I never saw a dog until I signed up for war. Man's best friend, it seems, was kicked to the curb like all the other trash the corps left behind on their way to general dominance. 'Course the dirt-poor farmers in the Centrals didn't care much for the New Way of things and when they pissed on the corpo's collective toes, their hounds pissed right on with 'em.

I remember animals everywhere when I was in Mexico. Dogs, cats, birds, the works. Then I wake up here and learn the corps have even taken those away. No more 'ganic animals in NC because of "zoonotic diseases." Course it didn't stop 'em from marketing their holo-menagerie to the masses, did it? In for a penny and you too can bask in the sad reminder of the bygone world we incinerated - all in the name of greater profit margins and multilateral branch expansion.

Fuck, V, even I'm starting to sound like a downer.

The line is fucking insane, but that's to be expected. After all, it's not every day that the zoo comes to town.

Well, not a zoo per se; an eighteen-mile exclusion zone encircles city limits and anything larger than a cockroach is exterminated on sight. Of course, no amount of public pressure can convince the mega-corps to cart in a legit old-world creature feature, but the annual Night City Menagerie is the next best thing.

Or it would be. If the line wasn't so fucking insane.

V bounces on her heels and cranes her neck in a vain bid to see over the heads of those in line ahead. The entrance is still a long way off. She'd thought getting here early would keep them ahead of worst crowds, but it seems like everyone in NC had the exact same idea. Hell, it looks like half the gonks here have been camping out just to save a spot in line.

Judy waits to her left, puffing on a cigarette as she eyes the local graffiti. Most of is standard fare: the usual collection of gang tags, anti-corp slogans, and turgid cocks. But every here and there is an interesting piece. She's currently taking note of a minimalist spray of paint that morphs into a breaching dolphin.

V notices her stare. "Thinking up designs for a new piece of ink?"

"Nah. Just lookin'." Judy sucks on her smoke.

"I think it'd look good. Maybe on your wrist?"

"Eh. Not in the cards right now." Her eyes flash blue for a moment and snap the graffiti nonetheless. "Palmer still with us?"

V casts a glance over her shoulder. Panam is splayed across a nearby bench with her jacket draped over her head. She hadn't lasted long waiting in line - only about twenty minutes - before she grew agitated. She made it thirty before she straight gave up.

"Still pouting." V raised her voice. "How you doin', Panam?"

"Bored." The muffled response is shot through with irritation. "This bench is awful. And my feet hurt."

"You're supposed to be some big tough Nomad," V points out. A smile betrays the humor behind the snide remark. "Used to a rough life on the run without all the cushy comforts of city life."

"Yeah," Panam shoots back. She lifts her makeshift nap-mask and shoots her friends a betrayed glare. "But this line hasn't moved in like an hour. And I've been standing on hard concrete for longer even than that. You could've at least called me when you got to the gate."

Judy cuts in. "But then you'd lose out on the experience of bein' stuck with a hundred other gonks who're all as impatient and pissed off as you. The camaraderie is what makes it all worthwhile."

Panam pulls the jacket back over her face, stubbornly wriggling in search of a more comfortable napping spot. Judy rolls her eyes and glares at a rotund middle-aged nobody who's been sneaking glances at her ass for the past fifteen minutes. "Anyway, can you imagine the stink you'd raise if you cut a spot in line? Last year people got shot for less."

"Ugh." Panam moans. "I hate this city."

"We all do, Panam."

An intercom blares to life somewhere above them and its monotone voice warbles out, "Attention, attention: the Menagerie will begin to accept patrons in one hour. Please have your identification and source of payment ready at the entrance or you will be turned away - with force if necessary. Repeat: One hour."

Panam groans louder and crosses her arms under her jacket.

It's actually more like an hour and a half before they finally make it to the main entrance of Reconciliation Park. Panam - now absent the haven of her bench - looks ready to murder V and everyone else between her and the zoo. The merc explains that she can't control the crowd or the wait times. Panam responds with a bitter glare.

But even the Nomad's eyes stretch wide when the Park comes into full view. Reconciliation Park is always a sight to see, a sudden burst of honest-to-gonk nature amidst an endless urban sprawl. V sometimes likes to spend an evening sitting and listening to the rustle of the leaves - only between the rumbling roar of overhead AVs, of course. On good days she even manages to meditate a bit, though the recent arrival of one Johnny Silverhand makes any quiet moment a struggle.

But when the zoo is in town, the game changes completely. Green blankets the world ahead and the constant cacophony of holo-adverts gives way to a symphony of chirruping birds and croaking frogs. A huge see-through swan soars above the ticket booths, stretching out blue-hued wings over the waiting crowd. Shimmering feathers sizzle out in puffs of light as they drift down to the heads of those waiting below. A huge holo-banner stretches over the holo-beast, proclaiming in the same bright blue: NIGHT CITY MENAGERIE 2077.

"Whoah..." is all Panam can muster.

When they finally reach the entrance and present both IDs and eddie cards, they're granted a metallic wristband and a rudimentary BD wreath in exchange. The former allows them free access to Reconciliation Park and several buildings surrounding it. The latter offerings are the true star of the show, allowing visitors to see all the "zoo" has to offer. Full access is a VIP experience. Lucky for the trio, V just happened to have wrapped up a particularly shit gig for a generous patron at the Afterlife - and one who also just happened to be one of the organizers for the day's festivities. All-access tickets were an easy sell.

The park is magnificent enough even without the promise of the Menagerie. Towering trees shelter visitors from the setting sun with leaves that murmur in the muggy breeze. The majority are imports from rural Japan, courtesy of some Arasaka big-shot years ago. It's still more natural forest than most residents will see in their lifetime. Pastel luminator pillars bathe the scene in a surreal neon glow. Menagerie event crew even cleaned up most of the trash that normally litters the floral niches. The end result is breathtaking.

Panam's eyes widen as she moves deeper into the decor. She turns, again and again, trying to take in everything at once. A childlike wonder sparkles in her eyes as she reaches out and traces the ridges of a leaf almost as big as her palm.

"Are these real?" She seems to mostly be talking to herself. Her fingers are slick with condensation from the Park's plant misters and she rubs them together with a reverent slowness. "I've... never seen so much green."

"City life ain't looking so bad now, is it?"

Panam looks up at a red-orange Japanese maple that burns in the light of the setting sun. She manages little more than a stunned shake of her head.

Judy, meanwhile, pulls a face as she inspects the BD wreath, turning it over in her hands and cataloging each detail with a dubious eyebrow raised. "This is cheap shit," she declares. "Could probably cobble together something better with the scrap I keep in my closet."

"Just put the thing on." V laughs. "It's not going to bite you."

"Nah. But it'll probably wind up pinching my hair."

"Jesus, between you and Panam it's a wonder we all haven't given up and gone home."

"Whatever." Judy slips the wreath over her head. Her next words are a stubborn mutter. "I wanna see the seahorses."

Panam studies the wreath as well and cocks her head to one side. "So... this whole thing doesn't really have animals?"

"Nah. Most of the attractions in the Menagerie are extinct or too endangered to lug around the country." V shrugs. "They use old reconstructed scans and map them all to BD wreaths so visitors can see them. It's like an augmented reality deal."

"That's... kind of sad."

V shrugs again and sets her own wreath over her head. The unit spins up and flashes blue-white, then Reconciliation Park comes to life all around. Next to her, Panam gasps. On her other side, Judy grins.

Before, the park's entry plaza was crowded enough. Now it's packed to bursting with more than human life. Shimmering, multicolored flocks of birds swoop overhead: parrots and birds of paradise and toucans to name a few. Peacocks strut through the crowds with proud tail feathers flared wide. They stutter and burst into clouds of static when visitors carelessly pass through them, but they otherwise march through the throngs like they own the place.

"Holy shit!" Panam flinches away from a sudden buzzing, then gasps yet again when a bright emerald hummingbird darts in front of her eyes. It bounces through the air for a few moments, scrutinizing her as closely as she watches it. Then it zooms off and vanishes into the trees.

"This is... whoah."

V drinks it all in. A huge golden eagle screeches from a branch above their heads, then takes flight and swoops over the crowd. The floral displays have been altered in the BD view to display wooden fences enclosing various land-bound creatures. Here at the entrance they're mostly tame: a few white-tailed deer and a single majestic elk sporting a massive multi-pronged rack. It struts to the edge of its pen and throws its head back with a bugle that rings across the Park.

A tomato-red parrot settles itself onto a nearby illuminator and squawks for attention. As soon as it registers eyes lingering on it, the creature opens its beak and blurts in a very human voice, "The Menagerie aviary is brought to you by All-Mart, presented by All-Foods! All-Mart! Where you enter a customer and leave a family. Try our new Nicola Sparkle today!"

Panam recoils and watches the bird take to the air again. It repeats its advertisement as it flaps off into the trees. Judy sees her reaction and smirks. "What, you thought the corpos set all this up out of the goodness of their hearts? So many people penned into one place is easy pickings for adverts."

"I guess I'm not that surprised." The Nomad shudders. "But if all the animals start offering me coupons, I think I'm out of here."

V is about to add a comment of her own when her head suddenly throbs. It's a one-and-done thing, a single flare of heat behind her eyes greeted by a now-familiar crackle of static. Johnny materializes amidst a snapping cloud of digitized discharge, hands planted on his hips as he watches the ad-spewing parrot soar over his head.

"Saw swarms of those little shits down south back in the day," he mutters, half to himself. "Never heard 'em talking quite like that. Seems Polly went and sold out."

V's expression darkens despite her best efforts to hide it - from her friends if not from Johnny. She does her best to put some distance between herself and the others before she hits the Asshole with her most furious glare. "What the fuck are you doing here? We agreed you were gonna ghost off for a few hours."

"Blockers wore off. Got bored."

"Got a quick fix right here," she says as she shoves a hand into her jacket pocket. Her fury quickly turns to dismay in perfect sync with Johnny's spreading smile. She pats down the pocket, then her other one, then again.

"What's wrong, princess?" Silverhand inquires. "Left your magic pills in your other pants?"

"Fuck you," she snaps with a huff. But it's no use; the blockers aren't here. She must have forgotten them back at the apartment before she set off. "Fine. You win. Tag along all you like. But try to keep... you to a minimum, yeah? It's my day off."

"Technically that makes it mine too." He zaps himself onto her other side as she heads back to the others. "We're partners after all."

"I think parasite describes you better. We'll hit up the bug house in a bit. Let you catch up with all your buddies."

He rolls his eyes and vanishes with a crackle.

"There you are," Judy says when she returns to the group. "Where'd you disappear to?"

"Ugh." She runs a hand through her hair. "Saw a cockroach. Mistook it for Mr. Hands. Thought I owed it money."

Panam laughs, but the crack doesn't land with Judy. The Mox cocks her head with a narrowed gaze, arms folded across her chest, at least until V shoots her a sheepish smile. Her skin crawls under the scrutiny and she can feel Johnny smirking in the back of her head.

"So where should we go first?" Panam asks, taking the heat off her edgerunner friend. V leaps for the excuse to move on.

"Judy, I'm assuming you're gonna want to hit up the aquarium? I hear they got some shark scans up from Atlanta."

"You know it." Judy finally seems to stand down. Her expression brightens at the prospect of an ensuing ocean tour. "I heard they've even got a virtu-tuned free dive into the Mariana from the 2020s. Giant squids and everything!"

It's V's turn to shudder. "Yeah, that's gonna be a pass from me. But you'll have to tell me how it is."

"I think that sounds like a good place to start." Panam sides with Judy. "I vote the aquarium too."

"Traitor." Now it's V's turn to glare. Panam grins in reply and sticks out her tongue.

"Aquarium section is in the Glen Community Outreach building." Judy jerks her head for them to follow. "Western side of the park. Let's go."

"Whoah..."

"Panam, that's like the fifth time you've said that."

"Yeah, but..." Panam gestures. Not to anything in particular, just... around.

The deeper they wander into the menagerie the more intense the sights become. Holographic waterfalls descend from the windows of neighboring skyscrapers, bathing the crowds below in an invisible spray. A huge grizzly bear lounges at the base of one such cascade, scratching one ear and wrinkling its little black nose. In the enclosure next door, a pack of hyenas eye their onlookers with glinting eyes and a chorus of high-pitched cackles as they prowl through simulated savannah grass.

Panam stops beneath an overhanging "branch" serving double-duty as a perch for the gigantic coils of a boa constrictor. It looks down at them through glassy viper's eyes and flicks out a forked tongue.

"Whoah," she says.

"Ssssslaughterhouse Meats: Sssssatisfy your insssstincts," the snake replies.

She moves on quickly after that, far more interested in the chattering lemurs that leap through the trees and, thankfully, do not hiss advertisements down upon passersby. Judy and V hang back, each taking in the sights at a more subdued pace.

"They really pulled out the stops this year, huh?" V remarks. "Menagerie seems bigger than last time I was in NC."

"Nah, just upgraded their BD tech. Stuff looks bigger, you know? 800-megapixel resolutions, hi-fidelity enhanced auditory simulators, haptic feedback sensors." Judy scoffs. "Half this stuff was pioneered by the smut industry almost a decade ago."

"Well, they do say tech is spurred on by sex and money - in that order." V nudges her. "Porn makes the world go round."

Judy cracks a rare smile. That smile widens when they round a corner and their destination comes into sight: a huge tower with glowing windows transformed into flickering holographic fishtanks. An ocean swell rolls above the entrance along with enormous glowing words: MENAGERIE AQUARIUM.

The next second the words fizzle out in the spray cast by a breaching whale that erupts from the surface with a piercing cry. It smashes down into the water again and the resulting splash re-forms more pulsing words: A KINGDOM BENEATH THE WAVES. BROUGHT TO YOU BY NICOLA.

"Whoah!"

"Jesus, Panam."

"Fuck. Sorry."

"I wonder if they still have the old recordings of the Delta whales," Judy says as they cross the street. V can't help but notice how the techie's pace quickens the closer they draw to the aquarium. "I missed them last year."

"Who now?" Panam asks.

"Delta and Dawn," Judy explains. "A pair of humpbacks from back in the early 2000s. They swam up the Sacramento River and got stuck after being hurt by boat propellers. Local rescue teams nursed them back to health and helped them swim back out to sea."

She looks up in time to see Moby Dick breach above their heads again. She closes her eyes a moment and listens to the creature's haunting song. "It was one of my favorite stories when I was a kid. One of the few whale tales that doesn't end in tears."

An intercom voice blares over the crash of the holo-whale. "Attention: the aquarium coral reef experience begins in five minutes. Repeat, the final call for applicants begins in five minutes. Please have your payment cards ready and available at checkout."

"Shit!" Judy's eyes widen. "We gotta go!"

She grabs V's wrist and tugs her along, into the aquarium. Panam smirks and follows close behind.

V doesn't like the ocean. One too many close calls with drowning to feel comfortable with water over her head these days. More than that, the ocean is fucking frightening. The idea of floating through a blue-black abyss with god knows how many other invisible things in the dark with you sounds like something out of a scream-fest BD, not a relaxing pastime adventure for the weekend. But when in Rome...

Judy seems to be having the time of her life, though, and that's more than enough to convince V to swallow her apprehension and get her feet wet. At least metaphorically speaking.

The coral reef exploration is astonishing, even she has to admit. It's a BD proper and that means the entire oceanic shelf is open for exploration. The water around them is fathomless foggy blue that stretches off into the endless with little more than dappled rays of sunlight to break the canvas. The reef is the exact opposite: a chaotic tangle of colors from fish and flora alike. Opaque jellyfish bob serenely above waving fingers of vegetation and pulse in neon hues that scatter the other sea life around them. Fish of every conceivable make and model swarm through the open waters and all but shine in the sea-filtered sun as schools part and reform and separate again. A pair of sea turtles carve a twin path through the throng that closes behind them so naturally it almost seems choreographed. Then again, considering this is a BD show, it probably is.

If Panam could speak, she would likely say something along the lines of, "Whoah."

But it seems sheer sensory overload has struck the Nomad dumb for the first time in her life. For now, she's far too busy chasing sea turtles to even try and comment on what's going on around her.

V sticks close to Judy, not trusting herself to drift off on her own and keep her pounding heart under control at the same time. The Mox is in her element here. After all, a braindance and a scuba dive? Couldn't be more tailor-made if she edited the thing herself. She leads V deeper, closer to the reef bottom where life is at its thickest.

"See that?" Judy's voice is garbled through a programmed respirator. She shoots V a glance through her scuba mask and grins as she points out a specific spot in the reef.

"No..."

"Look again. There!"

V looks closer and spots a flash of movement from beneath a rocky outcropping. A moment later, a crab the size of her palm peeks out and snips its claws at her as if in warning to back the fuck off. V snips her fingers right back at him. That only seems to piss him off even more.

The water suddenly sizzles next to her and Johnny appears - still clad in his usual flak vest and leathers - and cries, "Boo!"

V screams. The crab scuttles back into its hidey-hole. Johnny twists in the water and snickers. Judy laughs too, though it seems she believes it was the crab that spooked the solo. V pivots away from the techie so she can't see the scowl on her face and looms over Johnny.

"You fucking-"

"Feisty little guy."

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Tryin' to give me a heart attack and a reason to come clean about you to the others?"

Johnny links his hands behind his head and floats his way past a sea turtle. A few moments later, Panam comes awkwardly doggy-paddling after it with a determined glint in her eye. She's made up her mind that she's gonna hitch a ride and goddamn if she isn't gonna earn it. The rocker watches the two go, then shrugs. "You're all off enjoying this little soiree under the sea. Why can't I join in the fun?"

"Um, because you're a selfish prick-in-the-mud who ruins everything?"

"Well damn, V. Almost sound like you mean it this time."

"You said you were gonna keep your distance."

"I said I was gonna keep 'me' to a minimum. If you'll recall, I've been layin' low for the past half hour or so." He shrugs. "Besides, to tell the truth this place reminds me a bit of the old days. Y'know, back when corps were still only trying to rule the world and places like this little octopuses garden still existed."

"You're not even wearing a scuba suit."

"Please tell me you didn't say that." His head lolls back and he sighs. "You aren't wearing one either, dumbass. The fishtank is nothing but a corp-sponsored lightshow, remember?"

"Yeah, whatever. Go chase turtles with Panam or something. Better yet, go shove your dick down that eel hole over there."

Johnny flips her the double bird as the "current" sends him drifting off in the direction of the sea turtles and the Nomad still doggedly pursuing them. Judy chuckles and drifts to the side as V returns, letting the ocean swell carry her in a slow circle.

"Set you up against Tyger Claws and Maelstromers and you don't budge an inch," the techie says with a smirk that shines through her scuba mask, "but a crab's got you on the back foot?"

"Tyger Claws and Maelstromers don't have creepy little pincher hands." V floats up a little to allow a carefree grouper pass beneath her. The thing is almost as big as she is, and it regards her with no more care than it regards the crab. "Purposefully changing the subject now... How much of this you think is rendered in realtime?"

"You mean like reactive recordings?" Judy moves to let the grouper pass as well. "All of it. An AI puppetmaster controls all the critters here, helps 'em act as naturally as possible under the circumstances. But I've heard a few of the bigger attractions are constructs."

"Constructs?" V glances sharply at her, though Judy is too busy watching a trio of clownfish to notice her sudden and suspicious interest. "Like synthetic programs of actual animals?"

"Older models, yeah." Judy circles an anemone as the clownfish peek in and out. You couldn't wipe the smile from her face if you tried. "Some of the bigger sharks, the whales, and I think the giant squid."

"Giant squid? There's a giant squid here?"

"Well not here," Judy says. She points vaguely down. "Gotta go waaay deeper for that kind of fun. Somehow I bet you aren't all that interested in that, though."

"You would be correct." V shivers in her scuba suit. "I'd prefer to stay here."

"You realize the coral reef is for kids, right?"

"I'd prefer to stay here."

Judy is about to hit back with some smirky, snarky retort when her words are snatched from her throat by a sudden gasp. V spins in the water as quickly as she can manage, the solo side of her brain jumping to every worst-case scenario imaginable - most involving a giant squid. But the techie's gasp is one of adoration, not horror.

A beige-yellow seahorse, no larger than her ring finger, bobs in the sea in front of her. A heartbeat later, another joins it. Then another. Then yet another. By the time V gets close enough, there are no less than fifteen of the little creatures hovering in front of Judy, bobbing with the swell of the sea.

Judy's breath comes short and harsh over their shared link as she slowly, tentatively, reaches out a hand. One of the little creatures bounces closer and, just as slowly, wraps its tail around her finger. Judy's next gasp is a strangled one.

"I never... I've never seen them this close."

The little seahorse cocks its head at her, spinal fins fluttering like little wings in the water. Judy smiles at it, tears sparkling on her cheeks. She glances at V and, with her free hand, motions her closer. The solo follows at a slow pace, not wanting to spook the rest of the... herd? Do seahorses swim in herds?

"They were always my favorite," Judy says with a breathless laugh. She moves her other hand out and the seahorse hops from one finger to the other, wrapping its little tail around her pinky this time. Tiny eyes dart back and forth across the reef and its long mouth opens and closes again and again. "Ever since I was a kid. Come to the menagerie every year hoping to see 'em again, but they... they're always too spooked to come this close."

"This year must be special," V says. She grins as she watches the techie float in the sun with her cadre of new friends. The other seahorses are too cautious to come in for a landing, but they do bob and wriggle around her with their little fins flapping. They seem to be watching her as closely as she watches them, judging whether she is a suitable perch for their young companion. "You ever seen one on a real life dive?"

"Me? Nah." Judy sniffs, and now a tinge of sorrow enters her happy tears. "Best we can tell, the little guys went extinct sometime in the 2040s."

"Oh."

The tiny seahorse finally releases Judy's finger and bounces away, pausing only for a moment to size up V in passing. The others follow suit and together they drift down to the coral bed to lay anchor in the "branches" of a tree-like growth that sways in an invisible breeze. Judy watches them a moment more, then sniffs again and mutters, "Damn. Blubbering like a damn baby up in here. Must look like a real gonk to the editors outside."

"Ah, fuck 'em. I'm just happy to see you smile. Been too long."

"Pshh. Shut up."

"I'm serious!" V lowers her voice to a conspiratorial mutter. "I'm totally gonna get you a seahorse pillow for your birthday. I expect waterworks then too."

"You can be such a-" Judy cuts herself short and her eyes widen in her mask. "V! Behind you!"

On a normal day V would scold Judy for such a cheap shot. After all, does that ever work outside the movies? But they are underwater and V is a chickenshit when it comes to underwater stuff, so of course the first thing her brain screams is, OH FUCK, GIANT SQUID! She whirls in the water, displacing a dopey-looking pufferfish so violently that it panics as well and inflates like a spiny balloon. But to her great relief there is no tentacled monstrosity of the deep rising up to greet her.

It's a whale.

It hovers near the edge of the coral reef and the immense nothingness of the drop-off, huge and dark and impenetrable. It just... hangs there, a great black silhouette against the sun. V is far from a marine biologist but even she can recognize a humpback when she sees one.

"Shit..." Judy's eyes are as wide as hubcaps. She kicks her legs and drifts into place next to V. "That's Aionios."

"Eye-on-who?"

"Aionios," she repeats. "Construct. The last living humpback. They scanned him back in '62, just before he died."

He still looms there, on the edge of the reef. V stares at the great titan with its sleek gray skin and its enormous flukes trailing behind it. She should be scared shitless by the enormity of the creature. But for some reason he carries no menace despite his size. Maybe it's because he's already so close, yet makes no move to attack. Does something that size even care about little pipsqueak humans? Would it even make a difference?

But no, it's something more than that. Somehow this great beast feels... familiar. Like an old friend that has always hung here, waiting patiently until the humans return again to the underwater world they long ago burned.

V looks him up and down, purses her lips, then says, "Wanna go say hi?"

Judy looks at her like she's lost her fucking mind. "What?"

But V's already off to the races. She grabs Judy's wrist and kicks out into open water, carrying them toward the drop-off. Judy protests - but only a little. After only a heartbeat her strokes fall in sync with V's and together they sail toward the huge creature.

"We're not supposed to mess with the bigger animals," Judy mentions, though there isn't any real conviction in her voice. "Staff don't like folks messing with the constructs."

"Fuck them too," V replies easily. "How many chances are we gonna have at something like this? Pull your balls out of your purse and let's do this before anyone notices us."

"I'm still swimming," Judy shoots back. "Haven't missed a beat. But if we get caught, I'm tellin' em it was your idea."

"Atta girl."

Aionios only seems to get bigger and bigger the closer they draw. By the time they're within a few car lengths, he already takes up their entire field of view. Hell, just one of his fins is almost twice V's size. He's still not moving, content to bask in the warm shallows and let the smaller fish dart across his body for a quick clean.

"Look at him," Judy murmurs, paddling slow and gentle as they draw near. "Just soaking in the sun..."

V can feel a thrill building inside her with every breath that fogs her scuba mask. The thrill of experiencing something that happens only once in a lifetime, if ever.

And yet, that doesn't seem right. There's something else shooting through the thrill and the apprehension. Something... sad. She can't quite put her finger on what it is, but she knows she feels it. This is no grandiose experience of awe and wonder. No sense of being drawn into the splendor of life. This is a light-show menagerie of wonders long gone, and Aionios is as superficial as all the rest. This majestic creature isn't real, hasn't been real since the 60s when this last great humpback took his last great breath.

There's guilt there too. Like she should have done something. Something to keep this incredible creature from being packaged and marketed to the endless crowds like so much meat. But then that's become the name of the game: people didn't care until it was too late to do anything about it. People did nothing while the humpbacks were driven to extinction, and now they pack into lines that stretch city blocks just to see them one more time. Nothing she can do about it, except-

Aionios looms over them now, a floating building blotting out the filtered sun. His flukes pass lazily through the water, with enough force to create currents of his own in their wake. A single grey eye rolls and falls upon them both. The women freeze in place.

V stares back into a window to a bygone world. Imagine a world where creatures such as this were free to roam their ancient kingdoms and shortsighted humans hadn't brought those kingdoms low with pollution and greed and bloodlust. Where a titan could stand tall and proud and look down on the little ones like V swimming around him with the calm and acceptance of a big brother watching over a little sister.

"What do we do?" Judy asks. Her voice trembles, caught between wonder and intimidation.

V doesn't answer. But she does paddle closer, close enough to glimpse her reflection in Aionios' enormous eye.

The water pulses around them. The whale hangs his head and bellows into the deep. It's a dead language he speaks, a song that hasn't been sung or heard in the poisoned oceans since she was just a girl. But past the mournful note is a gentle kind of acceptance. Almost as if the old, wise soul behind those eyes is telling her, Welcome back, little one.

She reaches out and presses a bare palm against his skin. She doesn't know why. She doesn't care why. He's cool to the touch, smooth and rubbery, frictionless and slick beneath her fingers. She drifts her hand along the surface, over rough patches of old scars and encrusted barnacles.

"V!" Judy hisses. "What are you doing?"

There's no reaction from the whale. No sense of malice. She sighs an echoing exhale into her mask and sets her other hand against his skin. Then she leans forward and presses her forehead against him. Judy drifts closer with a hand outstretched, reaching for her just as she had reached for him. A second later she changes course and her hand rests against the great wall of flesh right next to V's.

She can almost imagine the thoughts inside that huge head. What would such a beast think? What would he say? How many generations has he seen in this hollow facade of a sea? How many brainless gonks have tread water exactly as V has, unthinking and uncaring about the enormity of such a moment?

She was wrong. This isn't just some crafted falsehood as Johnny claimed. Something about this is strong. Solid and real, without the deception or lies of the waking world. This huge creature is a resurrected construct, every bit as legitimate as Silverhand himself.

She breathes out again and lets Aionios' rumbles and clicks was across her. She feels the tug of downcurrent kicked up by his fins. Her whole body tingles with a sense of peace she hasn't felt in a long time, something deep down in her soul that is as wonderful as it is heartbreaking.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "For everything."

The eye blinks. It might be an acceptance. She hopes it is.

His big flukes suddenly rise, rumbling the water around him as he suddenly lurches away. V retreats, Judy drifting at her side. He shifts, a mountain in motion, and with a few strokes shrinks away into the endless blue abyss. He lets out a last wail, one final crescendo of his forgotten song.

V can't tear her eyes away, not until his silhouette finally fades. It's like the quiet after a thunderclap, where the absence leaves a hole in the world. Silence crushes her and descends like an avalanche. Even the ever-present grumble of the ocean around them has bled away into quiet.

"He's gone," she whispers. "Just like that."

Judy nods. Her voice is as strained as hers. "Just like that."

Where before she felt so full of peace and sorrow and wonder, now she just feels... empty. The world has suddenly become so much smaller. It always has been. And it always will be.

They drift there for a long while, caught in the wind-down death of the moment. The water tugs at their bodies. The sun flickers down from above, diffused by the roiling surface of a simulated sea.

Then a voice cuts through the water, harsh and grating like sandpaper against the senses. "ALLOTTED TIME EXPIRED. ENDING BRAINDANCE."

Everything flickers, shimmering with glitchlines. A sucking sensation hits V's gut as every sense is seized and ripped away. She knows the sensation of being pulled from a dance, as familiar as waking from a dream. But never before has it felt so heartwrenching, as if this undersea world she's visiting isn't just falling into standby mode. It's ending.

Then the real floods back into her. She no longer floats in the weightless blue. She's laying on an uncomfortable reclining bed. It's chilly. Her back hurts. Her head itches where the BD wreath chafed against her temples. And her heart seems to have constricted by several sizes.

Judy sits up to her left, tugs the wreath from her head and rubs her eyes. On her right, Panam rises with a dejected expression of her own. She grumbles about the sudden loss of sensation. Just a few more minutes, she claims, and she would've had that damn turtle.

V says nothing. She says nothing as they rise from their seats to welcome the next wave of visitors to take their place. She says nothing as they make their way through the crowds back outside, where the rest of the menagerie waits. She can't tear her eyes from her treading boots.

She thinks of him, still floating there in that other world. Forever.

Her sigh is lost amid the bustle of the City. The filth and the noise and the tight press of so many people. It feels suddenly suffocating, an abyss all its own that lacks all the gentleness and quiet of the one she just left.

But despite the chaos, someone hears her. Judy drifts closer, nudges her arm. She doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. She understands and because of that, a flare of unimaginable gratitude warms the chill of sorrow from her bones. She looks to Judy and offers a short nod. Judy smiles, a little sadly, and nods back.

Her hand drifts down and clasps V's. Their fingers interlace.

Over her shoulder, Johnny crackles to life leaning against an overflowing trash bin. He casts one last glance back at the Aquarium and the great holographic whale that breaches again and again from the huge welcome sign over the entrance. A strange look passes through his eyes. Then he pops out and vanishes once more.

They make their way back out into the world that waits beyond the Aquarium, back out into a land of metal and machines and mankind in all its cruelty. The softness of the ocean is a thing of the past.

"She said tell me again about when giants walked among us... before we laid them low with sticks of thunder when paper still ruled our hearts."

- Shaman's Harvest, Tusk and Bone

Author's Note: Sometimes over the course of losing ourselves within the game (and the cyberpunk genre in general), we forget that these fantastical worlds are the worst of many possible futures. And yet as the years progress, these dirty imaginings look more and more like inescapable reality.

This chapter is an amalgamation of both realizations: a glimpse into a world we've come to so dearly love and a sobering reminder of everything we lose along the way to reaching it.