Patch 1.1 — The Square

The alleyways spat her out into Unity Square, one of the few open spaces in New Echelon where the sky was visible.

Mia blinked, momentarily disoriented as the gloom of the serviceways gave way to the open sprawl of Unity Square — one of the few places in New Echelon where the sky could still be seen unobstructed. The square was vast, paved in worn polymer tiles that shimmered faintly with embedded circuitry. Rainwater ran in channels between them, glowing where it touched exposed fiber lines beneath the surface, as though the city itself were bleeding light.

Above, the Dome curved in impossible scale.

Most of the time, the city’s towers masked it, a ceiling of metal and smog that kept the citizens from seeing their own cage. But here, from the center of the square, it was visible — an endless expanse arcing across the heavens, refracting light like oil on water.

The surface pulsed faintly, as if data itself flowed through it: waves of static color, rippling like breath. Every few moments, an image appeared — a smiling family, a corporate emblem, a government slogan. Then it shifted again, absorbed back into the current.

They said the Dome stretched across the entire Earth. That there was no edge. Some swore there were settlements beyond it. Mia didn’t know what to believe. She only knew no one she’d ever met had reached it and returned.

For a moment, she stood still in the center of the square, the crowd moving around her like a tide. Five years ago, she’d handed in her clearance pass, disconnected from the grid, and vanished. She had thought herself free of Ardent’s grasp — but now, under the Dome’s watchful shimmer, she realized that no one truly was.

She adjusted the collar of her coat, scanning the throng. People pressed shoulder to shoulder, faces hidden behind hoods, masks, or hacked privacy veils. Mia instinctively pulled her scarf up, ensuring it covered her face from the drones flying overhead. Old holo-screens projected distorted images of the Ardent logo, defaced with digital graffiti — DEATH TO THE SYSTEM, HUMAN CODE RUNS DEEPER.

Mia moved through the throng, feeling both part of it and apart from it. Five years of quiet work had led to this — leaking data, organizing cells, spreading E’s encrypted words.

A woman brushed past, murmuring her name — “Mia! Where have you been? I thought maybe we’d lost you.”

Mia gave a warm smile, recognizing one of the early organizers from the underground meetups. An older women with a kindness to her that drew the younger members towards her.

“Not yet,” she replied. “Not until we’re heard.” Mia’s sentence trailed off vanishing into the din of the crowds as they were pulled in different directions.

Above, a formation of drones swept low, scanning the mass of bodies. Each beam of light sliced through the haze like a blade. People ducked their heads, faces shimmering briefly as counter-signal patches interfered with facial recognition.

It was working — the protest had drawn thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. For once, the noise of the system was being drowned out by the roar of human defiance.

Somewhere in that sea of movement, Elias was making his way toward the center. He couldn’t risk being seen until the moment was right. Too many eyes, too many watchers. Ardent would strike the instant they confirmed his presence. But once he was on that stage — in front of so many people — they couldn’t simply make him disappear. Not without showing the world exactly what they were.

Mia pushed through the crowd, heart pounding, rain clinging to her hair. The massive screen at the head of the square flickered again, momentarily replaced by a shadowy silhouette — not corporate propaganda this time, but a face the city knew all too well. Elias Varin.

The crowd erupted.

People raised their hands, shouting his name. Others cried. Drones reoriented mid-air, scanning for the signal source.

And then his voice, raw and real, cut through the static:

“We built their machines. We gave them the keys. And they used our own hands to chain us.” Mia froze, caught between awe and fear. The sound of him — even through distortion — made something inside her ignite. The words carried across the square like a charge.

“For years they told us the Dome kept us safe. That it held back the chaos. But look around — does this look like safety to you?”

A flicker passed across the surface of the Dome above, like a ripple responding to his words. “They call this system perfect. But nature doesn’t need perfect. It heals. It balances. It breathes. What they’ve built—”

his voice glitched briefly as interference rose “—only consumes. And when it’s done consuming us, it will eat itself.”

Mia felt the air shift. Around her, people lifted their devices to record despite the risk. Somewhere overhead, the drones began to converge, dark shapes against the glowing sky.

She caught sight of Elias at last — standing atop the old monument, rain running down his coat, the Dome’s light refracting off the water in prismatic flashes.

He looked directly at her through the crowd.

And for the first time in five years, Mia felt seen.