Reboot

April 10, 2027

The mid-April sun, bright but cool, beamed off the chrome railings outside the Innovation Centre on the banks of the river, as the world’s press queued up excitedly, checking cameras and audio recorders as the security men in hi-vis ponderously checked credentials.

The site had been chosen to showcase the Government’s much-trumpeted investment in science and research — a soft power play against the Chinese…