Black Box Read Online Free Page B

beauty who has appeared to have no tie to your new host may turn out to be his intimate, after all.
    Their sleeping entanglement may contradict everything you have witnessed between them.
    A small crib near the bed may indicate the presence of a baby.
    Avoid indulging your own amazement; it wastes time.
    Master bedrooms in lavish homes often divide into “his” and “hers” areas.
    A beauty’s closet is unmistakable, like a quiver of bright arrows.
    The closet of a slight, catlike man will usually be compact.
    Having penetrated a man’s personal space, immediately seek out his Sweet Spot.
    The Sweet Spot is where he empties his pockets at the end of the day and stores the essentials he needs to begin the next.
    The Sweet Spot of a secretive, catlike man will most often be inside a cupboard or a drawer.
    When you find it, consider using a Data Surge to capture the contents of his handset.
    A Data Surge must be deployed with extreme caution, and only if you feel confident of an exceptional yield.
    The quantity of information captured will require an enormous amount of manpower to tease apart.
    Its transmission will register on any monitoring device.
    We can guarantee its effectiveness only once.
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    Reach between your right fourth and pinky toes (if right-handed) and remove the Data Plug from your Universal Port.
    Attached to the plug is a cable with a connection pin at one end for insertion into the handset’s data port.
    Sit on the floor, away from sharp surfaces, and brace your back against a wall.
    A red ribbon has been tucked inside your Universal Port; enclose this in one of your palms.
    Spread apart your toes and gently reinsert the plug, now fused to your subject’s handset, into your Universal Port.
    You will feel the surge as the data flood your body.
    The surge may contain feeling, memory, heat, cold, longing, pain, even joy.
    Although the data are alien, the memories dislodged will be your own:
    Peeling an orange for your husband in bed on a Sunday, sunlight splashing the sheets;
    The smoky earthen smell of the fur of your childhood cat;
    The flavor of the peppermints your mother kept for you inside her desk.
    The impact of a Data Surge may prompt unconsciousness or short-term memory loss.
    The purpose of the red ribbon is to orient you; if you awaken to find yourself clutching one, look to your foot.
    When your body is quiet, unplug the handset and return it to its original location.
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    A Data Surge leaves a ringing in your ears that may obscure the sound of another person’s arrival.
    A face that brought you relief once may trigger relief a second time.
    When an alpha beauty accosts you at high volume in an unfamiliar language, it may mean she’s too sleepy to remember who you are.
    It may also mean she’s calling someone else.
    Beauty status will not excuse, for another beauty, your appearance where you are not supposed to be.
    Should you be perceived as an enemy, prepare to defend yourself at the first sign of physical encroachment.
    Your new host lunging at you, shouting, “What the fuck are you doing?,” constitutes physical encroachment.
    Thrust your elbow upward into the tender socket underneath his jaw, sending him backward onto the floor.
    The wails of a newborn will lure its mother away from almost anything, including the physical travails of her mate.
    A man disabled by an elbow blow will have little reaction to infant cries.
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    At the revelation of martial-arts expertise, a man who has perceived you as merely a beauty will recalculate your identity and purpose.
    Watch his eyes: he’ll be measuring the distance to his nearest firearm.
    An immediate exit is advisable.
    A slim, catlike man may well rebound before a hasty exit can be made.
    Obstructing the path of a violent man to his firearm will nearly always result in another encroachment.
    Kicking him in the foreneck, even barefoot, will temporarily occlude his windpipe.
    The alpha beauty of a violent man will know where his firearm is