Morning light filled the command pavilion.
Arthur stood at the planning table, reviewing expansion maps. The city had grown beyond every projection. New streets were needed. New districts. New infrastructure to support a population that doubled every few months. He worked through the numbers methodically—population density, water demand, waste capacity, traffic flow.
Everything was normal.
Until he reached residential planning.
Future housing density. How many families would need homes in five years. Where they would want to live. How far they would walk to work. How much space they would need for gardens, for children, for the quiet rhythms of daily life.
Arthur began calculating.
Then he noticed something strange.
