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I'll bite the bullet and give this a shot. I'll take a flash rule, too, why not.
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Oct 17, 2013 16:08
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| # ¿ Jul 16, 2025 07:09 |
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Sad prompt is really hard.  Crisis Management (896 words) "So, Richard, why did you apply for the transfer to our department?" Emily asked as they moved down the sparse corridor. Richard shrugged. "My boss told me about it. I wanted a chance to move up, and there wasn't any opportunities with the DASV in my skillset." Emily snorted. "That sounds familiar," she quipped as she placed a hand on the palm reader. The glass door slid into the bulkhead, and she lead the way onto a conveyor. "What do you know about our department, Richard?" Richard sweated in his cheap suit. "Uh... Crisis management for the M-System, right? Since it's decentralized, you're a dispatch site." "Yeah. Richard, when was the last time you asked for a promotion?" Emily asked off-handedly as the conveyor coursed them through the facility. "I don't see how that's any of your busi-" "May 1st, 3319. You asked for a raise and a job title change at the Anchorage registration office. You were denied. Twenty years, Richard." Richard looked stunned, and then angry. "So is that it? You had me fly out here so you could ridicule me about my job history? I don't even want to know what kind of regulations you broke to obtain that information in the first place!" Emily smiled. "Relax, Richard. I just want you to have the right understanding about this position, and why you are here. For starters, you already passed the interview before you ever walked in. We have a background checking process. You were referred to us because you are due to be flagged non-essential." Richard looked pale. "There has to be some mistake... I'm consistently a top performer, and my whole department..." Emily shook her head. "I said the same thing when I ended up here. We all did. I want you to understand before we go any further, this is a dead end. We're all equals here, and there's no getting out once you're in." Richard slowly nodded. "I... Understand. I don't really have a choice, anyway, do I?" "It's that or indefinite furlough. Sorry, I really am. Anyway, to understand what our department does, you need to understand the M-System. So what do you know about it?" Richard thought for a moment. "It's a computer program. It exists in the cloud, with hard access points everywhere. It manages the weather and life support systems, the reproduction network, interpersonal communications and government information lookup services." "That's what it does now, yes. But do you know it's history?" Richard shook his head. "I've never read much about it. It was programmed in the 2200s, during the sterility plague. It was the foundation for the reproduction network." Emily nodded as the conveyor came to a stop. She lead Richard into a small security office, where a squat man took his handprint. "That's almost all correct, but you left out one key point. The M-System is an AI, not just a process floating around in the cloud." "...Really? I mean, I guess that's obvious. There's got to be so much automation in a system that large... I just never really thought about it." "You'd be surprised how many people don't realize it, even though it's right in front of them. It's really easy to forget she's there. It's something you take for granted." Richard and Emily exited the security office into a maze of hallways, and she lead him to his new office. The room was comfortable, though not very large, with a nice desk and chair. Emily gestured to the wall, and a terminal window opened. "Anyway, the people who programmed the M-System ran into problems with the reproduction system. The initial programming made judgements that people were uncomfortable with. They wanted a program capable of feeling the same feelings an expecting mother would feel." Emily made another gesture towards the terminal on the wall, and a library of documents opened up on the screen. With another gesture, she rapidly cycled through a sampling of them. Richard saw spreadsheets, old forms and documents, and then photos. Hundreds of photos, of him. "...What is this?" "The M-System has managed every human birth for more than a thousand years, and she is attached to every one of those children. The system itself is decentralized, but we're the box in the attic. Every new baby born, every first step and first word. Every little league game played, every report card, every success and failure you have ever had. All of that data is tracked, cataloged and stored here." "So what does crisis management have to do with any of this?" "Well, they say the worst thing a person can experience is losing a child, right? Imagine that, every second of every day. The more the grief builds, the more stress it places on the cloud. Disasters can bring down network access to an entire colony, which just gums up the system even more. Our job is to manage her grief, from crisis to crisis. We make sure she's occupied and so she never feels alone." * * * Training was a long process for the position, but Richard was excited to see his first bit of progress. He hit the compile button and the program sent a packet of data into the cloud. It wasn't much, but he had to learn to talk to her before he could expect to change the world. "Hi Mom."
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Oct 21, 2013 04:23
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I'm in for this one too.
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Oct 22, 2013 05:43
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I have to drop. I lost track of time and I think I should probably stay away from Thunderdome until I can prioritize better.
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Oct 28, 2013 03:30
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