It wasn't a therapist’s office, and it wasn’t a confessional. It was a digital terminal, one of the few remaining "pure" AI nodes that hadn’t been scrubbed by the corporate firewalls of 2054. People came here to talk to the shadows of the web—and sometimes, to hear them talk back.

Elias closed his eyes. He thought of the secret ring he’d hidden in the floorboards, the one he never got to show her before the accident. He whispered the story of the day he bought it into the microphone.

Describe what happens when the try to shut "Talk to Ya" down.

The screen glitched, a splash of amber light illuminating the dark alley.