text: BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP The alarm stirred James awake from a deep sleep. Feeling groggy, he rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. 8:00 a.m. It was Monday morning and time to get ready for work, but he wished he could stay in bed all day. There was nothing to look forward to out there. After gulping a sour energy shot, downing a tasteless breakfast bar, brushing his teeth and getting dressed, James was almost ready to go. The final step in his morning routine, he opened the two cases on his desk that held his ARmor contact lenses and earpieces. Holding his eye open with one hand, he used the index finger on his other hand to pop the lens in one eye, then the other. They weren’t for seeing, his eyesight was fine, they were for projections. Using augmented reality technology, the lenses created a virtual interface over the real world, displaying information above people’s heads or showing videos when he looked at blank surfaces. He then put in the earpieces, two black dots the size of a penny that fit into his ear perfectly. “Do I have everything I need for work?” James voiced the question out loud, though nobody else was in his apartment. “You are forgetting your keys. They are on the kitchen counter.” The woman’s voice who spoke back in his ear was Tessa, his virtual assistant. “Thanks Tessa,” he said as he walked over to the counter to grab the keys. He didn’t need to thank her, but for some reason it felt right. James hadn’t liked the ARmor lens and earpiece set at first, it made him feel disconnected from other people, but after a few months he started to get used to it. Everyone else used them, and he wanted to fit in. As he left his apartment and locked his door, James looked at his watch again. 8:30 on the dot. The same time he left every day. He walked down the two flights of stairs and out of the building into the cold, foggy morning weather. Taking a left, he began his daily walk to the train station. He looked at the woman walking just ahead of him on the sidewalk. When he squinted his eyes, a box of information appeared above her head. Her name was Mary. Her content queue was filled with electronic music. Near the bottom of the box was a red Do Not Disturb notice. He had gotten used to seeing that. It seemed everyone kept it on in public at all times. Below the notice was a “Request Conversation” option that he could select with his eyes if he wanted to say something to her, and it would give her the choice of whether to hear him through her earpiece or keep his voice muted. But there was no reason to try that. He didn’t have anything to say anyway. The brisk pace James walked with brought him to the station just before the 8:40 commuter train arrived. As he reached the platform gate, he looked at the camera that scanned his eye lenses to identify him and deduct one ride credit from his account. The gate lifted and he walked onto the platform. When the train door opened, he saw that all of the seats were taken. Rows of commuters sat upright in silence, earpieces in, staring at the surfaces on the backs of the seats in front of them. As he moved his focus from a tall, brown-haired man to a short blonde woman, he noticed they all had their Do Not Disturb signs turned on. He knew that each of them were watching their own videos that no one else could see, but the way they all sat frozen with their eyes open staring forward made them look like robots. He felt lonely, wishing he could go back to the days when people talked to each other in public. Near the doors where the people without a seat stood, a large white canvas offered them a surface on which they could project their own videos. Three people held the metal pole and stared at the same blank canvas. As he squinted at each of them, he saw two had the morning news at the top of their content queue and one had sports. All three had the same Do Not Disturb notice. James didn’t have his Do Not Disturb notice turned on, but nobody ever talked to him anyway. They were all so engrossed in their own content. Feeling bored, he looked at the same surface as the other standers. He hadn’t put anything in his queue before he left, so a list of options popped up. He didn’t care about the news or sports, so he selected the cartoon option with his eyes. Then a list of cartoons appeared and he selected Tom & Jerry. He always went with the classics. He had already seen all of the episodes, but it distracted him just enough to get the 20-minute train ride over with. When it reached his stop, several people stood up and filed out in an orderly line. He took his place on the escalator that brought him to the street. Crossing to the other side of the street, he entered the grey building where he worked. He walked in and scanned his eye into the camera, the same type they had at the station, then took the elevator to the 14th floor. Passing a row of cubicles, he saw everyone sitting in silence with their earpieces in and Do Not Disturb notices on. He reached his cubicle, turned on his computer and saw a message from his boss. It gave him a list of his tasks for the day. “On it. Thanks.” James messaged back. His boss was in the corner office, but they only communicated through the message application. Several hours passed as James completed his tasks. He kept his eyes on his screen all day, only leaving for bathroom breaks. He hadn’t spoken to a single person all day. His work didn’t require talking to anyone and he didn’t know any of them well enough to try to start a conversation. Plus they all had their Do Not Disturb Notices turned on, so it would have been rude to try. When the clock read 5:00 p.m., James left the building and walked back to the train station, returning home the way he came. He microwaved a dinner plate and watched videos for a few hours until it was dark. Then he took a sleeping pill and went to bed. Tuesday passed with the same routine. Alarm, breakfast bar, lenses, earpieces, train, office, home, dinner plate, videos, sleeping pill. Then Wednesday. Alarm, breakfast bar, lenses, earpieces, train, office, home, dinner plate, videos, sleeping pill. On Thursday morning he woke feeling more depressed than usual. For a second he considered calling out of work, but he needed to hit his quota for the month. As soon as he turned left out of his building he saw something strange. An energetic boy was throwing a tennis ball against the telephone pole, running to where it bounced, catching it and then throwing it again. Skinny with curly black hair, the boy looked to be about 10 years old. The boy was so focused on his game he didn't notice James until he was just a few feet away. When he saw him, the boy stopped throwing the ball and turned toward James. “Good morning mister! How are you today?” The shock of hearing the boy speak to him caused James to jump back, looking startled. Before he could think of something to say, the boy was speaking again. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” James cleared his throat. “Yes I’m fine. Just a bit surprised is all. You’re the first person who’s spoken to me in at least three days.” “THREE DAYS! That’s crazy!” Raising his voice, the boy sounded confused. “My mom talks to me every day. And she says I should talk to people when I’m outside playing.” “And why does she say that?” “She says that’s the way people used to act before they all had earpieces in. She says they’ve turned everyone into anti-social robots.” James pondered the idea for a second. “Well she may be on to something there.” “Think fast!” The boy tossed the tennis ball to James. Not expecting it, James flailed his arms quickly and missed as the ball bounced off him and rolled down the street. “Why’d you do that?” James asked the boy, who skipped down the street to pick up the ball. “I don’t know!” He shouted back. “Throwing the ball is fun, and you looked like you could use some fun.” “You don’t think I have fun?” “You don’t look like it. You look like a sad old man.” “Well that’s not a very nice thing to say to someone,” said James halfheartedly, cringing at the brief thought that the kid might be right. “You don’t have to be sad. Try talking to people. Maybe that’ll cheer you up.” Again, the young boy had made James pause to think. “You know what, maybe you’re right. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. What’s the worst that could happen?” “That’s the spirit!” “I’ve got to go. I’m going to miss my train.” As James turned to walk toward the station, a faint smile crept onto his face. He couldn’t remember the last time he had smiled. He walked faster than normal to make up the time he had lost, and when he saw the train approaching he broke into a light jog to make it into the platform in time. He reached it just as the doors opened, and he filled in with the group of people getting onto the train. The seats were all taken again, so he remained standing. Excited with the thoughts that the boy had put in his mind, James looked around for someone to talk to, turning his head frantically and shifting his focus from person to person. They all had their Do Not Disturb notices turned on. James decided he would request a conversation with one of the other people standing. He looked toward a thin, pale woman and selected the Request Conversation option. Immediately, a REJECTED note flashed in red. She looked at him with an annoyed expression and then turned away from him. He tried the same thing with a man in a suit with slick black hair. REJECTED. Then he tried a round-faced, young man wearing a baseball hat. REJECTED. An older, gray-haired woman. REJECTED. His frustration grew into anger. Why wouldn’t any of these people talk to him? They weren’t doing anything else besides watching videos. It didn’t make any sense. Turning back to the man with the hat, James inched closer to him and waved both of his hands excitedly in front of the man’s face. The man looked disturbed. James took out his earpieces and motioned for the man to do the same. Grudgingly, he obliged. “What’s the matter with you?” The man snapped at him. “Nothing. I just wanted to talk to somebody. What’s your name?” “None of your business. Find somebody else to talk to if you’re so eager. I’m in the middle of a show and have nothing else to say to you.” The man put his earpieces back in and pushed his way through to the other end of the train. Heart pounding and feeling embarrassed, James decided he wasn’t going to give up just yet. Hearing the man’s voice, though hostile, had still excited him the same way the boy’s had. James put his hand on the shoulder of the man in the suit, who turned around took look at James. James again motioned for the man to take out his earpiece. When he did, the man shouted at James. “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re bothering everybody on this train! I’m alerting security.” The man pressed a blue button near the door. Within seconds, a security guard burst through the door at the end of their train car. “Security! This man has been harassing everybody. Please take him off the train.” Just as the man said it, the train began slowing to a stop. “We know. We saw him on the cameras.” The officer turned to James. “Put your hands behind your back. You’re under arrest.” “Under arrest? For what?” James was stunned. “For disturbing the peace.