MASS HALLUCINATIONS STRIKE DINER IN SECTOR 3
Breakfast Rush Turns Surreal as Patrons Report “Voices in Syrup”
By Elyra Knoss, Senior Culture Reporter
Patrons at Marla’s Diner, a well-known retro breakfast nook in Sector 3, were treated to more than pancakes and bad coffee yesterday morning. According to dozens of eyewitness reports, a shared hallucination swept through the crowd just after 9:00 A.M.—right as a new batch of synth-maple syrup was delivered. Diners reportedly froze mid-bite as holographic shapes and spectral voices filled the space. Some laughed, some wept, others ran screaming into the neon-lit streets shouting phrases like “The syrup sees us.”
Investigators from the Biochemical Sanitation Bureau found traces of a banned neuro-compound, Luxene-9, in the syrup reservoir—a substance known to trigger dream-state cognition in waking subjects. Curiously, the delivery manifest points to a shell company linked to the defunct corporate ghost, Draetek. Was it sabotage, accident, or something deeper? Marla’s is closed until further notice. But the whispers linger: What did the syrup say?
