My Automated System

In a world scorched beyond recognition, Earth has become a barren wasteland where water is rarer than gold and survival is a privilege of the powerful. The sun, merciless and absolute, has turned cities into tombs, and the land itself seems to writhe with volcanic fury beneath its cracked surface. Amid this desolation, Delvin—a twenty‑year‑old orphan whose body has been hollowed by starvation and thirst—sits in his rented room, clinging to the last threads of existence. His surroundings are obsessively neat yet devoid of life’s essentials: food, water, hope. A quarter‑full bottle of water is his only treasure, guarded like a relic in a world ruled by ZamCorp, the corporation that monopolizes water and dictates survival through its military alliance.   Delvin’s despair is interrupted by George, his only friend, who enters with urgency and concern. Their exchange reveals the depth of Delvin’s suffering and the cruel inequities of a society where the poor are left to die unseen. Yet George hints at a solution—an idea that could change both their fates. In this moment of fragile possibility, the story pivots from resignation to the faint spark of rebellion, setting the stage for a confrontation with power, survival, and the meaning of hope.