The Fall of Mankind.

For hundreds of years, the human has lived with the firm conviction that he is the king of the world. All beings obeyed his will. The nature, everything that breathed and everything that was motionless, was also under his control.

At some point, he desired even more. He was bored with the blessings surrounding him from all sides. He rushed to what was previously allowed only to God himself - to control life and create others of his own kind in his image and wish.

But the human, blinded by his selfishness and vanity, did not even assume that he would lose his crown and fall from the throne of the ruler of the world to the very bottom in some fifteen years.

Hundreds of years of reign turned to dust when in several years God deprived him of all the gifts received earlier.

...

The future. Fifteen years later.

An annoying squeak, similar to a buzzing mosquito, was either approaching or moving away. The insect with enviable persistence flew up from different sides. Neither the pillow nor the blanket that covered the young man's head like a protective helmet helped.

His sleep was completely ruined.

Nick with a furious roar, like an angry beast, threw off his blanket, "I will kill the fuck out of you!" He jumped up on the bed and bounced to the ceiling, trying to catch an alarm clock flying a few centimeters from him.

He knew that if he didn't have time to turn off this annoying thing in time, then in a couple of seconds... The sound of a mosquito abruptly changed to the sound of metal, scraping the glass, this was the last option of a super-alarm clock, especially for those who missed the first two options - a light sound of the ocean waves and joyful twittering of birds.

"Agh, shit," the young man covered his ears with his hands, his face twisted, one of his legs tangled in a coverlet, and Nick collapsed to the floor from the bed. His second leg hooked a nearby chair with clothes, it swayed and tumbled to its side, hooking a glass of water that was on the dresser.

Following the enchanting fall of the young man, there was a line of crashing, shattering glass and splashing water on the floor.

An alarm clock hung over the guy, scanned his condition, turned off, and a melodic female voice said with joy, "Good morning, sir. Have a nice day," after which it silently retired to the base.

"Yeah, right, what a good morning," Nick, grumbling and cursing at everything around, got up from the floor and lazily trudged into the bathroom.

The last days he was tormented by nightmares, the contents of which he did not remember, but was sure that these were nightmares. Blurry pictures from childhood, when his parents were still alive, slipped through the memory of the young man, but were chaotic. Most of what he knew about his parents was videos and photos from the stored archives that they managed to extract from the Internet before it was completely blocked, and the stories of his guardian, Armand.

When they died, he was only five years old, this situation was a big shock for the child, that he unconsciously blocked some of his childhood memories.

Nick got into the shower, the motion sensor worked, and the shower automatically turned on at the set temperature. Having finished all the necessary morning procedures, Nick wrapped a towel around his hips and went to the kitchen.

His apartment was a studio, a bedroom and a kitchen area were separated by a bar counter. The building itself was an old building, which was built either in 2019 or 2020, and although it was in good condition, it was planned to be demolished after a maximum of five years, since it did not meet the environmental requirements of current realities.

"Alice, coffee," the young man opened the closet door and started looking for a suitable T-shirt that looked decent enough for today's event.

"Yes, sir." The coffee machine on the kitchen table popped and in a minute the invigorating aroma of the drink spread throughout the apartment.

"Incoming call from [Annoying old man]. Display the 3D projection?"

"Yes," Nick grabbed a T-shirt and trousers, threw off a towel and prepared to change clothes, "Armand, I just got up."

"Nick, where are you? The lecture will begin in half an hour, you're still late... Oh my God!" the girl screamed in surprise and turned off the projection, "Why the hell are you answering calls naked?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"You are the one to blame! Who asked you to call me from Armand's phone?!" the young man felt no less embarrassed than the girl. He hastily put on his clothes, "What did you say there about the lecture?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. I already understood everything by your looks. You can take your time. Bye."

The call broke, Nick frowned and looked at the time, "And why did she get so angry? There's still a lot of... Damn it!" It only now dawned on him that he had confused the time of the lecture with his procedure. Now he realized why Ashley sounded disappointed and angry. "Oh no, I'm doomed. This girl will get a grip on me with the help of some new toy of hers."

The young man finished up his hot coffee with two sips, grimaced, grabbed the car keys from the table, put on his cap, glasses and slammed the front door.

Street air greeted him with a characteristic smog and chemical smack that appeared in his mouth if the person had been outdoors for a long time. Gray-pink clouds obscured the sun, and the space was painted yellowish, as when viewed through colored lenses.

Nick put his jacket on his shoulders and raised his collar, even if he had no reaction to impurities in the air or to radiation in the atmosphere, he did not like the sensation when his skin came in contact with this external environment.

The guy went to the car and put his wrist to the driver's door, the lock clicked, identifying the owner's chip, and the car door opened.

"Enter your ID to start the car."

"Yeah, right," Nick ignored the sound command of the display and brought the phone to the sensor, the scanner read the data from the phone and in the next second the car's engine started.

"Have a nice trip, Mr. Atkins. Specify the endpoint of the route to enable autopilot."

The young man entered a code on the phone, and a new notification was displayed on the car's display. [The autopilot is disabled, the transition to manual control is activated].

"Great," Nick wrapped his hands around the steering wheel, his index fingers slipped on its inside surface, the touch sensors of gas and brakes flashed on the smooth surface of the steering wheel, the engine picked up speed and the car moved, "Now let's ride this baby with some breeze."

The car whistled out onto a half-empty road, Nick increased speed, easily maneuvering between passing and oncoming cars, which were compared to him like snails.

A happy smile lit up his face, he rarely allowed himself such liberties, and now he was even a little glad that he was late, as this was his personal compelling reason for such a serious violation. In any case, the numerous cameras that he flew along the way would issue a final bill to some Atkins, whose personal data Nick used. And the guy's conscience was also calm since he knew that this guy from the base was already dead for a long time.

The young man looked at the time and grinned, at such a speed he wasn't something in time, he still had time to boast of his punctuality, which was clearly not one of his strongest features.

The loud rumble of the siren instantly returned Nick from his rainbow fantasies, at a no less high speed, a patrol car appeared behind him and caught the guy faster than desired.

"Red Tesla 1745, pull over immediately. The engine blocker will be activated after 10, 9, 8..."

"God damn it! What the hell are they doing here?!" as if Nick did not want this, but he obediently slowed down and stopped the car at the curb. The last time patrol cars were in the area two years ago, and he did not expect to meet them now.

The young man hid his phone in his pocket, pulled the cap lower on his eyes and looked in the rearview mirror. A girl got out of the patrol car, she was wearing a tight-fitting suit, which at the same time acted as a protective barrier, like bulletproof vests in the old days, and served as an exoskeleton, allowing its owner to easily cope with disobedient citizens by force.

Her face was covered with a transparent plastic mask that protects the skin from external factors.

"Sir, you have violated paragraphs 3.5 and 6.7 of the rules of conduct on the road - disabling automatic control and exceeding the permitted speed. I will cancel your driver license for 3 years. Lower the glass to provide the personal data."

Nick knew that arguing with this lady would create more problems, so he obediently complied with the officer's request. "Ma'am, I understand the seriousness of my violation, but I was in a hurry to the hospital."

"Why are you without a mask? This is a violation of sanitary standards. 2500 marcs will be deducted from your personal account as a fine. Take off your glasses and cap so the system identifies you." The patrol's face was unemotional; with cold-bloodedness, like the robot, she performed her work strictly according to the template, not paying attention to Nick's words.

The young man sighed and shook his head. And why none of these people, convicted of imaginary power, did not care about the problems of ordinary citizens?

He unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car. The woman automatically took a step back, surprised by the impudence of the guy, "Sir, keep the social distance. You have no right to approach more than one and a half meters." The camera on her glasses scanned Nick's external parameters and displayed the results on an external screen.

"Mr. Atkins, you have violated the quarantine requirements, according to your health indicators, you do not have the right to leave a permanent location further than two meters. For violation of this rule, 1700 marcs will be deducted from your account as a penalty..," the woman faltered half a word when her eyes fell on the final counting results, which indicated that the man named James Atkins passed away 3 years ago during the tenth pandemic wave.

"Wh-what? How is that even...?" at a loss she looked first at Nick, then at her monitor, this was the moment when she first became like a living person with emotions.

"Sorry, Miss, I'm in a hurry," a young man's voice sounded next to her ear. Nick's palm slipped around the policeman's neck and she fell unconscious into his arms. He did not bother and simply dragged the woman away from the road, left her on the side of the road, got into the car, and drove on.

Having parked the car a few blocks from the appointed place, the young man with a confident and quick step crossed a couple of streets, not meeting a soul along the way. The phone in his pocket vibrated slightly every time he fell into the field of view of any of the surveillance cameras, but Nick knew that with his unusual cap, which had special chips blocking the signal, he seemed like a shapeless gray spot to the cameras.

He went inside the building of the former city library, crossed the empty hall and, without slowing down, walked past a dozen of the high shelvings with books. They had long been covered with a thick layer of dust since all the knowledge that mattered fifteen years ago was now no longer relevant. Not at all relevant.

Having entered the password on one of the doors, Nick waited for the signal, confirmed the password with a fingerprint and went inside the spacious room.

It already looked more like a hall of some popular hotel. People snooped back and forth, each one was busy with his own business.

"Hey, Judy, in what audience is Ashley's lecture?" the young man turned to a girl, who was about sixteen, running past him.

"C35 is on the fourth level. You better hurry, almost all the booths are occupied there," she answered on the run and disappeared around the corner.

Nick has accelerated his step, it will certainly become a serious problem and a humiliating experience if he does not have time to squeeze into this room. But to his luck, when he got to the coveted door, there were two empty seats in the hall.

He looked at the display of the location of the empty booth and went to the chosen place.

The man on stage just finished his speech and handed the microphone to the girl. She turned to the audience and smiled.

Nick grabbed the bottle of water beside him. Suddenly his throat was dry. Either the strong coffee that he drank half an hour ago on an empty stomach was to blame, or the bewitching smile of the girl standing on the stage and causing a muffled wave of whispers throughout the hall.

It didn't matter. But he knew for sure that at that moment he could not take his eyes off her, no matter how hard he tried.

This girl was like a light breaking through pitch darkness and riveting all your attention.

His family. His friend. His love.

His Ashley Stein.