Mayspeak staggered, tripping on air or a shadow or a mote of dust kicked from the road by his shuffling herd – and the world changed.<br/><br/>It was a twist, and flash, and thunderclap, a bored god’s whim and the earth turning itself inside out. All of that and more, but none of it as well. He blinked and looked around himself, and knew the rapid language of circles and lines that flickered behind his eyelids better than the language of tongue. Memories sloughed from his mind as swiftly as new ones were exposed, as if they had always been there – as if they were all he had known. Fear squirmed for a moment as he realised he was forgetting – but the change came one too quick for the fear to grip too tight, and after a moment he had forgotten what it was that he had been so frightened of.<br/><br/>The city was beautiful, bright and filled with life, and his implants lanced their sly feelers out to those in range, probing the implants of those around him, feeding him back information in highly illegal, highly rewarding data harvesting. Anyone with a chip unguarded he could explore, an invasion more intimate than rape some would say.<br/><br/>It made his breath catch in his throat and his grin was wide and exultant. This was freedom.<br/>