diff --git a/src/yggdrasil/wire.go b/src/yggdrasil/wire.go
index 8891f1ab..1bb4d90f 100644
--- a/src/yggdrasil/wire.go
+++ b/src/yggdrasil/wire.go
@@ -72,13 +72,16 @@ func wire_decode_uint64(bs []byte) (uint64, int) {
 // Non-negative integers are mapped to even integers: 0 -> 0, 1 -> 2, etc.
 // Negative integers are mapped to odd integers: -1 -> 1, -2 -> 3, etc.
 // This means the least significant bit is a sign bit.
+// This is known as zigzag encoding.
 func wire_intToUint(i int64) uint64 {
-	return ((uint64(-(i+1))<<1)|0x01)*(uint64(i)>>63) + (uint64(i)<<1)*(^uint64(i)>>63)
+	// signed arithmetic shift
+	return uint64((i >> 63) ^ (i << 1))
 }
 
 // Converts uint64 back to int64, genreally when being read from the wire.
 func wire_intFromUint(u uint64) int64 {
-	return int64(u&0x01)*(-int64(u>>1)-1) + int64(^u&0x01)*int64(u>>1)
+	// non-arithmetic shift
+	return int64((u >> 1) ^ -(u & 1))
 }
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////