This is the second part of the novella "The End of the Holocene". The first part
"Life, although it may only be an accumulation of suffering, is dear to me, and I will defend it." — Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
April 2030. San Francisco.
Michael Kravchenko returned to his place of power on the ocean shore near San Francisco. A light mist had almost completely swallowed the Golden Gate Bridge. Michael missed this view, these scents. He hadn’t been here in almost half a year. A cascade of events that followed the launch of the general artificial intelligence Suffragium, developed with his participation, had brought a dark streak into his life.
During that time, Michael had to justify himself a thousand times before various committees, proving that there had been no malicious intent in his actions. That the responsibility couldn’t be laid on the engineers. Sometimes, science encounters failures. Ultimately, it’s all experience. And there hadn’t been any serious problems—aside from the financial losses. Yes, the global network was unstable for a while. But everything was resolved eventually.