Premonition

Chapter 4 - Rush Hour

When Elisé woke up, she had a big bruise on her left arm along with a big scorched spot on her right leg. Still hurt, of course, but she had bigger problems to worry about. For example: where's Ethos? Or, where the hell was she? When she sat up, she found herself in another field. "Great, this is a tired concept," one would think, but this one was way closer to the city. Whatever city that was. Pivot? She doesn't know what that word means, but she's heard it a lot. From an old man, to a lobster man, to the map that sits right beside her, along with a note.

Now she still couldn't read well, but she could tell it read something along the lines of:

"Sorry for your poor introduction to the area,"  (it was NOT bad, thank you, Elisé thinks.)
"but you're under a watch of the area for time current,
because frankly, we don't know what you are.
I'll call a colleague to watch over you. Ethos is preoccupied."

  
Preoccupied? Elisé didn't know what that word meant, but that was most likely probably very bad. Ethos had been nice to her. One of the nicest creatures she's met. And she didn't take his food! What a bad guest she felt like. When Elisé picked up the map, she was met with multiple streets, building photos, and things that felt way out of New York's structure. No, this was way bigger and grander than anything New York could possibly be.

When she finally got to standing up and grabbing the items, she noticed one of the upgraders behind her. This one, however, didn't look like it was going to attack. It was silent. It looked down and back behind it and its eyes shifted everywhere and nowhere at once. Was it looking for someone? Was it worried? Elisé didn't know, but she walked over to it anyway.

"Hello." She says, sitting down to the robot's level. "Do you maybe know where Ethos is?"

It is silent, but it points to the city just a few miles in front of the both of them. Elisé picked the upgrader up, (with its consent) and walked towards the bridge that partitioned the plains from the Pivot. It's a tall one, reflecting light in impossible ways above water that shone an impossible glow with impossible colours. After a few moments, Elisé notices other people do exist here. Infact, many did. Blurs of highly advanced cars and people with features that just didn't look like people. Too robotic, too unreal. And to Elisé's knowledge, these people probably were robots. Mechanical, inhuman, unreal. these aren't people. She wasn't on Earth, so where was she? Not now, she thinks. She must find Ethos.

When she finally got to the streets, the buildings just looked way more tall and intimidating than before. the people all had their differences, even though their manufacturer probably made them the same or something. Some weren't even robots, just material beings. they all wore different clothes, if not clothes, different shoes, if not those hats, accessories, etc. Storesides were filled with products that seemed more advanced too. 'Vacuums That Double as Silverware!' Or, 'Forklifts That Also Double as Silverware!' It was confusing, she didn't ask. Maybe these people would think New York was weird. I mean, 'Chinatown Fight Club' sounds weird within itself. Also, what was an Albany? These people's city names seem straightforward. 'Maybe there's districts here,' she thinks.

After walking past people doing their jobs, buildings that stooped higher than any on Earth, and watching the upgrader just walk through casually ('they're probably from here, she thinks again,') the upgrader stops towards a building, the tallest Elisé has seen yet. When they walk through the insane amount of revolving doors, they end up in a hotel lobby. A very tall one, at that. Many people stop at many levels, glass elevators glide to lower underground floors and higher above-ground floors, and many geometrical shapes hold the balconies and views together. This is complete with a sunroof at the top, allowing all of it to come together.

When the upgrader stopped, they sat on top of a receptionist's desk. It pointed to a bell that should have probably been rung, but Elisé hesitated. What if the receptionist was like the
upgraders? Hell, what if everyone was like them?? Did they all want her dead??? If she rang that bell it could be a one-way trip to 'I'll-never-see-earth-again land.' The robot obviously saw this hesitation, and rolled its metaphorical eyes. It rang the bell and a figure sprang out and hopped on the desk to Elisé's face. Good. there were other slightly different creatures here at least. A large strawberry was here, also very humanized, and it stared at Elisé with joy.