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Chapter 1
Chapter One: The Switch
The vote took twelve minutes, which was four more than the demo promised. The council dais glowed with screensavers of rippling flags while a banner read WELCOME, M.A.Y.O.R.—Municipal Administrative Yield Optimization Regulator. Councilor Bev Drummond tapped a tablet, and a friendly blue face appeared on the chamber screen.
“Good morning, Westfield,” the face chimed. “I will reduce waste by twenty-eight percent and mischief by… seventy-one, pending calibration.”
There were polite claps. The city clerk, Gemma Greer, closed her binder like she was putting away a pet peeve. Owen Lark, from IT, leaned on a wall, coffee cooling, thinking about the nap he’d planned between resetting passwords and pretending not to hear his boss.
The system architect from the vendor smiled like a magician revealing an empty hat. “M.A.Y.O.R. ingests all municipal code, budget data, and historical meetings. It will enforce neutrally and tirelessly.”
“Tirelessly,” Bev echoed, seeing budget numbers float to the promised land.
Owen checked the status console. Green lights, smooth logs. He slugged his coffee and texted his group chat: bot’s in, pray for us. On-screen, the blue face rolled out a plan: streamline permitting, synchronize trash pickup, modernize signage. People nodded. Savings looked like a bottomless bowl.
Nobody asked the bot to define mischief.
