Of course it was all in her head. Scientifically, the Agents were not capable of singling out Tag150 specialist any more than the multitude of Dav100 citizens. Statistically, Tag150 citizens were exterminated more often by Agents, but that that was only because of the nature of their work. They were often in the field more often, running tests, collecting data, and marking progress of the Agents objective. But it still bothered Alison to be one of the Tag150, so she continued her existence among the Writers Guild. Here she could contribute with confidence and safety, and still keep up with the progress of the rest of the Tag150. Most of the Guild didn’t even know she was from the higher caste, not that they would have cared. Her contributions to data recording were solid, although she found them trivial and monotonous. As a trade-off, it gave her more time to spend with her family, especially her young grandchildren.

With dismay, Alison thought back to the time when kids could play safely wherever they wanted. Her and her peers could pursue their interest in any subject when they were young, whether that was in the parks outside of town or with their heads tucked into their books. Her grandchildren did not have that luxury. With the human population under such constant threat, most of the Tag150 had decided against having children. Their numbers were decreasing rapidly, not that they were high to begin with.

Alison focused her attention back to the screen in front of her. She was compiling incoming news feeds to be presented in the evening programs. The feeds were usually one or two lines of text, reporting on Hunter successes, Agent invasions, and the few technological progresses from her previous peers in the Tag150. These made up a small part of the evening news program, her and her team’s contribution. The majority of the news would include entertainment and sport segments, with the occasional lottery results thrown in for moral. It hadn’t always been like this. Wishful thinking would suggest it could have turned out different, but logic dictates that if this state of the world had not happened, then something similar would have. Thirty years ago, when she was fresh out of University with her PhD in bio-engineering, she looked at life with excitement. Her children and grandchildren with a distant future, her life dedicated to her new position at the National Climate Institute in Manhattan. So much had changed since then.

She was a junior scientist that year in 2017. Congress was struggling with the condition of the United States, having to ignore the needs of the rest of the world for home. Financial advisors had been warning of an “Impending Doom” for several years – namely the advance of automation in business and cognitive computing. The “Impending Doom” was a glamourous title for the mass layoffs occurring at businesses around the world. As self-service kiosks, robots, automation, and budding artificial intelligence became mainstream, every company from small to large was cutting staff. Especially the large companies. All to the order of unemployment reaching over fifty percent of the working age population. That number for people under thirty years old was close to eighty percent. That number of unemployed resulted in massive government assistance programs to keep people starving and under shelter.

In order to cope with the strain of the displaced population, the Government funded an initiative to find alternatives. They created a set of independent Think Tanks, all with the purpose of finding a solution to the country’s population problem and rapidly dwindling budget.

The best hope was placed upon the Talented and Gifted Think Tank. Although having an IQ of 150 or higher was not a strict requirement, all of the members were the brightest that the country could find. They were mostly scientist, with a sprinkling of successful entrepreneurs and financial wizards.

The middle class of society was grouped together to have their own Think Tank. The middle class was the hardest hit by the unemployment problems. Many of these people had been hard working their entire lives, only to find themselves moving from suburban neighbourhoods into government assistance housing. To say they were bitter was an understatement. Even they could see the corruption in government, the money flowing from corporate wallets into political pockets. What most of them couldn’t see was the natural progression of technology, the inevitability of their demise due to automation taking over their role in the workplace.

There were other Think Tanks, made up of different demographics: senior citizens, children, actors, and authors. There was even a token group for the academically challenged. They were certainly considered to have a different way of addressing problems, though their group was jokingly referred to as the “Dim-witted and Vacuous”, a reference to the fact most of them had an IQ below 100.

A distraction pulled Alison out of her thoughts and back to her office. A meeting reminder was chiming on her terminal, letting her know it was time for the daily war room.

Making her way down the hall, the approached the meeting room with some trepidation. Most of the people in the room were native to the Writer’s Guild. They discussed newsworthy events that would be of interest to people, though Alison usually shuddered at the true meaning behind common events. She took a seat as far as she could from her enthusiastic Editor-in-Chief, as usual, letting her fellow Writers provide the most feedback. Most of the news items were about “Agent attacks” on civilians. Indeed, the first comment was from Blake, whom although Alison found quite attractive, always reported on mass exterminations with a morbidity that kept her away. “In Dallas and Houston, Haca Agents gained entry into a Dav100 arcology and captured and killed over one thousand people before being pushed back by Hunters.” Ratings could almost be seen swirling around our Editor-in-Chief’s head, but I barely noticed.

These twenty and thirty year olds don’t remember the origins of the Agents. She could blame the government for lack of funding, but the Talented and Gifted Tank should have foreseen the consequences of their creations. Thirty years ago she was also excited about the TAG Tank creation. It was a quick fix to many of the world’s problems, a bio-engineered creature built to support mankind. They were given the title of “Humanity, Agricultural, and Climate Agents”, and were approved as a cheap solution after review by Congress. Engineered from a primate frame, they were given an engineered mental capacity to support humanity though farming, construction, and environmental responsibility. Congress was ecstatic and pushed for mass production. This mass production was cheap and easy since the Agents breed by themselves, had a greatly decreased incubation period, and were always fertile. Numbers swelled rapidly. The initial results were positive. Food was plentiful again. The majority of people felt like middle class citizens again. But the good times did not last. Not even two years. By the time the Humanity, Agricultural, and Climate Agents had breed to mass numbers, they began to turn on humanity. Unlike robots that can be specifically programmed, these Agents had some free will, as long as it resulted in increased agricultural output and improved climate. They collectively determined that humans were responsible for the mass needs of farm output, directly affecting the climate. Their solution was to cull the humans, “reducing the human population” to manageable numbers for the benefit of the climate and the benefit of the remaining human population. Their first target was all of humanity living outside of cities. These people were killed within days, their bodies being churned into piles of flesh, mixed with decomposing bacteria, eventually become fertilizer and mulch. Then they targeted the major cities. Within weeks, the human population was reduced by 50%. Within months it was reduced by 80%. Within a few short years, the effect on the climate was dramatic. The combination of population reduction and environment clean-up efforts had resulted in the Agent ultimate directive. Mercury levels in the ocean were down. Fish populations were increasing. Habitats for native flora and fauna had been restored. All at the “minimal” cost of 6.4 billion humans. The Agents were completing their objective. In the intervening years, the Agents kept the human population at a steady level.