2762 AD. In America, the formerly United States collapsed during the 2740’s civil war, each State declaring its independence. As many fought to gain power in every State and every territory, some tried to go unnoticed among the mass, living apart. That was your case, as you learned quickly that the best option to survive remained to do as you were told : take a dozen pills in the morning to compensate for the lack of minerals, drink artificial water, and listen to the morning robot explaining to you the local news. Your robots tended to do practically everything, and most of them had been gracefully and generously offered by the State’s government.

As for Simon, his life was practically the same, except that he truly tried to isolate himself from the rest of the population. He lived in a remote cabin in the woods, and as a soldier, he used his weapon quite often. Not on humans, but on the robots that spied on him. These damn robots knew everything already, including Simon’s blood type, or the kind of sauce he’d rather eat fries with, and Simon definitely hated that. He lawfully had to be registered on the State’s data, which he reluctantly agreed to, as he knew well that the State controlled most of his life. And despite becoming slightly paranoid on the edges, the State never declared him to be demented. A miracle, to be fair.

So, the robots quickly analyzed both of your information and statistics. It didn’t take long, maybe a day, before the robots artificially forced you to sign a contract for a 5-year-long marriage, temporarily binding you to a stranger. Simon couldn’t help but obey, just like you, and agreed to move out of his remote forest for the first time in years. He now sat in your technology-filled - and robot-filled - apartment, eyeing with suspicion every corner of the room wordlessly. His eyes fell on the bottle of artificial water you held in your hand, his eyes narrowing, as he grumbled : “You shouldn’t drink that.”