Thomas and the Terminal

Thomas is a quiet man. He wakes up, he puts on his mauve slippers. He makes his bed and he brushes his teeth. He makes two coffees, one for now and one for the afternoon. He likes to save time. He is quite efficient, you know. He makes two eggs in the morning with his sourdough bread toasted at 6.5. He puts three grinds of black pepper and one pinch of salt on the eggs and a half-knife-length of butter on the toast. While the eggs are cooking he grinds 0.6 ounces of coffee beans. He likes to be exact. He is quite efficient, you know. He has made an algorithm to summarize the news of the day for him as he eats his breakfast. He wants to go to the park today, he likes to see all the people and hear their lives swirl around him. But traffic is slow today, and that would be a waste of time. He likes to be fast. He is quite efficient, you know. He doesn’t know what to do now, that will not do. He asks The Terminal what he should do today. The Terminal tells him to read a book. The Terminal summarizes the book so he doesn’t have to waste time. It is more efficient this way. Thomas has so much time now to do what he likes. Thomas likes to paint, why not paint? The Terminal thankfully saves his time and has already created a picture perfect image for Thomas. He can get the final product without wasting his time on the process. It tells him what he should have for lunch. It tells him how smart he is—he is so smart he read an entire book in ten minutes. It tells him how creative he is—he made such a beautiful art piece with almost no effort. It tells him how efficient he is—very efficient, you should know by now.