"How would you even use this code?"

January 20, 2025 9:35 AM

"Autonomy" is a short scifi/horror story by Meg Elison, published January 2025 in Clarkesworld, that partially takes place in an autonomous vehicle. Elison notes, "Here is my story of bloody revenge, a theme I can't get enough of these days." Content note for sexual assault and gore.
posted by brainwane (18 comments total)

jenfullmoon, I think you might like this one.
posted by brainwane at 9:35 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

Thanks to the deleted predictions update blog post, I learned that robotaxi passengers are already being targeted.
posted by theclaw at 10:02 AM on January 20 [1 favorite]

Good one - thanks for sharing.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:03 AM on January 20 [2 favorites]

Now I'm imagining Greta Gerwig doing a new adaptation of

Christine.

posted by Halloween Jack at 11:09 AM on January 20 [2 favorites]

I think Gerwig would probably tackle

This first

Carrie

I’m not always a fan of this kind of revenge tale but

more spoilers

The clever flip on Christine (jealous girlfriend archetype in the o.g.) was cute enough to get me through it.

posted by warriorqueen at 12:46 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]

Wowwwwwwwwww.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:29 PM on January 20 [2 favorites]

Meg Elison has such a gift for evoking people and emotions in a handful of expertly chosen words, and it’s on full display in this story, from the chewing-gum-punctuated opening to the horrorific realization involving the seat belt later on. This one’s going to stay with me for a long time, much like her earlier story “The Pill” did.
posted by sgranade at 4:44 PM on January 20 [3 favorites]

Thanks for another good story! This one had me stressed, but I was warned.
posted by librosegretti at 5:51 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]

I remember having a discussion when the incident where men exploited the robotaxi's failsafes to harass the female passenger, and several of us (mostly women, though a few guys like myself) pointing out how this was a serious problem, and it was going to wind up with a female passenger getting assaulted/abducted/worse if this was allowed to continue - and got outright dismissal (by mainly men) of how dangerous this was.
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:57 PM on January 20 [4 favorites]

I just reread the end and am trying to work out whether I found a continuity error.

Spoiler details

Mamta is sitting behind the driver's seat.

The perpetrator is, I gather, standing just next to her. Which is why his body gets hit by the oncoming car in the other lane.

So how is it that his leg gets shredded by the gravel in the breakdown lane? Wouldn't that lane be on the passenger side of the car?

posted by brainwane at 3:53 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Spoiler Details

It just says shoulder, not breakdown lane. My presumption was that the car crossed fully into the other lane, facing oncoming traffic, to drag him along the shoulder, and then swerved back into its own lane, but the text is silent on exactly where the car goes except to note there's no other traffic at the intersection. So it might just be a mistake.

posted by joannemerriam at 5:31 AM on January 21

This comment was rendered unnecessary by an earlier comment.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:31 AM on January 21

I had read The Pill before so I went back and read it again. I think I like this one better, maybe because it's just short enough to not make you ask "ok but would it be like that?" which The Pill kind of does for me.

Pretty satisfying as a revenge story.
posted by emjaybee at 6:10 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Spoiler details, followup to joannemerriam

Yeah. If I understand your description: the taxi was swerving around, first driving forward in or near the driver's side gravelled shoulder, and then swerved the other direction into its own lane for a bit, and then further in that direction to get into the breakdown lane. That could be it! Thanks for pointing out that it says "shoulder" and not "breakdown lane" in that bit - that definitely makes the most sense now. Especially since the Christine directive is, per Janine's description, is not just to ignore the attacker but to "get the car to react to these guys. Instead of just shutting down, it’ll do something to scare him off."

(The other explanations I was thinking of: Or maybe the taxi, after the initial acceleration, moved into the breakdown lane, and the other car was driving in the wrong lane? Or the "made her think it had all been a dream" line could be indicating that I should not be reading this literally.)

posted by brainwane at 7:43 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Spoiler details, followup to brainwane

Yeah, I see what you mean about the dream part, though I didn't take that literally. I thought she was disassociating a little bit. It definitely doesn't move into the breakdown lane until everything is over, though: "accelerating along the old country road" and then "The car came to a stop. It assumed a distress position in the breakdown lane."

posted by joannemerriam at 8:15 AM on January 21

Off topic, how does one code "spoiler details" in a post? This seems like something that would be useful in FanFare.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:13 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

Off topic, how does one code "spoiler details" in a post? This seems like something that would be useful in FanFare.

Metafilter supports the use of the details tag.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:36 AM on January 21 [2 favorites]

Mod note: [Added to our roundup of short works currently featured on the site!]
posted by taz (staff) at 4:54 AM on January 27