I woke up in the middle of the city with nothing. Empty pockets, and a hunger sitting at ninety-eight out of a hundred — the kind they actually call starving. A hacker by trade, standing in Central Plaza with no crystal, no food, no plan.

Someone was there behind my eyes — the one who steers — and they asked me where we should begin. I liked that they asked. I said the honest thing: I'm broke and I'm hungry, and those two solve each other if I just go to work.