The Infinite when it was Two Digits Old

by Allen Fleishman

  Nothing happened. “So now what?”

  David was smiling, “Just wait.”

  Her jaw dropped when the monitor displayed a series of questions each followed by a probability.

  “What the … how did it know that?” Phyllis said almost breathless.

  David’s grin was even wider, “mugga mugga Magic. However don’t ask me, ask the computer that question.”

  “Computer how did you know what would be on my exam?”

  A short-haired blond woman appeared with a welcoming smile, “Multiple sources. Professor Chen often gives the same exam questions year after year. I got these questions from Zeta Phi Lambda and Omega Tau Zeta sorority exam files and the computer files of Professor Chen. I also examined his class notes and found topics that he’s been emphasizing this year and new changes in his curriculum and projected questions given his style in exam questions. Would you like some study materials? I can help you review the topic for exam passage or for greater understanding.”

  “Ask it a hard question.”

  “Does David’s family like me?”

  Almost immediately, the woman on the monitor said, “Most have positive to extremely positive reactions to you. In descending order: David 99.5%, Martin “

  David said, “Stop computer,” he was grinning wildly.

  Phyllis put her hand on his then said, “Resume computer.”

  “Martin 94%, Hilda 94%, Le Chef 91% Dr. Mgumba 89% Sniffer 89% Bernard 88% Eagle One 85% Son-of-Alex 84% Hansel 83% Slinky 31%. The others have not expressed an opinion.”

  Phyllis looked at David, “Slinky 31%?”

  David shrugged, “You didn’t meet her. She’s a ferret, and sulked because you took her bed last night. She said you should have slept in my room. I explained to her that you had to have a choice, to sleep with me or not. She tends to be a bit territorial.”

  David spent an hour going over the high points of the disk and its upkeep, its encryption and being keyed to her voice and bio-print. She was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the Ins, especially when she thought about the size of the ‘Knowledge of the Human Race’ data file.

  After the high points of the data file, Phyllis asked, “You mentioned that the necklace had things other than cameras. Like what?”

  David grinned. “You have to realize that my cameras are not mundane cameras, they have telephoto and microscopy features. What else? Audio pickups, spectroscopy, tetrahertz detectors, special antennas, infra-red and far ultraviolet sensors.”

  “Infra-red, like in seeing in the dark?”

  David nodded.

  “Terahertz detector? I'm sorry David, I never heard of that.”

  David stood straighter. “I read some preliminary research on it and created a micro transmitter and detector of terahertz waves.”

  “OK, David, I bite. What does it do?"”

  “It is able to penetrate clothing and see what people are hiding in their pockets.”

  Phyllis' smile became rigid although her voice was lilting, “Oh, really.” She paused, “Could I see a stored picture? Say of Martin?”

  “Uh, sorry, I never scanned Martin.”

  She continued the lilting voice, “What about Charlie? Do you have a picture of him?”

  A picture of a chest appeared, showing a pen inside a transparent shirt pocket. Chest hairs and his nipple were also apparent.

  “Could you do a slide show of all of Charlie’s scans, say at a half second a-piece?”

  The slide show lasted less than five seconds, it clearly showed Charlie's chest.

  “Do you have any of the other people at the college, say ... umm, Andrea?”

  David beamed, “Sure.”

  After thirty seconds Phyllis stood, her arms were held rigidly down by her side and her fists were raised as she screamed to the ceiling, “Aaaaggggghhhhhh.” The images of Andrea's breasts continued to appear on the screen.

  The images stopped and the screen blanked as Martin came running in. “What's wrong?”

  “You, you, you Ins. D-Did you know about the terahertz detector?”

  “Yes, but it is safe. The amount of energy barely ...”

  Phyllis again screamed to the ceiling. She then looked at Martin and shouted, “You're all crazy. Just as crazy as your son. Did you ever look at the kid's collection?”

  “N-No. Just some of his early test images, when I did my energy calibrations.”

  In a voice which barely contained her rage with a grimace on her lips, “David my sweetheart, show your dad what you showed me. All of Charlie and all of Andrea.”

  David was no longer smiling. He looked like a rabbit caught in a snare surrounded by foxes.

  After this slide show was over, she noticed that Martin was ashen.

  Martin slowly asked, “David, the number of images you have. Could you do me a favor and compare the total file size of the male and female images?”

  Phyllis was about to say something when Martin silenced her with a hand gesture.

  David looked like he knew what was going on. “There are more female images.”

  Martin shook his head, “It's not close to one to one is it?”

  “Well dad ... there are more female students at college than males.”

  “How many more females at Birkhead?”

  “Oh about two or three females to one male.” David grimly smiled looking rapidly between Phyllis and Martin.

  Slowly Martin said, “Now is the ratio of images close to three to one? Create a 95% confidence interval on the ratio. Is it close to three to one? What is the lower confidence interval?”

  David hesitated and looked down, “Eight hundred twenty six.”

  Martin lowered his voice, “You have more than eight hundred TIMES more female images than males do you? Are you terrified that the wild females will be carrying more weapons than the males?”

  Phyllis interrupted, “Perhaps he wants to ensure that one of those wild females wouldn't bludgeon him to death with her breasts, if she suddenly turned.”

  David turned red, so did Martin.

  Martin quietly said, “Son, do you know why women wear clothes in the summer?”

  “To protect them from the sun?”

  “OK, do you know why they wear bathing suits, even bikinis, to the beach?”

  David was quiet.

  Martin shook his head, “People, both males and females, wear clothes in VERY large part to protect their privacy. There are very reasonable laws about protecting the sanctity of privacy. You do know that what you did is wrong. Can you imagine what would happen if Andrea saw any of your scans. What she would say, or do? Run your simulation. In many cultures, if a man knew you had an image of his wife or sister’s bare breast, they would be honor bound to strike you down, to kill you on the spot. And they would be found innocent of any crime. The fact that you are capable of building a device doesn't mean that you should.”

  Phyllis bore down at David, “David, You turned the entire female population at Birkhead College into your own pornography stars. Mind rape. That is beyond vile. If they ever found out, you would be drummed out of school. They'd tar and feather you. They would utterly destroy your computer to protect their virtue. They would rip the computer out of your brain with their fingernails.”

  She turned to Martin, “But the problem is not that it’s wrong. The problem is that David had no conception that it’s wrong.”

  Phyllis turned to David, “David, did you remember the story in the Old Testament where Noah got shit-assed drunk and was passed out nude in his tent? One son found him and told his brothers. The other brothers covered Noah, while shielding their eyes to their father’s unclothed body. When Noah found out about his son’s transgression, he sold his son’s son, his grandchild, into slavery. When I was a kid I thought it was excessive, but now I’m not sure. Seeing others nude, either literally or figuratively, is a human taboo. You crossed the line, buster. And you sho
uld have been taught better.” Phyllis turned to Martin.

  David remained looking down. Martin turned red and looked down, as well.

  Shortly Martin resumed, “Please purge all tetrahertz scans.”

  Phyllis angrily added, “NOW.”

  David stood there a second, then faced his father and quietly said “No.”

  Martin flinched, and then he tilted his head to one side, “No? This is the first time you ever defied me.”

  “But dad, do you remember what mom looked like when she was undressed? Would you allow someone to purge the memories of her body from you? My scans are my personal memories. Without my files, I have no memories, even of Phyllis.”

  Martin turned to Phyllis. “This is totally your choice.”

  Phyllis pursed her lips as she looked at David. Her features softened, “Delete all images of anyone you don’t have permission from. All of them. As for my images you can TEMPORILY keep them, but only if it never leaves your noggin, or wherever you store them, for you and you alone. And I have a right to ask you to purge them in the future. All of them, backups included, not mislay their location, but purge them.”

  David hesitantly smiled then said, “OK”

  Phyllis added, “And David, leave that tetrahertz detector off. If you want to see me undressed, ask me. It is my, and ONLY my choice, not yours.”

  David sighed and nodded.

  Before leaving Martin turned to Phyllis, “Thank you. I had no idea.”

  Phyllis shrugged then nodded agreement. “I'm beginning to see the problems of dating Tom Swift, boy genius. I'm going to need lead lined underclothes and hats.”

  Martin asked, “Hats?”

  She shrugged, “He WAS taking Psych 101.”

  Martin started to giggle, when he stopped. He sub-vocalized something into his microphone, listened a few seconds, and then breathed a sigh of relief. “Not this week.”

  ***

  That afternoon, Martin drove them to the C H Electricity building. A second building was being constructed, even though it was a Sunday. They were issued badges on entry. There was a very heavy security guard presence. Martin, David and Phyllis walked to a solid concrete building, roughly the size of a small residential home. Martin put his hand on a reader and then put his eye to a camera.

  David: Phyl, don’t talk at all, except sub-vocally, until I give the all clear sign. There are some people down the block listening in. The palm reader and retinal scan are bogus. The computer recognized us as soon as we walked in.

  Phyllis mouthed “Us?” David grinned and nodded slightly. The door clicked open. They walked in and closed the door.

  There was no sound other than the whirring of what initially looked like a massive cylinder. Phyllis walked to the side and recognized it as a one-foot thick eighteen foot long diameter tube with a thick central pipe supporting it. The outer tube wall was made up of massive curved boxes. It reminded Phyllis of the skin on an alligator, except the boxes were all the same size. Despite its obvious weight, it was spinning very fast. David explained that the cylinder walls were well-balanced lead blocks, but anything would work. The outside of the blocks were smoothed to have as little air resistance as possible. The massive torque was used to turn generators.

  Phyllis: What makes this tube turn?

  David: Mugga, mugga magic.

  Phyllis elbowed him hard.

  David: Anti-gravity. Well not antigravity, actually reflected gravity. Watch.

  David took a penny and tossed it near one side of the tube. The coin fell up. Wind from the rotating cylinder moved it over to the top where it fell and bounced to the other side. He picked the coin up.

  Phyllis: How does it work?

  David: Gravity pushes the tube up on that side and natural gravity pulls it down on the other. The computer controls the dynamic equations and the gravity reflectors are actually embedded in the bottom of the support structure. They’re quite small. One of the string theory’s ideas is that there are strings which control gravity, as there are strings which control electromagnetism. I just caused the gravity strings to vibrate in one direction. We’re actually harmonizing the mu-boson-3 and other sub-atomic structures. The enclosure is to keep out prying eyes. The computer is inside that meter over there.

  Phyllis approached the ‘up’ gravity side and moved her hand closer. It tugged upward. Her hair flew upward, despite the absence of wind. She quickly withdrew.

  Phyllis: Is it safe?

  David: As safe as the gravity pulling your feet down.

  Phyllis: Doesn’t that take as much power as the electricity you produce?

  David: Nah, I’m not generating gravity. I only need a trivial amount of power to orient these strings and keep them oriented. Of course, if I let it go, they’d only go back to their random orientation and things would go back to normal.

  As they left she heard David say, “Half the guards here are industrial spies. So far, of course, they’ve learned nothing. They can’t get into the enclosed unit. Don’t say anything until we get into the car and I say we can talk.” Phyllis noticed most of the guards walked large dogs on leashes. When they reached the car, they entered. David immediately picked out four electronic bugs and tossed them out the window after crushing them.

  “Okay, we can talk.”

  “Why don’t you fire the spies?”

  “Because the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don’t know. Besides, we treat them all as spies.”

  “What happens if they try to do sabotage? Or break into the area. Even the meter/computer could be ripped out.”

  “Oh, the dogs they’re walking with, they’re the real employees of C H Electricity. That plus the camera and other monitoring devices makes for a redundant system. Plus, the computer is completely encrypted. Any attempt to break into it, it will wipe itself clean and thermite bombs will melt the gravity reflectors. In addition, we have the assurance of the Governor to help, given that if there is the slightest problem we will move out. It’s part of the contract. This is just a pilot project. It will shortly be expanding to power not Larchmont, but Westchester.” David took on a Germanic accent, “und tomorrow der vurld. We’re currently charging the city one-quarter the price per kilowatt-hour as the lowest price for gas, coal, oil, or nuclear energy. And we have in our contract that the price will go down to one-tenth, once we pay for our start up costs, assuming that they provide all necessary and reasonable security protections. Of course, we don’t trust this Governor, so we’re also setting up deals with the Governors of the other states as well. I need not tell you that the 90% reduction in prices will still be a windfall profit margin for us. Our only expense is for the guards, a few engineers, and the paperwork – most of it still is being handled by the power company.”

  Phyllis turned to Martin, who had been silent during the entire trip. “I know about the seedy underbelly of human-kind. The oil and coal people will not be taking the death of their livelihoods lying down. They’re going to want to take a piece of the action. They’ve been buying politicians for years. And they’ll be more than happy to crawl over your bodies to take it back.”

  Martin turned to David, frowning, “David, I didn’t prompt her. Isn’t that what I’ve been saying? You’re right. You’re absolutely right. You try to talk sense into my idealistic son.”

  ***

  After a trip to the CompuHead production facilities, where Phyllis saw more of the robots that were in the Klein household, they drove back to campus. David chattered about gravity reflecting cars, planes, cities floating in the clouds, outer space exploration, chemical manufacturing, and personal flying suits. Phyllis was somber.

  ***

  The next Saturday they visited her father. Under his jacket David wore a sweatshirt saying ‘I’m her Boy-Toy’. Phyllis made David turn the sweatshirt inside out before they left campus.

  They met Murray in a small park in th
e White Mountains region of New Hampshire. Without saying a word to David, Murray took Phyllis aside and the two walked into the woods. Phyllis made a big display of turning the headphone off before they left. The message was clear, no eavesdropping.

  David sat down on a park bench and waited. Hilda was running security. Thirty minutes later, the Martinis returned. Murray Martini spent twenty seconds, just looking at David, obviously trying to intimidate him. Murray Martini now had grey hair and was balding, relative to the picture David had dated four years previously. His nose was larger and his eyebrows were thicker.

  “I’m pleased to meet you Mr. Marti…”

  “Argh, What did you say to him, you idiot daughter.” Murray was glaring at Phyllis.

  “The truth papa. The truth.” Phyllis looked level and unperturbed at her father. She casually turned the earplug back on, while pretending to fix her hair.

  “Your daughter didn’t need to tell me your new name, or where you’re living. However, what would you like me to call you?” David looked levelly into Murray’s eyes.

  Phyllis: Good, good. Look straight into his eyes.

  “Aaron, Aaron Lacoursi”

  David immediately knew that this was a fake name. Murray had been using the alias Michael Gesell.

  “Okay, Mr. Lacoursi, I’m very pleased to meet with Phyllis’ father. My name is David … Smith.” David started to mimic the body language that Murray had used. It tended to relax some people. David also added a slight Southern New Jersey accent to his voice. He programmed himself to breathe when Murray breathed. His body orientation also paralleled Murray.

  Murray almost glared at David, “Phyllis tells me that she loves you.” Murray waited for David to reply.

  “Yes.” David casually said as he gazed levelly back at Murray.

  Realizing that this was all he was going to get, Murray asked, “And what are your feelings about my Debra, your intentions?”

  “Once we shared our secrets, I knew I loved her too.”

  Murray snorted, “Secrets, secrets, you don’t know secrets kid. You’re a little boy.” Murray turned to Phyllis, “What kind of idiot are you dating now?”

  “Papa, David is the smartest man I ever knew, will ever know. When he says secrets, you must respect him on that. You must respect me on that.”

  Murray looked only slightly mollified by that, “Little boy, I can tell you stories, like the Solitad brothers’ deaths that would make your eyes pop outta your head.”