The Hub

By Georgina Jeffery

In sunny San Cicaro, a new app is dominating the city's streets – and its people.

 

Max loves her city, and believes everyone deserves to enjoy its hidden treasures. So when she launches the SC Hub, a new social app to connect people and places, she couldn't be happier with its blazing overnight success. But her reclusive girlfriend, Ellie, can't help but worry about the magnetic pull the app is having on its creator, and the strange occurrences in town that seem linked to it.

 

Are people driving the app… or the other way round?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coblyn Press
• Release date: Jul 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201287979

Georgina Jeffery

Georgina Jeffery is a British speculative fiction writer living in Shropshire, England. Her stories blend elements of fantasy, humour and horror, and tend to reflect her penchant for mythology and folklore. She writes in frenetic sprints during her daughter’s naptimes, or very late into the night. Sign up to her newsletter to receive a free short story today.

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Acknowledgements

This story was originally published in 2020 by Thunderbird Studios in The San Cicaro Experience, an urban fantasy anthology. San Cicaro itself is the intellectual property of Thunderbird Studios, and I remain grateful to the team for allowing me to dwell for a short time in the streets of their weird, wonderful city.

The following is a slightly revised edition of the story. If you enjoy reading The Hub, I highly recommend looking up the original anthology (and associated books in the series) for more strange tales from the streets of San Cicaro.

My thanks as always to friends and family who support my work, and to every reader who joins me on this journey.

THE HUB

The cork popped like a gunshot.

‘Happy launch day, everyone!’

A tired but enthusiastic cheer filled the room.

Max beamed at her team as she handed out not-exactly-champagne-but-it’ll-do in fluted glasses. It felt like it had taken an age to get here, but they’d finally made it.

‘Speech!’ called Andrés, to a couple of titters.

Max squared her shoulders proudly. ‘Friends! Colleagues. I know it’s been a long, and at times bumpy, road. I can only thank you for all the late nights, hard work, and dedication you’ve given to this project. Today marks a new beginning—no longer just developing our app, but now pushing it into production. Managing it in real time, for real users, and for a real community. To make a real difference. I’m so grateful to have you on my team, and I honestly couldn’t think of a better group of people to work with.’

‘You’re such a nerd, Max. It’s just us,’ Liv said, with a sardonic eye roll. She tilted her glass. ‘More booze, please.’

‘And more cake for me,’ Nick added, already halfway through a slice.

It was a small dev team, and while she would have loved to have paid them the highest industry rates, Max’s business loan only allowed her to offer a pittance. But the three of them had each taken her job offer for similar reasons. For one, they all knew each other from college. Max had shared classes in coding and software development with Nick and Liv, while Andrés had a fellow business studies major. They’d drifted apart after graduation, forging divergent career paths in various unfulfilling industries. It was Max who brought them back together five years later with the first draft of her business plan.

The other reason, the big one, was Max herself. She was a powerhouse of enthusiasm. Max could pitch an idea with an addictive passion that spilled out of her like a fountain. No sooner had she unveiled her proposal for ‘the Hub’ than they were already