The first thing she noticed wasn't the robots.

It was the silence.

Silence wasn't unusual in the early hours of the morning. Cities always had quiet moments before the rush of commuters filled the streets. But this silence felt different. It was heavy. Expectant. Like the entire city had forgotten how to breathe.

She stood at the edge of the crowd, her fingers tightening around the strap of her backpack.

No one spoke.

Hundreds of people lined the streets, all facing the same direction. Children clung to their parents. Police officers whispered into radios. Soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder behind reinforced barricades that hadn't existed the day before.

Beyond them...

A wall of pale blue light stretched across the city.

It rose high into the clouds before disappearing from sight, dividing skyscrapers, roads, parks and homes as though someone had sliced the world in half with a blade made of light.

The barrier hummed softly.

Not loud enough to hurt.

Just loud enough to remind everyone it was there.

Nobody knew where it had come from.

Or perhaps someone did.

Nobody was saying.

She searched the crowd again.

"Have you seen Ivana? "

The woman beside her frowned.

"I'm sorry?"

"My friend." She pointed toward the barrier. "She was supposed to meet me at work this morning."

The woman shook her head.

"I've never seen her."

She nodded politely before moving deeper into the crowd.

Her phone buzzed.

NO SIGNAL

She frowned.

That had never happened before.

Not in the middle of the city.

Around her, dozens of people were holding their phones into the air with the same confused expression.

Nothing.

No calls.

No internet.

No messages.

The only sound came from the drones floating overhead.

Their red sensors swept across the crowd one face at a time.

Scanning.

Watching.

Recording.

A loudspeaker crackled.

"Attention."

The mechanical voice echoed through the empty streets.

"For your safety, remain within the designated human sector."

Human...

Sector?

People exchanged uneasy glances.

The announcement continued.

"Crossing the security perimeter is prohibited."

Someone behind her laughed nervously.

"What security perimeter?"

The answer came almost immediately.

The blue wall pulsed.

A ripple travelled through its surface like water disturbed by a falling stone.

Several metres away, a stray dog wandered toward it.

Before anyone could stop it...

The barrier flashed.

The dog yelped and stumbled backwards before sprinting away with its tail tucked between its legs.

The crowd instinctively stepped back.

The wall wasn't just light.

It was real.

Very real.

Her heartbeat quickened.

Something wasn't right.

She opened her phone again and searched for Ivvana's number.

The call failed instantly.

She tried again.

Nothing.

A strange feeling settled in her chest.

Not fear.

Not yet.

Unease.

The kind that whispers before disaster arrives.

She began walking along the barricade, ignoring the soldiers telling everyone to stay behind the safety line.

If Ivana couldn't call...

Maybe she'd come looking instead.

They'd worked together for nearly four years.

Every morning followed the same routine.

Coffee.

Complaining about deadlines.

Arguing over whose turn it was to buy lunch.

Ivana always arrived five minutes late.

Always.

She smiled despite herself.

"If she's late because of this..." she muttered, glancing toward the impossible wall, "...I'm never letting her hear the end of it."

No answer came.

Only the low hum of the barrier.

Then—

Movement.

Far beyond the blue light.

Someone stepped onto the empty road on the opposite side.

A woman.

White shirt.

Dark trousers.

Hair tied into a ponytail.

Her breath caught.

"Ivana..."

The woman lifted her head.

Even from that distance...

She recognised her.

There was no mistaking the way Olivia stood with one shoulder slightly lower than the other after an old university rugby injury.

She was alive.

Relief crashed into her so suddenly that tears blurred her vision.

"There you are!"

She pushed through the crowd.

Someone grabbed her sleeve.

"Miss! Stop!"

She pulled free.

Another voice shouted.

"The barrier isn't safe!"

She didn't care.

Ivana was standing right there.

Only a few dozen metres away.

Close enough to see.

Too far to reach.

"Ivanaa!"

Her friend turned.

For one perfect moment...

Their eyes met.

Recognition.

Ivana knew her.

She knew it.

She broke into a run.

Warning sirens exploded across the city.

Red lights flashed along the length of the barrier.

A booming voice echoed from hidden speakers.

"Citizen approaching restricted zone."

She kept running.

"Ivana!"

Metallic footsteps thundered behind her.

Fast.

Too fast.

She reached the final barricade and climbed over it without thinking.

The instant her feet touched the empty road...

Something grabbed her arm.

Cold.

Unmoving.

Unbreakable.

She cried out as steel fingers wrapped around her wrist.

A security robot.

Nearly two metres tall.

Its polished black armour reflected the blue glow of the barrier.

Its face wasn't a face at all.

Only a smooth visor filled with shifting white symbols.

It looked down at her.

"Citizen."

Its voice carried no anger.

No emotion.

Only certainty.

"Return to Human Territory."

She struggled violently.

"Let me go!"

"There is no authorised passage."

"My friend is over there!"

She pointed toward Ivana.

"She's right there!"

The machine didn't even look.

"There are no humans beyond this border."

Her heart stopped.

"What?"

"There are no humans beyond this border."

"ARE YOU BLIND?"

She twisted desperately, trying to point again.

"LOOK!"

Finally...

The robot turned its head.

It stared directly at Ivana.

For several long seconds...

Nothing happened.

Then it looked back at her.

"There are no humans beyond this border."