"Maps," she said. "Of American cities."

"You mean like regular road maps?" Hood asked.

She shook her head. "They're what we call point-of-view maps. A traveler inputs the street coordinates and what appears on the computer screen is exactly what you're looking at. Then you input where you want to go, or ask what's around the next corner, or where the nearest subway or bus stop is, and the computer shows you. Again, from your point of view. You can also get a printout of an overhead map if you want. It helps people plan what they're going to see and how they're going to get around in a particular city."

"Has Dominique ever done travel guides before?"

"Not to my knowledge," Nancy said. "This'll be a first."

Hood thought for a moment. "Have you seen any marketing plans?"

"No," Nancy said, "but that doesn't surprise me. That's not my area. Though one thing which did surprise me is that we haven't done any press releases on these programs. Usually, the publicists come and ask me questions like what's unique about this program or why do people have to have it. That actually happens pretty early in the process so the sales people can solicit orders at the consumer electronics shows. But on this, nada."

Hood said, "Nancy-- I have to ask this, and I'm sorry. It won't go any farther than myself and my closest associates."

"You can take out an ad in Newsweek," she said. "I can't resist you when you're so damn doing-your-job earnest."

"Nancy, there may be lives at risk."

"You don't have to explain," she said. "It's one of the things I loved about you, Sir Knight."

Hood flushed. "Thank you," he said, and tried to concentrate on what he was doing. "Just tell me, is Demain working on any kind of new technology? Something that ordinary video-gamers would find compelling?"

"Constantly," she said. "But the one we're closest to marketing is a silicon chip which stimulates nerve cells. It was developed for amputees to be able to operate prosthetic limbs or for the augmentation of diminished spinal cord function." She grinned. "I'm not sure whether we actually developed that one, or if it came to Demain the same way my old chip did. In any case, we've changed it quite a bit. When it's placed inside a joystick, the chip generates gentle pulses to make a player feel a kind of subtle contentment or harsher pulses to suggest danger. I've tried it. It's all pretty subliminal, something you might not even be aware of. Like nicotine."

Hood was feeling slightly overwhelmed. A feel-good, feel-bad chip marketed by a bigot. Hate games on-line in the U.S. It seemed like it should be science fiction, but he knew that the technology was out there. Along with the venom to use it.

"Could the two of them be combined?" he asked. "Hate games and a chip that affects emotions."

"Sure," Nancy said. "Why not?"