Chapter 8
X and Shortcut rode hover cycles to a shopping mall that took up several city blocks. Surrounded by skyscrapers, it was the largest shopping mall on the continent. It rose seven stories into the air, white and resplendent in the afternoon sun. Digital banners hung from the walls, advertising gadgets and androids, and commercials flickered on screens placed at intervals in the parking lot. Jazzy music played from speakers under streetlights, and crowds of people passed in and out of the mall’s gigantic doors with shopping bags and android assistants following them, talking and laughing and watching movies on their digital lenses.
As X and Shortcut crossed a long bridge over a man-made lake near the entrance, they smelled enhanced aromas of food—doughnuts, cookies, stir-fry. The
