Cyber View or Echoes Above the City

The rain fell in thin lines from the sky, turning the neon signs of the city into flowing light that spilled across the rooftops. On a ledge high above the noise of the streets sat a young man. The left side of his body was made of metal and fiber optics, dull and reflective under the glow of the advertisements. In his human eye lingered exhaustion; in his cybernetic one, a faint blue HUD flickered. Beside him lay his dog—or what had once been a dog. Steel ribs rose and fell in a steady rhythm, red sensor eyes scanning the darkness. Now and then, a chrome tail twitched when a siren wailed below. The young man pulled his coat tighter and rested a hand on the cool head of his companion. “Still here,” he murmured—more to himself than to the dog. The dog answered with a soft mechanical hum that was somehow comforting. They had become observers of the city, guardians of the rooftops, far from the glowing streets and the people who no longer looked up. The rain washed the grime of the night away, but not the memories etched into circuits and into the young man’s heart. As the distant sun slowly began to overpower the neon lights, the cyborg dog stood and looked at him. Time to move on. Together they leapt from rooftop to rooftop—two half-machines in a city that had long forgotten what it meant to be fully human.

Hours Spent: 9
Software Used: DAZ Studio 4 With IRAY, Photoshop