Z (The Assessment)

He sat down in the booth. It instantly detected that he had sat down
and an innocuous misted Perspex canopy extended itself and then
enfolded around him, creating an intensely private atmosphere. It felt
damp and the sound in there was dead, like he was six feet under. The
machine began to speak.
"Welcome to the CogMed assessment booth. Please relax. Have you have
never used a CogMed assessment booth before?" He leant forward and took
his time before he managed to confirm that he hadn't. The machine
instructed him to place his finger in a slot below the interfacing
screen. The machine scanned the fingerprint and took a blood sample. It
then requested permission to cross-reference his medical records and
asked him some basic questions about his job, his life and his
habits.
"Thank you, you genetic information is now being processed, please
wait." After a few minutes the spinning CogMed logo on the screen in
front of him flickered and changed to that of a man sat at a desk. John
was surprised, a human face of CogMed this was unusual.
"Mr Hunniford."
"Yes."
"I have your results here, I'll start at the bottom with the low risk
stuff if that's OK?"
"Fine."
"Heart disease 17\%, low risk, bowel cancer, low risk 18\%, deafness,
medium risk 25\%, Alzheimer's?" There was a pause. But the doctor
merely cleared his throat, "medium risk 28\%, don't worry about that.
In fact, all these are just genetic possibilities not necessarily
probabilities, it's important you understand that."
He was not sure he did, wasn't a probability the same as a possibility
except that it had a number next to it? He suspected that either way
that it was just CogMed corporate speak.
"Anyway, Crohn's Disease 30\% medium risk, but you would have had that
by now. That's another thing, this genetic check does throw up
everything you potentially could have developed but it doesn't mean to
say that you did or you will. For example, the Assessor may have told
us at your birth that you had a high predilection to dyslexia but
sometimes it doesn't develop for various reasons."
"Then we're all fundamentally flawed to some degree?"
"You wouldn't catch me going that far Mr Hunniford, but it's surprising
when you have as many ancestors as we have, there are some nasty little
surprises lurking back that in the least suspecting."
"Ain't that the truth?"
"Now back to the list. Diabetes, high risk 62\%. Watch what you drink,
but it'll only probably effect you when you're older as will the
arthritis, 66\% plus you can take synthetic cod liver oil for that. And
finally to the thing that has the most chance of killing you." Another
pause. "John, now this is serious." He sat up to listen. "It is 85\%
likely that you will suffer some form of serious clinical depression.
There is a certain likelihood based on data taken from similar cases as
yours that at sometime in the future there will be a suicide
attempt."
"So what will kill me is myself."
"Again it's only a possibility. Is there any history of suicide in your
family?"
"Yes, but can you explain how suicide is genetic?"
"Suicide is not a genetic disorder in itself but clinical depression
is. Combined with the factors and profile you yourself provided of your
current lifestyle, the CogMed unit acts like an actuary."
"An actuary? What's that?"
"Actuaries were people employed to evaluate and forecast life insurance
premiums before the days of CogMed. They would, using basic details
about you, your lifestyle, your job and so on, determine the date of
your death. This was so that they could determine the best policy for
you and for the company."
"And then CogMed came along."
"Indeed, CogMed has now been running for sixty years and its accuracy
has been estimated at 98.5\% and rising."
"So what's the prognosis?"
"John, I'm afraid that in this instance CogMed Insurance feels that it
is not in a position to offer you life insurance at this time..." It
was at this moment that he had been speaking to an AI and not a real
consultant. Damn they were getting good. "?But CogMed insurance would
like to assure you that in the event of some of your personal factors
changing, you could be eligible for a policy in the future. If you
require some personal counselling, please see your doctor. The CogMed
Corporation thanks you for your time. Goodbye."
The seal on the pod hissed and the lid sprung back to its original
position. He stood up in the booth feeling chilled in the night air. He
noticed several others waiting to use the booth. Perhaps they just went
in there to get warm. He strode off and ditched the severed finger in a
nearby dumpster. So Mr Hunniford, you have some suicidal
tendencies.