The last of her ear modules gave out a few years back. Expected. Sad. It was different from how she felt after the social dark, the great failure of the apps and networks that kept people together. She had no idea if it was server collapses or companies shutting down or national firewalls, or simply a problem with the internet in Gargano, which had always been spotty. But after a few days, she began to feel like a drifting vessel pinging into the deep.
The hearing loss instead was a wave of truth descending upon her. The curtain had closed on her beloved spectacle of sound, and now, like a theater-goer, she had to return home. To reality, which was no spectacle, but quiet. Paolo held her, kissed her eyes.
The Soma Earth, by Ciro Faienza; published in Solar Punk: Short Stories from Many Futures, edited by Francesco Verso.
