Signal to Noise

Signal to Noise by Nylund, Eric S.. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780380975136.

Jack Potter has clawed and cheated his way into the elite Academe of Pure and Applied Sciences. There, with access to the best "bubbles" - networked virtual reality environments tapped directly into the subconscious - Jack puts computer cryptography to work for the highest bidder. Sometimes he hacks for private multinational corporations, sometimes for the government and its ruthlessly efficient National Security Office. Sometimes the work is legal; otherwise, Jack simply raises his price.