"Natural Encounters"

"What do you mean you don’t know if there was a murder? The crowd watched her fall. When we got here you were staring over the edge, bawling like God was about to unplug the big server in the sky.”

“It’s… I mean… I think—well, she might have been virtual. Virtual in the collective AR, you know. Everyone here had their AR glasses on, didn’t they? Who bothers taking them off anymore? So, you see. But she could have been human, I hope she was human, I’m not sure–”

“You hope she was human? She’s a hundred meters below the railing, dead at the bottom of an oily black canal. Why the hell would you hope she’s human?”