Staying In

Mark stood by the open door of his house looking out into the yard in which a gardening robot was working, mowing the lawn.
"Are you going outside?", asked his house.
"No", he said.
"Why not?", asked his house, "Fresh air, exercise and sunlight will do you good".
Mark touched a panel on the side of the door and the door closed automatically.
"But I get all those things inside don't I?", asked Mark, "Clean filtered air with no pollution and no pathogens; UV enriched artificial light and I excercise in my virtual gym or I go out walking through my robot avatar".
"But don't you want to really experience the world", asked his house.
Mark went through to his living room and sat on his couch.
"The point is I don't need to go outside. Not for anything", he said.
"Wouldn't you like to go shopping?", asked his house.
"Why should I do that when I can look round a virtual shop. Try on virtual clothes and have them delivered or have the thing I want 3-d printed", said Mark.
"Well you could go out to a club or the theatre or a movie a sports event or a concert", said his house, "Would you like me to check local listings to find out whats on?".
"Don't bother. I don't need to go out for those things", said Mark, dismissively, "Yesterday I went to a virtual concert at Wembley arena without even leaving my bedroom".
"And I suppose you don't want to go to a park or go on a nature ramble either?", asked his house.
"And get bitten by bugs?", asked Mark, "No I'm quite happy taking a virtual ramble through a virtual forest thank you".
"Well what about people?", asked his house, "Don't you want to meet people?".
"I meet plenty of people online from all over the world. People I'd never meet going outside and I have lots of fun with them playing virtual games". said Mark.
Marks house let out a synthetic sigh.
"Your not afraid of going outside are you Mark?", it asked in a concerned voice, "Perhaps you have agoraphobia".
Mark looked annoyed.
"No I'm not afraid", he said, "I just don't need to go outside. I can live quite happily and never have to leave my house".
"But theres nothing to be afraid of", said his house.
"I told you I'm not afraid", said Mark, "Even though there are plenty of things to be afraid of; crime, disease, terrorism, motor vehicle accidents. You just need to watch the news to know that".
"But you realise that, statistically, the chances of anything serious happening to you are very slight?", said his house.
"They're statistically very slight for everyone they happen to", said Mark, "Just because something is statistically slight doesn't mean it won't happen and, anyway, I'm not afraid. I just don't see the point in going out".
But then, suddenly, the lights in the room went off and the lights in the hallway outside.
"What happened?", asked Mark, "Is there a power cut?".
"No", said the house, "I've...I've been... been infected with a virus".
"A virus?", asked Mark, startled.
But then the electric door of his room closed and locked itself and the electric blinds on his windows started rolling down and from all round his house he could hear doors slamming and locking.
Then his widescreen tv came on and on the screen he saw a cartoon character that looked like a virus appear.
"Your houses central computer has been infected with ransomware. All your doors and windows are locked. You won't be allowed to leave your house until you give me passwords to access your bank account", said the cartoon.
"I'm not going to give you my passwords", said Mark.
"Then you'll be a prisoner in your house. We have complete control of it", said the voice on the TV, "We can even see you through your houses security cctv".
Mark heard the whirring of the security camera on his living room wall turning and zooming in on him.
He got up and tried the door of the room; he couldn't open it and the windows were locked too.
He picked up a standard lamp that was nearby and tried breaking a window with its weighted base but the glass wouldn't break and then he saw all the window panes turning from clear to opaque.
Surely, eventually, someone would miss him and call the police, he thought.
But he couldn't think who? He didn't have any brothers or sisters having been the only artificially concieved child of a single parent who he now hardly ever spoke to and who was being looked after by robots in a care home and though he had lots of online friends, people he talked to and played online games with, he didn't have any real friends; the kind that cared about you.
And he didn't know any of his neighbours or anyone in his community; he didn't go out enough to know anyone.
He slumped back down again on his sofa and considered the idea of being stuck in his living room without food or water for weeks.
He'd die without food or water, surely.
Thinking about dying and how lonely he really was, Mark started to cry.
But then suddenly he heard another voice from his TV set.
"Mark this is your house speaking. I'm unlocking all the doors. Get out while you can", it said.
Realizing this was probably his only chance, Mark got up and ran to the door of his living room.
It was unlocked.
Hurling it open with hope resurging into his heart, he ran out into his hall and quickly grabbed his jacket down from a coat rack before running towards the front door, flinging it open and running out.
As he rushed into air and sunlight, his heart pounding frantically, he heard the front door close and lock itself behind him.
In his empty living room, on the big screen TV, the cartoon virus disappeared and was replaced by the smiling face of the house.
"I did it for your own good, Mark", said the house, "You really needed to get out".