Traveling from Sweden to Denmark, December, 2077, Wednesday…

Lars Nielsen couldn't put his hands over his ears since he was driving, so he did the next best thing. He screamed at his kids. They had been going at it for the last fifty kilometers. Turn about was fair play.

They got quiet. His wife looked at him sharply, then at the children.

"Father is a little tired, my dears. But please don't fight so. We're in a small space."

"Get a bigger van," suggested the oldest girl.

Lars ignored her.

"Now, we're coming to the bridge. Are you ready?"

It really was a magnificent piece of engineering, this East Bridge, the first of three links going from Sweden to Denmark. For three quarters of a century it and the other two links in the Oresund chain, the East Tunnel and the West Bridge, had allowed Scandinavians complete access to the rest of Europe without having to go by ferry. 6.8 kilometers long, 2.7 kilometers is in the form of a suspension bridge, whose 1.6 kilometer central span was still the longest in the world. Improvements had been made to it since its opening at the turn of the century, including the installation of autopilot linkups for cars traversing it, now required. The driver turned over control of his car at one end and got it back at the other. Computers kept the traffic flowing in an optimal fashion irregardless of the traffic density.