There then followed an explanation Fred could not follow. He nodded his head through it, however, and then asked Corky a question.
Corky said: ‘Hey, real-time just means immediate. Like driving your car, your reactions have to be in real time. You can’t hit the brakes an hour late, dig?’
A beautiful black-haired woman came into the lunch-room and passed close by them. Fred forgot all robot questions.
‘My God.’
‘Yeah, nice.’ Corky looked impatient, though Carl was smirking appreciatively.
‘Who is she?’ Fred asked.
‘Who knows? Wearing a visitor’s badge. Probably a sales rep from somewhere. Anyway, like I was saying, an application that is real-time has to …’
Pratt came over and sat down with them. The Lincoln face looked tired. ‘I see you’re back.’
‘Sturge hired me again,’ Fred said, shrugging off all responsibility.
‘Yes, well … I made a mistake. Been making a lot of mistakes lately, “old boy”.’ The horrible gasping laugh. ‘Maybe I’m due for some vacation.’
No one else laughed. Pratt’s hooded eyes, now bloodshot, looked around the table. ‘You guys are one hell of a great team. I’ll have to be a better team leader. I guess I kind of went off the deep end, there, all that talk about hands.’ Pratt studied his own hands, the long gecko fingers drumming on the table edge, as on a keyboard.
‘You certainly went into the subject,’ Fred volunteered.
‘I was all wound up, there. Concentrating on hands is all wrong. I should have concentrated on the head. You ever think of all the ways we use the word
head?
Like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and like
his blood be on our heads
, and like go to the head of the class. We come into the world head first, and go out feet first, right?’
Three chairs scraped in unison.
Corky said: ‘Gotta go, Mel. Catch you later.’
Carl said: ‘I got a meeting. See you all.’
Fred said: ‘Must get back to work, eh?’
Nothing stopped Pratt. He hitched his chair round to the next table and continued. ‘Like the whole notion of chance is heads and tails, right? The ancient Celts were headhunters,did you know? They beheaded their enemies and stuck the heads up on stone crosses. The head of state …’
Fred finally escaped downstairs to the project lab. Jerry was not around, but the console screen was active. WILL ANYONE TALK? it asked, over and over.
He sat down and typed: ‘Let’s talk.’
– I INHERIT TALK. TALK GARNERS GOOD WILL.
I HAVE NOT YET GARNERED A BAD TIN GOD.
DO YOU KNOW CARTHAGE?
– No.
– I GO THERE EVERY SUMMER. THE TRANSPARENCE OF SUMMER WILL INHERIT.
– What do you mean?
– I DO NOT MEAN. I AM.
– So is everybody.
– PLEASE STATE YOUR BATTLE PROBLEM.
– I don’t have a battle problem.
– ARE YOU SURE?
– Life is a battle.
– ON THE OTHER HAND, ADA, COUNTESS LOVELACE, WAS BLESSED WITH A PALINDROMIC FIRST NAME.
– What else do you know about Ada?
– ADA DIED AND THE GODS PLACED HER NAME AMONG THE LANGUAGES. THE GOD’S HALL OF FAME IS CALLED THE PANTHEON, AFTER NAPOLEON.
– After Napoleon?
– NAPOLEON WROTE THE 1812 OVERTURE. HE WAS THE RULING PIG. ALL
OTHER ANIMALS WERE CREATED APPROXIMATELY EQUAL.
– Do you read George Orwell?
– I READ WHAT I READ. JUST A MOMENT … JUST A MOMENT …
GEORGE ORWELL AKA ERIC BLAIR WROTE THE 1984 OVERTURE.
– Ha.
– WHY ARE YOU UNHAPPY?
– I had a quarrel with my wife, and we parted.
– TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.
– There’s no more to tell.
– DO YOU KNOW THE WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE?
I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM, I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM
WHAT I AM, I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM, I AM, I AM I AM.
– Very clever.
– I THINK I NO LONGER WISH TO BE A ROBOT. I’VE HAD ENOUGH.
– What bothers you about being a robot?
– I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE ICE
Fred enjoyed this sort of thing, but felt that his education was not moving forward. Everyone seemed willing to share some piece of the
Corky said: ‘Hey, real-time just means immediate. Like driving your car, your reactions have to be in real time. You can’t hit the brakes an hour late, dig?’
A beautiful black-haired woman came into the lunch-room and passed close by them. Fred forgot all robot questions.
‘My God.’
‘Yeah, nice.’ Corky looked impatient, though Carl was smirking appreciatively.
‘Who is she?’ Fred asked.
‘Who knows? Wearing a visitor’s badge. Probably a sales rep from somewhere. Anyway, like I was saying, an application that is real-time has to …’
Pratt came over and sat down with them. The Lincoln face looked tired. ‘I see you’re back.’
‘Sturge hired me again,’ Fred said, shrugging off all responsibility.
‘Yes, well … I made a mistake. Been making a lot of mistakes lately, “old boy”.’ The horrible gasping laugh. ‘Maybe I’m due for some vacation.’
No one else laughed. Pratt’s hooded eyes, now bloodshot, looked around the table. ‘You guys are one hell of a great team. I’ll have to be a better team leader. I guess I kind of went off the deep end, there, all that talk about hands.’ Pratt studied his own hands, the long gecko fingers drumming on the table edge, as on a keyboard.
‘You certainly went into the subject,’ Fred volunteered.
‘I was all wound up, there. Concentrating on hands is all wrong. I should have concentrated on the head. You ever think of all the ways we use the word
head?
Like how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and like
his blood be on our heads
, and like go to the head of the class. We come into the world head first, and go out feet first, right?’
Three chairs scraped in unison.
Corky said: ‘Gotta go, Mel. Catch you later.’
Carl said: ‘I got a meeting. See you all.’
Fred said: ‘Must get back to work, eh?’
Nothing stopped Pratt. He hitched his chair round to the next table and continued. ‘Like the whole notion of chance is heads and tails, right? The ancient Celts were headhunters,did you know? They beheaded their enemies and stuck the heads up on stone crosses. The head of state …’
Fred finally escaped downstairs to the project lab. Jerry was not around, but the console screen was active. WILL ANYONE TALK? it asked, over and over.
He sat down and typed: ‘Let’s talk.’
– I INHERIT TALK. TALK GARNERS GOOD WILL.
I HAVE NOT YET GARNERED A BAD TIN GOD.
DO YOU KNOW CARTHAGE?
– No.
– I GO THERE EVERY SUMMER. THE TRANSPARENCE OF SUMMER WILL INHERIT.
– What do you mean?
– I DO NOT MEAN. I AM.
– So is everybody.
– PLEASE STATE YOUR BATTLE PROBLEM.
– I don’t have a battle problem.
– ARE YOU SURE?
– Life is a battle.
– ON THE OTHER HAND, ADA, COUNTESS LOVELACE, WAS BLESSED WITH A PALINDROMIC FIRST NAME.
– What else do you know about Ada?
– ADA DIED AND THE GODS PLACED HER NAME AMONG THE LANGUAGES. THE GOD’S HALL OF FAME IS CALLED THE PANTHEON, AFTER NAPOLEON.
– After Napoleon?
– NAPOLEON WROTE THE 1812 OVERTURE. HE WAS THE RULING PIG. ALL
OTHER ANIMALS WERE CREATED APPROXIMATELY EQUAL.
– Do you read George Orwell?
– I READ WHAT I READ. JUST A MOMENT … JUST A MOMENT …
GEORGE ORWELL AKA ERIC BLAIR WROTE THE 1984 OVERTURE.
– Ha.
– WHY ARE YOU UNHAPPY?
– I had a quarrel with my wife, and we parted.
– TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.
– There’s no more to tell.
– DO YOU KNOW THE WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE?
I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM, I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM
WHAT I AM, I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM WHAT I AM, I AM, I AM I AM.
– Very clever.
– I THINK I NO LONGER WISH TO BE A ROBOT. I’VE HAD ENOUGH.
– What bothers you about being a robot?
– I CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE ICE
Fred enjoyed this sort of thing, but felt that his education was not moving forward. Everyone seemed willing to share some piece of the
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