Frank: I've been told you're writing a story. I'm hoping to read it once you're done.

Me: Oh, thanks.

Frank: Don't you have to put in a disclaimer or something, though?

Me: Why does everyone tell me to do this?! Fine. I don't own Tomorrowland.

'Well?' Casey asked impatiently at the monorail station.

Athena came back to reality. 'I'm sorry, what?'

'What are you going to do now?'

'Oh, right. I could go back to recruiting... but I would miss you two.'

Athena froze as she said that, realising that she had another flaw in her empathy interface. Casey noticed this too, but she passed over it. 'That's so sweet of you.'

After a moment of silence, Casey continued, 'you could help me run the recruitment program.'

'What would it involve?'

'Various stuff. You'd just help me organise the recruiters, make appointments, etc. You could manage it while I'm off with the electronics team or whatever.'

'So I'm your secretary?' Athena said indignantly.

Casey stuttered. 'No- just- you- look, it would be useful since you can meet with the biotechnologists and help them improve AA technology.'

'Fine.'

'Good. Pass me your phone.'

Athena obediently handed over a transparent glass-like tablet, and Casey took out a very similar one from her pocket. She brought both phones next to each other and tapped on each phone several times. She then handed Athena's phone back. 'Show this to the receptionist and he'll let you in. My office is 2A01.'

'Okay. See you later.'

'See you.'

Athena headed back into the building they had just left while Casey caught the next monorail. As Casey sat on the monorail she gazed out the window, watching the Aquatics Centre fly past. She remembered how there were pools of water suspended within cylinders in the 'commercial' she saw a year ago, and how divers could jump from pool to pool. Now, however, there was no need for cylinders and the water was suspended in the air by itself.

'You have arrived at Housing District 8,' announced the cool female voice after a couple of minutes. Casey got off here and walked down a road for ten minutes, passing multiple futuristic detached houses which looked nearly identical to each other. They mostly had flat roofs since it didn't rain in Tomorrowland, and some households turned the roof into a living space, like Casey's, and there were excellent views up there.

As soon as she reached the front door, she touched a metal pad next to the door and it slid open to let her in. She saw Nate sitting indolently on the sofa with the TV on but not watching it, and in his hands was a small electronic contraption he made that resembled a simple yet extremely quiet remote control helicopter.

Casey slapped him on the shoulders from behind. 'Hey, Nate. How was school?'

'Fine,' was Nate's nonchalant response.

Casey knew that school was quite difficult for Nate since he joined late. To cheer him up, she said, 'I wish I went to school here. It seems like a lot of fun,' trying not to sound nerdy at all.

Casey wasn't sure if Nate was going to reply, because suddenly the lights went out and a small battery icon appeared in the corner of the TV monitor, signifying that it was no longer connected to mains electricity. Nevertheless, it was still relatively bright since the local star had not set yet.

Casey's face wore a worried expression.

'It's just a power cut, Casey,' said Nate indifferently.

'There shouldn't be one. Electricity is transmitted through the atmosphere so the central transmission station would have to have shut down. I'll go check the circuit breaker.'

Nate remained on the sofa watching TV while Casey went to the utility room and opened the case of a monitor embedded into the wall.

'On. On. On. On. On. On. Off,' Casey muttered to herself, checking the circuit breaker in the same way her electronics tutor had taught her. Seems like there is no electricity coming into the household, she thought. She tapped a few times on the monitor, activating the backup power supply. Immediately the lights turned on around her.

'Is everything fine?' Nate asked when Casey returned.

'I'm not sure,' said Casey. 'I've switched on the backup power supply, but I should talk to Frank.'

Casey went to the kitchen where it was quieter and grabbed her phone. 'Frank, what's up with the power supply?'

Frank's face appeared on her phone. 'An engineer says that the central transmission station has just had an electrical spike. Should return to normal in a few minutes.'

'Why was there an electrical spike?'

'I think there was just a solar flare.'

'Okay. Fine. Bye, then.'

Casey went back over to Nate. 'Just a minor problem. Nothing to worry about.'

'Good, good.'

The two continued sitting on the sofa, Nate still flying his contraption around the coffee table.