GoKawiilKyle closed her eyes tightly against the stinging projections produced by the ‘optimized’ city around her. The data centre was supposed to be here.
She opened them again to a pristine, empty plaza. Moving murals still covered the walls, but after years without human engagement, they’d turned to nonsense, pixels bouncing around in a muddy, meaningless soup.
“This is the right layer?” Emma asked.
“Yes.” Kyle pulled out the tree-pulp pages of her map to double-check. It was.
“Maybe you mixed up the pages,” Emma said, her voice bright but breathy with nerves. “We’re on the right path.”
“We were.” Kyle found the page of the map that included the data centre and handed it to Emma.
Emma studied it, then said, “We need to leave right now.”
“You think —?” Kyle trailed off. The fear in Emma’s eyes was enough to answer her question.
The city had moved.
*****
... continue reading