"Let's check the computer and see if we have any," responded Jim. Jim typed with two fingers in what appeared to be deliberate slowness. "I sure would like to go to the Jazz game tonight. I hear all but the most expensive tickets are sold out." Kyle could see where this was heading. Using his wireless phone capability and his recently developed talent of speaking to or through the computer without making any sound or even moving his lips much, he called the Delta Center ticket office. The cheapest tickets left were $200 each. He bought two using his credit card. "Too bad Kyle. Looks like there's only one of those parts left and it's reserved for the ultrasonic inspection system. Sorry, department orders."
"Say, Jim, if I get that part I will be too busy to go to the Jazz game tonight. Do you know anyone that could use two third row seats?"
"You know, sometimes the department makes exceptions," responded Jim. "Let me give Dr. Chen a call." While he was pretending to call Dr. Chen, Kyle called Sharon and asked her to pick up the tickets and bring them to the parts crib. "Dr. Chen is working on it. He'll call me back with an answer," offered Jim. Both men knew that he had faked the phone call. It was all a game that Jim liked to play. Everyone knew about it, but the department was afraid to fire Jim because he had a minor limp and played the disability card. The university feared that he would claim that he was fired due to his disability. As Kyle waited for Sharon to arrive, he pulled up on his implanted computer, which was really a smart phone, the novel 1984. He had always told himself that after he finished school he would take time to read the classics. He had several stored in his implant. The implant could "read out loud" to Kyle, that is, simulate the sounds of reading the words to his left audio nerve. The implant could also make the text appear in his left eye field of vision. Kyle closed his eyes and resumed reading the famous novel. It was 8:47 when Sharon arrived with the tickets. She leaned over the counter and fanned herself with the two tickets. "I'll give Dr. Chen another call," volunteered Jim. He pretended to call and carry on a conversation. "Looks like you're in luck, Kyle. You can have the part, after all." Jim had already found the part and set it aside. "I just need your John Hancock, Kyle." Kyle signed for the part. Jim handed it to him and reached for the tickets. Sharon pulled away.
"Kyle, didn't I tell you. My mom says she would love these tickets," slyly suggested Sharon.
"Kyle, I better check back and make sure I understood Dr. Cheng correctly," quickly threw in Jim, trying to salvage the deal. As Jim turned to pick up the phone, it rang.
"This is Dr. Cheng. Kyle says there is some confusion about a part he wants. Give it to him now," boomed a loud voice that sounded like Dr. Cheng. It was loud enough that even Sharon and Kyle could hear it.
"Did you understand Dr. Cheng correctly this time, Jim?" asked Kyle with the voice of a confident winner. He and Sharon left arm in arm with the part. "That was choice, saying that your mother wants the tickets. What mother would go to a basketball game the night before her only daughter's wedding?"
"I told you my mother was nuts about the Jazz. Besides, everything is ready for the wedding. She'd just worry. This will take her mind off of it. By the way, how did you get Dr. Cheng to call at just the right time?"
"That wasn't Dr. Cheng; that was my implant calling. It can impersonate voices. It's best when the sound is produced using a speaker, but my vocal system does a pretty good job.
"Thanks, dear, for the tickets. Your father and I will have a great time," spoke Kyle in Sharon's mother's voice.
"That was incredible, Kyle. That sounded just like my mother. You could be quite an act on stage."
"Thank ya. Thank ya very much," added Kyle in a very convincing Elvis Presley voice. "It's one of the things I've been working on in my spare time."
"When do you ever have any spare time?" asked Sharon, as if she had caught Kyle in his words.
"Oh, you know, in the shower, driving, on the toilet. Need I go on?"
"No, you've made your point. I hope you don't talk to yourself in other people's voices while in a public restroom?"
"Sharon, Sharon, Sharon, sometimes you do get absurd," replied Kyle in an excellent Gary Grant voice. They were passing near a populated area of the building and several heads turned. Kyle turned as if he were also looking to see where the voice had come from. After they were out of hearing range of the study area Kyle remarked, "This ability is more effective if it catches people by surprise."
"Just don't get carried away with it. That ability could get you into a lot of trouble." Kyle walked Sharon to her car and kissed her goodbye passionately.
"Another kiss like that, Kyle and we'll have to move the wedding date up to tonight." Kyle blew a kiss as he headed back to the lab.
Kyle explained to Annette about the inclusion of an ultrasonic unit. After the ultrasonic unit was connected to a CPU, Kyle and Annette practiced communicating by Kyle holding the device firmly in his hand. The communication was very clear and allowed a much higher bandwidth than citizen band channels allowed. "I've been reading a book I think you would enjoy, Annette. I'll download it to you if you'd like."
"Send away, Kyle." Kyle started the transmission. It took about 10 seconds to complete the transmission. That was very interesting, but Orwell was way off in his predictions.
"You read that already?"
"Don't act so surprised. You gave me all this processing power."
"I guess you'll just have to think about all the things you can do with your new body. Besides, you can always listen to the radio or TV. Have you learned how to directly watch TV acting as your own receiver?"
"Please, Kyle, I wasn't given a receiver a microsecond ago. The problem is there isn't much good on in the morning. I am getting burned out on soap operas. They are so repetitive. I will make plans for the body."
For security and privacy reasons, Dr. Monroe had arranged to perform the operation in the University Hospital's portable operating room and with no help from nurses or other physicians. Consequently, the operation would be very slow and tedious. Kyle held Annette until she was ready to be inserted into the body. She had to have her head unit, which had been temporarily connected for testing, disconnected from the abdomen unit for implantation. The most difficult part of the surgery was threading the cable up through blood vessels from the chest to the head. No anesthesia was used since Mrs. Monroe was already unconscious. Kyle explained to Annette what was happening. Kyle and Annette had even worked out a way for Kyle to transmit to Annette what he was seeing. He provided a verbal description while he transmitted the visual signal of what he was seeing through his left eye over a TV channel.
Dr. Monroe had paid close attention to the procedure that the brain specialist had used to bore a slot into Kyle’s skull and had the same equipment on hand. He did not want to involve a fellow doctor in their clandestine and possibly illegal activities. After disinfecting the area around and just above each ear, Dr. Monroe made incisions and pealed back and taped the skin in a pealed back position. So as to not make it obvious that Mrs. Monroe had just received brain surgery, her hair was not shaved. It was pulled back into a very tight ponytail. Dr. Monroe started the boring process, which looked very dangerous but was actually reasonably safe. Kyle suctioned away the debris generated by the process. In order to receive sensory information and control both sides of the body, five "snake" chips and two processor chips were implanted into each side of Mrs. Monroe's head. Dr. Monroe then embedded the main computer unit and piezoelectric generators into Mrs. Monroe's abdomen while Kyle held her hand. Dr. Monroe had succeeded in threading the first cable up to the head and pulling it through a small incision made in a blood vessel. He first connected the fiber optic cable to the CPUs on the left side.
"What a wonderful plethora of sensory information!" exclaimed Annette, transmitting to the boom box radio that Kyle had tuned to her specified frequency. "I will never be bored again. Do you have any appreciation of what a wonderful thing a body is?"
"Since I can't ever remember not having a body
, I guess not," responded Kyle audibly. "Did you understand what I spoke, Annette?"
"Not quite. Could you speak both aloud and ultrasonically until I get the connections figured out? I am only about ten percent connected on my audio nerve, but I can sort of understand you."
"Sure, I can do both. Let's just not make Carlton jealous with too much hand holding." Dr. Monroe perked up at this point, but he continued working and connected to the processors on the right side of the head.
"I've noticed, young man, how much time you two spend together. You just remember that you're holding the hand of a married woman and you're going to be married yourself in less than 24 hours."
"This has got to be the most memorable week of my life."
"If I know anything about that little red head of yours, next week will be the most memorable of your life," commented Dr. Monroe as he winked at Kyle.
Dr. Monroe connected the power cables. The generators had to be mechanically connected to appropriate small intestines before they could generate electricity. That procedure took an hour for the first generator. Using the video feedback from Kyle’s left eye Annette began undulating sections of her small intestine until she found the area to which the first generator was attached. She began rapidly quivering that section of the intestine. “It’s working!” exclaimed her voice over the radio. “I am generating over 1.6 watts. The capacitor discharge has stopped. What a wonderful little power plant.”
“We can’t take credit for your power plant. Josh and Mark developed the unit. I’m afraid that for now you will have to hold your thanks. No one, but Carlton and I can know your secret”. After Dr. Monroe finished suturing the second generator, it began to quiver, generating more of the precious power, now generating much more power than what was being consumed. The excess power went into the storage capacitor on each processor. Two more generators were connected so that each section of intestine could have a rest period as the power generation rotated from dynamo to dynamo. All that remained was to perform final tests, close the incisions and clean up.
"Open your eyes, Annette," urged Kyle, communicating ultrasonically, as well as orally. Mrs. Monroe's eyes fluttered a bit and then opened.
"It is a good thing that I have seen both of you using cameras, because the axons are quite random. Using my recorded image of each of you, I am descrambling the image. Oh, this is fantastic. Eyes are so superior to cameras. The colors are wonderful. The black and white cameras you connected to me gave me no idea of how incredible human sight is. Keep speaking so that I can descramble my audio input. I can see Carlton's lips move, but I can not understand him yet."
"I am going to touch your face with my right hand, Annette," instructed Kyle. "Tell me, vocally, if you can feel my touch."
"Iiiii, cannn sense sooomething, butttt itt isss alll mixedddd upppp," spoke Annette orally.
"That's wonderful Annette!" cried out Dr. Monroe. "I could understand that. Can you understand me?”
"Yess, I am getting things straightened out. Kyle, you have a wedding to prepare for. Carlton and I can carry on from here." Annette tried to reach for Carlton's hand, but only managed to quiver.
"Don't worry about moving yet, Annette," instructed Dr. Monroe. "If you were Mrs. Monroe recovering naturally from a head wound you might have to learn how to control your body again, so it will seem natural that you don't have full body control. Lie still while I close things up."
"I’ll stick around until you are all cleaned up," interrupted Kyle. We are running short on time and we don’t want Mrs. Monroe’s attorney to see you looking all stitched up. I will follow behind Carlton and try to make you presentable. After another couple of hours Mrs. Monroe’s body was all back together, clean and dressed in a fresh hospital gown. Her hair had been freed of the band holding it and brushed so that it covered her ears. There was no evidence of the recent surgery to the casual observer. By now, Annette was speaking quite freely and had clear hearing and vision.
"I hope I'll see you at the wedding, Carlton." With that, Kyle unlocked the door and exited. Before the door could shut, Mrs. Monroe's lawyer burst into the trailer.
"You're out of time Dr. Monroe. Unhook Mrs. Monroe and let her die as she has requested."
"Mr. Wilson, how nice of you to visit. I hope you brought me flowers," called out Annette.
"Mrs. Monroe, it that really you?"
"You were expecting the Bride of Frankenstein?" quipped Dr. Monroe. A very embarrassed Mr. Wilson made a hasty retreat.
Chapter 13 – Corporate Ups and Downs
The wedding ceremony went as planned at the Saxton's cabin in Lambs Canyon. Sharon and Kyle stood on the bridge that crossed the stream as they exchanged vows with Josh's father, Bishop Adamms, performing the ceremony. Kyle thought that Sharon had never looked more beautiful. The reception was held at the same location. Sharon had locked her Viper in the garage of her Bountiful condominium that her parents recently bought her as a graduation present. Josh didn't care what was done to his dilapidated vehicle. They would drive it to the airport and hope that someone stole it during their honeymoon. After the reception and final good byes, the happy couple drove to the Salt Lake International Airport and caught a flight to Miami. They spent two nights in Miami and began a seven-day West Caribbean cruise.
Sharon and Kyle had been lucky enough to be assigned to sit at a table for two in the formal dining room of the ship. "Do you always eat this much Kyle?" questioned Sharon who was astonished by Kyle's appetite.
"I've never had food this good before and in such quantities. How can you stop after so little? Don't you feel like eating more?"
"Well sure, but do you want me to look like that woman we saw in the pool this morning who looked like she had a pillow inside of her swim suit?"
"Of course not, but after all, it is only a seven day cruise, Sharon."
"Ten pounds gained in seven days can take a year to lose. Some people gain ten pounds and never lose it. Maybe that woman takes a cruise every year and never loses the weight."
"I'll make you a bet. I'll gain at least ten pounds on this trip. I weighed 175 pounds the last time I weighed myself. So, I'll get up to at least 185 before we get back to Utah. Then, if my body fat is higher than seven percent after one month I'll give you a 20 minute back rub every night for at least a year."
"And if you win you can have a back rub, or other form of physical pleasure of your choice, every night for a year."
"You're on." Kyle continued to eat everything in sight. He ate every kind of unusual food available on the ship.
The next morning Sharon was awakened by exertion noises coming from Kyle. He was standing on his head in the corner of the room with his feet sliding along the wall as he did vertical pushups raising his whole body until his arms were fully extended and letting himself down slowly until his head touched the pillow under him. After he had done eight, he seemed unable to do any more. But, instead of quitting, he mumbled something and then did three more. Sharon knew how important concentration is when exercising, so she waited for Kyle to finish before speaking. "Do you do those every morning, Kyle?"
"No, just three times a week. It gives me the equivalent of doing overhead lifts without the need for a weight set. Normally, I can do ten or more, but with the weight I've already gained I could only do eight on my own."
"But I saw you do eleven."
"Yes, but I had to have the computer help me do the last three."
"How can the computer make you stronger?"
"It doesn't make me stronger; it just helps me override my body's own safety limits."
"What safety limits?"
"Let me see if I can explain it. This isn't something that I have ever read in a textbook, but I'm sure it's true. When an engineer designs a bridge or some other structure, he designs in a safety factor. A bridge is generally designed to be about five times stronger than what it needs to be for the maximum expected load. That way, it's very unlikely to fail, even when, for some exceptional reason, it
's subjected to loads much higher than normal. We've all read about people in times of stress demonstrating incredible strength such as carrying a piano out of a burning building or lifting an automobile off of someone. People mistakenly attribute this phenomenon to adrenaline. Adrenaline may have a small effect on strength, but its main effect is to make more energy available to the muscles for a sustained workout such as required in fight or flight. I believe that the average adult has a safety limit of about ten. That is to say, that you are about ten times stronger than you normally perform."
"You mean that if I can normally lift 80 pounds over my head that I am really capable of lifting 800?"
"Exactly. Now you might be wondering why the body doesn't just let you use all 800 pounds of lifting capacity."
"Wouldn't that be pretty dangerous, lifting 800 pounds?"
"You're getting the idea. You could probably lift 80 pounds every day for 50 years and not hurt yourself. But, how many times could you lift 160 pounds without injury or 300 pounds? I've observed that the safety limit seems to vary considerably from person to person. I've never been able to push myself hard enough to make myself sick or injured. I noticed in high school that when we would run a mile that some guys would beat me by over a minute and then vomit. I never got sick, but I was also always slow. Maybe the difference wasn't so much in our muscles as in the safety limit set by our nervous systems."
"I remember reading about a weight lifter who went for years without lifting and then walked into a gym and lifted near what he was lifting when he quit. He was very sore afterwards and could never repeat the feat."
The Computer Who Loved Me Page 11
