Everyday of his adult life, Edward assured that neutrons collided into atoms. This is what he was taught to do. This is what he knew to do, the only thing he knew to do. Edward lived in the efficient year of 2137, in the efficient city of Cherton, situated on the efficient planet Earth he had come to love so well. Edward supervised the neutrons and atoms because the government told him it would be efficient to do so. Efficiency was the key - nuclear energy, the most efficient energy source known to man.

Today was no different than any other day. It began the same way it always did. Edward rolled out of bed at precisely 5 a.m. – a most efficient time. “What a productive day this will be!” Edward exclaimed. He was greeted that morning by his wife, Jacqueline, in the kitchen. Edward looked around at his kitchen. Grey walls, grey floors, grey cabinets. Edward loved his kitchen.

“Efficient,” Edward’s mind rattled when he admired the kitchen.

When he and his wife had bought the house twelve years ago, they learned it was a government property, which made it even more attractive (but now, of course, nearly all houses were government property). New government houses were advertised to be of only the most extreme efficiency. The realtor stressed this: “Just look at these cabinets! No doors! What’s the point of doors on cabinets – time is wasted when you open a cabinet door! That’s not efficient at all, now, is it?”

“Efficient,” Edward’s mind rattled when he admired the kitchen.

Jacqueline reached up into a doorless cabinet and grabbed Edward a cup for coffee. “Efficient morning!” she said happily.

Edward smiled.