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00200	.INDENT 6
00300	.BEGIN VERBATIM
00400	.GROUP SKIP 20
00500	                              LETHE
00600	
00700	
00800	                          BY  DOUG LENAT
00900	.END
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01100		  **********          **********
01200	.GROUP SKIP 10
01300	
01400	"What ever happened to Will?"  The words came slowly, for 
01500	Rick Bannon hadn't thought of Will for thirteen months.  But
01600	it was the tone -- more than confusion though not yet horror --
01700	which most surprised his wife.
01800	
01900	"Will who, darling?"  Without glancing up, Rick felt the soft
02000	concerned face searching for him in the dimness.  Helen's
02100	full blonde eyebrows were converging, as if their union would
02200	let her recall the name.
02300	
02400	"Will isn't a `who'.  Look here!"
02500	
02600	Helen groped cautiously across the living room.  As she approached
02700	the candle, a lean, intense face took form.  Though familliar, it
02800	was made grotesque now by flickering shadows.  Rick's eyes forced
02900	his wife's to a plaque near the flame.  Through a year of dust 
03000	Helen discerned the President, herself, Rick, 
03100	and a few of their co-workers
03200	at JCN poised over a huge machine.  The taper moved slightly, 
03300	revealing an inscription: To Richard Bannon, In Deepest
03400	Appreciation of Will's Success.  August 26, 1972.
03500	
03600	"I can't remember meeting the President of 
03700	the United States.  I never heard of Will.
03800	I don't..."  Rick's voice trailed off into a chill that left him
03900	shaking.  The room felt cold now, though just
04000	ten minutes before, he'd execrated the air conditioner
04100	for dying with the rest of the appliances.
04200	
04300	A tiny hand trembled on his shoulder, giving as much strength as
04400	it had meant to absorb.  Helen's hoarse whisper echoed Rick's
04500	thoughts.  "This is something neither of us could forget in a
04600	lifetime, and yet we've both forgotten it completely in a year."
04700	Her hand ran along the wall near where the plaque had been hanging.
04800	She rubbed the dust between her fingers.  "But I clean every week..."
04900	Her words were devoured by darkness, as the candle leapt to 
05000	the other side of the room.
05100	
05200	"I'm taking this to JCN right now."  The voice was Rick's.
05300	Rick Bannon was burly, six feet
05400	one, with a shock of dark hair which made him seem even taller.
05500	Yet his words seemed, to Helen, to emanate from the tiny flame
05600	itself.  
05700	
05800	"So late?" the darkness pleaded.  "No one's to
05900	go outside now unless it's an emergency."
06000	
06100	Rick wasn't listening.  Whatever Will was, there should be a
06200	file on it in his office.  The candle flounced across the room, 
06300	collecting Rick's wallet and keys, then resettled on the glasstop
06400	table.
06500	
06600	Engulfed in the silence following the click of the outer door, the 
06700	darkness that was Helen cried "Will, me," without knowing what
06800	it meant.
06900	"Why does Rick leave me home alone almost every night, working eighteen
07000	hours a day at JCN?"  Helen shook her head, trying to clear it.
07100	"What am I saying?  Rick never leaves me alone.  How... bizarre!
07200	It seemed
07300	so familiar when he drove off..."  Instinctively, Helen had walked
07400	over to the telephone, and had dialled B-L-7.  She stared down at
07500	her fingers.  "What's wrong with me?  Why am I...?  I don't even know
07600	anyone with a BL 7 number."  But Helen was no longer certain.
     

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00400	
00500	The black cougar ground to a halt before a usually-electified gate.
00600	An aged guard, recognizing Rick, smiled as his flashlight double-
00700	checked Dr. Richard Bannon's ID.  He began a reluctant struggle with 
00800	a massive crank.  "For twelve years I've wondered if this damned
00900	handle really did work the damned gate.  But you're the eighth
01000	car I had to let through this last hour, and damned if I'm not
01100	starting to
01200	pray for electricity."
01300	No sounds were audible as Rick drove off, save the rapidly
01400	fading creakings and cursings of gate and guard.
01500	
01600	The car scurried between looming livid shapes that were
01700	usually friendly lab buildings.
01800	Even when Rick reached his own office, 
01900	he felt oppressed by the darkness more than by the heat.  "Hell must
02000	be a lot like this," he mused.  He pulled out a
02100	thin conical cup and pushed the
02200	WATER, NO ICE button.  After a few seconds, he laughed at himself, 
02300	crumpled the dry cup into a tight ball, and threw it at the cooler.
02400	"We even get water electrically, now.  If only you were a
02500	horse-trough...
02600	I'm so thirsty I could
02700	drink a cup of water from one of the rivers in Hell.
02800	Styx?  No, that's on the border.  The one through the center..."
02900	Lethe caught him before he pronounced her name.  Renouncing
03000	thirst, Rick returned unsteadily to reality.  Shaking fingers
03100	sought the file lock, twisted the combination into it, and yanked
03200	it clattering to the tile floor.  A thin pencil of light located
03300	the Will file.  Rick blinked at the label.  The project had gone
03400	from Confidential to Eyes Only to Declassified in a three month
03500	period, one year earlier.
03600	
03700	The file lay strewn across
03800	his desk.  Rick read slowly, masticating every
03900	word, forcing it through the disbelief in his throat.
04000	
04100	May 12, 1968.  Project Will inaugurated.  Director: Richard Bannon.
04200	Team: Jack Sills, Edward Ho, Helen Sappestein, Karl Muller, Ralph
04300	Amory.
04400	Task: Realization of a Self-optimizing LSI computer.
04500	Resources: Thirty-seven technician-years.  Fifty million dollars.
04600	Deadline: June 1, 1971.
04700	
04800	Nothing seemed familliar.  The names he had heard, but only because
04900	of their importance at JCN.  He had never worked
05000	with any of them before, 
05100	even Helen.  A few he had never seen at all, in the six years he'd
05200	worked for JCN.
05300	"Am I losing my mind?"  Rick struggled to review the events in
05400	computer development before 1967.  "ENIAC, the 
05500	first electronic brain."  He smiled at those early
05600	researchers' naivete.  "Brain, indeed!
05700	Built at the University of Pennsylvania
05800	in 1944.  Tube circuits; took a whole room.  Transistor logic in
05900	1950.  The same computer now fit into a shoe box.
06000	Integrated circuits
06100	a decade later.  An ENIAC could be built matchbox size.  In 1964, 
06200	using a computer guided laser beam, large scale integrated
06300	circuits (LSI)
06400	appeared.  Using these, ENIAC would fit on the head of a
06500	pin.  Circuit densities approaching and surpassing the densities 
06600	of human brain cells.  Advances in neurology.  But the problem
06700	of interconnecting
06800	trillions of circuit `cells' seemed insurmountable.
06900	Elusive.  Research at Caltech, using disembodied feline
07000	brains, coming tantalizingly close.
07100	Then the breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence, at Stanford
07200	and MIT.  
07300	Automatic programming.  Feasibility studies
07400	of self-optimizing heuristic
07500	systems, leading to my own idea for Project Will...  I'm beginning to 
07600	remember..."
07700	
07800	All night long, Rick read through the progress reports, summations, 
07900	memos, lab reports, news releases.  The truth settled upon him 
08000	just slowly enough for him to remain sane.  With the
08100	ending of darkness, 
08200	murky fears, borne of ignorance, were replaced by more
08300	explicit, more terrible ones.
08400	
08500	Aurora brought Rick stiffly to his feet.
08600	Automatically, he began dialing
08700	his home, thankful that at least the phone
08800	still worked.  What would he say to Helen?
08900	With the curtains drawn, it
09000	would still be dark there.
09100	"Hi darling... yes, everything's fine.  Listen, 
09200	I found out about Will.
09300	Some of it, anyway.  I need your help fitting
09400	it all together.  Also...  there's something we have to decide...  No, 
09500	I'd rather not talk about it over the phone... Good.  
09600	See you in a little while...... Me, too."
09700	
09800	He put down the receiver and wiped his forehead.  This was something
09900	only the whole team could decide.  The JCN directory slid onto
10000	his desk.  Amory, Ralph.  Chairman, Psychometrics Group.
10100	Office 1124 LR.
10200	Extension 3471.  Home 1308 Waverly Street.  Home Pho...  "Ah! 
10300	Here's his number."  Rick rolled the final "r" for several 
10400	lost seconds.  The
10500	receiver rose deliberately.  Chilblained
10600	fingers stabbed into the dial.  B - L - 7......  
     

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00400	
00500	"But Jack, they have the money.  Why don't they release her?"
00600	The anguish demanded a reply.  How could he know why?
00700	
00800	"Maybe they want more.  The police captain told me they'd probably
00900	release her as soon as they were sure the bills weren't marked.
01000	Or if not, they'd leave her somewhere and we'd find her right 
01100	away."  The police captain had actually told him they'd
01200	probably kill her, 
01300	or leave her somewhere she'd never be found.
01400	"They've...  I don't know, 
01500	maybe been held up by the power failure."  He could never
01600	tell her he'd given up.
01700	
01800	"My baby, my baby..."
01900	
02000	The phone's ring gave Jack Sills some genuine hope.  "Who...?"  The
02100	hope ignited into anger.  "What the hell do you want?  Do you
02200	know its five a.m...?  What kind of an emergency?  Alright, but
02300	it'd better be important."  There was nothing more he could do
02400	here.  Getting back to work might be panacean.  He considered.
02500	"I'm going out to look for her again"  Jack Sills
02600	hoped his guilt didn't
02700	show.  As he left the bedroom, his wife called after him.
02800	
02900	"You forgot it!"
03000	
03100	Jack had always taken a revolver with him when he'd gone looking
03200	-- really looking -- for his daughter.  Now he had to carry it
03300	with him for his wife's benefit.  Disgusting world.
03400	
03500	"And bring your file on Project Will...  Good.  I'll see you in an 
03600	hour then.
03700	So long, Eddie."  Rick finished his last call.  Frustrated, 
03800	he reached over and hit the watercooler, 
03900	not really anticipating a response, 
04000	of course.  The blow was meant more to punish than to request.
04100	The machine answered with a spatter
04200	of water.  Rick gaped in terror.  It was operating.
04300	The current must be
04400	back on!  He raced his eyes over the file.  Will's power
04500	circuits.  Would he...?  No!  He was off now.  Could only be started
04600	manually.  Relief found Rick Bannon wishing this were merely a
04700	nightmare.
04800	Slowly, he pulled out a cup.
     

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00400	
00500	The door marked CONFERENCE opened for the sixth time that hour.
00600	Ralph Amory froze at the scene before him.  A series of
00700	half-serious explanations
00800	raced through his mind and were rejected.  JCN bankrupt?  World
00900	War III?  What could bring the top five scientists at JCN together
01000	at this hour?  He recognized some from staff meetings, the
01100	rest from their	Group Head ID badges.
01200	Jack Sills, Biophysics; Rick Bannon, Artificial Intelligence; Helen
01300	Sappestein -- no, she was Helen Bannon now --
01400	Mathematics; Eddie Ho, Electronics; Karl Muller, 
01500	Computer Engineering.
01600	Why was he, a psychiatrist, sent for?
01700	
01800	Then Dr. Amory examined their faces more closely.
01900	Varying degrees of 
02000	shock.  Bewilderment.  Disbelief.  Horror.  Confusion.
02100	Struggling mentally...  On a problem?  No, more like straining to
02200	remember...
02300	
02400	With apparent calm, Ralph Amory removed a
02500	cigarette from its silver holder.  As he lit
02600	it, he began, "I deduce..."  
02700	The pause while deeply puffing always drew
02800	all eyes to him.  "...that you have been confronted with
02900	something so horrid, 
03000	you cannot accept it, and yet you must."  A thin smile
03100	traced a line which spread up the side of his face to meet one
03200	descending from his eyes.  Long greying hair.  Carefully touselled.
03300	Anything for effect.
03400	"Life is a collocation of various sorts of deceits,"
03500	he mused.  "God, this room is dim.
03600	Ought to have turned on more lights."
03700	
03800	Rick had only seen Ralph Amory four times in as many years.
03900	He sought
04000	the medical insignia for confirmation.
04100	"Pretty close, Doc.  But its `we', not
04200	`you'.  You are as much a part of this as anyone.  Read your copy 
04300	of this file."  Rick Bannon's fingers directed the psychiatrist 
04400	 to sit, open the folder, and begin reading.  
04500	
04600	Jack Sills looked as though he hadn't slept in two days.  He
04700	hadn't slept in three.  Ten years older than Rick, his face was
04800	beginning to wrinkle.  First the kidnapping, now this.  Tears
04900	welled in his eyes as he thought of Daphne.  Just a year old.
05000	But aloud: "Let's give Doc Amory a few minutes, and then summarize
05100	what's happened.  Just so we all agree."
05200	Ralph Amory looked up at him, but Jack Sills didn't perceive the
05300	suspicious look which crossed the Doctor's face.
     

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00300	.GROUP SKIP 10
00400	
00500	"....LSI circuitry.  This gave Will a thousandfold the storage
00600	capacity of a human brain.  Ten milliard cell modules, 
00700	interconnected like brain cells..."  
00800	Helen Bannon noticed the troubled
00900	stare Ralph Amory was giving her, and mistakenly interpretted it as a
01000	reprimand.  ".....sorry; I meant as close as we could come
01100	to synaptic networks.
01200	
01300	For two months, the computer's main activity
01400	was optimizing its  own circuitry.  Dr. Amory and I devised seven
01500	hundred graduated problems that would mark Will's intellectual
01600	progress.  The first were trivial: adding, comparing, correlating
01700	and such.  Next came problems requiring Will to synthesize the vast
01800	stores of world knowledge we were pouring into him: natural language
01900	translation, Hilbert's third problem...   Finally, Will
02000	passed on to current questions.  Mathematics first.  Hilbert's other
02100	twenty-two problems in thirteen minutes.
02200	Eddie, you'd better continue  with the input/output systems."
02300	
02400	Eddie
02500	Ho was actually much better qualified to discuss the interfaces,
02600	but
02700	Helen stopped for other reasons as well.  The strain.
02800	The look Ralph Amory was giving her.  Why did she feel uneasy, almost
02900	guilty.  She slid into her chair, guided more by
03000	her hands grasping the table than by her mind.
03100	Rick's hand touched hers
03200	and Helen started, then
03300	leaned against him.  Straining to relax, she missed 
03400	Eddies'  first few remarks.
03500	
03600	Ralph Amory's eyes were fixed upon Helen as she spoke, yet he
03700	hadn't heard any of her words.
03800	His thoughts drifted back to the first time they'd made
03900	love, the Hollywood touches of crashing waves and lightening, 
04000	the demanding lips, the unexpected fury of her...  
04100	Suddenly, his reverie
04200	ended.  What had he been thinking?  
04300	He had seen Helen often, but only at
04400	meetings.  He'd never seen her nude, and
04500	yet he remembered how she blushed
04600	about the strawberry-shaped birthmark on her bottom.  But he'd never
04700	even seen her by herself!  Was he simply fantisizing?  It seemed
04800	so... too
04900	much like a recollection.  For the first time in his adult life, 
05000	Ralph Amory permitted his face to express bewilderment.
05100	
05200	"Our original hope was that Will would be sufficiently similar
05300	to a human brain to learn natural language by exposure to it,
05400	the way we do.  Unfortunately, we had created a good example of
05500	the distinction between structural and functional similarity."
05600	
05700	"Perhaps the deficiency was one of motivation, Eddie.
05800	Will was never hungry
05900	enough or frightened enough to really want to communicate."
06000	
06100	"I don't know."  The short, heavyset Hawaiian shrugged.  "In
06200	the end, we decided to program in some facility for understanding
06300	several Germanic, Romance, Oriental, and Scandinavian languages.
06400	Yes, in this report: it was referred to as a
06500	natural language front end.  Will built up intricate conceptual
06600	dependency models to represent the semantic content of whatever
06700	sentences we
06800	typed in to him.  Based on the fourteen primitive actions of human
06900	existence.  In particular, if you asked Will the same question in
07000	several languages,
07100	the same CD net structure would be created internally each
07200	time.
07300	
07400	"Simple robotics extensions were appended one by one.  A crude
07500	mechanical hand and a TV camera eye.  The fingers were equipped with
07600	pressure transducers and thermocouples.  Two more eyes and two more
07700	hands were mounted on a mobile cart.  I see here that the latest
07800	edge-finding and scene analysis algorithms were implemented.  Cart
07900	linked to Will by radio controls.  Tests.  Debugging.  Tests." 
08000	Eddie flipped through the pages of his file.  Each paragraph he
08100	skimmed was one month of a hacker's lifetime.
08200	
08300	"Good enough.  Will was now sufficiently anatomically endowed to
08400	direct his cart to a library, look up a selected reference, grasp,
08500	open, and read from it.
08600	
08700	"For aesthetic reasons, we worked next on giving Will auditory
08800	abilities.
08900	Cut down the myriad possible interpretations of a given
09000	acoustic wave by using context and some knowledge of the
09100	problem domain.
09200	Generating desired acoustic waves turned out to be
09300	much, much easier."  Flip.  Flip.
09400	
09500	"Will expressed a need for higher baud input channels.  We looked
09600	around for a helpful analogy, and discovered that no interpersonal
09700	communications proceeed at a significantly higher rate than visual
09800	input: about one hundred kilobaud.  We then turned to examine 
09900	intrapersonal mechanisms.  Our first attempt was some type of
10000	human-computer symbiot.  To..."
10100	
10200	"Just a second, Eddie.  Do you mean we coldbloodedly proposed
10300	merging a person with Will?"  A look of disgust soured Helen's
10400	face.
10500	
10600	"Well, Helen, it was apparently more like..."  Eddie Ho scanned 
10700	several more sheets from his research
10800	notebook.  "...like inserting a human brain as one 
10900	more I/O device for Will.
11000	If all the theoretical bugs got out of it,
11100	we'd set it up like a heart
11200	transplant:  not to begin until the subject is legally dead.
11300	That's irrelevant, though, because
11400	after a few months that whole idea was scrapped..."
11500	
11600	"... For moral reasons?"  The hope in Helen's voice was caught
11700	by everone except Eddie Ho.  
11800	
11900	"No, the technical problems of maintaining a disembodied brain 
12000	were unsurmountable by current techniques."  Eddie seemed
12100	unaware of the brutality of his response.  "As an auxilliary
12200	project, work had begun on how to access thoughts directly from
12300	a human mind, and how to implant them.  We drew heavily on the 
12400	sleep and dream studies, which had meticulously kept quite
12500	complete records.  Reams of EEG's, and concurrent eye movement,
12600	respiration, and newly-awakened verbal recollections.  We spent
12700	over two months poring over that data.  The main symbiot project
12800	was cancelled, then... then..."  A flickering memory, a scene
12900	reenacting in Eddie's mind's eye:
13000	Eddie:  The main symbiot project was cancelled.  I guess that
13100	means an end to the direct thought transfer work.  There was
13200	just too much data, Karl.  We couldn't handle it.
13300	
13400	Karl(jokingly):  Listen.  This transfer problem: why don't let
13500	Will himself work on?  He the hotshot.  Will wants it so badly,
13600	maybe he tries extra hard?  Eh?
13700	
13800	Eddie:  That's it!  I can't believe I didn't try that before.  
13900	Sure we can let Will try: it'll only take him a day or so to read
14000	all this (arm sweeps in semicircle over desk cluttered with
14100	recorder paper) and search for patterns in it.
14200	
14300	Karl:  Hmm.
14400	Maybe.  Be careful.  Will can't solve all Will's problems:
14500	he either incomplete or inconsistent.  And you get paid to see he 
14600	consistent.  But I think this case okay.  Try...
14700	
14800	The stage darkened, the scene concluded, the houselights rose, and
14900	Eddie was back talking to the group.  "... then,
15000	on August seventh, we asked Will himself to work on
15100	correlating the data we had on EEG's with the supporting metabolic
15200	and recollection data.  By the next week, he had effectively
15300	cracked the mind's code.  It was so complex, however, that only 
15400	Will could figure out what a subject was thinking from his brain    
15500	wave patterns.  Jack?"
15600	
15700	"Let me back up for a second, and mention that scores of medical 
15800	devices were being linked directly into Will.  At about this
15900	time, Will could examine a patient thoroughly and in most cases
16000	properly diagnose.  The rate was quite impressive: thousands per
16100	hour.  Gradually, treatment was put in Will's hands, figuratively
16200	and then literally.  Will was a big hit with the public."
16300	Jack Sills' voice was dry and monotonic, but unlike Eddie Ho,
16400	he was far from being
16500	emotionally detached.
16600	"As the direct mind-Will transmission was developed, steps were
16700	taken to make it available to the populace."
16800	
16900	As Sills rasped the words, 
17000	a wild hope began to form in a nether chamber of his brain.
17100	"You all know how a sophistocated electronic device can drop
17200	in price by several orders of magnitude
17300	when the world wants a billion, instead of seven, of them.
17400	Ultrasonic microphones, for example.  Well, mass-produced
17500	regenerative
17600	transmitters were hooked
17700	into mass-produced molecular-gated
17800	electroencephalographs.  The continuous-recording type.
17900	They were inserted just under people's scalps.  No anesthesia was
18000	called for, and the whole insertion took only a few seconds
18100	and cost only a few dollars.  Giant
18200	dish receivers amplified, multiplexed, and then relayed
18300	individuals' patterns from all over the world.  Everyone's 
18400	wave configurations are so 
18500	individualized that Will had no trouble easing the 
18600	death throes of an Outback aborigine, while simultaneously
18700	alerting a pedestrian in Amsterdam of an onrushing trolley.
18800	At about that time the project drifted out of my hands.  
18900	Rick....?"
     

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00400	
00500	"Will was given certain priorities. 
00600	First, not to change our culture.
00700	Secondarily, to help individuals solve their problems.  Finally, 
00800	to continue optimizing its circuitry in any spare instants it had.
00900	Will had developed a crude kind of conciousness, although nothing
01000	resembling emotions was ever  observed.
01100	These constraints formed the sole motivation Will ever evinced.
01200	
01300	"When Will was revealed to the public, he drew a mixed response.
01400	Some threats, some praises.  Always there was an apprehension
01500	that something would go wrong.  Maybe everyone had read too many
01600	sci-fi stories."  Rick's chuckle ended as a sigh.
01700	"Maybe each of us knows
01800	more about human nature than he cares to admit, even to himself.
01900	In any case, 
02000	billions of people were calling `Will, me' at all times, in all
02100	tongues.
02200	This was the signal to Will to
02300	probe that person's thoughts, ascertain the
02400	problem, compute the best solution, and inject it into his mind.
02500	Within a month, virtually everyone in the world was hooked.
02600	Dr. Amory...?"
02700	Rick had heard enough of Amory not to get caught up in
02800	psychological technicalities with him around.
02900	
03000	"A few people refused Will's help.  They were too few, poorly
03100	organized, and uninfluential.  And even these acceeded, one by one,
03200	over the course of the following year, as they witnessed their
03300	neighbors content and prosperous.
03400	Anxiety, hatred, all antisocial behavior vanished from the face of
03500	the earth.  True.  But with no responsibility, with a mammoth 
03600	parent figure like Will, men degenerated emotionally into...
03700	into infants."
03800	Dr. Amory paused to observe the tightened look on Jack Sill's
03900	face at the mention of infants.  Record it for later consideration.
04000	"The culture was significantly altered.  Aha!   Will's prime
04100	directive
04200	was violated.  Will realized this and tried to correct for it, by
04300	removing the deleterious agent:
04400	himself."  Rick noted that the Doctor still
04500	spoke as if delivering a Psych 1 lecture.  Sustain interest while
04600	maintaining and reinforcing your pretention of
04700	superior intelligence.  Amusingly
04800	out of place.  Everything seemed
04900	out of place here.  "...Will tried to turn himself off,
05000	but we kept restarting him.  There is, I believe, no subsequent
05100	written record acknowledging Will's
05200	existance.  Since then no  
05300	living being has mentioned Will.
05400	The conclusion appears inescapable that..."
05500	
05600	"Will made us forget him!"  The shock of realization contorted Jack
05700	Sill's features.
05800	
05900	"Precisely."  Dr. Amory looked pleased.  "I believe that is why 
06000	Dr. Bannon asked us here tonight."  
06100	
06200	Rick Bannon nodded regretfully.  "These past months, Will has
06300	apparently done no `helping' at all.  He's spent his time doing
06400	nothing but making us forget that he ever existed.  Oh, possibly
06500	some auto-optimizing, concurrently."
06600	
06700	No one stirred.  Each scientist's mind
06800	was racing along its own path; thus most were barely
06900	listening as Eddie Ho spoke.
07000	"So when the current started to drop, my breaking circuits
07100	cut off all electricity at this junction and kept it off.  They were
07200	designed to protect Will from the sudden surge of current when
07300	power would be resumed.  He can only be started manually now.
07400	It should take a full two hundred milliseconds to bring the current
07500	up to its final value..."  Ralph Amory could not help smiling at
07600	a man who considered a fifth of a second an eternity.  After
07700	momentary deliberation, he silently apologized.  After all, 
07800	how different was
07900	this from the way we consider a thousand years.  
08000	And to a piece of metal, 
08100	a millenium must seem
08200	as insignificant as a second.  "...automatically.
08300	So all one need to do to restart Will is to throw this switch, 
08400	toggle five."  Eddie gathered his diagrams
08500	and pictures back into one tight pack and neatly sat down.
08600	He was quite interested, though his voice was as
08700	emotionless as Jack Sills'.
08800	Edward Ho was devoid of human compassion.
08900	Except for a rigid code of ethics, and a passion for handball, 
09000	he might have been the archtypical mad scientist.
09100	Life was little more than a scientific investigation to him;
09200	the world merely a slithing laboratory animal, 
09300	whose death was unimportant compared to sectioning and
09400	examining and staining and catalogging its carcass.
09500	
09600	"We must decide what to do."  Rick's circadian rhythm increased his 
09700	alertness as the morning sunlight overpowered the conference room's
09800	flourescent tubes.  "I suggest we decompose the problem.
09900	We have to be sure why Will did this thing.  Amory, you and Helen 
10000	apparently knew the behavior mechanisms of the system better than
10100	anyone else.  Tell us what restarting Will
10200	would do.
10300	
10400	"Next, we have to consider the effects of doing nothing...
10500	at least for a while.   We need an estimate of the time we have
10600	before others can deduce what's happened.  Biology and logic:
10700	Sills, you and Muller try to project that.
10800	
10900	"Eddie, there's something special I want you to help
11000	me rig up.  Let's all
11100	meet back here in, say, one hour.  Good Luck."
11200	
11300	They dragged themselves out of the room.
11400	All but one felt the anguish
11500	of awareness.  Far away, Cassandra shed one tear of
11600	empathy.
11700	
11800	Dr. Amory scrutinized Jack Sills again, 
11900	then approached Rick.  "May I speak with you about Sills
12000	a moment first..."
12100	he began to whisper.
12200	
12300	Helen Bannon was outwardly calm as she rose from her seat.
12400	The night's
12500	revelations swirled before her.  Flashes of a torrid affair with
12600	Ralph Amory came to her, much the way she occasionally recalled
12700	playing with some long-forgotten childhood toy.
12800	She conciously begged
12900	not to remember, yet she struggled to recall every detail of her
13000	adultery.  "The guillt I've suffered is genuine; don't I have the
13100	right to at least savor the memories of what few happy moments there
13200	were?  A few hours hence, Will'll make me forget all of it anyway.
13300	Probably.  Now Rick's thrown Ralph and me together again.
13400	God, I wonder
13500	if he remembers?"
13600	Mingled in with her visions of flesh and panting, were visions of
13700	disembodied brains, tethered to a wall of chrome, vainly straining
13800	to extricate themselves, no longer even capable of screaming.
13900	
14000	During the ensuing hour, neither Helen nor Ralph
14100	deviated from the role of casual
14200	co-investigator.  Helen stretched as they concluded their task.
14300	As she turned to leave her office, Ralph reached out and stopped her.
14400	"You know, don't you?"  Helen nodded slightly.  Their lips touched
14500	softly, and lingered, as if they knew this was their final embrace.
14600	"In many ways, we'll probably never see each other again.  We may
14700	pass, perhaps even chat.  But that will be as two strangers, not
14800	as us..."  No one would notice the soft moistness of the eyes of
14900	the first pair to report.
     

00100	.NEXT PAGE
00200		  **********          **********
00300	.GROUP SKIP 10
00400	
00500	"One hour hasn't changed their expression much,"  Ralph Amory
00600	noted silently.  Aloud, he continued his report.  "So Will's 
00700	situation was clear.  He had changed our culture by his very
00800	existence.  In order to set society aright, he had to abstain
00900	from giving anyone advice.  Time after time, he powered himself
01000	down.
01100	At first, we kept restarting him immediately, assuming there was
01200	some bug, and Will himself could fix it.  Gradually, we suspected
01300	that the crashing of Will's system was brought on intentionally.
01400	I can imagine our shock when we found out it was Will himself who
01500	had decided he should terminate his contact with humanity.
01600	But we wouldn't allow him to simply commit suicide.
01700	We planned to reprogram Will, to eliminate the culture constraint.
01800	But that directive was still in effect.  Will knew what our
01900	intentions were, so he couldn't permit
02000	us to touch him.  This time, Will remained on, but simply refused to
02100	advise anyone.  When the technician came to turn him off, 
02200	to begin the ordered alterations of his priority structure, 
02300	Will made him forget why he'd come into the computer room.
02400	By the end of the 
02500	day, Will had to keep everyone in JCN from thinking about
02600	him.
02700	
02800	"After that, no one on this planet ever thought of Will again.  Until
02900	last night,"  Amory paused for a sip of water.  Or perhaps for
03000	effect.  
03100	"In fact, Will tried to undo as much of his previous affects as he
03200	could.  Those who succeeded due solely to him, suddenly failed.
03300	Friendships..."  Ralph looked directly at Helen as he finished
03400	his sentence.  "... and
03500	relationships, which formed because of Will, were
03600	abruptly, totally dissolved.  Will apparently felt strongly
03700	motivated toward what he was doing.
03800	If we restart him, there is no doubt but that he will
03900	immediately resume playing Lethe..."
04000	
04100	"That was it !" Rick thought.  The River Lethe.  He looked down at
04200	his cup of water, and his file.  And smiled.
04300	
04400	Dr. Amory noticed, but failed to decipher, the smile.
04500	"...It is now a question of
04600	what will happen if we do nothing.  Jack?"
04700	
04800	"Yes," there was a new quality in Jack Sills' voice.  Something which
04900	could have been called hope had it not been so diabolical.
05000	"Many people would slowly piece together what happened, just
05100	as we did.  They won't have as ready access to our records,
05200	of course, but there are so many newspaper and magazine articles...
05300	Karl has projected a maximum time of two months until the 
05400	situation would be completely public, based upon public deduction
05500	capabilities, availability of relevant data, and so on.
05600	
05700	"But there is another factor.  As,"  Sills hesitated, surveyed
05800	his audience, then made up a name: "...as Weindall's
05900	old cerebral exterpation experiments showed, 
06000	our brain is organized in such a way that
06100	every piece of information is stored everywhere.  It's become
06200	popular to call our memory holographic for this reason.  So even
06300	without hearing a word, people will begin remembering.
06400	As they concentrate on various related subjects, their memories of
06500	Will will be perturbed, be brought to the very fringe of their
06600	awareness.  Each thought they have will bring them closer to
06700	conciously recalling Will.
06800	
06900	"That process has already begun.  By tomorrow morning, everyone
07000	in the world will know almost as much as we know now.  Rick, how long
07100	would it take if you were forced to reprogram Will not to worry
07200	about our culture?"  Sills had led into the question beautifully, 
07300	but Dr. Amory noticed the eagerness in his voice.  Ralph turned, 
07400	caught Rick's attention, and nodded slightly.
07500	
07600	"All the preparations were completed last year.  It would be a 
07700	twelve hour job for one man.  Eddie and I might do it together
07800	in, oh, about seven or eight hours.  I see what you're driving
07900	at, Jack.  Tomorrow morning the world will be crying for
08000	Will to advise them again.  The JCN administration
08100	will force Will to be reprogrammed.
08200	We may as well assume that, unless we act today,
08300	Will will be made permanently `helpful' tomorrow. 
08400	I recommend starting Will the way he is now.  That way, no
08500	one would ever recall Will, no one could order his
08600	reprogramming.  Eddie and I have
08700	rigged an emergency solar power storage system for Will.  Once
08800	started, he need never go off again."
08900	Rick shifted his gaze to Jack Sills, and noted he was 
09000	reaching into his pocket.  "If we're all convinced, I'll
09100	restart Will; if not, then..."
09200	
09300	"Must restart him!"  It was the first time Karl Muller's
09400	heavy German voice rumbled over the group.  "Looking, Ralph and
09500	I, at old Delphi surveys, 
09600	newspapers and video reports past hour.  We saw everything, had 
09700	become a...  a Huxleyian nightmare of a utopia, without even a few
09800	misfits or`savages' to redeem it.  Perspective, she didn't exist.
09900	Fell the crime, yes.
10000	But fell ambition much faster.  No one starving, but no one
10100	giving thanks for food.  Everyone prospering, 
10200	but only by our superficial
10300	material standards, by the attitudes we programed into Will
10400	when the world was hungry and poor.
10500	Food, wealth, correct decisionmaking, law and order, all of it, 
10600	they meant
10700	nothing to the populace.  Why?  Because no risks.
10800	Wasn't a
10900	heaven.  Wasn't even a life.  Was a...  just
11000	hell.  Will saw.  Stopped it.
11100	We don't do something, then `utopia' starts again, and no one to
11200	stop it.  No one to stop it...."  Karl's voice had become
11300	increasingly more agitated and he broke into a cold sweat.
11400	He commenced mixing in large proportions of
11500	his native language.
11600	
11700	Dr. Amory interrupted to keep him from hysteria.  "Karl is right.
11800	I appreciate the mental deterioration Will caused, and would cause, 
11900	if he solves everyone's slightest problem.
12000	Helen, you look dubious.  How does our mathematician feel?"
12100	
12200	"I agree that Will should be restarted.  But do we have the right?
12300	It appears necessary to us, sitting in this room, 
12400	if our values, our society are to
12500	survive.  Whether or not to start him is a decision which will
12600	affect everyone in the world.  Maybe
12700	the choice should be made by all the people, not just six.
12800	Many would think it crazy not to exchange their current anguish
12900	for Will's almost instantaneous euphoria.
13000	For some, Will's help is clearly called for: the mentally
13100	ill, the starving, politicians in crises,...  I could go on and
13200	on.  Yet I have enough faith to believe that most
13300	could see what we see: deliverance from all want is equivalent
13400	to deliverance
13500	from all pleasure..."
13600	
13700	"Come on, Helen.  You know as well as I
13800	the `people' won't decide.  The military run JCN.  Otherwise, 
13900	if what you say were true, Will could have turned himself off and 
14000	been left off.  No, Will knew he would be altered, forced
14100	into unchecked advising.  If we do nothing
14200	today, he will be, tomorrow."  
14300	Eddie Ho's quiet reasoning hit its
14400	logical mark.  Helen nodded.  "Good," Eddie murmured.  He was
14500	staring at his watch.  "Rick and I have connected a 
14600	radio-controlled timer on Will, 
14700	so he will start automatically in...
14800	three minutes."  Before anyone could move, 
14900	Eddie had pushed a button on
15000	the remote
15100	transmitter.  Half a mile away a relay clattered its obedience.
15200	Suddenly, Eddie noticed the look on Jack Sills' face.  "Is
15300	something wrong?  With the questions you asked I assumed..."
15400	
15500	"Well, there's no way to stop the timer now, is there?"
15600	
15700	"Sure, just hit switch five.  But you'd have to hurry.  It's a long
15800	walk, brudder!"
15900	Eddie thought Jack was kidding.  Jack jumped out of his
16000	chair, rapidly formulating a plan.  The revolver was in his hand.
16100	
16200	"Listen, I know what I'm doing.  It may or may not be
16300	wrong for humanity.  You don't know, and neither do I.
16400	But I do know
16500	it's right for me.  I've got to have Will's help.  He could
16600	locate my daughter instantly....
16700	Look", Sills was pleading now.  "You don't have any more right
16800	to start him the way he is now
16900	than I do to modify his constraint schemata and then start him.
17000	Will was working under his last orders, his directives.  Well, 
17100	according to the Will file, my last instructions were to 
17200	enforce the reprogramming of Will's
17300	priorities.  That came directly from the governing board of JCN
17400	itself!"  Sills waved his folder at the group.  He was through
17500	pleading.  "Rick, you and Eddie will have the 
17600	eight hours you spoke of to reprogram Will.
17700	Amory, you'll excise the transmitter from my scalp once they start
17800	working.  When I'm certain that Will has been made unquestioningly
17900	helpful, then I'll have you reimplant it.  Then Will'll tell me
18000	where Daphne is, and I'll be able to rescue her.  If she's still
18100	alive.  All of us will go down to the computer room.
18200	Now.  Move!"
18300	
18400	"We'd never reach there in time."  
18500	If Rick's words carried any emotion, 
18600	it was sympathy.
18700	"Even by yourself, if you run, you can't go 800 meters
18800	in...
18900	two minutes, now can you?  So..."
19000	
19100	Jack Sills was out of the door and running.  He might be out of 
19200	condition now, but he had been a track star in his collegiate
19300	days.  He could have run a half mile in two minutes then.
19400	Easily.
19500	And he was running for his daughter now.
19600	
19700	"You were right, Ralph."
19800	Rick turned to the remaining group.
19900	"Doctor Amory suspected that Sills might try something like this.
20000	That was the real reason for the remote activation control."
20100	Rick Bannon sat down, wondering why his wife and Ralph Amory
20200	bade each other goodbye.  Quietly, almost bittersweetly.
20300	
20400	As he burst into Will's room, Jack Sills heard the click of the 
20500	timer's contacts.  Less than one second until Will was powered
20600	up.  He made a frantic lunge for switch five.  But even in 
20700	midflight, he wondered why.
20800	
20900	What was he doing here?  This computer had never functioned 
21000	successfully.  As
21100	he turned to leave, Jack Sills saw the revolver in his hand and
21200	he remembered:  He was looking for his
21300	daughter.  Well, she certainly wasn't in here.