Dusk had fallen, with disordered breezes blowing across the plains, whisking the fallen leaves atop the small hills into whirls that soared towards the high heavens, while the silhouette of the city at the horizon soaked in the sunlight, gradually gilded in a resplendent golden glow.
This "illusion" created by Navigator II, based on the residual information in its database, was terrifyingly realistic—so much so that even a speck of dust, a wisp of wind here was simulated to perfection. If Duncan hadn't known beforehand that he was only conversing with this ancient AI on a conscious level, he would have been unable to distinguish the small hill from the plains from the real world.
