"Let's not play dumb," said Philips. "You knew that telling Helen you had a 'surprise' would drive me crazy. I almost called you last night at four A.M. Now I wish I had. I think you deserved it."
"Oh, yeah, the surprise," teased Michaels. "I almost forgot." He leaned over and rummaged in his briefcase. A minute later he had pulled out a small package wrapped with dark green paper and tied with a thick yellow ribbon.
Martin's face fell. "What's that?" He'd expected some papers, most likely computer print-out paper, showing some breakthrough in their research. He never expected a present.
"It's your surprise," said Michaels, reaching toward Philips with the package.
Philips' eyes moved back to the gift. His disappointment was so acute it was almost anger. "Why the hell did you buy me a present?"
"Because you've been such a wonderful research partner," said Michaels, still holding the package toward Philips. "Here, take it."
Philips reached out. He had recovered from the shock enough to be embarrassed about his reaction. No matter how he felt he didn't want to hurt Michaels' feelings. After all, it was a nice gesture.
Philips thanked him while feeling the weight of the package. It was light and about four inches long and an inch high.
"Aren't you going to open it?" asked Michaels.
"Sure," said Philips, studying Michaels' face for an instant. Buying a present seemed so out of character for this boy genius from the Department of Computer Science, It wasn't that he wasn't friendly or generous. It was just that he was so completely involved with his research that he usually overlooked amenities. In fact, during the four years they'd been working together, Philips had never seen Michaels socially. Philips had decided that Michaels' incredible mind never turned off. After all, he had been singled out to head the newly created Division of Artificial Intelligence for the university at twenty-six. He'd completed his Ph.D. at M.I.T. when he was only nineteen.
"Come on," said Michaels impatiently.
Philips pulled off the bow and dropped it ceremoniously among the debris on his desk. The dark green paper followed. Beneath was a black box.
"There's a little symbolism there," said Michaels.
"Oh? "said Philips.
"Yeah," said Michaels. "You know how psychology treats the brain: like a black box. Well, you get to look inside."
Philips smiled weakly. He didn't know what Michaels was talking about. He pulled off the top of the box and separated some tissue. To his surprise he extracted a cassette case labeled Rumors by Fleetwood Mac.
"What the hell," smiled Philips. He hadn't the foggiest idea why Michaels would buy him a recording by Fleetwood Mac.
"More symbolism," explained Michaels. "What's inside is going to be more than music to your ears!"
Suddenly the whole charade made sense. Philips flipped open the case and pulled out the cassette. It wasn't a musical recording. It was a computer program.
"How far did we get?" asked Philips almost in a whisper.
"It's the whole thing," said Michaels.
"No!" said the incredulous Martin.
"You know the last material you gave me? It worked like a charm. It solved the problem of density and boundary interpretation. This program incorporates everything you've included in all your flow sheets. It will read any skull X ray you give it, provided you put it into that piece of equipment over there." Michaels pointed to the back of Philips' office. There on the top of Philips' worktable was a TV-sized electrical apparatus. It was obvious that it was built as a prototype rather than production model. The front was made of a plain stainless steel plate and its attaching bolts protruded. In the upper left-hand corner was a slot that was made to take the program cassette. Two electrical trunks protruded from its sides. One trunk fed into a typewriter input/output device. The other came from a rectangular stainless steel box about four feet square and one foot high. On the front of this metal apparatus was a long slot with visible rollers for the insertion of an X-ray film.
"I don't believe it," said Philips, afraid that Michaels was teasing him again.
"Neither do we," admitted Michaels. "Everything just suddenly fell together." He walked over and patted the top of the computer unit. "All the work you'd done in breaking down the problem-solving and pattern-recognition aspects of radiology not only made it apparent we needed new hardware but also suggested the way to design it. This is it."
"Looks simple from the outside."
"As usual, appearances are deceptive," said Michaels. "The innards of this unit are going to revolutionize the computer world."
"And think what it's going to do to the field of radiology if it can really read X rays," said Martin.
"It will read them," said Michaels, "but there could still be bugs in the program. What you have to do now is run the program against as many skull X rays as you can find that you have read in the past. If there are problems, I think they will be in the area of false negatives. Meaning the program will say the X ray is normal when pathology is really present."
"That's the same problem with radiologists," said Philips.
"Well, I think we'll be able to eliminate that in the program," said Michaels. "It's going to be up to you. Now to work this thing, first turn it on. I think even a doctor of medicine will be able to do that."
"Without doubt," said Philips, "but we'll need a Ph.D. to plug it in."
"Very good," Michaels laughed. "Your humor is improving. Once the unit is plugged in and turned on, you insert the cassette program into the central unit. The output printer will then inform you when to insert the X-ray film into the laser scanner."
"What about the orientation of the film?" asked Philips. "Doesn't matter, except the emulsion side has to be down. "Okay," said Philips, rubbing his hands together and eyeing the unit like a proud parent. "I still can't believe it."
"I can't, either," said Michaels. "Who would have guessed four years ago that we could have made this kind of progress? I can still remember the day you arrived unannounced in the Department of Computer Science, plaintively asking if anyone was interested in pattern recognition."
"It was just pure luck that I bumped into you," returned Philips. "At the time I thought you were one of the undergraduates. I didn't even know what the Division of Artificial
Intelligence was."
"Luck plays a role in every scientific breakthrough," agreed Michaels. "But after the luck, there's lots of hard work, like what's facing you. Remember the more skull films you run with the program, the better it will be, not only to debug the program, but also because the program is heuristic."
"Let's not pull any big words on me," said Philips. "What do you mean 'heuristic'?"
"So you don't like some of your own medicine," laughed Michaels. "I never thought I'd hear a doctor complain about incomprehensible words. A heuristic program is one that is capable of learning."
"You mean this thing will get smarter?"
"You got it," said Michaels, moving toward the door. "But it's up to you now. And, remember, the same format will be applicable to other areas of radiology. So in your spare time, as if you're going to have any, start the flow sheet for reading cerebral angiograms. I'll talk to you later."
Closing the door behind Michaels, Philips went over to the worktable and eyed the X-ray-reading apparatus. He was eager to begin to work with it immediately, but he knew the burden of his daily routine proscribed it. As if in confirmation, Helen walked in with a pile of correspondence, telephone messages, and the cheerful news that the X-ray machine in one of the cerebral angiography rooms wasn't functioning properly. Reluctantly Philips turned his back on the new machine.
Chapter 4
"Lisa Marino?" asked a voice, causing Lisa to open her eyes. Leaning over her was a nurse named Carol Bigelow, whose dark brown eyes were the only portion of her face visible. A flower-print hat contained her hair. Her nose and mouth were covered by a surgical mask.