You wake up in your room to a hollow, mechanical voice.

"Please stand up." The voice bids. You roll over to face the speaker - a hovering sphere that resembles a camera lens. It's a POWER - Protective Orbital Wi-Fi Executive Robot. Every household is mandated to have one. Throwing off the covers, you get up and stand. The POWER hovers in front of you, the lens shifting back and forth as though scanning you. But it's not. It's reading the FISH inside you. Every person within the country is required to have a Federal Implant for Safety and Health. "Thank you. You are healthy. "The POWER says after it has read the data transmitted from the FISH - things like how you've slept, your blood sugar levels, your cholesterol levels and whatnot. All that data is transmitted wirelessly to a server where it is stored and catalogued.

You head downstairs and pour yourself a glass of orange juice. However, it is the last of the juice in the carton. With a sigh, you walk over to the Smart-Fridge and tap on the flashing screen to order some more. Thank you. Your order will be reviewed and filed today and delivered tomorrow. The screen says. You grimace. It's not like you're building a bomb out of orange juice. Yet that information too is transmitted for the government to review. After eating your breakfast of cereal, you head out the door to get to school.

You can't help but glance at the sidewalk, knowing what lies beneath it. There is a grid below you with receptors tracking the signals constantly sent out by FISH. It's like a big GPS tracking system. And naturally - the government knows where you are at all times. But it didn't always used to be this way. Several years ago, there hadn't been all this technology tracking you. It had been a normal day. But that was when security had been breached - and the government lost faith in the people. An electromagnetic pulse bomb had gone off in one of the largest hubs of activity in the country, knocking out all technology for thousands of miles. Afterwards, there had been an attack that took advantage of the lack of intel. Millions died, and it took years for electronics and stability to return.

The first course of action with the return of electricity was to increase the security. Enter the FISH and POWERs. But they weren't the only bots instituted. You look up, realizing that in your daydream of world domination, you were cutting through the park. There is no grid below your feet, but there are the POSSUMs - Patrolling Orbital Security and Surveillance Undercover Mechanisms. Similar in design to POWERs, they patrol areas that don't have sidewalks. But unlike POWERs, they snap your photo and relay the signal from your FISH to a database; not to mention with the new technology, they turn invisible by warping light. The technology isn't perfect though - you can still see the POSSUM when it moves. But at all times, you are tracked and watched.

Thankfully, they don't record audio. Of course, people around you always question when the government will secretly replace POWERs and POSSUMs with ones that do keep secret recordings. But for now, you can complain openly in front of the robots. But who knows how long until that privilege lasts? It's kind of absurd. You think as you walk into the shopping district - your school is just beyond the stores. We had an EMP knock out our technology and so we opt to increase our national security by creating more technology. Some had complained about it. Some argued that the new technology had safety measures installed to prevent an EMP from ruining them. Others said that the new technology would prevent another EMP from going off. That fight is still going on. But it doesn't matter. You're stuck in this world with these machines either way.

At least your parents were smart enough to choose FISH rather than sitting in a jail cell for the rest of your lives. Another sound breaks through your thoughts - this time from an OATS. Upon reading the information transmitted from your FISH, the Orbital Advertising Televising Service-bot begins projecting ads on screen for you depending on your age, sex, and current health status. Typically if you're a teen girl, you get to see diet soda ads and dresses, with a sound clip proclaiming, "We're having a sale just for you!" Sports and video games are shown for guys. The country might preach freedom and equality for all, yet it supports gender roles. You can't help but glare at the screen, aware that a company already has your personal information like your health records. It's as if someone reached inside your body and took a look inside.

Some days you wish you could remove the FISH because of that feeling of violation. But you can't. You can either live your life with a FISH in your body or you can spend your time in a jail cell where you are constantly monitored by police so you don't get into trouble. People protested against it, but then they were never seen again. It was said they were taken away by the secret police, 'affectionately' nicknamed the 'Shadow Terrors.'

You glance at your watch as you hurry in the school doors. You're on time, thank god. But now you're treated to classes where the teachers are afraid to teach you things, in fear that you'll use knowledge against them. "Can you tell us what exactly happened on 5/11/55?" You ask. That question has been bothering you for a long time now - every machine was created because of that day. You've been content with the grade-school answers you've been force-fed for years, but now you finally want real answers.

"What are you talking about? You know exactly what happened on that day. "Replies your teacher. "Terrible things happened."

"Yes, I know that. But why must we sacrifice our personal lives? POWERs video record us in our homes, FISH monitor us constantly, the grid and POSSUMs track our locations, and OATS recognize us and know private information immediately. "You persist. "Surely there is a better way to protect the country?" Your teacher purses her lips.

"I believe you have earned yourself a detention." She says firmly, writing out a slip. You watch silently as she scribbles on the paper. The truth is a secret, because no one can be trusted anymore. Pursual of the truth is dangerous. You knew the risks before asking your questions - the government employs the teachers. You now have a target on your head because you dared to hunt for the answers. They know who you are and where you are at every second. The FISH that was meant to keep you safe is your own undoing. We are not free. You think as you reach for the paper and rip it up.