Owen said, “As you know, we wanted you to come here to explore the idea of putting your knowledge and experience into what the computer people call an expert system, so that in effect the computer can do just what you would have done in any foreseeable situation.”
“What if the situation isn’t foreseeable?” Bliss wanted to know.
“Well, that’s the problem, of course, but Mr. Ewald is hoping that between you you can think of just about everything that could conceivably happen. Anyhow, it’s quite an exciting idea, and I hope you’ll enjoy the experience.”
“Yes. By the way, I mentioned to Mr. Corcoran that I’d like to have the chance to talk to Randall Geller and Yvonne Barlow whilst I’m here.”
“I know you did, and that interview will be set up for you after the session this morning.”
“They’re all right, I hope?”
“Oh, yes, they’re fine. They send their regards.”
Ewald was waiting for them in the Control Center, a chubby bald young man with an unsuccessful mustache. He had rigged up a simulator in the form of a black box with cables snaking all over: he explained that by giving simple instructions to the simulator he could display canned views on the TV screens and even, to all appearance, in the quartz deadlights, and could make any desired readings appear on the instruments. Bliss then had to look at the instruments and say what orders he would give: then Ewald would ask him why he gave them, or why he hadn’t given other ones. After the first five minutes Hartman excused himself and wandered out into the Boat Deck corridors. An alert security officer said, “Excuse me, sir, are you supposed to be here?”
“I’m a visitor,” Hartman said, showing his badge. “I thought I might just look round a bit.”
The guard ran his minicom over the badge, looked at the readout. “This says you’re supposed to be in the Control Center.”
“Quite right, but it’s very boring there.”.
The officer spoke into his phone. After a moment he got a reply, and said, “You can walk around the unrestricted areas, sir, until Mr. Bliss is ready to leave. I’m getting a security person to guide you.”
“That’s not necessary,” Hartman said; but they waited until another guard came up, a young woman who introduced herself as Miss McMasters.
“Which are the unrestricted areas, then?” Hartman asked as they set off down the corridor. There was something institutional about the place now; the walls, which had been papered before, were now painted in blue and cream. Odd how depressing those two colors could be.
“All the public areas on the Boat Deck and Promenade Deck are unrestricted,” said Miss McMasters with a cheerful smile. “Will that do?”
“Oh, certainly. Perhaps I should have asked, which areas are restricted?”
“I’m sorry, that’s restricted information.”
Practically no one was in the forward Boat Deck lobby except maintenance people in blue coveralls. The scientists, Hartman presumed, were in their laboratories and the prisoners in their cells. After a few more attempts to draw Miss McMasters out, Hartman gave it up and announced that he would like to leave. Miss McMasters escorted him to the exit, where his badge was taken away. Outside the checkpoint he hailed an amphicab, and spent the rest of the morning in the Olde Curiosity Shop, the Aquarium, and the charming half-timbered shops of the Olde Fishinge Village overlooking the new dike or levee or whatever they called it. A pleasing camouflage of sea air drifted from atomizers at every comer, and the smell of dead fish was hardly noticeable.
Bliss found Geller and Barlow in a small conference room near Owen’s office on the Signal Deck; they looked a little thinner than he remembered them, not quite so much the carefree youth.
“Randall and Yvonne, it’s good to see you,” he said. They shook hands and sat down. “Is it all right to talk here?”
“You mean is it bugged?” Geller said. “I don’t know. I don’t care if it is or not.”
“Well, are they treating you all right? Is there anything I can do?”
“They’re treating us okay. Some of the others, not so good. They’re breeding them like lab animals, did you know that? Trying to produce a new stock of children infected at birth.”
“Surely they can’t do that.”
“Oh, yes, they can. We blew the whistle on them, but all that did was make them come out in the open with it. People who volunteer for the program get privileges, and people who refuse have a hard time, so they get the volunteers. But they’re easy on us, for some reason. They’re going to give us our old jobs in the marine lab, if we want them. Or we can just lay back and be passengers.”
“They offered to let one of us go,” Yvonne said.
“Namely me, because our kid drives me crazier than Yvonne. But we’re selling the place in Michigan anyway, and there wouldn’t be any point to it. There’s a chance we can talk Owen into letting us do some of our own research. Things could be worse. What are you doing here?”
Bliss explained about the expert system. “Frankly, I wouldn’t care to trust myself to it. How long do you think they’ll keep you here?”
They both looked grim. “Till Geoffrey is in college, probably,” said Yvonne.
“But that’s monstrous! Isn’t there anything you can do?”
“We have a lawyer, and he’s petitioning for habeas corpus, but he says we shouldn’t hold our breath.”
“Well, let’s look on the bright side,” said Geller. “Twenty years from now, we can collaborate on a book called Captives on CV. ”
“Not very snappy. How about Love Slaves Afloat?"
They smiled at each other. And, all things considered, Bliss realized, they really were all right.
A young woman came up to him at the bus stop. “Chief Bliss, I’m Ann Bonano of the Toronto Star. Welcome to Seattle.”
“Thank you. How did you know I was here?”
“Oh, we have our methods. Staying long?”
“Just a week or so.”
“And the purpose of your visit?”
Bliss explained again about the expert system. Bonano took a few notes. “That’s interesting. Did you know that all the airlines are using expert systems in place of pilots now—and air controllers too?”
“No, I didn’t know that,” said Bliss with a shudder.
“Then is it true that you’re not going to sign on again as CV’s Chief of Operations?”
“Heavens, no. I’m quite content to be retired, thank you. CV was a silly thing to begin with.”
“How do you mean, silly?”
“Well, you know, a prototype open sea habitat was what they called it, but it wasn’t the prototype of anything. We don’t need to build floating cities, the ones on land are much cheaper and more useful. The only thing sillier is L-Five, and I suppose that’s why it’s going forward.”
Bonano thought a moment. “Do you think the pyramids were silly?”
“Yes, absolutely. Magnificently silly. You know, we seem to have this incredible urge to build large useless things. The larger the better, of course, but it really helps to put the project over if they’re useless as well. I don’t know why that is, do you?”
“No, I don’t. Well, thank you, Mr. Bliss.”
That evening he and Hartman turned on the holo and found themselves watching the Senate hearings on allegations of cruelty to CV detainees. A pale, dark-haired young man was at the witness table.
“... have that apparatus here, and I’d like you to watch, if you would, while I demonstrate it on myself.”
“We will take that under advisement,” said Senator Gottlieb, a courtly white-haired man. “Now, Mr. Plotkin, you don’t deny, as I understand it, that this procedure was intended to inflict intolerable pain on the subject? In order to cause the parasite to leave his body?”