"Come in! Don't worry, don't take off your shoes!" said Vladimir Mikhailovich, letting Alexey into the room.
The apartment was identical to his, only mirrored, and furnished in the Soviet retro style of the 1960s. Light furniture with long round legs and wood-textured surfaces in warm light colors, shelves with glass doors, and inside — neat rows of book spines. The inevitable white tulle on the windows, a synthetic carpet in the middle of the room, and an overgrown ficus in the corner.
Alexey read about that time. A period of sudden free-thinking, a surge of enthusiasm and creative energy against the backdrop of the first flights into space and the achievements of nuclear energy. The romantics of science at that time thought that the colonization of other worlds was about to begin, and that virtually every car on Earth would be powered by a nuclear reactor.
Alexey's thoughts were interrupted by a robot vacuum cleaner that suddenly crawled out from under the cabinet. It delicately rubbed against Vladimir Mikhailovich's leg and crawled into the kitchen.
"Why don't you turn on 'silent mode'? It would clean when you're not at home."
"But I'm almost always at home," replied the pensioner. "And besides, my cat died two years ago, and this thing is almost like a pet to me now."
"You said you had a problem with your smartphone?" Alexey steered the conversation back to business.
"Yes... Look!" the pensioner began to show him. "In this app, which I use to shop, for some reason the second carton of milk has disappeared. I checked my account... I don't really need more than one right now, but there used to be two. Have you lowered the limit on these cards or something?"
Alexey smiled inwardly at the mention of cards, but replied seriously:
"Don't worry. Look... Go to 'Additional'. Select 'Extend the limit on goods'. And add a plus sign here... Tomorrow it will leave two cartons.
"Got it... But why did the setting change? Or did 'big brother' see with his cameras that my wife went to visit her grandchildren?
"Big brother" saw it, of course, but that's not why the setting changed. You just took one package instead of two for a week, and the system adjusted to your needs.
"I see... The economy has to be economical."
"Exactly," Alexey smiled. "Well, I'll be going... I still have to go to work."
"Are you work?" Vladimir Mikhailovich was surprised. "I thought you were on 'unconditional' too? You're usually at home..."
"I usually work at home."
"At G.A.?"
"Yes."
"Why did I ask... Nowadays, almost everyone works at G.A. Well, take care! Thanks, neighbor."
Alexey smiled silently once more and went out onto the landing. The window openings on the left and right were framed by rows of green transparent blocks. The daylight passing through them painted the walls of the stairwell with beautiful square glare.
"The Emerald City," Alexey said to himself. "And here comes the iron woodcutter..."
On the first floor, a robot painter was calmly painting the wall. Almost pressed against it with his flat body, he monotonously moved the nozzle up and down along the guides, spraying paint onto the surface layer by layer. Sensing the approach of a person, he froze, insinuatingly turned his webcam to Alexey until he reached the exit, and continued working.