The old man sat by his wife’s grave and another next to it. He was lost in thought, his tears running down his cheeks. William could only stare, not knowing what to do.

  “E-excuse me…” he mumbled, but the old man ignored him.

  “We failed…” he was whispering.

  Right… Maybe I should order a drink for him or something. But then it realization hit him. There is no AI assistant here…

  William stepped back a few steps, and turned to the view. What should I do? I can’t pass it to the AI like at work…

  He looked at the old man again. Why would he say that he failed… all of us? He kept looking at the view. It’s so beautiful.

  The city seemed peaceful and quiet from up here. Many high rise buildings, one next to the other, painted a forest of concrete that extended to the horizon. The forest was a huge contrast to the grey landscape, and it was separated by a huge wall that extended all the way. Then a stretch of grassland and the sea.

  Blue and light blue, mingled with green here and there, a beautiful dance of colours. So, that’s the sea. It sure looks lovely.

  Then he recalled a news piece talking about it. Dead and void of life. Apparently past generations polluted the oceans and killed everything in them, but William didn’t care for that. He never did care about those things.

  Is this why he’s crying?

  William was troubled. He needed the AI assistant to talk about it and have a logical conclusion to this confusion. But there wasn’t an AI anywhere. Just a broken man, crying near him, and he couldn't do anything to assist him.

  Maybe I could use the company’s handbook, in cases of frustrated customers. He mentally tried to find the correct approach, turning mentally the pages of the handbook. But then he looked at the man. Different situation… He’s right in front of me… William felt annoyed.

  He started pacing up and down, thinking of what to do. The old man’s sobs were quieter now, making it even more difficult for him to concentrate to his problem. He exhaled from the nose and turned to look at the old man. He had fallen to the side, Is he dead?

  William walked to him, slowly, and hesitantly nudged the old man’s shoulder. Oh, he fell asleep.

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  William stared at him sleeping. He must have been a thousand years old to William’s eyes, but then again he tried to remember the last old man he had seen in his life, but he couldn’t. The oldest man he could recall was Mr. O’Neil, who must have been in his late 40’s.

  Mr. Oliver appeared and went to the old man. He stared at him and then fixed its eyes on a confused William. The cat… Why is it staring at me like that? Maybe I should wake up the old man.

  He shook the old man’s shoulder gently. The man just made a sound but didn’t wake up. William sat on the ground next to him and waited for him to wake up, but after a while he realized that the ground was cold.

  Maybe I should move him? Or bring something to cover him.

  He examined the man. Moving him would be difficult… William ran into the house to see what he can use to cover the old man. He found a blanket, and some cushions from a sofa. He ran back outside and put the blanket over him and a cushion under his head. No... Covered but… He’s still on the cold floor… He removed the blanket and put it on the ground. Then he rolled the old man on it and then placed the cushion under his head.

  That’s better, he thought, feeling satisfied with himself. But then he thought, Something is missing…Ah!

  He ran back in and looked again for another blanket. He found many in a wardrobe, but when he reached for one; Ouch! It bit me! He stepped backwards and stood there looking at the blankets. What was that? Is there any other animal in there? But then he remembered. He had read once in an article about it. Something about electricity… He racked his head but couldn’t remember. Maybe I should ask the AI assist… Oh…

  He took a deep breath and touched the blanket once more. Nothing happened. He grabbed it and ran back outside and approached the old man. He covered him with the blanket and Mr. Oliver sat right next to him, back to back. Then he took the other blanket, lay it on the ground beside the old man, and lay down himself. The warmth he felt was warmer than any warmth he had ever felt in his life.

  Not even in his ‘luxurious’ apartment did the radiator emit such warmth. As he was lying there it hit him, I remember now! Static electricity. Weird, the air is not that dry…

  This warmth was not generated by a grid, not delivered by a subscription, not logged as a wellness point. Just... warmth. From a blanket and from another body nearby. From the simple fact of being alive and not alone.

  And then grief filled him.

  I have never felt this before…

  All those years in his "luxurious" apartment. The AI-regulated temperature. The optimized bedding. The perfectly calibrated sleep cycles. And never once, ever, had he felt warm. Not like this.

  He thought of his neighbors behind their identical doors and the thousands of buildings stretching across the grey city below. Millions of people, all of them living in perfectly climate-controlled boxes, and none of them had ever felt this.

  The tragedy of not even knowing about it to miss it.

  A sob caught in his throat. He didn't understand it. There was no data point for this, or entry titled "Grief for a World You Never Knew."

  But it was there. Realer than anything.

  He pressed closer to the old man's back, sharing the blanket and the warmth. And for the first time in his life, William cried without knowing why.

  NEXT CHAPTER:

  Peter