Quiet Streets

Bundled up against the autumn chill, Liz wandered the city streets, alone with her thoughts.

Stopping to let a train of delivery-bots cross the sidewalk, she glanced around, noticing again just how empty the streets and walkways were on a Saturday morning. The occasional auto-taxi whirred past, sometimes briefly stopping to accept or release passengers, who hastily dashed from one heated space to another.

Everyone was inside, or moving between versions of inside. Liz could see through the windows as she passed, coffee shops, restaurants serving brunch, 26-hour arcades still hosting lingering crowds of all-nighters.

Emily would have insisted on stopping somewhere. There would be a destination. Meet a friend, try a new food, look around a shop.

Now, Liz had nowhere in particular to go. She'd already had coffee, and breakfast. There'd been too many nights of impaired gaming. Friends had spent enough time on her. There was no errand, or neat thing to look at.

So she wandered, going with the flow of robots.