Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams
"Hardwired" is a cyberpunk novel set in a dystopian future characterized by the overwhelming influence of ruthless megacorporations that dominate political and military power. The narrative unfolds in a fragmented United States where states impose heavy tariffs, resulting in a thriving black market and a class of smugglers known as panzerboys and girls. These individuals are integrated with their vehicles through advanced technology, enhancing their abilities and connection to the machines. Central to the story are two protagonists: Cowboy, a skilled pilot who embraces the risks of his dangerous profession, and Sarah, a former prostitute turned bodyguard who seeks a better life in the orbiting corporate centers. Their paths cross during a smuggling operation, leading to a complex relationship filled with tension and shared goals. As they navigate betrayal and deception, they ultimately collaborate to challenge the oppressive forces of the Tempel Corporation. Along the way, themes of freedom, trust, and the consequences of advanced technology are explored, all set against a backdrop of vibrant urban decay and the remnants of rural America.
On this Page
Hardwired
First published: 1986
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—cyberpunk
Time of work: The twenty-first century
Locale: The United States
The Plot
Hardwired displays a future world similar to that of other cyberpunk fiction of the mid-1980s, most notably William Gibsons Neuromancer (1984). Political and military power are wielded by ruthless megacorporations, examples of capitalism run rampant. Courageous individuals, forced into illegal and ethically compromised positions, struggle for freedom. Computers and their worldwide networks are central to virtually all human activity, and bioengineering has made possible various human/computer linkups as well as certain bionic powers. Designer drugs, cosmetic surgery, and punkish hair and clothing styles are prominent features of the blighted urban scene. Hardwired also takes readers through a sparsely populated rural America.
In Walter Jon Williams novel, the Orbitals, an alliance of space satellites once serving Earth as manufacturing centers for pharmaceuticals and alloys, have become corporate powers that have conquered Earth via meteor bombardment. They continue to hold it in economic thralldom while plotting against one another. In a balkanized United States, states charge heavy tariffs for drugs and other goods crossing their borders. An elaborate black market has developed, with thirdmen (contractors) hiring smugglers. The latter, hardwired to their transports via head sockets, were at first deltajocks (jet pilots) until the states improved their combat technology; now they are panzerboys and-girls, operating armed, superfast hovercraft on their runs from the Rockies to the East Coast. Cowboy, one of the best pilots, revels in danger, in the thrill of being one with his machines, and in his belief that he is helping to foil the Orbitals.
Meanwhile, in the Florida Free State, Sarah is a former prostitute turned bodyguard and assassin for hire. She strives to earn enough for herself and her drug-addicted younger brother, Daud, a prostitute himself, to ride up the gravity well to live in the Orbitals, free of the dirt of earthly life. Cowboy and Sarah meet when she is assigned as bodyguard during a smuggling operation. They are betrayed by workers for the Tempel Corporation: Arkady, Cowboys thirdman, and Cunningham, Sarahs sinister former employer. Fleeing westward, on foot, Cowboy and Sarah become friends and lovers, though the bitterly experienced Sarah mistrusts all close involvements and finds Cowboys idealism naïve.
Eventually the two work together to unseat the rulers of Tempel, though to do so they must enlist the aid of the vile, pederastic Roon, a former Tempel chief executive. The scheme involves attacks on Orbital shuttles bringing Tempel drugs to Earth, thus causing Tempels stock to plummet in price. Betrayed by the drug-addicted and narcissistic Daud, Cowboys forces still manage to accomplish their mission, and Roon is incapacitated by Reno, a friend of Cowboy whose mind resides in the computer networks.