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Chapter 2

Harold was busy watching his shows at work. It was just another usual day of escapism for him while the drones worked flawlessly as they typically did 364 days of the year. Harold would glance over from his personal hologram display to the security footage display being projected from his desk.

The drones worked tirelessly, but it's a good thing drones don't get tired. Great little inventions they are. No feelings, no thoughts, they just do what they're told. Heck, you don't even have to give them food or water. And you can forget about them going on strike and forming any unions or labor laws. Drones really are great.

Harold knew no incidents would happen when he would go to work, and he liked it that way, uneventful and boring. Nothing distracting him from his precious news reports, movies, and shows. Escapism at its finest.

Harold caught up on all of the latest episodes of his favorite TV shows and he was ready for lunch. He felt refreshed and accomplished. Harold hadn't been watching anything but Pumpkin Carvers the past few weeks and so he was behind on his other shows. Pumpkin Carvers was going off the air and Harold was really sad about it so that's why he'd been bingeing it so much lately.

He thought to himself, "Now where am I going to watch contestants battle over who can carve the best pumpkin?"

Because of his sadness over his favorite show being taken off the air, he decided to throw a pity party for himself and enjoy a big lunch.

"Bring me pancakes, 4 sausage links, 5 pieces of Rye toast, and a large Italian sub toasted with the works on it. Oh and two two liters of Coke," he barked out mentally from behind his desk to the drone out in the hallway.

Beep!

The noise rang in his head to confirm the order. Harold browsed through possible shows to watch while he waited for his food to arrive. After three and a half minutes the door to his office swung open and a drone pushing a cart of food entered.

"Took you long enough," he thought sarcastically to the drone.

"Thank you sir," said the drone as it dropped off the cart and headed back out of the office.

As the door closed the beautiful rays of sunlight coming from the big window in the hallway disappeared once again. They didn't disappear in Harold's mind though because he never noticed them in the first place.

"Feed me," he said to the food cart, distracted by his personal hologram.

The cart extended its arm attachments and began cutting up Harold's pancakes. Then the gizmo began feeding him big mouthfuls of food. The faster he chewed, the faster the cart fed him. Harold's personal hologram was loud and bits of food were spewing out of his mouth like a wood chipper. He violently demanded his hologram to change channels through reruns of the shows he'd spent all morning catching up on.

"Hank & Jimmy Take on Bigfoot, Are You Smarter Than An Ant Farm, Burp Off, Hank & Jimmy Take on Bigfoot, Are You Smarter Than An Ant Farm, Burp Off, Hank & Jimmy Take on Bigfoot, Are You Smarter Than An Ant Farm, Burp Off."

Over and over the cycle continued as the food continued to be piled into his mouth. It's a good thing he could flip in between shows telepathically and didn't have to pause to chew.

"Pumpkin Carvers!" he yelled in his head.

Nothing happened. The hologram stayed on the same channel.

"Pumpkin Carvers!" he yelled in a second attempt.

Again nothing happened. Frustrated and forced to think Harold realized Pumpkin Carvers had officially been cancelled and was no longer available for him to watch on the Heavenly Holograms Network. Sad and frustrated, Harold viciously ate more food. Too quick even for the drone's arms to keep up.