Sean disconnected from Champions and came back to the real world. He unwound the VR interface from his right ear and stood up. He and his wife, Julie, lived in their three-bedroom home in Austin. The bedroom he was in had been converted to a home office and inside were two pods that were setup for VR. He went downstairs to their kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Everything was online these days so he merely had to think, ‘dinner’, and the machines downstairs went to work.

While he was eating, he logged onto the forums using his Seemi. The Seemi was a neural implant that allowed him to access most of the devices in his house as well as the net. The big news today was more layoffs from the five companies that ran the world. Ever since the rise of AI and robotics, humanity was no longer needed to run most of the world. Fifteen years ago, had been the first major set of riots as robotics had first taken over all jobs requiring physical work. Whether it was the farmer, factory worker, or mechanic, anything physical had been replaced with robots. After all, the robots never had to take a day off, never had worker’s compensation claims, and never complained. Humanity took to the streets and the riots shut down everything after that for a while. The oligarchs who ran the five largest companies declared that everyone would get a Universal Basic Income (UBI) after that. It was a pittance to live on, but it kept the great unwashed masses from rising up.

Seven years ago, AI took another several leaps forward. While it still didn’t meet the requirements of being a general AI, the computers had advanced far enough that they took over most cognitive functions in the workplace. Almost overnight, nearly all the office jobs were replaced with computers. This time the oligarchs were ready and they increased the UBI to just enough to keep the new hordes of office workers from revolting but not so much that they could actually live well. Since the oligarchs were the ones with the power and wealth they intended to consolidate their power and the rise of AI pushed their wealth into the stratosphere. While ninety percent of the humans had been replaced with AI at that point, there were still a few jobs. Some of the people were still needed to check on the computers and help them run more efficiently. Sean had one of those jobs until a year ago. He had worked for Terrazon in the IT department that oversaw their AI and robotics. It was a prestigious job, as most of the remaining jobs were; however, if he was honest, it had been drudgery most days since there was hardly ever that much to do. About a year ago he had been let go in the latest wave of layoffs as the AI started supervising itself, no longer needing humanity’s interference. While he missed the prestige of his old job as well as the additional income, Sean didn’t miss his work at all. Instead he enjoyed spending nearly all of his time in Champions and he couldn’t help but be proud of their latest achievement.

Julie came home a few minutes after he’d finished the last of his meal. She was still employed at Terrazon in their marketing department and these days she never failed to get on Sean’s case about finding a new job.

Entering the kitchen, she looked at him disapprovingly. “You were playing that game all last night. Don’t tell me you just logged off,” she said hostilely. Her blue eyes were sharp as they flashed at him. She pushed a strand of her long blonde hair back over her ear. It was a nervous gesture and one she usually did right before she chewed his ear off about something. His wife was beautiful when she wasn’t hounding him, but right now he just wanted to escape her temper.

“Yes, I just logged off,” Sean mumbled. Damn, why do I have to take this crap, he thought? Our guild just took a world first and I should be on cloud nine for the rest of the night. Instead I’ve got a harpy of a wife chewing me out because there are no jobs to be had.

Instead of ameliorating her, Sean’s pathetic response seemed to egg her on, “Oh really? And just want have you been up to with that guild of yours? You should be getting out there and putting your resume on the street. There are bound to be companies that would hire you if you just tried,” Julie responded acerbically.

They had been through this conversation a million times before. There were only five companies left and they generally weren’t hiring. Sure, if you were connected or if you were one of the smartest people on the planet there might be a spot for you. Sean was smart but he wasn’t a genius and he didn’t have the types of connections that Julie’s family did. Julie came from money and her father was Joe Riber, the owner of Terrazon. It was the reason that Julie still had a job. It wasn’t like the computers weren’t fully capable of doing their own marketing.

Sean stared down at the bills sitting on the kitchen table. They were virtual bills now but the effect was the same. When he and Julie had both been working this place had been affordable. Julie wasn’t wrong that Sean needed to get a job and it wasn’t like he hadn’t tried. But the problem was that only the elite had jobs now. For the masses, the trend was UBI. It would make a lot more sense to just sell this place, move on and quit pretending, but over the last year the bills continued to pile up and Sean continued to let himself be guilted into letting it continue. The worst part about it was that he felt like such a failure. How was it possible that he could accomplish such great things like assembling the Misfits and taking world first in impossibly hard raids but he didn’t have the ability to put food on the table or keep the bills from piling up on the table?

Unfortunately, Sean’s quiet acceptance of his failures didn’t appease Julie. He could see her growing more and more agitated before she lit into him. She didn’t scream at him like she before; instead, her voice was cold. “You never try anymore Sean. It’s like our marriage doesn’t mean anything to you. Like I don’t mean anything to you,” Julie said. “I’ve cried about this endless nights, waiting for you to be done with your raiding and to come home and take care of things. But you never do. I’m always the one shouldering this alone. And I’m done. I’m done with trying. I’m done with you.”

Julie’s accusations stung him. He replied, “What do you expect from me? There are no jobs. There is nothing I can do.” He looked at her desperately hoping she would understand. That she could show some sense of compassion about his predicament. But there was nothing.

“You could try, Sean. But you haven’t. You won’t. You don’t love me,” she responded.

Sean tried to deny it, shaking his head, “That’s not true.” The words came out but Sean knew they were partially a lie. He had stopped loving his wife some time ago when he had started seeing her as the enemy. As someone who reminded him daily of his failures, instead of being able to share in his successes.

“If you loved me, you would get a job. Don’t tell me you can’t. You just need to talk to my dad,” she said. So, she’d finally come out and said what had really been on her mind. The only people these days who had a job were those who were connected. Only nepotism allowed for Julie to have hers.

Something snapped for Sean. It was this belief of Julie’s that drove him crazy. Instead of earning something the hard way she had always been propped up by privilege. For Sean that was a deal killer. He had earned his IT job the hard way, forced himself to study difficult topics in school, and worked insane hours to get where he had. On the other hand, Julie had always been handed her accomplishments like the medals they used to give out for youth sports. Everybody gets a participation medal just for being daddy’s little girl. His response was no longer timid, “So I can be just like you accepting daddy’s handouts? The only reason the position you have even exists is because your dad is the CEO. What good is a job where I just punch a clock to look like I’m useful?” With every sentence, Sean’s blood began to boil.

Julie was momentarily taken aback but quickly recovered. “You ungrateful bastard! It’s my hard work that keeps us in this house. As shabby as it is. And puts food on the table. How dare you insinuate I’m not pulling my weight when you just play video games all day like a child,” her voice grew shrill with anger.

Things escalated from there. Sean forgot what he said afterwards but it was definitely in the heat of the moment. Finally, Julie said, “Get out! Out of my house! That game is more important to you than I am. You and those friends of yours just sit around all day doing nothing. We’ll you aren’t going to do it in my house anymore and I’ve half a mind to make your friends pay for what you’ve done to me too.”

Sean stood unmoving, unwilling to hear what he was hearing.

“I’m not kidding. Leave before I call the police,” she said.

Twenty minutes later Sean was standing on the curb outside their suburban home with a duffle bag. He had texted Miles and Kevin just a few minutes ago. Miles was the first one to respond to his text and said he’d be there in a few minutes to pick him up. Well shit, this had been one hell of a day, Sean thought.