Snow Crash Thread 5 : Chapter 41 to end of Chapter 50

[Traveller]

For discussion of Snow Crash from Chapter 41 to end of Chapter 50.

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

Chapter 41 begins with Y.T. getting kidnapped by the Feds. I can only call it kidnapping, though I'm sure they called it arrest, because there's no evidence that the Feds have any legitimacy. Certainly, as a police force, not nearly so much as the MetaCops and the Enforcers, or even the Mafia. I can't figure out what they're offering to make people like "Y.T.'s mother" (the poor woman really deserves a name) so loyal.

The Feds simply turn her over to L.Bob—so they aren't even pretending to have any legitimacy. Y.T.'s taken out to the Raft, where she's virtually ignored until Raven takes an interest in her, and decides she'll do as a girlfriend.

In the meantime, Hiro reaches Port Sherman, Oregon, from where he intends to get to the Raft to rescue Juanita. Again, Hiro has too much access into computer records, he knows who owns the vessel Kowloon (Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong) and the details of the local GHK proconsul but not enough to be able to get aboard the Kowloon, even though he claims to be on an unlimited expense account (did I miss something? where did that come from?) Sure he works for CIC and they probably have all that data, but they're not giving it away. If he was being funded by the GHK/Mafia consortium, then he wouldn't have had to browbeat the proconsul. “Hmm. This isn’t ex­actly the best ser­vice I’ve ever had at a Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong.” Yes, well, what do you expect when you resort to threats?

It turns out that he didn't need to go to any lengths as the Mafia were just waiting for him aboard the Kowloon. The Mafia's plot to kidnap a high-level member of Rife's organization to trade for Y.T. (this is the first Hiro knows that Y.T.'s been taken to the Raft) falls apart, thanks to Raven, but they eventually end up at the raft. On the way, they encounter pirates. Having established that most Americans are racist, Stephenson now gets onto homophobia:
“Are you saying these guys are homos?” Fisheye says, his face shriveling up.“Shit, man,” Eliot says, “you didn’t even blink when I told you about the scalps.”

[Puddin Pointy-Toes]

Can I say that I really liked the chase after YT? I could very easily visualize the spunk. I don't actually remember what happens to her (I read the novel the first time in 1998 or so), so it's pretty suspenseful for me. I do wonder what the nuclear reactor/battery is for. Why is it so important that they took it onto the life raft despite it being (presumably) hazardous to their collective health?

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

Hehe! There's no way I'm going to spoiler that for you! Well, maybe: ul­tima ratio regum.

Of course you can say that!