The year was 2098. The skyline of Massachusetts was no longer the blend of colonial charm and glass towers that once defined it. Now, sleek silver spires pierced the clouds like the fingers of a machine grasping at heaven. Drone corridors filled the skies, their humming swarms cutting neon trails through the dusk like restless fireflies. The air smelled faintly of ozone and rain-cooled metal. Billboards shimmered in midair, AI-curated advertisements shifting in real time to match each pedestrian’s pulse and gaze. Boston had long since become a hybrid; half memory, half algorithm. Even the Charles River glowed faintly blue