“Good morning, sir,” said the intercom.

“Good morning.”

“What would you like for breakfast today, sir?” asked the intercom.

“The usual. I guess.”

“Right away, sir.”

As the intercom had just finished its last words, a plate full of food started to assemble from almost indiscernible particles right in front of Callion. He sat up and began to eat; he was still in bed.

Callion was in the year 3045, more than 1000 years in the future from his time. The society in this era was so technically advanced that it was practically perfect. Humans had invented machines to manipulate matter down to the atom, which was how Callion was able to get his breakfast this morning and every other morning. But in addition to that, there was nothing that could not be created. This perfect society was the one that Callion had always dreamt of living in. That was why he wanted to come to future in the first place.

The method he used to get to the future was called time dilation. He traveled in a spacecraft near the speed of light, slowing time down for himself while time progressed normally on Earth. He went to such great lengths to get to the future because he sought a perfect life. This new life was once a dream for him, and that dream had come true.

Callion had spent most of his childhood years in poverty. With the invention of the most revolutionary piece of technology at the time, the Quantum Computer, he was able to escape poverty and his fate by starting his own company. As he ate his meals every day, he reflected upon his past. He really hoped that he grown up in this type of society, with no problems and no issues and nothing to worry about, and certainly no poverty or hunger. But today, the third year since he first arrived in the future, it was a bit different. He felt a feeling he couldn’t really describe.

What was this feeling? Callion, starring as his food, kept on contemplating. He really did not know what it was.

“Mr. Callion, sir, are you feeling ok?”

“Yeah, I am. I think I’m full.”

The plate full of food started to disintegrate into small particles. The particles started to disappear until they could not be seen by the naked eye, probably being transferred to somewhere else where someone needed something to be created.

“Mr. Callion, sir, what would you like to do today?”

Callion tried to think. But there really was not anything that he wanted to do. Everything he wanted to do he had done in the past three years. Technology enabled everyone to do whatever they wanted, whenever they desired. This was a truly utopian society.

“I don’t think I want to do anything today...”

All of a sudden, Callion remembered something, inventing the Quantum computer and starting his own company in the past. He was an inventor, an innovator. He wanted a challenge, and surely there was SOMETHING that had not been invented yet in this perfect utopian society.

“Actually, I want your help. Today I want you to help me invent something.”

“Sorry, sir, but everything has already been invented. There really is no use for inventing anything else, nor is there anything else that needs to be invented.”

“Well, there ought to be something that needs to be invented or something that needs to be fixed, right?”

“No, sir. We invented the technology to manipulate matter and energy years ago. There really isn’t anything else to be invented. All problems can be solved. We live in a perfect society, sir.”

That feeling that Callion just had at breakfast came back. Callion sighed. He now knew what the feeling was. It was the feeling of nostalgia, perhaps even a bit of poignancy.

“What was the point of life when there were no challenges, nothing to fix, nothing to be invented?” he thought to himself. “Is this really the perfect life that I wanted, with everything handed to me?”

Callion realized it was not success of his company that made him happy, but his diligence, ingenuity, and perseverance, and also the adversity he had to overcome.

This was the first time in three years that Callion had felt this way. Up until now, he had felt happy and content with his life in the future. But now he missed the past. Callion wanted to go back to the past; to his wife and children who hated him for leaving them, to his failing company that he made go nearly bankrupt with his time travel experiment. He wanted to go back to his imperfect life.

But going back to the past was not possible. Time dilation was a one way trip. He was forever trapped in the future. Trapped in his perfect nightmare.