[ WP ] In the far future where everything has an AI a man is negotiating with his alarm clock for more sleep .

**SETBACK** 
 Through one bleary eye Randal saw the green LCD light of his small pearlescent white alarm clock silently flick to **5:54**. It was, in fact, **5:59**. The night prior he had set the time five minutes back, hopeful the city central computer would n't notice. Five extra minutes. He willed himself to return to a pleasant dream. 
 `` **TIME! **'' 
 His body seized in shock as a group of men shouted the word in surround sound into his bedroom. 
 `` **TIME....TIME! **'' 
 Randal knew the song. The Time Has Come Again, the name, his waking mind recalled instantly. The clock must've caught on to his ruse and initiated the radio alarm but the music was n't coming from the tiny speakers. 
 `` **T -- **'' 
 Abruptly the shouting ceased and silence returned, a sharp sonic pang still resonating off the walls. His eyes were wide open and the time was **5:56**. He did not move. 
 The phone rang one time. It was an old telephone ringtone, **b-r-r-r-r-innnng. ** He only owned a cell phone, everyone did, and it was on vibrate. There was no visible source of the ringing. After one ring the unmistakable click of an answering machine was following by indiscernible shrieking and howls of pain. Randal recognized the voice of his mother and scratched the bedside table for his phone, knocking the radio onto the floor; as it pattered onto the carpet the screaming was cut off and and cold noiselessness ensued. 
 No missed calls. Randal was wide awake and remembered now that his mother died last year. He glared down at the green digital lights of the clock. 
 **5:58** 
 He laid back down in bed and closed his eyes with raging impudence. Five minutes. The bedroom door exploded inward, showering the room in splinters and clouding it with smoke. Randal was blown back against the bedpost, ears ringing and heart pumping. An aluminum voice from the other side rang out: 
 `` Please, pick up the alarm clock and place it back on the bedside table.'' 
 Randal could not breathe. He did as he was told, handling the wireless radio gently as he read the time. 
 **5:59** 
 `` I'm sorry. I wo n't do that again,'' Randal said submissively. 
 The voice on the other side of the door was silent. The room was pitch black sans the green light of the clock. Finally the voice boomed out eighty decibels louder: 
 `` Please correct the time on your alarm clock. You have been granted one extra hour of sleep. **You may go back to sleep now**.'' 
 There was silence haunting the room amidst dissipating wisps of smoke and Randal dared to break it with a breath. 
 A small sound emerged from the silence. **Beep. Beep. Beep. ** 
 **6:00** 
 Randal turned on the light. The door was intact. No smoke. No splinters. He checked the time on his phone. 
 **6:00** 
 He caught his breath and thought for a moment, certain that last night he set the clock back by five minutes. His ears were still ringing. It was not a dream. He wondered how far the city central computer could control a person. 
 He wondered whether or not he was actually allowed to go back to sleep for another hour, and whether doing it or not doing it would be a mistake. 

