It’s morning.

I think anyway. A quick look to the time, silently hovering a few inches above my nightstand confirms the fear. I once thought that the older I got the easier it would be to get up and go to work everyday. I was wrong. Here I am a brand new thirty-two years old and still dragging my ass out of bed in the morning.

Barely.

Lying there I run a couple thoughts of calling in sick through my head when I hear the soft tone of my display again, I glance over and see the new mail icon appear and in that moment, I give into the fact that I will be getting out of bed today.

Dressed and showered in the kitchen I shut the world out as I watch the coffee slowly drip into my cup. It’s not much of a world to shut out. I’m single, never married, no kids, just a cat, George, who I hardly ever see. George never lets my lack of a life get in the way of his social calendar. Thinking of him I look down to the auto feeder and see it tipped to the side, food-spilling out, George never liked the indignity of being fed by a machine; it’s probably why I kept him.

With coffee in hand I step out to the living room. My Node, realizing my presence a moment before was already cycling through its boot sequence, or warming up as my mom might say. I sit on the couch and wait patiently as the display begins to take shape in front of me. I think again about how fast the new vNode’s must be as mine finishes loading. I picked this one up a few years ago just after they really started to become popular, I cared more about that stuff then I guess. People don’t buy flat screens, net boxes or disc players anymore, instead they buy these large, coffee table sized black boxes that in most people’s homes anyway sit where a TV once did.

Above the box and stretching out around it for several feet is the display area. It’s an invisible holographic cube, which can render an image of any imagination flawlessly. Until very recently it has been the only thing in home entertainment, education and connectivity. An evolving computer core, a high definition 3d matrix, a fully interactive home theater and a better then live sound system. With a standard laser-optical Network connection, it is a reason never to leave the house for many people.

I am quickly navigating the display to the mail application as Annea appears on couch to my left and begins reading through the morning news. I turn to smile weakly at her and she smiles back, pausing only for a second before continuing to tell me about a blackout last night in the west end of the city.

“Annea, I am just going to read my mail right now”, I say almost apologizing.

I swear that Annea looks defeated, saying nothing for a moment.

“Fine, just so you know, I spent all night filtering and putting this together for you, at least pretend your interested.” she said half smiling.

I said I was single but I probably should have mentioned Annea.

A few years ago intelligent virtual assistants or Iva’s were introduced when Node’s and other devices started to become to cumbersome for the average person to functionally operate. Iva’s were supposed to bridge the gap between man and machine. The Iva’s were a personality to the nanochip brain and suddenly they were in everything and everywhere you went. Some days you could interact with more Iva’s then people and perversely most people seemed to prefer it that way.

Iva’s never forgot to leave off the pickles and onions and do everything with the innocent warming smile of a three year old.

The Nanochip has changed the world drastically. On the simplest level a nanochip is a finite universe of atomic sized robots that can be programmed to do just about anything. The true genius of the bots though was that they each have memory and can learn beyond their basic programming. Suddenly everything around us began to know our habits and conform to them. We are no longer operators of machines, we are true users. The question of how to build intelligent life has been answered by something we created in a computer lab.

I don’t know if the religious ever did really recover from the shock, I haven’t been to church or anything like that in ten years. Life really did start to get easier I think, the technological boom that followed was greater then any that came before and it touched everyone’s lives; from the very rich to the very poor. It really did look for a time that the bots were the answer to all the worlds’ problems.

Progress is sometimes deceiving.

Anyway that’s where Annea came in, I transferred her about two years ago from an online discount bin and the first time she loaded up she simply stared at me for several minutes before asking if I had something for her to do. A little shocked, I had said no and with a roll of her eyes she had disappeared.

In the years since Annea has become a strange part of my life. For a long time I wasn’t sure how I thought of her, I knew I didn’t think of her as real person, but after Heather left I did begin to realize that she was more of a real friend then most of the flesh and blood ones who had exited in Heather’s wake.

“Sorry, just in a rush again this morning”, I replied.

“Whatever, I have places to be anyway. There is mail from ‘her’, make sure you read that one so you can tell me about it later.” She replied.

“Where are you going?” I asked without looking as the mail application appeared in the display.

“No where, just going to hangout with some of the other virtual pets.” She said, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

I love it when she does that.

I wonder sometimes how much Annea’s being beautiful has to do with my valuation of our friendship. She has straight blonde hair, with just a touch of brown, which somehow makes it appear softer–real. Cool blue eye’s that stare wide at me unblinking when I have said something she doesn’t understand, or can’t understand why I just said something incredibly stupid. She’s about five ten and would be about a hundred and twenty-five pounds, if she had any mass. Striking is a good word I guess, the kind of girl you saw on the street for a split second and then thought about for days after.

“You’re not a pet.” I replied.

“So you say bio boy, do you want anything?” she asks.

“How about ordering me a pizza, regular place, usual tops, and a couple of beer. Thought maybe you’d like to join me for a movie and a few of the new game demos or something when I get home tonight.” I answer.

She smiled despite herself and nodded.

“Ok. And Michael?” she asks suddenly, turning again to stare at me.

“Yeah?”

“Have you thought anymore about a Field connection?” she said it so quietly I strain to hear her.

“No,” I said. “I haven’t had the chance to think anymore more about it.” I knew the Field connection was important to her but I didn’t want to talk about it. I think she sees the dismissal in my expression and didn’t press the issue.

“Ok then, have a Happy Birthday.” She said disappearing before I have a chance to thank her. Do other peoples Iva’s make them feel guilty I wonder?

With Annea gone I turned my attention to the waiting mail. There was the usual assorted junk with promises of better jobs, better sex and better stain removing power. Annea doesn’t like to filter my mail for some reason; she says it’s good for me to have to wade through some trash. I wonder about her world when she says things like that. She can use the network to travel anywhere in the world, talk to millions of computers and others like herself but rarely does she have stories to tell or experiences to share.

Quickly browsing through the senders I spot the message Annea referred to as from ‘her’. As I had figured it could only have been one particular ‘her’. With Happy Birthday Michael!–screaming at me from the subject line I can’t hide my apprehension as it opened.

Just thinking of you. Why is it that you still insist on using this old mail system anyway, maybe we could meet up in the field sometime, when you stop being afraid of it.

Heather,

xo

Hello Annea. Still reading Michael’s mail?

Only Heather could be thoughtful enough to send a birthday greeting but manage to work in a couple of shots without breaking stride. I am in fact a little surprised to hear from her. It has been nearly a year since we parted ways. Well to be more specific it’s been nearly a year since she left me for, as she put it; better things. Why would she be asking me to meet her now, in the field of all places?

It wasn’t even eight o’clock, my head was already beginning to pound severely and it’s past time to start heading for work. With one last look to the comfort of my dingy apartment I get up and head out letting the door close behind me and listen for the lock to engage before heading down the dimly lit hall.

I have no illusions; it is going to be a long day.