Anna stretched as she pulled back from her desk. “Good god, it’s finally over,” she mumbled with relief. She groaned as she laid back in her chair. ‘Maybe I can finally go home now’ she thought as she rolled back in her chair and took a moment to enjoy the view of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles had been through a lot of shit in the past seventy years.

Back during the Flood, when the ocean levels were rising all over the world because of climate change, LA had been one of the worst cities hit. A lack of proper preparations was the main cause. Various different agendas and general political turmoil had gotten in the way, and in the end, what had been done was woefully ineffective.

Of course, then there had been the Costal Scare, in which almost all residents fled inland to get away from the perceived threat of the rising ocean. The media was mainly to blame for this one. Sensationalist stories about how the ‘next Noah’s flood’ was upon us and that anyone even remotely near the coast would die from the rapidly rising waters. Most of it was bullshit. The Costal Scare thankfully resolved itself in a few months, when the smarter people realized that the fictional news stories they were being fed were just that, and returned to their homes by the sea.

However, the damage had been done and many were still too scared to go back. These people settled down in various towns and cities they found themselves in, creating a whole bunch of other issues.

Then, of course, there had been the Cascadian Catastrophe.

Anna snorted. ‘That’s such a nice name for something that took millions of lives. It even has alliteration,’ she deprecated.

Deep under Cascadia, where the Juan De Fuca Plate subducts under the North American Plate, there was a slip. A magnitude 9.9 megaquake erupted over the west coast. This caused an untold amount of damage and created a humanitarian disaster.

LA was spared the worst of it, but not by much. The earthquake was so violent that it caused an unknown weak point in the rock under the city to crack. This made a large portion of the city sink into the sea. Tens of thousands of people were killed in LA and many of those that weren’t killed moved away soon after.

With the loss of Hollywood, as well as the infrastructure to support it, the movie industry moved away soon after too. Setting up in Bollywood, in the new superpower that was India. This destroyed LA’s already crippled economy and led to an already gigantic unemployed population skyrocketing even further.

LA has somewhat recovered since then but it still remains a shadow of its former self. A fishing industry has popped up, catching the fish that are attracted to the ruins of old LA, the largest artificial reef in the world, and several corporations and conglomerates have also invested in LA. Buying land from the city in order to set up various research and testing facilities. The city, in turn, uses that money to fund public projects and to help the economy.

It’s a pretty nice deal for the city… as long as one ignored the fact that a corporate-run research facility sounds sinister as hell.

Anna sighed again and stood up, stretching. Collecting her things she made her way to the elevator through the now dark office building. She checked the time and deflated when she saw it was 12:00.

‘Fuck. I’m not going to have any time to read tonight,’ she thought as she ordered an Auto-Taxi using her V-Screen. Storming out of the building she entered the car that pulled up to the street for her.

"Greetings Ms. Miller. Where are you headed this wonderful night?" The CI asked.

“Apartment Complex 2345 please,” Anna responded politely. No longer being rushed, Anna took the time to show common courtesy.

"Understood. Routing to Apartment Complex 2345. Thank you for choosing Auto-Taxi number 34563. Could I interest you in any music for your journey?"

“Yes. Some soft pop songs would be fine, thank you.”

"My pleasure Ms. Miller" The CI said as some music started playing over the speakers.

Anna allowed herself to relax in the back of the car as it pulled back into the endless flow of traffic. Every other car slowing down or speeding up perfectly to fit the Auto-Taxi in.

‘Automated driving really is a blessing,’ Anna thought as she stared out the window. ‘I can’t imagine having to drive with other people on the highways. That would be nightmarish. Not to mention the traffic!’ She chuckled.

LA’s modified skyline whisked past her as the Auto-Taxi join onto the freeway. Unlike in the past, where LA was flat and spread out, the new LA had to make do with the small pieces of land they had available. Skyscrapers were now the norm, not the exception.

In the north, bright holographic advertisements played day in and day out, for as long as the advertisers pay. Hallucinogenic drugs, skanky prostitutes, and illegal modifications were all available down south. Out east lies the desert and the various different research facilities owned by the corporations. West is the ocean and the few remaining remnants of old LA, existing as coral reefs and archeological sites. A few remaining islands still exist as well, however, almost all are privately owned by billionaires.

Anna started to contemplate. She thought about a lot of things. From simple things like, 'What's lunch going to be tomorrow?' to more grand topics like, 'What is the meaning of existence?' Many things passed through Anna Miller's mind on that fateful ride, but eventually, her thoughts turned introspective. She started to think about herself and her place in the world.

And as her thoughts grew more and more introspective, they grew more and more depressing in turn.

“God, what am I going to do?” she eventually questioned aloud, throwing her head back and sprawling across her seat.

"Pardon Ms. Miller?"

“Uh, no its nothing…” she waved off before a humorous idea occurred to her and she laughed.

“Tell me CI, what’s the meaning of life?” Anna asked with a smirk on her lips, not expecting any serious answer.

"..." The CI went silent for a while. Anna was actually worried she might've broken the CI when it responded suddenly, "It’s whatever you make of it, of course."

“Hmm... maybe...” Anna mumbled, surprised by the CI.

Computer Intelligences were a more recent invention being created not more than thirty years ago. They’re not supposed to be truly sentient and supposedly resemble learning algorithms more than actual AI. Not that anyone really knows for sure, seeing how true AI is still beyond mankind's ability to create.

‘That's a surprisingly competent answer for what's described as a glorified learning algorithm. I wonder if-’

There was a crash, and a shriek. Anna felt momentarily weightless as the car flipped around her. A sharp pain in her abdomen scrambled her thoughts and she screamed. Another crash, then a boom, then…

...blackness.

Kyle Brown winced as he pulled up to the crash site. “Damn, that’s pretty bad.”

John laughed beside him. “Well, that's one way of putting it. The doctors say that she's stabilized but they're afraid that she might have fallen into a coma.”

Kyle hummed as he got out of his car, his partner following soon after. Walking up to one of the other officers on the scene he asked what happened.

“Well,” the officer began, “It sounds really strange. Apparently, based on what the diagnostics show, everything was functioning normally when one of the various computer chips that the CI ran on malfunctioned. I don't know any of the specifics but that chip was the one that ran the 'cognition algorithm', whatever that is. Without that, the CI couldn't ‘see’ the curve coming and plowed straight into the wall.”

“Really?” Kyle asked surprised. “That's not good. What was the reason for the malfunction?”

“Don’t know. The damn corps won't tell us. You know how secretive they are over their products, and, of course, we can't pressure them into telling us because they own the damn city!” the officer answered while throwing his hands up into the air.

Kyle just shook his head as he walked toward the wreck.

John whistled as they got closer. “Damn, that’s pretty bad,” he said, quoting Kyle from earlier. “Now I'm starting to doubt those reports that I read. It's a damn miracle she survived this, much less that she did so without losing any limbs.”

Kyle just grunted, agreeing with John. It is was a damn miracle she’d survived this.

The Auto-Taxi appeared to have flipped several times. Its roof was almost completely flat against the rest of the chassis and it appeared to be warped in several strange places. The car was currently on its side and several company-owned mechanics and what appeared to be scientists were running around it.

As Kyle got closer one of the scientists noticed him and ran up. “Terribly sorry about all of this officer,” the man had the presence of mind to appear contrite, “but we need to study the vehicle to see why it crashed so we can prevent further incidents like this from happening in the future.”

Kyle looked down at the mousy man standing in front of him, shifting nervously, before sighing. “Look, that’s why we’re here as well. Neither one of us wants to go through this whole process. Its annoying, time consuming and having to do it usually means that somebody ended up hurt.”

“Think of it this way, friend,” John interjected from the side, “just give us the basics of how it happened and what we can do to stop it from happening again.” John smiled, causing the scientist to relax.

“Well... alright,” He relented. “We’re technically not supposed to tell anyone about how the CI’s work but as long as I stick to the basics it should be alright.” He looked around nervously before explaining. “Now, the chip that malfunctioned manages and stores the cognition algorithm. This is the process that CI’s use to understand the data that they receive from the various cameras and sensors their hooked to. When the chip malfunctioned it disrupted the cognition algorithm, meaning that the Auto-Taxi could no longer understand what its surroundings were and where it was. This lead to the crash as it couldn’t ‘see’ the turn coming.” The scientist paused as he looked up to see if the officers were still following.

John gave him a thumbs up to continue

The scientist nodded shakily before he started pacing. “Now the strange part is, is that this shouldn’t be possible. Not ‘it is extremely improbable’. I mean that this should, literally, be impossible in all conventional sense. Every single part of any CI is screened, down to the smallest nails, for inconsistencies or issues. The chance of an issue this large getting through that screening is so statistically unlikely that you’re more likely to win a hundred lotteries in a row than have an error of this magnitude occur!”

The scientist was now fully ranting as he almost speed walked back and forth in front of them. “And that not the strangest part! The strangest part is that this unit has been in service for years, and yet now of all times it fails!”

“Could it have malfunctioned due to wear and tear?” Kyle asked.

“No! Every single CI has to report to a company repair shop monthly for check-ups and inspections! For something like this to pass through inspection unnoticed is unthinkable-”

"Sir, sir!” John interrupted, afraid that the man was going to pass out from his anger. “Calm down. Everything is fine. We’re just going to go over here and discuss a few things.” he said, trying to placate the man.

The scientist took a few deep breaths before nodding.

Both John and Kyle backed away slowly and headed for their cruiser. They ducked inside and Kyle pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to John.

“No thanks, man. Damn, those eggheads really get worked up over their work!” He exclaimed.

“Yeah…” Kyle paused as he took a drag on his cigarette. “So, what did you get from all of that anyway?”

“Well, apparently, based on what I picked up on from that little rant, these crashes don’t happen-"

“Yeah, no shit. When’s the last time you’ve been to a crash scene?”

“Anyways,” John continued, glaring at Kyle for interrupting him, “this crash is ‘impossible’, to use the good doctors’ own words. So, to simplify this, we have an impossible wreck and a damn miracle occurring at the same time. Either this woman is the luckiest person alive or the unluckiest.”

Kyle looked over sharply. “Do you suspect foul play?”

John was hesitant, “I don’t know man, but something about this is definitely fishy. If someone was trying to kill her then they may try again if they hear that she survived. Then again, she may have rigged the car to crash, trying to cash in on some insurance money.” He leaned back into his chair with a groan. “Or, we may just be overthinking things and it was all a series of unfortunate and fortunate events.”

Kyle sat there thinking for a while. He was almost done with his cigarette when something the scientist said occurred to him. “Hey, John...”

“Yeah?”

“So that doctor said that, and I quote, ‘For something like this to pass through inspection unnoticed is unthinkable.’”

“Mm-hmm?”

“So what if the error was not necessarily constrained to the chip. What if the inspection system or whatever they have, also had an error, allowing this one to slip by?” He paled a bit before he finished his line of reasoning. “What if that error was never fixed and more of the malfunctioning chips continued to slip by?”

“Wha- Oh... dear…”

CI’s were used in most industries as they were normally cheaper and safer than human workers. Auto-Taxi’s are one example but CI’s were also used in demolition, communication, construction, mining, security, power generation, military systems...

Military Systems...

““Oh, Fuck!””