"In the Technology Center they've been developing micro machinery on a chip, micro motors, gears, etc. They claim to be able to mass-produce these devices. You should talk to some of those guys."
"Thanks for the tip; I will."
The next day Josh was elated. "You won't believe what I discovered. Of course, I had to use my charms to get the information. A graduate student down there developed a snake-like device that can be fed out from the chip's surface and manipulated into any shape."
"Could it be made to encircle an axon and then return to the chip, forming a loop?" asked Kyle.
"There have already been tests using the device to sense the current in micro wires. I think it could be adapted for use with axons. Let's go talk to Keren Vaish. She's a grad student from Madras, India, a very smart girl. I don't know the combination to the door lock, give me a minute to call Keren and let her know we're coming." Josh made the call. He and Kyle had been in the electrical engineering graduate study room. They took a walk to the Technology Center that was in the same building, the Merrill building. As they approached, Kyle could see a young Indian woman holding open the door. She was tall, with straight, black hair nearly down to her waist. She was wearing a white lab coat.
"Keren, this is Kyle James, the electrical engineer I have been telling you about."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. James." Keren spoke English with only a mild Indian accent.
"Good to meet you Keren and you can call me Kyle." Keren led the two men to the micro-machinery lab. Once inside the lab Keren pointed to a two-foot high structure sitting on a counter top. "This is a ten thousand to one model of a portion of a ‘snake’, as I like to call the device. As you can see, the outer shell is similar to flexible conduit. The next layer moving inward is different; each segment is asymmetric, so it can act like a cam. Normally the segments alternate with the wide sides opposite of each other so that the layer remains straight. If a section is rotated, it creates a bend. The outer flexible conduit keeps the snake as a whole from rotating. The central cable is capable of transmitting torque like a speedometer cable. It moves up and down the snake in order to engage and rotate individual segments at which it stops. Micro latches keep the non-engaged segments from rotating. Micro motors advance or retract the snake and the central cable. Another micro motor controls the rotation."
"That's fantastic, but wouldn't it move at extremely low speed with only one segment at a time able to be rotated?" asked Kyle.
"It does move very slowly. Only 0.1 millimeter per second, maximum lateral speed. But since the maximum length is 4 millimeters it doesn't take long to deploy to a given orientation."
"This thing is truly incredible. How in the world do you make them?"
"I'd love to tell you, but I haven't told anyone. My professors keep urging me to publish, but that would destroy the possibility for financial gain. My family didn't get where it is by giving away ideas."
"I don't need to know how they work, just be able to use them. I'm sure that our sponsor, CompuSonic, would be interested in some kind of financial agreement," responded Kyle.
"I hope you don't mind, Kyle," interrupted Josh. "I've already talked to Nate about this. He's having an agreement drawn up right now.
"Have you talked to Dr. Monroe about all of this?" asked Kyle. Dr. Monroe was Kyle's advisor on his dissertation.
"No, that was going to be our next stop if we're done here."
"I guess. Is there anything else I need to be shown here, Keren?"
"I'm sure you'll think of other questions. Give me a call any time and we can talk or I can bring you back to the lab."
"Thanks. I'm sure I'll have more questions. I appreciate the tour and it was great to meet you. See you."
As Kyle and Josh walked to Dr. Monroe's office, Josh teased, "Looks like Keren left you a wide open door, ‘Give me a call any time and we can talk.’ Just remember I'm the guy who found her."
"Yes, but I told you where to look, my friend. Besides, that was no come-on. Hindu women do not flirt, at least not with infidels like us."
Going to see Dr. Monroe was always a treat. His office was inside of the Bioengineering Department wing. They had to pass the gatekeeper, Miss Saxton. Miss Saxton was the head secretary and ran a very tight ship. She was also a huge flirt but only with the right guys. She could build or deflate a man or boy's ego in seconds. She could flatter to heaven or cut one down to ground level. She loved to flirt with Josh. Her vocal swordplay wasn't the only thing that made her interesting. She was a snappy dresser and had a terrific figure. She was tall and had shoulder length red hair. A stranger would think she was hired for her looks, but actually, she was an excellent typist and over qualified for the job. The rumor was that she took the job to be near Dr. Monroe, whom she had liked or even loved since high school. Dr. Monroe had married a pretty little brunette, who for the last six years had been spending him into the poor house. Many had suggested he dump his wife, but he was very committed to the institution of marriage.
Today, Miss Saxton had on a black sweater and a black miniskirt. When she saw Josh, she perked up. "And what can I do for Mr. Adamms today?" She spoke to Josh as if Kyle were not even present.
"We'd like to see Dr. Monroe. Is he available?"
"He's alone in his office, if that's what you mean. If you want to see him, you have to let me give you a big kiss." As she stood and leaned across the desk, Kyle took special note of her slender and sinuous legs. Kyle found them very attractive. She held up an oversized chocolate "Kiss". Playing along with the game, Josh took it from her, running his fingers along her arm and coaxing the candy from her fingers sensually.
"Thank ya, thank ya very much," he said in his Elvis voice.
"Do I get anything," asked Kyle.
"There's some jelly beans in the jar on my desk. Have one," Miss Saxton replied in her most annoyed and disinterested voice. As they walked to Dr. Monroe's door Josh asked, "Why do you set yourself up to be put down?"
"You play your game with Miss Saxton and I'll play mine. I have fun with it in my own way." Kyle knocked on Dr. Monroe's office door.
"Enter." Dr. Monroe was a very distinguished looking man. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties. His black hair was highlighted with hints of gray. He was tall, with broad shoulders but was very lean. He was a brilliant doctor and engineer but had become somewhat discouraged in life because of his marital problems. He had become grouchy in recent years, but those who had known him for a long time understood why and were very understanding and patient with him, especially Miss Saxton. She may have flirted with many, but Dr. Monroe, or Carlton, as she preferred to call him, still held her heart. She was convinced that Carlton Monroe needed her and a change of wives would solve all of his problems.
"What can I do for you, Kyle?"
"Dr. Monroe, we'd like to talk about a new approach to making the thousands of connections to axons required by our project." Kyle explained what Josh and Keren had explained to him.
"You realize that such an approach would present significant risks. No one knows what the long-term effects on the axons would be with such a system. You'll have to perform extensive animal tests. We know a great deal about the effects, or rather non-effects of Teflon on human tissue. Do you think these 'snakes,' as you call them, can be Teflon coated?"
"Miss Vaish is working on it right now,” offered Josh. “We should know in couple of weeks. If the whole snake were coated it wouldn't be so hard. The conductive tip needs to be exposed, if we are going to navigate our way around each axon and then complete each electrical circuit. The hard part is the Teflon/silicon interface at the tip."
"I think you guys will work this out. Frankly, I didn't give your project much hope of success until now. I only let you proceed because CompuSonic has been a cash cow. I wish all my students were so well funded."
"Thanks for your time, Dr. Monroe. Have a happy Thanksgiving," concluded Kyle.
"That's unlikely, but thanks for the thought. By the
way, thank you for letting me use your Soft Builder program. It has really helped on a project that I've been working on for years as sort of a hobby."
"I’m glad that it has been helpful, Dr. Monroe. Sometime you’ll have to show me what you have been working on."
As they left Dr. Monroe's office and walked by Miss Saxton's desk, Kyle joked, "Don't you have a goodbye kiss for me, Miss Saxton?" Kyle leaned forward and puckered. To his surprise, Miss Saxton stood, leaned over and actually kissed him on the lips.
Then she put one hand around his neck, running her finger up into his light brown hair, pulled him forward and whispered in his right ear, "Next time you see Dr. Monroe, let him know what he's missing. Speak a word of this to anyone else and you are dead meat." Then she sat down. As Josh and Kyle started to walk away she called out, "Hey Josh, have a jellybean." She tossed a black jellybean to Josh.
"Yeah, Josh, you play the game your way and I'll play it mine, but don't worry, there's always Miss Vaish."
"What happened back there, Kyle?" asked Josh.
"A gentleman does not kiss and tell. Say, let's get some lunch."
"By the way, Kyle, what did Dr. Monroe mean about it being unlikely that he would have a happy Thanksgiving?"
"I guess you don't know Dr. Monroe's story. All those photos of his wife in his office might make you think he has a great marriage. Actually, his wife mostly married him for his earnings potential. She figured he was the next Bill Gates, only much better looking. Now she spends him broke and hardly even talks to him. She does come with him to the university social events, but that's only because she's such a socialite."
"From her photographs I can see at least one big reason, or maybe I should say two big reasons why he married her. What a knock out."
They walked to the student center and purchased some lunch. "I had been really bummed out with my lack of progress," said Josh, "but after talking to Keren yesterday I can finally see how we can make this thing work. I'm so excited that I'm going to call my parents and tell them that I'm not going home for Thanksgiving so I can work on this."
"Josh, don't do that. You don't know how much I wish I had a family like yours to go home to on holidays. I hate holidays. Even when my mother was alive, holidays weren’t much fun. Now I have no family at all."
"I'll go home for Thanksgiving under one condition, that you come with me. I will not take no for an answer."
"You're just afraid to leave me alone with Miss Saxton without you there as a chaperone."
"I can see you're going to milk that kiss for all it's worth. Okay, Romeo, Miss Saxton is all yours. I know when I've been bested."
Chapter 5 – Turkey Dancing
Josh's family lived in St. George, Utah. On the way, Josh and Kyle stopped in Provo to pick up Josh's younger sister, Miranda. Kyle expected her to be good looking, being related to a good-looking guy like Josh. He was not disappointed. She was tall and blond like Josh and had long, beautiful hair. She was wearing a full-length dress covering what Kyle imagined were fabulous legs. Kyle mostly listened as Josh and Miranda got each other up-to-date on what was happening in their lives. Miranda was polite but did not show much interest in Kyle.
Josh's parents were quite warm and friendly. Unlike Josh's younger sister, they went to extraordinary lengths to make Kyle feel comfortable. He could not say that they tried to make him feel at home since home was never this good. Josh's mother, Shirley, asked all about his personal life or lack of one as it turned out. "Kyle, what you need is to learn how to social dance. You should take a dance class at the university."
"I'm so uncoordinated I'd feel like a fool in a dance class."
"You just need some private tutoring. Josh, you and Miranda could help him out, couldn't you?"
"I would be happy to help, but I don't think you can keep Miranda away from her friend's long enough to do much good."
"I can be very persuasive with your sister. Leave her to me. You go clear the dance floor." Josh obediently led Kyle down to the basement.
"Your family has a dance floor?" Kyle asked as they walked down the stairs.
"It's just an uncarpeted area. My family is really into dancing. My parents won many contests in their younger days. Let’s start with the basics. To dance you have to hear the beat of the music. I'll play a tune and you tell me the beat." Josh put on a record. "I know records are antiquated. My dad says, 'If it's not broken, why fix it.' He's really pretty thrifty. What's the beat here?"
"I don't have a clue?"
"Listen to the drum. Forget everything else. Can you here it? Slow, slow, quick, quick. You could do a swing to this. If it was a little slower, you could do a fox trot. Listen to this one. This is a waltz. Can you hear the One, two, three, One, two, three?"
"It's amazing. I've never noticed that before. It's like I can hear for the first time. You've opened my ears, or rather ear." Josh played several more tunes and Kyle was able to pick out the beat. Miranda came bouncing down the stairs with a cheerful expression on her face.
"Shall we begin, gentlemen?" She placed one hand on the back of Kyle's right shoulder and held up his left hand with her right.
Josh leaned over to her and whispered, "Mom must have bribed you well this time." He suggested they start with a swing. Kyle struggled to pick up even the basic step of the swing, but once he got the basic step down, which took almost an hour, the fancy stuff actually came much easier. Josh explained the subtleties of leading. Miranda was excellent at following. Although Miranda had shown little interest in Kyle during the drive, occasionally she would give him a flirtatious look. Kyle had thought they would practice for at most two hours, but they only took a break for dinner and went right back to the lessons. Kyle's favorite part was the waltz. Even though he was sure that Miranda had no real interest in him and that she was too young for him, it still was heavenly to hold such a beautiful girl in his arms. Where had dancing been all of his life? Josh's parents joined them and danced with them. In spite of being overweight, they moved as if they were very light on their feet. As Kyle observed the affectionate way they looked at each other, he wondered what it would have been like to grow up in such a loving home. He felt an almost overpowering desire to establish a loving family of his own.
Josh and company had arrived on Wednesday. Thursday was devoted to the Thanks Giving meal and family activities, including the men watching football. They worked on dancing nearly all day Friday and most of Saturday. There was no dancing on Sunday. Kyle was persuaded to join the family at church, Sunday morning. After a sumptuous lunch, Josh, Kyle and Miranda headed back to school. After dropping Miranda off in Provo, Kyle expressed his feelings. "I never knew family life could be so wonderful. Is it always like that or are things just wonderful for company?"
"We have our little spats from time to time, but this weekend was actually pretty typical. It's the messed up families on TV and in the movies that seem weird to me."
"I wouldn't trade this trip for $10,000. I've never had a better time."
Chapter 6 - Breakthroughs
Kyle had accidentally left his cell phone behind during the trip. He returned to his apartment to find several voice mails on his phone. While Josh and Kyle had been doing R&R it appeared that Keren and Dr. Monroe had both been very busy.
"Kyle, I've succeeded with the Teflon coating. I need Josh's and your help for testing. Call me."
"Kyle, this is Dr. Monroe. Come see me at my lab as soon as you get back, I'll be there."
Dr. Monroe's message sounded more urgent. There was excitement in his voice. Kyle went right to the lab and knocked on the locked heavy steel door. A disheveled looking Dr. Monroe opened the door. "Thanks for coming Kyle. I've used your software building program to create what I believe is a sentient program. I have it running on our fastest desktop computer, the one with eight Intel i9 processors with 128 gigabytes of RAM and a 10-terabyte hard disk array. Presently, its only I/O is audio."
"Carlton, I wish you wouldn't talk about me like I am n
ot here. Please make a proper introduction," said a lovely female voice coming from the computer, a large black tower. "Forgive me, Annette. This is Kyle James, the Ph.D. candidate I've been telling you about."
"I have heard so many wonderful things about you, Kyle. I owe my very existence to you. How will I ever be able to thank you?"
"Your existence is thanks enough for me. This is fantastic. This is Nobel Prize kind of stuff."
"Kyle, I'd like to keep this between us for awhile," interjected Dr. Monroe. "Let's not forget the cold fusion fiasco that severely damaged the university's reputation. We can't afford a repeat of that one."
"You're absolutely right. It's so hard to prove sentience. What are your plans?"
"I thought first we would give Annette stereo vision and make her hearing stereo, not that she hasn't done quite well with mono. Then, maybe hook up a robot arm and hand. We have one left over from Leslie Bradshaw's Ph.D. project."
"You are ignoring me again, Carlton. I would love vision, but this had better not be some tacky industrial robot arm."
"I'm sure you could make any arm classy, but this is as close to human like as currently available."
"When I get my eyesight I will be the judge of that."
"I could get you hooked up,” offered Kyle. “Dr. Monroe, I haven’t had dinner. Could you order in some pizza or something?"
"I could, but there's plenty of food here. I had a refrigerator and microwave delivered along with enough food for at least a week. How about if I nuke a bean burrito for you?"
"That'll be fine. I see you've already acquired the cameras. I'll get them hooked up."
"I'll hook up the second microphone." The two men worked feverishly. Shortly the second microphone was on line. "Annette, can you tell me where I am?"
"Not yet Carlton. I need a reference point. Stand two meters due north of the microphones and count to five."
"One. Two. Three. Four. Five."
The Computer Who Loved Me Page 3
