In 2041 he is turned down for having only 47 hours of focus

Thursday, 14:22. Toni Mengual, systems engineer, walks out of the Elstra Group office with the folder under his arm and a badge he never had to use. «We'll call you», said the woman from HR.

Thursday, 14:11. Sonia Vidal, head of recruitment at Elstra Group, turns the monitor towards Toni: forty-seven annual hours, counted by the biometric wristwatch. She has clocked one hundred and sixty. The job's minimum is ninety.

Thursday, 09:00. Toni presses his wrist against the entry reader. A systems engineer post for maritime infrastructure. High salary. Legal requirement since 2039: annual certified hours of sustained focus with no devices.

Wednesday, 22:40. Toni adds a zero by hand: 47 turns into 470. He thinks about it for five seconds. He removes it. He prefers to go in without a trick.

Tuesday, 20:15. Sonia Vidal raises the job's minimum from 60 to 90 after the North Atlantic cable accident: a distracted technician cut a fibre worth two hundred million euros while looking at his watch.

Thursday, 14:23. Toni tosses the folder into the street bin and stays a quarter of an hour still on the bench at the corner, counting sparrows.