Chapter 1

"OUT OF THE WAY!!!!"

The young lady was yelling at everybody—and also to nobody, as she could not actually direct her voice at anyone. She was being zigged at blinding speed in a haphazard zag through the droves of pedestrians by the prototype autopilot of her floating hoverboard. The thing was driven by echolocation through all obstacles moving or not, and it did so with such amazing split-second dodges and razor-sharp turns—so amazing, in fact, that the lowly human frame of its pilot could never catch up.

"ZINNIA BABY, SLOW DOWN PLEASE!!!!"

Well... the hoverboard could care less about the fright of its passenger when its sensor was locked on to the fleeing Siamese.

Everything is flashing by so quickly. Am I dying already? They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. Gahhhh, but I haven't met the Ultimate Ironman Kyle Banner yet!

Just then, the hoverboard performed a dizzying corkscrew over a market street, leaving a trail of startled grocers in its wake.

Zinnia, you maniac! My legs aren’t rated for this level of... AHHHHH!

The Siamese ahead vaulted onto a rooftop canopy with effortless grace. Zinnia’s sensors recalibrated, plotting an impossible trajectory through a narrow gap between two food carts.

So this is how I die. Not as a lucky Ironman fan—just a terrified smear across the city grid.

The cat vanished from sight. The hoverboard, losing sight of its quarry, braked to a perfect halt, sending her rider in a forward jolt—"Noooo!"—onto the back of a pickup, into a pile of packing foam.

Breathless, dazed, and clinging to the last shreds of dignity, she groaned. "Did... Did we win?"

The Siamese reappeared, smugly licking its paw from a safe perch. Zinnia hummed in victory, her sensor light blinking like a proud dog waiting for praise… although not one cat had been captured.

"You know... I think I prefer walking," she muttered, still half-buried in foam.

Before she could fully peel herself from the mound, another shadow loomed overhead. She squinted up to see a pair of patrol drones hovering ominously, their sleek black shells gleaming in the midday sun. Red indicator lights pulsed rhythmically—a silent countdown to being fined, arrested, or worse.

Unlicensed hoverboard detected. Reckless endangerment of public property.

Her mind raced. This was bad—very bad. If they scanned her ID, she’d be banned from public transit again. The last time she’d been caught joyriding on an experimental jet-scooter, her debit card had been grounded for a week.

She scrambled back onto Zinnia’s deck. The hoverboard thrummed under her feet, seeming to sense the urgency.

"Zinnia, baby, sweetie, precious… how about one more ride?"

The patrol drones began descending, mechanical arms unfolding with the finality of a prison gate slamming shut.

Suddenly, Zinnia’s magnetic thrusters roared like a beast unleashed. The board rocketed upward in a screaming vertical launch, leaving the drones spinning in confused turbulence.

ALERT: Subject escaping. Pursuit initiated.

Her breath caught as they burst into the open sky, wind tearing at her jacket. She stole a glance back—the drones were gaining.

"Come on, Zinnia, show me what you’ve got!"

As if in response, Zinnia’s sensor array lit up, scanning for routes through the labyrinthine city skyline as it zoomed by. Then, with terrifying precision, the board swerved hard left—straight into the yawning mouth of an unfinished maglev tunnel.

Her heart pounded as they hurtled into darkness, metal girders whipping past like jagged teeth. The drones’ pursuit lights flickered behind them, closer, closer…

And then she saw it—a maintenance hatch partially ajar. No time to think. She leaned hard, trusting Zinnia with her hide.

At the last possible second, the board veered sideways, skimming through the narrow gap with millimeters to spare. The patrol drones had to back out just to avoid smashing on the tunnel wall, throwing them completely off their chase trajectory.

Bursting out the other side, Bell gasped at the sudden flood of light and freedom. Hovercars blared their horns as she zipped through traffic, adrenaline still pumping like rocket fuel.

She exhaled shakily, half-laughing, half-sobbing: "I’m alive... I’M ALIVE!"

From her perch on a distant rooftop, the Siamese cat watched with mild disinterest before resuming its nap.

Bellina let her breath steady as she took in the city’s shimmering expanse. Sofiya's towering spires caught the late afternoon light, scattering it like shards of molten crystal across Kaleido’s streets. Somewhere below, distant market chatter and the hum of hundreds of passing cable cars all drifted up to her, softened by the warm breeze rolling in from the Kalash foothills.

For a moment, she let herself forget the chase—the patrol drones, the insane stunts, even the Siamese. Up here, it was easy to imagine she was suspended in a perfect still frame, untouched by the city's endless motion.

Her fingers brushed Zinnia’s smooth surface as the hoverboard hovered quietly over the scene, its sensors dimmed as if respecting the moment. It was really a sign of her battery getting low. 24%. She smiled faintly. "Even you get tired sometimes, huh?"

But peace was never meant to last.

The hoverboard notified a sudden flash of movement. Her breath hitched. Far below, darting through the tangled streets of the old market district, was a familiar, infuriatingly graceful form—the Siamese cat. Zinnia was still locked on to it and detected it as soon as the animal was in line of sight.

"Not again..." she whispered, half-laughing, half-dreading what came next.

Her fingers twitched, already itching to grab Zinnia.

"Let’s go, girl... one last ride."

She powered up the thrusters, feeling the familiar surge of energy beneath her feet. And off they went.

For the next half-hour she kept up the pursuit nonstop, this time without any harassment as the hoverboard had switched to a stalking mode to keep from alerting the cat and save the remaining juice in the battery. So far, so good…

"…"

"…"

"…"

Oh, that's...

"…"

The cable car station!

Don't tell me...

The cat did exactly as she feared, leaping onto a gondola just as it was already easing out of the station. At the same time, Zinnia was already powering down. 4%.

"No. No. No no no no!"

She could spy the cat from afar flicking its tail at her, a final taunt.

Bellina let out a long, slow breath, and stepped off the deck.

The city stretched endlessly before her, layered in light, shadows, and secrets waiting to be uncovered.