Smarter

by Laurence E. Dahners

  Golroy called on “Dr. Josephson” who’d had his hand up for a bit.

  Josephson was a thin younger man with frizzy hair. He stood up and said, “It seems to me that all you’ve done is develop your own equations that, because you made up the math you’re using, happen to fit existing data? I don’t see that you’ve predicted anything as yet?”

  Ell’s heart sunk. That was exactly what she’d been doing. She’d thought it was pretty exciting that the equations she’d come up with did fit with many known results, but put that way it, sounded like she’d just fudged them together. She considered mentioning that the equations had also fit with the results of experiments that she hadn’t used when she was shaping the equations in the first place, but that felt sneaky. She hadn’t actually predicted the results of any new experiments. Heart in her mouth she cast about for something to say but nothing came to mind. She opened her mouth, then brilliantly said, “Uhhh…”

  Suddenly, Dr. Smythe cleared his throat, “Josephson, you do remember that Ms. Donsaii is only seventeen years old don’t you?”

  Ell looked at the balding Smythe. She’d been very impressed with his understanding of her paper when they interviewed earlier. Simultaneously, she felt glad that he was defending her and embarrassed that he was using her age to do it.

  Josephson stiffened, “Are you suggesting that we ignore weaknesses in her theories because of her age?”

  “You haven’t found a ‘weakness in her theory’ you’ve only pointed out that it hasn’t successfully predicted the result of a new experiment. Yet… Albert Einstein predicted phenomena that others had to test for him. Some of those predictions weren’t actually successfully tested for many, many decades, some not until decades after his death. So yes, she might be wrong when her equations are tested. But she might also be right and this is yet to be determined. Her equations are a much better fit with existing knowledge than anything that’s come along for quite some while. So, we should be eager to test predictions based on them. I would suggest that even if her equations fail to predict future results, you should respect the intellect that came up with equations and a new math better than anything we’ve had in decades and further, that you should respect her tender years by not jumping in her face as if she were already a grad student here and had learned to defend herself. Finally, I would suggest that we begin testing her math with the apparent prediction that if we entangle macromolecules such as “buckyballs,” we could separate them and then repeatedly perturb the distant one through her proposed 5th dimension by her predicted “spin bumping” of the outer shell electrons of the near member of the pair.”

  Smythe’s proposal led to excited bickering and Ell quickly forgot Josephson’s attack on her. Her excitement over some of the experimental testing models that were proposed had her pulse pounding and she had to do some slow deep breathing to stay out of the “zone.”

  Ell was still ecstatic about the possible experimental methods that had been proposed, and was daydreaming about them when she returned to her hotel. As she walked across the lobby a man with an accent called her name, “Ms. Donsaii, Ms. Donsaii.”

  Ell turned and saw a small Asian man wearing a dark suit trotting across the lobby toward her. “Yes?”

  “Would you have a few minutes to discuss a possible scholarship for your time in graduate school here at MIT.”

  She frowned, “I’m not sure that I’m attending MIT?”

  “Or somewhere else? Mr. Chin would like to discuss the possibilities for a few moments. He’s just over here in the lobby bar.”

  Ell just wanted to get back to her room and run some equations on the buckyball concept. However, she really could use financial help, so she decided that she should at least listen to their offer. She turned to follow the young man, thinking it odd that two Asian groups wanted to talk to her in the same week. Then she turned the corner into the bar and stopped when she saw the same older Asian man that she had encountered in Jake’s office. He rose smiling and said, “Ms. Donsaii, please, I am so sorry we got off to such a bad start in Mr. Radford’s office. Blame it on our Chinese preconceptions. In our country it is only polite to begin negotiations with a young woman through her parents. Won’t you please listen to our offer?”

  Ell grimaced, “I don’t want a job. I want to learn from the best in a graduate program first.”

  “I understand, I understand. Mr. Radford assured us you would want a job so that was the offer we made. But we are open to many possibilities. Presently we are thinking that you might accept financial assistance during your studies in return for consulting with us on occasion?”

  “Consulting?”

  “Sit, please sit. Let us offer refreshment and talk about the possibilities?”

  Ell reluctantly sat and ordered a Coke. “What kind of ‘consultations’ do you have in mind?”

  “We are convinced that your new explanation for quantum phenomena has a very good chance of proving correct! Our chief scientists believe that this will lead to new methods for computation. Our company wants to be at the forefront in developing products based on your theories. We would be most eager to provide you a stipend of one hundred thousand dollars per year merely to be kept apprised of your progress and to have the right of first refusal regarding any possible products. I’ve had my AI send a possible contract to your e-slate.”

  “Well that is generous. But I have a feeling that MIT has policies in place that would compromise my freedom to sign such a document. It may be that the Air Force would also have a say in what contracts I can sign, even though I’m detached at present.”

  The younger Asian man, who’d never been introduced, came over with a Coke and set it down at Ell’s elbow. Mr. Chin leaned forward conspiratorially, “We wouldn’t even need a formal agreement. Just a verbal agreement to keep us apprised and we’d be happy to provide fifty thousand a year.” His eyebrows rose.

  Ell found this suspicious and uncomfortable. She sat back in her chair and took a long pull on her Coke. “Is this diet?” she asked, turning to the younger man.

  “No it’s regular Coke, why?”

  “It tastes funny…”

  The younger man jumped up. “I’ll get them to give you another one and be sure it’s regular Coke this time.”

  Ell took another sip and grimaced at the flavor, it just seemed off somehow. She turned back to Mr. Chin. “What is the company you work for? Lenovo?”

  “Yes Ma’am.”

  “And that’s a Chinese company, correct?”

  “Yes, but we have a large presence here in the United States.”

  “Still, I think that the Air Force would likely object to my employment by a foreign company…” Ell realized that she felt funny too. She wondered if her Coke had been mixed up with someone’s rum and Coke?

  Mr. Chin leaned forward, “You look as if you don’t feel well, can we help you up to your room?”

  “Uhhh… OK…” Ell slurred. She’d never had alcohol. Could it work this fast she wondered? Soon she found herself on the elevator with the two men practically holding her up. The young one pushed a button labeled “SB.” “No, no, I’m up on the sixth floor…” Ell mumbled. They didn’t pay attention. She thought to herself that something bad was happening, but somehow it seemed surprisingly unimportant.

  ***

  At ten O’clock Ell’s mother Kristen tried to reach her over the net to ask her how the interviews had gone. At first Kristen’s AI said “connecting” but then told Kristen that Allan, Ell’s AI, was off the net. Thinking about the Arab terrorists that could still have reason to hate Ell, Kristen became worried and contacted Ell’s hotel. Kristen persuaded the hotel to send someone up to Ell’s room and to her dismay they told her that the room was unoccupied. She wondered whether there was someone at MIT she could contact to ask about Ell, but it would surely be very difficult to reach anyone at this hour of the night.

  Kristen called the local police in Morehead City who were singularly unhelpful. The dispat
cher said, “Her AI’s battery probably went dead. You can’t file a ‘missing persons’ until tomorrow at the earliest.”

  Then Gram suggested Kristen contact Phil, “that nice young man from the Academy. He’d know what to do.”

  Phil was on his summer vacation in North Carolina and, when they called him, he also tried to reach Ell. In view of the enemies Ell had made in the Arab terrorist group the summer before, Phil was also worried that Allan’s absence from the net might indicate a serious problem. He contacted Ell’s friend, Chief Bowers of the Dallas Police.

  Bowers actually agreed with the local police, but in view of Ell’s “special nature” used his police connections to obtain a warrant and downloaded the last hour of the audio-video record from Ell’s AI cameras and microphones. That video was pretty damning, especially the drunken camera angles as Ell was maneuvered down the hall and onto the elevator. Ell’s captors had unjacked her AI and turned it off as they entered the parking garage under Ell’s hotel, so the record ended there. Chief Bowers contacted the Cambridge-Boston police and forwarded the record to them. Then he reluctantly called to let Ell’s mom know that it appeared that someone had indeed abducted Ell. A sobbing Kristen contacted Phil to let him know also.

  Chief Bowers and the local police worked on finding Ell for the next several hours. Ell’s captors had been smart enough to turn their own AIs off before they met her in the bar to abduct her, so the police hadn’t been able to pick her captors’ AIs’ net addresses off their co-location in the bar where they had drugged Ell. Facial recognition software had not been able to match the two men recorded by Ell’s AI’s cameras in the hotel bar to any passports used to enter the country in the past five years. Nor had a search of rental car records turned them up. Bowers suspected that they wore facial disguises, either when they entered the country and rented cars, or more likely just last night. Or they might be US citizens? The police had started a search of driver’s license photos but they weren’t having much luck there either.

  Ell woke with a tremendous need to urinate. Her head pounded and her eyes were full of crud. When she reached up to wipe her eyes she realized her wrists were cuffed together. When she tried to get up she found her ankles were cuffed together too. She was on a bed in a dingy room and the young Asian man from the bar was sleeping in a chair at the desk with his head down on his arms. “Hey,” she croaked, “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

  The guy lifted his head, “So? Go.” He dropped his head back down on the desk.

  “But you’ve got me cuffed.”

  Muffled by speaking into his arms, he said, “You can still get up and shuffle to the bathroom.”

  Ell did so. Her cuffs were merely plastic cable ties. One around each wrist and ankle, then another loop joined the two loops on her wrists. Three loops joined the two on her ankles. The three loops made a chain between her ankles that was about ten inches long making it possible to shuffle, but certainly not to walk quickly. The hotel room layout was pretty standard with the bathroom next to the door to the hallway. She was still wearing her suit from the interviews, now badly rumpled. Getting her pants down was a challenge but fortunately the zipper was on the side and not in the back. She washed her hands and splashed water in her eyes. She looked in the mirror, her matted hair and bloodshot eyes looked nearly as bad as she felt. Her AI headband was gone of course, as was the belt pack with the AI itself.

  Ell looked in the medicine cabinet. Empty.

  Drawers beneath the sink. Empty but for an old hand held hair dryer that looked like a fire hazard.

  No window in the bathroom. Vinyl floor, tile walls. The bathtub shower combo had a slightly moldy curtain over it but otherwise nothing in it. Ell lifted the top off the tank of the toilet, nothing but a standard flapper and float valve setup. She stepped to the bathroom door, unlocked and opened it, looking out, “Hey, I need a toothbrush!”

  Without lifting his head he said, “It’s the middle of the freaking night! Go back to sleep!”

  Ell figured that they had drugged her at about nine PM and if the drugs didn’t keep her asleep longer than her usual four hours, then it must be about 1AM. Partly for information and partly to irritate her keeper she asked, “What time is it?”

  With a moan, “The middle of the damn night!”

  Ell realized that her short sleep cycle represented an advantage. “I need a Tylenol or an aspirin.”

  “You aren’t getting either, go back to sleep!”

  Ell looked around the room for a weapon she could use with her hands bound together. There was a lamp but it was on the desk where the man rested his head. “What do you and Mr. Chin think you’re going to do with me anyway?” She leaned out to look at the man, raising a querying eyebrow.

  “Go back to bed!”

  Ell shuffled over to the small closet on the other side of the short hall from the bathroom and opened it. Ah, wire coat hangers and a wooden hanger rod! Ell looked at the bed, a simple double mattress. Light fixtures and night stands bolted to the wall behind it. Small dresser with a cheap monitor screen across from the bed. She shuffled to the dresser and pulled the drawers out, throwing them on the floor with a loud clatter.

  The man raised his head and stared at her, “What the Hell are you doing?”

  “Looking for my AI.”

  “Your AI isn’t in here. Get some sleep! Mr. Chin will explain everything in the morning. We just need your help for a while, then we’ll turn you loose.”

  “I don’t feel tired. Help with what?”

  “If you don’t lie down I’ll attach your cuffs to the bed.”

  Ell shuffled across the room to look out the window. It looked out at the brick wall of the next building which was only about two feet away! Fine accommodations! She shuffled back over to the bed and sat down. “Happy?”

  “Yes.” He started to lower his head to the desk.

  “What’s your name?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Call me Mr. Chang.”

  “Chin and Chang?”

  “Not our real names.”

  “First name?”

  “Chang.”

  Ell flopped back on the bed and thought about what she’d learned. Her self defense courses at the Academy had taught that escape was easiest at the beginning of captivity. The longer you gave your captor, the more secure he could make your imprisonment. She considered what she had to work with. She stretched and flopped over so her feet hung off the bathroom-closet side of the bed. Her head was feeling better. She sat back up and turned. “Chang?”

  With a groan, “Yeah.”

  “You know I’m dangerous right?”

  “Yes. But you’re bound hand and foot. I’m armed. I have backup in the next room. They’re watching you through my AI’s cameras. Please don’t try anything; we really don’t want to hurt you.”

  “That’s reassuring. I don’t want to hurt you either.” Ell, took a few deep breaths to suppress a surge of adrenalin so that she wouldn’t go into the zone prematurely. Then she got up and shuffled off to the bathroom.

  “Where are you going now?

  “Thirsty, want a drink.”

  Ell was relieved to see Chang put his head back down as she turned into the bathroom. She shut the door and pressed the latch button. She turned on the water and opened the drawer and pulled out the ancient hair dryer, inspecting it. The plastic casing was already cracked. She banged her hip into the counter at the same time as she slammed the dryer’s case against the sink. The case shattered.

  Ell picked at the remaining shell as she responded to Chang’s query. “I tripped on these damned ankle cuffs! Can’t you take them off?”

  “No! Open the door!”

  Ell placed the dryer back in the drawer and shut it, kick ed fragments of its case back behind the toilet, then turned off the water and opened the door, holding her head as if it were hurt and raising her eyebrows at him in query.

  Chang looked around the bathroom suspiciously but then went back out to his desk
. Ell relocked the door, jammed a piece of plastic from the case into the fan of the hair dryer and plugged it in. In a minute the heating element was red hot. She hopped up on the sink to hold one of the cable ties forming the strap between her ankle cuffs against the coil of red hot wire. To her relief the strap melted quickly, creating only a little smoke that the bathroom fan quickly carried away. Next she held the handle of the dryer between her knees and melted off her right and left wrist cuffs. Chang still hadn’t noticed what she was doing so she melted the cuffs off each of her ankles too so that she wouldn’t be marked by the ties after she escaped.

  Ell unplugged the drier and ran her fingers through her hair while she thought a moment, then she stepped across the hall to the closet. She lifted the 36 inch wooden hanger bar off its support and dumped the hangers into the corner.

  Chang, roused by the clatter of the hangers, jumped up and was coming her way when she stepped back from the closet, her right hand grasping the hanger rod but hiding it behind the open door. She let her adrenalin spike and felt the zone crash over her, the world slowing and her heart beat becoming a ponderous throb. Knowing that she was moving so fast that what felt like ordinary speech to her, would be too fast for Chang to understand, she slowly said, “Put, your, hands, up!”