“First time?” Liu asked his temporary roommate, “Try to relax. It won’t take too long. Well, so long as you don’t have anything to hide.”

“I…I don’t,” the young woman stuttered, “it’s just a little nerve racking getting a random scan like this.”

“You get used to it,” the man answered, “my name Liu, what’s your name?”

“Janna, nice to meet you,” she outstretched her hand, slowly feeling her comfort rising.

“Russian?”

“Yeah, and you?”

“China originally,” Liu sighed, “but Eden transferred my family to Sydney Australia.”

“Wow,” Jana was in awe on having been selected for scanning with someone from across the world, “Australia must be beautiful!”

“You’re still too young to remember how the world was before the Eden treaty?” The older man chuckled, shaking his head, “True beauty…nevermind.”

“What about it?” She pressed on.

“Janna, it doesn’t matter any more,” he looked down, saddened by the new reality, “China had amazing architecture, ancient China did…the whole world did…remarkable diversity of culture…and now…I’d say Moscow and Sydney all look the same. Talk lifeless buildings…digital advertisements…”

“I wouldn’t know…I never traveled outside my home town,” she smiled in excitement, “I guess today was the first time I was ever away.

“See there’s nothing to fear from the scan.” His eyes swelled up with tears, “Thank Eden human nature has been contained by our AI overlords…”

He could feel his anger boiling. He missed the time before the Eden AI… A time when human beings could be free…a time before social credit scores and mandatory random nano machine scans. Before forced neural chip implantations… before all this cold technological advancements enslaved the entire planter.

He looked up at the young woman, and reminded him to calm down. If the scan recognizes his true emotions they will both be incarcerated and lobotomized. A sedated slave is an obedient slave…

The white empty room turned green.

“Scan complete. Eden thanks you for your participation. Stand by for relocation.”

The generated voice on the computer sounded gentle yet authoritative, like a stern mother.

“See, nothing to worry about Janna.”

“Thank you Liu!”