Valentine’s Day started just like any other day.  Wayne Mitchner’s domestic A. I. unit woke him up at 0600 hours so he could get ready for work, and then rolled into the kitchen to fix breakfast.  Wayne voice-activated his wall holo-viewer and watched the morning news net-cast while he dressed.  There was nothing noteworthy happening in the world: cloned wheat and corn were still feeding the hungry, patients of cancer and other diseases were still being treated with cures derived from the research of stem cells from breast milk, and the gold standard economy was still holding strong.  By the time he walked into the kitchen his breakfast, which he grabbed to eat on his way to work, was ready.

The city of Lewisville, Texas bustled with activity as people raced to and from work in their self driving, GPS guided cars.  The Segway lanes adjacent to I-35E were full of steady traffic as well.  Wayne made his way from his apartment residence to the DART vacuum rail terminal for his ride into downtown Dallas, Texas where he worked as a journalist for the Dallas Virtual Media Corporation.  His bullet pod slid to a stop in front of him and the outer curved doors of the airtight, 3 inch transparent plexi-steel tube opened as the inner doors of the bullet pod did the same.  The doors closed behind him as he stepped into the pod and secured himself into a seat.  Once closed, the pod sped away reaching speeds of 180 to 200 miles per hour.  There were a few stops before he had to get off, but once he reached the DVMC Plaza, he exited the pod and rode the moving sidewalk to his office building. 

When Wayne got to his sparsely furnished office on the 12th floor of the 200 story building he sat down behind his desk and put on his wrist computer.  He activated his holo-viewer via its wireless link and started to work on his latest article, “New Electromagnetic Boot/Glove Hover-glide System Safe for Human Use” with the computer’s voice dictation software.  At the end of the day, the article was finished and interdepartmentally e-mailed to his editor for final approval.  He received an e-mail from a florist that the gift basket that he had ordered for his fiancé was ready to be picked up.

He left the building and rode the DART pod to the florist to pick up the basket and then rode the rest of the way home.  As he walked through the front door of his apartment, his fiancé met him and he delivered her Valentine’s Day gift to her.  It was a bouquet of a dozen genetically enhanced roses grown with their couple’s portrait on each petal and a chocolate heart made with a special edible polymer which when in contact with her unique biometric signature would pulsate like a beating heart.  She marveled at her gift and smiled.  This was the best Valentine’s Day yet!