## The Cartographer’s Shadow The rain smelled of exhaust and something vaguely floral, a weird combination clinging to the cracked pavement outside Elias’s office. Neon signs bled their colors onto wet asphalt, painting a smear of pink and green across…
## The Echo Thief Rain lashed against the panoramic window of Elias Thorne’s office, blurring the neon sprawl of Neo-San Francisco into an impressionistic watercolor. He ignored it, focused on the data scrolling across his monitor – a chaotic cascade…
## Bloom The rain tasted like static. Elara licked her lips, the metallic tang a familiar greeting to Bloom. She adjusted the haptic gloves, the skin-tight fabric conforming to her fingers like a second layer. Neon tendrils pulsed beneath the…
## The Static Between Flights The chipped Formica of the diner booth felt cold under Kaiya’s elbows. October light slanted through greasy windows, painting stripes across the vinyl. Another SAT score sheet lay crumpled in her bag – another perfect…
## The Static Bloom The air tasted like burnt sugar and regret. Not a chemical tang, but something deeper, woven into the particulate shimmer that coated everything on Isohel Prime. Thirty layers of atmosphere did *that* to a planet, apparently.…