[ WP ] All 10 billion humans in the world wear wristbands that display their rank in terms of access to global resources in real time . Yours just jumped from the middle of the pack to # 19 in a span of 10 minutes .

Something woke me up in the night, and I instinctively glanced down at my port ring for information. I did a double take. The decimal place must be off... The odd silence in the middle of the night distracted me. I did n't know how to process a city without the constant whirring and thrum of incessant machines. Transportation, processing, construction, repair, there was nothing going on and it was spooky. 
 
 Something else was off too. The neon shadows cast on my ceiling were not strobing on and off. There was just the base emergency light level in the event of a power outage. Something was very wrong. 
 
 I called the view screen on and sat on the edge of the bed to watch. It took an eternity to sink in. The planet was dying. A meteor had hit in the new hell that used to contain new Brunswick, and a wave of fire and earth was swallowing the planet. I'd often wondered what I'd do in such a moment, maybe sitting in a cafe with friends, a fun thought experiment. 
 
 The answer was different than that. All that I could do was stare at the wall screen in shock. Even after it cut out. I heard the distant roar and glanced again at my port ring. The world server was under ground and protected from many a catastrophe. Enough perhaps for another few minutes before death also found the machine. 
 
 As chaos swallowed me instantly, all I saw were the digits on the display. 19. And then there was nothing more.
