL Tech wired connection? Saved up for an alpha-grade Mindstrom chip- jack? Eaten an Everyman frozen dinner? Had your mage buddy spam you with some T99 hermetic theory article? Gotten cosmetic mods installed at a Nightengales? Set up a freemail account over PULSE? Hammered some punk with Wolfware attack programs? Tangled with Minute- men security (meatspace or cyberside)? Thought about a combat cyberlimb from Pioneer? Noticed the Walker Aerodesign combat jet that Karl Kombatmage and his team ride in? Drooled over a piece of Fairlight gear? Heck, are you using a Novatech commlink to read this right now, thanks to the wireless Matrix? Then congrats. You know why NeoNET used to rock face. Richard Villiers had it all. Or, well, he had a majority share, and shared lots of the rest of it with his family, a dragon or two, Miles Lanier—you know, the usual stuff. But the point is he had an empire. Again. And it fell apart from under him. Again. So NeoNET’s dead as Dunkelzahn, sure. The umbrella that used to be held over all these subsidiaries is gone, absolutely. Papa Villiers lost his throne, yup. But, brothers and sisters, I tell you from the pulpit today, the list of A and AA corporations goes on, and on, and on, and the work keeps coming, and coming, and coming. All these brand names still exist, all these R&D departments are still working, all their nerds are still employed, factories are still going, and ’ware (hard, soft, cyber, bio, whatever) is still being made. Hell, the CompuForce Contenders won the 2080 World Cup for unmanned racing (small)! The quality’s still there, even if NeoNET as an entity is gone.