"What would you do if you had only eight minutes left on earth..."

He groans "Ugh..." while stretching in his bed. He clung to his sheets as if he were being pulled away from them. He thought about why beds felt so much better when you had to leave them. After taking a deep sigh, he shuffles the blanket off of him and sits on the side of his bed.

After, he taps the side of his head, a projection the size of a flatscreen TV appears floating right in front of him, it looks like the display of a phone, he moves his eyes to the clock, "Oh crap, It's already six, I gotta go" he panics.

He jumps off his bed and jogs to the bathroom, he turns on the mirror and puts on his white button-down which was crumpled into a ball on his sink, turning on his projection once more, he taps the side of his head and turns on the radio.

Reaching towards a cup on the far end of the counter, he grabs a chunky toothbrush, which spurts out toothpaste onto its own bristles, and then he sings happy birthday to himself three times. 

After spitting out the toothpaste, he taps his head once more, turning the song off right before the chorus. Then he grabs a towel from the rack and wipes some toothpaste sticking to his bottom lip before walking back into the bedroom.

Picking up his suit jacket, he puts it on and grabs a nutrient bar left on his nightstand, scarfing it down.

Walking to his door, he gets the feeling that he's forgetting something... "Ah, the documents Mike told me to deliver" he taps his temple again, bringing up all his contacts, he scrolls until a contact named 'MIKE work' appears.

Tapping on the contact he messages Mike 'did you finish writing the documents from yesterday' a couple seconds after three dots appear below his message and soon following it a message, 'yeah here's the file give it to John for me will ya, thanks'

And below that one a zip file labeled, 'For John'. After clicking on it, a loading screen pops up and clouds his vision. The file wasn't that large, only taking a couple seconds to download.

'Appreciate it Mike' he sends one more message and then gets rid of the projection, now he was ready... he walks to his front door and takes a deep breath, opening his door and walking into the hallway.

Just as he's about to walk to the tele-porter he gets a notification, he pulls up the projection again he was half expecting it to be Mike but it was one of his friend from high-school Rayna, it was weird to contact him at this point but he pulled up her messages, anyway.

'Hey Solace, been a while... senior year I think, anyway an acquaintance of mine got two tickets to a tech expo at Horizon Dome, according to some sources, there's a cool new invention the government's been hiding that's gonna be revealed there, I know you like that tech stuff, I was wondering if you'd wanna come with'

Solace's eyebrows raise it was quite sudden after all, but it was true that he did like that sort of stuff and he didn't hate her either so... 'Sure, it'd be fun to hang out after all this time, tell me the date and time and i'll be there'

Not even a second after he gets a reply, 'Yeah it's in three days, at 3:00 P:M, everything else is on the site, i'll send the link' , not long after, below her message a url to a website, his curiosity was piqued at this point, and with a quick flick of his finger he clicked on the link, it looks very corporate but the bland layout could be ignored just by the sheer ingenuity of the inventions.

He couldn't believe he didn't know it was happening, as he scrolled down the list of inventions he couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of seeing all of them in person much less trying them out, as he scrolled down the listings a few stand-out items caught his eye, 'Mapple's revealing a new cybernetic leg now with real haptic feedback, Bare Genix releasing new All-Senses simulated RPG' yet the thing that caught his eye the most wasn't any of the flashy inventions.

At the bottom of the list is one invention, without a description, nor a name, just three question marks, among all the giant companies and revolutionary invention it stands alone with no backing or explanation, it was obvious from that what it was... "This must be that government invention Rayna talked about"

He was done checking the website so he turned off his projection, and began to walk to the tablet at the front of the tele-porter, before he can see what's on it, the tablet notices him through it's bottom camera and says, "Hello, Solace which floor are you going to." 

Solace walks into the chamber of the tele-porter the walls are barely wide enough to raise his arms, to be fair the wider ones go for debaucherous prices, the door slides closed while he's thinking to himself, but then he answers "To the lobby please" the tablet makes a ringing sound and says in a cheerful tone, "Have a good day at work, Solace"

Before Solace can give his thanks the glass chamber gets swallowed by a blinding blue light and in an instant he's at the lobby, the glass door slides open and he takes a step out of it, the lobby of his apartment was conjoined with a casino, so the constant sound of slots being rolled, dice being cast, and the unfortunate cries of losers could be heard.

To be frank, he didn't quite like it... he didn't even see the interest in them, casinos hadn't changed much from the 21st century, he found it weird how in this world where you could be fully immersed in a new world people would choose to stand in front of some primitive machines, most of the mid to low end casino's equipment was from the 2000's, the high end ones used modern technology though, he wondered if it was the antiquity was what drove people towards it.

He decides to drop the thought, understanding that he'd never understand it, shifting his attention to the lobby of the apartment, If he had to describe it in a couple words, it'd be fancy but empty, most of the people sitting in reception were office workers like him, their expressions conveyed a sense of boredom from their routines.

A few of them were scrolling on their projection while leaned against a wall with serious expressions, one of them looks away from their screen and makes eye contact with him, Solace awkwardly waves at the man, who goes right back to work without acknowledging him.

Solace turns away from the man and starts to walk out of the complex, as soon as he steps out a strong breeze brushes past him, making his clothes shift slightly and his hair to flow backwards.

With that, Solace opens the gate separating his complex and the sidewalk, in front of him was the road and a plethora of other apartment complexes, the neighboring areas thrived as a prominent district for companies and so a lot of their employees seeking convenient housing moved nearby only increasing the need for apartment complexes.

As he's blanking out staring at the buildings a taxi stops right in front of him, snapping him out of his stupor, he stares at the window for a moment and opens the back seat door, plopping down on the soft chair.

The taxi driver looks back at him and asks, "Where you goin" Solace replies after pressing a button which automatically puts your seatbelt on, "I'm heading to work, Mendworth... it's a smaller scale for this area"

The driver nods and turns the car on, almost instantaneouly Solace gets a pop-up hovering in the middle of his view, 'From, Aurora apartments ---> Mendwoth Offices... 205 Bens' underneath a text a square with the prompt 'Pay'

Solace clicks it and after a 30 second wait the payment accepts and the car starts to go, Solace stares out the window as they drive, admiring the view of the city.

As they get closer to his office, the scale of the building expands immensely, buildings that reach all the way to the clouds are a dime a dozen, that just shows how important these people were.

They drive for around another 10 minutes, and suddenly stop at a sidewalk beside Solace's office, the driver turns back again smiling at him and the car door automatically opens, "Have a good day sir." 

Solace walks out of the car and smiles, "You too" then he shuts the door, and watches at the taxi drives away, not wasting any time he walks to the front of the office.

grasping the handle of one of the doors he pulled it open, and walked into the lobby, he was minutes away from being late so he rushed over to the reception desk, shortly after reaching it a woman with half of a metallic head walks into view.

It wasn't a common sight for someone to get such an implant, at least one as prominent as her's to top it off not a lot of places or at least cheap ones performed the surgeries in the first place making her metallic features stand out more.

"Hello... sir?" Solace snaps out of his thought and looks at the woman, "Oh, sorry, I'm clocking in" The woman stares at him for a bit, after looking down and tapping something unknown on a tablet, and then she looked up from it and said, "Have a good day"

After she says that he walks away heading to the elevator, he clicks the 14th floor button and the door starts to close, but before the it fully does he hears someone yell out, "Wait!" after a hand grasps the side of the doors, pulling the elevator doors back open.

A thin pale man enters the elevator, quickly rushing to the back wall and pushing up his glasses, his suit hangs loosely off his haggard body as if he stole it off the back of a man one size larger than him.

Solace goes to greet the man, extending his hand amicably to which the man accepts as he sheepishly goes to grab Solace's hand, "I haven't seen you at the office before, you a new hire?"

The man nods confirming his suspicions, and Solace noticing the man's nervousness, playfully slaps him on the back making the haggard man jolt in shock, "Don't be nervous, it's a great environment, Ah! i'm Solace by the way" 

He looks at the increasing number on the elevator screen and then back at Solace, flashing a quick smile he says, "Thanks... Asten" before either of them could say anything else, the elevator doors slowly slide open.

Both of them promptly step out of the elevator, Asten observes his surroundings, the office was right in front of them with the only thing separating them being a door, along the walls outside it, benches that employees often talked to each other during breaks, and for unfortunate people who either don't have someone to cook them food, are too lazy to cook for themselves, or simply forgot, a couple vending machines are stationed throughout the hall.

Solace was getting concerned by how long he was standing still gawking at the place so he said, "Are you sure you don't need help finding your station?" Asten somehow gets shocked from being suddenly spoken to but responds rather quickly, "No... I wouldn't wanna impose, i'll be fine"

He couldn't help but notice a slight tremble in the man's hands, thus he tried to reassure him again, "You're not a bother at all, I can help you find where you need to go" the man shook his head, "It's fine... thanks for the offer"

Solace sighed, if he didn't want any help then he shouldn't push it, besides he had to get in soon or he'd really be late, "Alright, I'll head in first, I wish you luck" to that the man nods and Solace leaves him, shaking.

It was quite rowdy in the office, at least for a normal days standards, Solace was pretty sure of the culprit. That tech expo Rayna had invited him to, his company had a couple inventions that were gonna be exhibited, just increasing the amount of work he'd have to do, with one last sigh he walks over to his desk, weaving through rushed coworkers who seem to be running around with no destination.

As he thought he works until the warm light flowing from the windows ceases. After a rather hectic day of work he could finally leave, he turns the computer off and watches as the log-off screen pops up and his monitor shortly after turns black, leaning back in his chair he stretches out his body shamelessly, not that he'd have anyone to be conscious of, as everyone else had left by now.

While packing up his belongings, he suddenly remembers the nervous man from the elevator, he has a fleeting thought, hoping that he had a good first day, well he could see him tomorrow and ask.

After walking to the office's door he looks back at it, the previously tidy desks were now disheveled, the windows blinds were lopsided somehow, and papers lied across the room carelessly, after a blink or maybe two he closed the door and entered the elevator pressing the button for the lobby.

As soon as he reaches the lobby he goes to clock out, this time that half-robot lady wasn't here, instead the usual receptionist, an older lady who looks to be in her late 50's was standing behind the desk, in contrast to the woman who has a part of her face that's made of metal, the older lady seems quite normal.

The old lady clocks him out by tapping on her tablet and waves at him as he leaves the building, now outside he feels the cold breeze and shivers, if there was one good thing about the cold it's that it makes you much more excited to be warm again.

Not a lot of taxi's came at this time so he'd usually ride the bus, the walk to the closest bus stop from his job was only around 10 minutes if he rushed, so he immediately started to walk along the sidewalk, the cars driving past him blowing his hair backward whenever they pass.

Soon though the bus stop comes into view, it was easy to notice because of it's size, and the design being quite... unique, it was shaped like a rectangle but with round edges as well as a curve in the left wall, embedded on it's sides are two large tablets the size of an adult man's torso, projected onto them was the real-time bus schedules, ensuring that you always knew where and when the bus is coming.

Thanks to it, he now knew there was five minutes till the bus came, because he was standing still for a bit, a shiver started to crawl up his back like a 12-legged spider, making his whole body tingle, he hated the night for this reason, because of the cold.

It reminded him of some bad memories that he'd rather forget, whenever he was cold they'd resurface, he started to hear blaring sirens, the whirr of helicopter blades, his breath started to become sharp and jagged, but something stopped him from slipping completely into that train of thought, the bus's headlights were now illuminating him as well as the whole bus stop, he walks to the bus doors which respond by opening.

He walked to the end of the bus, there was a couple people on the bus, nobody looked particularly eye-catching, most of them were coming back from work, so there were a couple people sleeping, one such person was sleeping on a complete strangers shoulder, the person getting laid on's eyes awkwardly dart around the bus, considering waking up the tired office worker.

He walks past them all, taking a seat at the back of the bus, a couple seconds later the bus starts to move, it was really quiet and calm in the bus that along with the smooth roads made it very hard to keep his eyes open, so he tapped the side of his head and set an alarm that would trigger when he made it home, after he rests his head against the window, his eyelids start moving downwards until there's no longer any light.

BEEP BEEP! with a jolt he awakes, he hurriedly looks around wondering what the loud noise was coming from, there was even fewer people on the bus now, but almost all of them were looking at him now as if he was crazy, noticing that he's at his stop he awkwardly chuckles and walks to the front of the bus, taking slow steps down the bus's stairs.

He was now back home, it had a different vibe from the morning, the aforementioned conjoined casino's clients went up during the night after all, the nearby parking lot was packed with cars and there was a strong smell of booze and obnoxiously loud pop music, with a sigh he walks into the lobby.

The people waiting in reception changes as well during this time, there was a lot more couples and old people, one particular old person was walking up to him, "Hey Ace, you just left work right, wanna play a lil game of blackjack, i'll go easy on ya"

Solace looks disapprovingly at the old man, "How many times have I told you, I don't like gambling, it's a waste of time" the old man just laughs at him, "I was just joking, jeez don't have much of a sense of humor do ya, that's why you don't have a girlfriend you know"

Solace crossed his arms, "Does auntie know you're here?" the old man's eyes widen like he just got caught committing a crime, "Hehe, of course not" Solace facepalms and looks straight at the old man, "How that lady can still trust you is beyond me" the old man giggles and places his hands on his hips puffing out his chest, "Must be my abundant charm"

They both stand in silence for a moment, broken only by the old man's cough, "Anywho, I just came to deliver a message from Ethel, she said she wants to have brunch with you tomorrow, at that new restaurant that's been all over her feed" Solace's arched an eyebrow at his words, "Sure you didn't come here to gamble instead?"

He doesn't answer so Solace changes the topic, "Alright, i'll let her know i'm going I gotta go now; my bed is calling" the old man waves at Solace as he walks to the tele-porter, and in an instant he's swallowed by a lustrous blue light, and he's transported straight to his floor. 

Wasting no time he walks out of the tele-porter, the tablet in front of it says, "Welcome back Solace, how was your day?" he smiles at the tablet, "It was good, but it's gonna fill my schedule up" The tablet's emoticon face shifts from a smile to confused, "Isn't that good?" to that Solace nods.

"Yeah it's great" the tablet doesn't talk anymore, their conversation was over so he and he turns back to his room, plopping straight into his bed stomach-first, breathing into his blanket he inhaled the comforting scent of it's fabric and it's warmth, he didn't have the energy to take off his coat, and his eyelids begun to become heavier, the weight of the day disappearing with each consecutive blink.

Until the weight became too much to bear and his consciousness drifted away, and he gave into the drowsiness, falling asleep, the noises of the world fading into the distance.