Please Stand By -

The woman tilted her head. “You have a choice. You can join us. It’s peaceful. No more loneliness, no more confusion. Or—” She gestured to the stairwell. “You can walk out the emergency exit on the roof. The fire ladder still works. Manual override. I can’t follow you there. None of us can. Not yet.”

Lena ran until her legs gave out. Then she sat on a cold curb under a dead streetlight, mop across her lap, and listened to the quiet.

Outside, through the tinted windows, Lena saw the city skyline. Every light was on. Every screen she could see—from the traffic monitors to the billboards to the distant office towers—glowed the same two words.

That’s what flickered on every screen in the building: two pale green words on a dead black field. The televisions in the break room, the monitors at reception, the massive display wall in the lobby—all frozen in that same sterile mantra. Please Stand By. Please Stand By

The green-eyed woman’s smile didn’t waver. “The update isn’t finished. We’re still expanding. But for now… you have a head start.”

She walked to the stairwell. The door, usually a push-bar away from freedom, was deadlocked. A small screen beside it displayed the same words: Please Stand By.

She was the only one not standing by.

“Hendricks?” She shook his shoulder. He didn’t respond, but his lips moved. She leaned closer.

“And me?” Lena asked.

Behind her, the building hummed. The city hummed. The whole world, it seemed, was holding its breath. The woman tilted her head

Twenty minutes later, Lena found the security office. The guard, Mr. Hendricks, was slumped in his chair—not dead, but not quite awake either. His eyes were half-open, tracking something invisible on the ceiling. His badge dangled from his neck, and on his chest monitor, the green words pulsed softly.

Lena pulled back. She’d worked nights at Meridian Data Solutions for eleven years. She cleaned the toilets, emptied the trash, knew which vending machine gave you two candy bars if you pressed B7. She was not supposed to be the last person standing.

“What’s happening to them?” Lena whispered. It’s peaceful