SOPHEEA: I

It has become appalling obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.

- Albert Einstein

Mr. and Mrs. Abbott are not your average married couple. For one, they very rarely see each other. In fact, they only ever see each other two weeks out of the year when their schedules can afford it. You see, Mr. Abbott is the founder and CEO of Abbott Robotics Laboratories, or as it is more commonly known A.R. Labs; the largest robotics manufacturer of the twentieth century. And Mrs. Abbott is the top lawyer in the largest law firm in the nation.

The Abbott’s are a peculiar couple to say the least. So much so, that most dinner parties that they attend usually turn into Q & A sessions about their lives: Really, married for fifteen years and it’s been like that the whole time? You each live in a separate house close to your respective offices, AND have a third one?

Sometimes though, the questions are not quite as personal: You made the first fully automated home kitchen when you were only twenty? Did you really pass the bar exam at only fifteen?

And even though no one ever asked, nearly everyone wondered how they could possibly make their marriage work when they didn’t see each other every day. But to both Mr. and Mrs. Abbott, the only people who you should ever see on a daily basis are your employees. So, for them, it was completely acceptable to only see each other two weeks out of the year. That is to say of course, that they even had time in their busy schedules to see each other in the first place.

Their lives are quite interesting indeed. Inviting several questions from everyone that they know, and those that they don’t. There is, however, one question that no one ever asks Mr. or Mrs. Abbott. How is your son, Alex? Not because people don’t care about Alex, or he’s brought some sort of shame to the family. No, nothing like that at all. The truth is, no one ever asks about Alex because most of the time, people just kind of forget that he was even born. That includes, every once in a while, Mr. and Mrs. Abbott themselves.

It’s not easy to run your own company, travel around the globe, meet with senators to discuss campaign funding, invent new technologies, be a husband, and be a father at the same time. Now that would be simply too much to ask of anyone! Not to mention, after all, that Mr. Abbott was a CEO, inventor, and a husband well before he even had a son. At the age of only twenty-one, Mr. Abbott was already the richest man in America thanks to his breakthrough cost-effective robotics designs allowing most physical labor to be fully automated.

And Mrs. Abbott surely couldn’t afford to take care of Alex on top of all the work that she was doing. Working for the top law firm in the nation meant upholding a certain reputation that could never waiver. Brickman and Saks is not only the largest and most prestigious law firm in America, it is the largest globally and represents nearly every Fortune 500 company on the planet. Their reputation is so pristine, that secretly, smaller law firms hire their lawyers as contractors for cases that they don’t think they can win. Brickman and Saks, is the law firm you want representing you, and Mrs. Abbott is the lawyer you want on your case. Anyone else is sub-par and may as well be the freely appointed lawyer criminals are assigned.

With the busy schedules and the incredible success the Abbott’s have achieved over the last two decades, it is easy to see why poor Alex gets so little attention. His parents are highly successful and intelligent people, working for the top companies in the world. With all the life-changing innovations coming out of AR Labs, and the amazing track record of Brickman and Saks since Mrs. Abbott started there, what interest to the world is a fifteen-year-old boy? How important could the life of just one boy who had almost everything he could ever want, be remotely as important as the lives of Mr. And Mrs. Abbott?

As it turns out, very important actually. Though nobody knows it just yet, Alex is destined to change the world unlike anyone else before him. But Alex will not be remembered for his contributions to society, or for anything that he accomplished while he was alive. He will simply be remembered as the boy who inspired a revolution that changed the world.