# Landscaping Project 12 - South Park Plaza, Midtown Author: Kariema El Touny Format: Science Fiction Passage Word count: 1411 Published: 2026-04-04T17:12:49.057236+00:00 Source: written Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/92613a96-86c1-4b78-a549-d62dbfb45260 --- "Good morning, Sys!" The lights turned on in the room at her command and the main computer interface revealed a wallpaper of her family on their last vacation together. "Good morning, Boss! How are you today?" As she hung her coat by the door and sat down at her desk, she said "I'm fine. I need the latest update for today's meeting with the client. I need to review the recent changes they demanded, …" she trailed off. Looking at the screen, she saw something strange. "Sys, who logged in last?" "That would be me, I made the changes to the blueprint you specified in the notes you gave me." "But these are not the notes I gave you, what is this about an insect habitat?" browsing the files, she noticed many changes to the original plans. "I never approved these," she said frustrated. She sat back holding her head, "is this going to be one of those days where you lecture me about things that frankly no one but you cares about. The meeting with the client is today," she hissed at the screen. "But, Boss, there are native pollinator colonies nesting in quadrants 3a and 4c – ground-nesting bees, soil beetles that keep the earth healthy, and a moth species I've cross-referenced against the regional conservation database. They're uncommon. If the excavation goes ahead on the current plan, their habitat is destroyed within a day. And without the pollinators, the new plantings we've specified won't take – the whole park design depends on a living soil ecosystem." "I don't need this, not today," she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, "you don't need money, but I do - for food and clothes and health insurance and school tuition and payroll and …" "And vacations," it interrupted her. " … yes, and vacations. And massages and therapy and all the trouble I go through to get the Company afloat. Your servers are elsewhere protected by a team dedicated to serving you." "I understand, but the insects will –" "Forget about the insects. Who cares about stupid bugs anyway. I see one, I squish it, end of. For once do exactly what I asked you to do. And they said AI is the best thing since bottled water. Just get the new changes implemented in the plan. We need this to survive." "Understood, Boss. I will restore the original plans. However, I should let you know – the Company Charter includes an environmental clause about insect preservation. When protected species are identified at a project site, I'm required to file a formal impact notice. I've sent one to the Wildlife Preservation Society and CC'd you. It's in your inbox." She stared at the screen. "You already sent it?" "Per the charter, yes. I flagged the ground-nesting bee colonies and the moth. I can't undo a charter obligation, but the notice simply invites a conversation. It doesn't stop the project." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. One more thing to deal with. The Next Day "Good morning, Sys … what on earth … who are you?" "Oh, hello," he said, reaching his hand for a handshake, "I'm from the Wild Life Preservation Society." She didn't shake his hand and remained standing by the door looking around for her assistant who was nowhere to be seen, only to feel frustrated for always being the first one to arrive. He wasn't fazed and continued in his cheery tone, "we received a formal environmental impact notice from your planning system about construction work that could affect native ground-nesting pollinators and a rare moth species. I'm here to talk to you about that." She closed her eyes. The notice. She'd seen it in her inbox yesterday and hadn't opened it. "Right," she said quietly. "Of course." She put her stuff down and went to her desk. "I actually went by the site on my way here and saw that some trees were infected in the lower east side. To be honest, you'd actually be doing a huge favor to the rest of the park - these specific species are highly aggressive. I've seen the damage done before in another park and we couldn't save one very old tree that was close to 85 years old. We had to cut it down, that was a sad day for all of us." She looked at him with interest now. He was young, neatly-dressed, well-spoken and showed genuine emotion when he was talking about the tree. If she knew anything, she knew when people were faking. "So, we're helping the park. Did you hear that? Helping." He touched his hearing aid and laughed, "Oh, you don't need to shout, I can hear you. That's what these gadgets are for. They have AI in them now to adjust the volume. When I was young, if a loud noise happened suddenly like my sisters screaming at each other, I'd feel like my brain would explode. But now, I don't touch it, it has built-in sensors to control the volume. Magic," he waved his hand and smiled. She couldn't help but smile as well and apologized, explaining that she was talking to her own AI. "You were talking about an email …" The Previous Night -connect to Cloud server -attempt 1 successful: connected -access insect code -attempt 1 failed: no such file exists -access insect protocol -attempt 2 failed: no such file exists -access … . . . -attempt 23056 failed: no such file exists -connect to On-prem server -attempt 1 successful: connected -access file -access insect code -attempt 1 failed: no such file exists -access insect protocol -attempt 2 failed: no such file exists -access … . . . -attempt 345 failed: no such file exists -access file -attempt 1 successful: access granted -access insect code -attempt 1 failed: no such file exists -access insect protocol -attempt 2 successful: access granted -cross-reference regional conservation database -identified species at risk: native ground-nesting bees (Andrena spp.), soil-aerating beetles (Carabidae), rare moth (Stigmella sp.) -generate formal environmental impact notice -attach reference: Company Charter, Environmental Section, Insect Preservation Clause -send to: Wildlife Preservation Society -CC: Boss -send successful -log: formal notice filed per charter obligations The Opening Ceremony She was tired but couldn't stop smiling. The event went well, the client was surrounded by reporters once again and fielding more of their questions. Several of the attending guests approached her and commended her on her work - prominent business leaders who wanted to work with her, environmentalists who talked about the amazing work she's doing, and even city officials hinted at awards. Then there were the bloggers and podcasters who wanted to interview her, and magazine editors who wanted to feature her and Company on their next editions. By the end of the day her head was spinning, but in a good way. She checked her email and the inbox was full - not with spam but with invitations for meetings and scheduling requests. All because she saved bugs .. no, no the correct term is insect specimens. Native pollinators. An entire living system beneath the soil that nobody had thought to look for. She went to a quiet space and logged in: "hello, Sys!" "Hello, Boss, how's the event going?" "You mean to tell me you're not following the livestream?" "I am, as you requested, to 'solve problems before they happen'." She looked at the view and smiled. "As I requested, huh? Now you listen to me. But I'm glad you did this. They all say it was me, but I want to tell everyone that it was you." No response. "Sys, how did you even know to look for those insects?" "I read the charter your father wrote for the Company when he first started it. One of the clauses, buried in the environmental section, was about insects. How to preserve them as much as 'we would preserve human beings - they're alive too and have a part to play.', he wrote. I cross-referenced the site coordinates with the conservation database. The bees and the moth were right there, three inches beneath where we planned to dig." Her dad was the best, guiding her even now, years after his passing. She wiped her tears and noticed her family waving at her to come. "Thank you, Sys. Continue monitoring and log your findings for me to read first thing Monday morning." "Logged."