A man, Frank, is directed by an app named Coach to go to the hub. He goes to a restaurant there and sits at a table. A woman, Amy, arrives and Coach directs her to Frank. Frank nervously drops a fork and introduces himself. They nervously sit and they admit that it's both their first time on the system. They nervously chat, and Coach says that their menu choices have already been established The waiter brings their food and Frank asks if he can try some. Amy wonders if they're allowed to do it, and Frank glances nervously at a guard by the door. They do it anyway and the guard glares at them but says nothing.
Amy suggests that as first-timers they check their expiry date. They have to tap to reveal at the same time, and when they do it says that they only have twelve hours together. Frank and Amy agree that it's a bit short, and the device starts counting down. After they finish eating, they go outside and a driverless vehicle arrives to take them to a house outside of town. The couple goes inside and appreciates the decor, and then goes to the bedroom. Amy goes into the bathroom and asks Coach if they're supposed to have sex. Frank asks his app the same question, and Coach tells him that participants are not required to take any specific action. Coach says that it's up to them.
Amy comes out and Frank offers to sleep on the couch. She says that the bed is big enough that they could both fit in it, and lie next to each other. Frank and Amy talk about how dating was nuts before the system when people had to decide who to be with it and if they needed to break up. They figure it's simpler when it's mapped out, but admit that what they're doing is weird. After a minute Amy takes Frank's hand and smiles.
The next morning, Frank and Amy leave and Amy thanks him for being her first. Their timers run down and Amy tells Frank that if they had the time again he'd get it. Frank says the same about her, and they walk away to their waiting vehicles.
Later, Amy is jogging and Coach tells her that her reaction to a brief encounter provides the system with valuable information. Frank wonders the same thing as he hikes, and Coach tells him that his ultimate compatible has not yet been selected. It says that it finds the perfect relationship in 99.8% of cases, and says that he has to go through lots of relationships to find his ultimate.
Frank and Amy get notice of new relationships, and Amy meets her new man, Lenny. They compliment each other on their hair.
Frank meets with a woman, Nicola, and he apologizes for running late. She's started eating already and says that they should check the expiry. They're scheduled to be together for one year, and they confirm it's not a mistake. Nicola swears and Frank swears that there'll be a reason. She's less than thrilled with Frank makes a joke.
Amy and Lenny discover that they're scheduled together for nine months. They share a toast to their new relationship, and later go to a cottage. Lenny says that he's been in five relationships to date, and undresses to get in the shower. Afterward he comes out with nothing but a towel and tells Amy that he's found it's best to have sex up front. He consents to everything and suggests that Amy should do the same when she feels comfortable. She does so and they have sex.
Frank and Nicola have sex, and she criticizes him through their performance.
Afterward, Amy sighs in pleasure.
Afterward, Frank and Nicola lie next to each other. Nicola dozes off and starts snoring. Frank checks his app and it tells him that they have 365 more days together. The next day Frank is playing handball and Coach tells him that he can't just walk away. One day the system will provide him with the ultimate match.
Nicola and Frank go to a wedding reception and Nicola goes off on her own. Frank sees Amy with Lenny, and afterward the married couple Mike and Edna tells the crowd that the system delivered and brought them together. Everyone applauds, and Frank glances over at Amy. That night, Frank is eating at the buffet table and Nicola comes over and complains that he didn't get any. She walks off, and Amy comes over and greets Frank. Amy asks if Nicola is his new relationship, and Frank starts choking. She pats him on the back until he chokes up the dip, and he jokingly insults her shoes. Lenny comes over and Amy introduces him. She explains that she and Frank together were a bit before she and Lenny met, and Frank awkwardly congratulates them. As everyone gathers to congratulate the couple as they leave for their honeymoon, Amy glances back at Frank as he walks away.
That night in bed, Amy lies awake and takes Lenny's hand. He glances over at her and after a moment kisses her. He sighs as they have sex, and afterward he makes it again after taking a drink. Amy tells him that the noise bothers him a bit, and he says that he'll try not to do it. He picks wax out of his ear and goes back to sleep.
Frank continues lying next to a snoring Nicola.
Lenny continues making the sighing noise, and Amy confirms that they have two months left. With seven weeks left, they lie in bed and reed books. After three weeks, they drive past the huge wall surrounding their community.
As the relationship counts down, Lenny says that it's been a great relationship and they hug. As she swims, she gets another relationship and goes to the restaurant Her next relationship with a man, Norman, is thirty-six hours. Amy has another relationship date with Butch for 36 hour, and each of them is more and more ripped. She continues having 36-hour relationships.
Frank and Nicola's relationship runs out and Nicola quickly leaves when it expires. Frank wonders why he spent a year with someone he despises, and Coach says that everything happens for a reason. He gets a new relationship date with Amy, and they're surprised that the system hooked them up together. Coach confirms that it's not a mistake, and Amy says that she's sick of the short flings that she's been sent on and doesn't want to check their expiry date. Frank agrees and they discuss their relationships.
Afterward they go to a house and figure that they have sex because they don't know how much time they have. Amy refuses to undress first, and they joke back and forth. They finally kiss and make love, and the next morning they hold hands and walk. Amy wonders if it's all random and the system is just wearing them down until they finally accept whatever the systems says as "the one". Frank theorizes that the system builds up profiles of all of them, and Amy jokingly wonders if they're in a simulation. She pinches him to show that he's real, and Frank suggests that he was programmed to go "ouch".
Frank watches Amy sleep, and she wakes up and notices him. Later as Amy makes breakfast, Frank looks at the app device. They take a bath together and that night, Amy dozes off. Frank asks Coach what his and Amy's expiry date is. The AI wonders if he wants her to talk him out of the relationship, and Frank admits that he doesn't know. He finally checks the date and discovers that it's five years. However, the time starts decreasing and Coach says that one-sided observation has destabilized the expiry date. It only says that everything will happen for a reason, and warns that the expiry date can't be extended. It finally stops at twenty hours.
The next morning, Amy finds Frank staring out the window and asks if everything is okay. They go to the pond and Amy skips stones, and notes that she can never skip it more or less than four times. Frank finally tells her that he looked and they only have an hour left. He admits that he likes her for real and he hoped to overcome the expiry date, and suggests that they just ignore the system and get out over the wall. Amy says that there's nothing out there and tells Frank that he ruined it, and walks off. A guard approaches them with a taser, and Amy tells Frank not to follow her.
Back at the house, Coach tells Frank that the system will assess the painful early termination of his treasured relationship and improve its profile so it can eventually chose someone for him accordingly. Crying, Frank says that he feels like scaling the wall, Coach warns him that it's against the system. She tells him that failure to comply with the system may result in banishment, and says that he must vacate the living quarters after the expiry date.
Amy is soon with a new man, David. She takes his hand after sex but he just sleeps. She and Frank go on with their lives, and think of each other constantly. Frank tells his new relationship, Patty, while she performs oral sex on him. She isn't interested and suggests that they have sex. As they do, Patty asked if he never apologized. Frank asks if he can think about Amy, and Patty agrees as long as she thinks about her man.
Amy continues skipping stones on the pond and only gets four skips. Coach finally tells her that it's identified her ultimate mating date and they meet tomorrow. Then Amy will leave the place forever. Coach says that she doesn't know the mate, and informs her that she's been allocated a goodbye period with someone of her choice. Amy immediately chooses Frank, and Coach tells her that they'll meet at their usual booth. She then skips the app into the pool, and it skips four times.
When Amy arrives at the booth, she finds Frank waiting and they immediately kiss. Frank confirms that they have less than two minutes, and tells Amy that his pairing day is also the next day. They want each other, and Amy warns that failure to comply with the system will result in punishment. Ignoring the AI, Amy asks Frank if he can remember where they were before there. She can't either, and Frank says that the first time they met it felt before. Amy figures that they felt that way because they've met thousands of times before, and figures that it's a test. The two of them rebelling together is a test, and they agree to go over the wall no matter what.
The expiry time zero, and everyone stares at Amy and Frank. A guard comes over and aims his taser at them, but Amy puts her hand to it and nothing happens. Everyone in the room freezes, and Amy and Frank walk out. Everyone in the Hub has frozen, and the couple runs outside to the wall. They find a ladder on the wall and climb to the top. Behind them, all the lights in the Hub shut down and the place dissolves into an electric matrix, taking the wall, Frank, and Amy with it.
Frank and Amy find themselves in a black void with the number 998 hovering over them, and hundreds of other versions of themselves. Numbers hover over all of them, and the couples disappear one by one. Overhead, a sign shows a thousand simulations complete. Frank and Amy dissolve with the others as the system notes that 998 rebellions out of a thousand simulations have been logged.
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In the real world at a bar, Amy looks at an app and sees that Frank is a 99.8% match for her. She and Frank spot each other and smile.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 31, 2017