A whirlwind of electronic newspapers swept across the
desolate street of the era 2075 Any-City. Large obelisks of light marked the
crosswalks between the magnetic roads, shining up to the canopy of neon signs
adorning the buildings. A robotic dog barked for its master, echoing out in the
empty city street. There was no one in the electronic ghost town, until a
suit-clad figure strolled towards the crossing.
The man in the suit walked towards the crossing as a
hologram of a crossing guard appeared and a bridge of light connected the
obelisks at either side of the street. The man paid the hologram no mind and
crossed over. The man then walked in a casual pace into the cities oriental
district. Large pagodas draped with paper lanterns hovered above the man. He
walked past old storefronts at a somber pace, never changing his glance. The
man stoped for a moment at the solely animated thing in this scene besides him,
a Lucky Cat moving its paw up and down. He then turned and continued walking.
The oriental lights alter to the flashing luminance of
the downtown as the man walked on. Electronic windows flashed messages and ads,
but there was no one’s attention to grab besides the man. He passed by hologram
telephone cubes and magnetic taxis, all empty and unused. It was a jungle of
robotics; window auto-washers, street-cleaning sweeper bots, but the man was
the only truly living thing in sight. He stopped in front of a corporate
skyscraper and looked up.
The man stared up at the building with a smile. He pondered,
but not “where is everyone” for he already knew the answer to that. He was the
CEO of the Avalon Corporation; a fully-automated corporation that had created and
sold a machine that connected human life support to old television. He was the only
man not connected to one. He pondered how to live now that he had sold life to
gain the world. The smile is empty.
