Magnus Opus With Rodents

working order.” Since they’d imbedded Quantum cell units in everyone’s arm ten years ago, they seldom malfunctioned. She knew that.

During Lucille’s commentary, Magnus continued to eat his flatbread egg and cheese, taking extra care to keep his eyes relaxed and expression neutral. He would’ve loved to blurt out an excuse, but he knew explanations were useless and Lucille recorded every emotional deviation. Some days he really hated her. 

Magnus gathered up the packaging from his breakfast and shoved it into the refuse pneumatic tube, which whisked it away. He diligently worked on the programmatic ad sequence needed for the afternoon upload. Analyzing spreadsheets was boring work, but he knew he was lucky. It was a good job, indoor, no heavy lifting, and still legal. The hour went by so quickly he jumped when his arm cell vibrated. 

He always enjoyed exercise period – getting his blood pumping, sweat dripping down his face, stretching his leg muscles. After hooking up his life monitor, hydration tube, and removing his robe, he activated the bi-flex machine that was installed in everyone’s unit. This and the air quality monitors and hi-efficiency waterless showers were installed fifteen years ago as part of the universal upgrade. It took a little getting used to, but Magnus appreciated the convenience.

Game period at last. He’d been reading about R.O.U.S. for months on his news feed. Its release was much anticipated among his 352,627 Facebook friends. They’d TEXTed and Tweeted about little else for weeks. He took a swig of his Vitamin water and limbered up his fingers. The monitor was black, but he knew what that meant. He took a few deep-cleansing breaths, never letting his eyes stray from the screen. Bingo! It came alive with color simultaneously with a brain numbing blast of sound. Magnus nearly fell off his chair, but the five stabilizing wheels prevented a mishap.