The Thinking Machine Affair, стр. 1

CHAPTER ONE

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

PROFESSOR Karel Novak was in deep thought as he sat in the comfortable armchair in the living-room of his modern villa, a building standing in a quiet tree-lined street of the Prague suburb of Dejvice. As his pretty twenty-five-year-old daughter, Vlasta, entered the room and placed his favorite meal on the table, he hardly noticed her, and her words, "Dinner's ready, father," did not reach him.

At any other time the delicious smell of the well-prepared rump steaks with all the usual trimmings would have prompted him to cross hurriedly to the dinner table to enjoy his favorite food; but now, as he sat in his chair, the inviting smell didn't seem to entice him at all. He was too absorbed thinking about his new invention.

"Your dinner's getting cold, father," Vlasta said, a little annoyed that her father had not joined her by now. "I've taken a lot of trouble to get the steaks cooked to your liking, so, please, don't spoil my good work."

"I'm sorry," the Professor said, looking at her startled; "I didn't notice..."

He pulled himself up from the armchair and went to the table. "It looks delicious," he said as he took up his knife and fork. As soon as he'd tasted the food, he exclaimed: "It is delicious! You're a marvelous cook."

Vlasta was happy seeing her father eating with such relish for she had been worried about him. During recent weeks his health had begun to deteriorate, owing to his being so preoccupied with his project, and he had seldom eaten anything. Now, seeing how much he was enjoying the steak, she resolved to coax him in the future with his favorite dishes and so help him to regain his lost strength.

As they drank coffee and ate the chocolate gateau she brought in, the Professor said with reproach:

"I shouldn't really be sitting here eating so much of your excellent gateau; I should be working in my laboratory..."

"No, you shouldn't," Vlasta interrupted. "Good food and rest will do you a world of good."

"I know," he admitted. "But I seem to have arrived at a stalemate with my work. Whatever improvement I make, it still doesn't work out exactly as I intend it to do. And you know, if I'm unable to show some striking results pretty soon, the Government might stop my future research and insist on my being engaged in other and perhaps more speedy exploration."

"I've never asked you on what you're working because I know that your research is classed top-secret," Vlasta said, "but if you'd like to talk about it with me, perhaps we might be able to get over one or two obstacles together. Of course I haven't got a fraction of your knowledge and experience, but I am a qualified electronics engineer and research worker and sometimes someone with less knowledge and experience might spot something that eludes the top expert."

Her father remained silent, delving once more in his thoughts to find the missing step to the full success of his project. Vlasta misunderstood the silence and said:

"I shouldn't have said that––I should have realized that you can't talk to me about your secret work."

"What did you say?" her father asked, obviously not having heard her remark.

"I should have realized that you can't discuss your secret work with me," she replied.

"Nonsense, dear, nonsense. Of course I can, but it's a fantastic project—very complex," he assured her.

"I wouldn't expect you to embark on something simple, father." She knew that only the most complex problems ever interested him.

"Well, to tell you the truth, when the thought of 'Project I.P.', as we call it, first entered my mind, it appeared rather simple to me and I thought I'd be able to complete the whole thing very speedily," he admitted. "And when I actually started on it, and constructed the first apparatus, it seemed as if my expectations had been right, that it would be a short-term research venture. You see, almost right from the start the thing worked, but only at a very short distance, only a few feet away. I managed eventually to extend the working radius, but the result is still far from what I intended to create. My intention is to see 'Project I.P.' operate over an unlimited distance, and as efficiently as it does at the present limited radius."

"What is the actual purpose of 'Project I.P.'?" Vlasta asked, encouraging her father's mood to talk.

He hesitated, then he said, simply: "Well, it's a sort of thought transference apparatus."

"A thought transference apparatus?" the girl repeated in surprise.

Professor Novak nodded.

"Excuse me saying so, father, but what does anyone need a thought transference apparatus for?" she demanded.

"I expected that its perhaps inadequate and possibly misleading description would make you wonder whether I've lost my sense of proportion and judgment," the Professor sighed, as he sipped his coffee. "'Project I.P.' means 'Project International Peace'. I believe I have found the way to secure lasting peace throughout the world—provided I succeed in truly perfecting my invention so that it does all I want it to do."

"It certainly sounds interesting," the girl said. "But how could it do such a wonderful thing?"

"Yes, I see you can't figure out how it can work." Her father smiled at her incredulous tone. "I'll try to explain my idea in the simplest possible way so that you understand what I have in mind."

Vlasta herself was qualified in electronics and accustomed to grasp complex matters, but she humoured her father's attitude towards her as if the ABC of his scheme had to be explained in simple words before she could understand.

"Science has established that thoughts are measurable vibrations," her father began; "if we accept this, it should be possible to feed thoughts into a machine or apparatus and transmit them to others. I studied every available scrap of information which the Soviet Research Institutes in Leningrad, Kiev, Tiflis and other Soviet cities released, and the more information I gathered about the thought vibration, the more I acquainted myself with the subject, the more the idea grew of creating a machine, an apparatus, or call it what you wish, that could be used to transfer constructive thoughts that would make people do the right things."

"One could describe your invention as an apparatus for hypnotizing people in any part of the world from a center point here in Prague!" Vlasta observed.

"You could call it that, but strictly speaking, it is not exactly hypnosis," the Professor went on. "But it doesn't matter what we call it—all that matters is that it should work. And, if I succeed and my apparatus proves to be capable of sending out positive thoughts to any part of the world, then there is no doubt that the continuous danger of world wars could become a matter of the past and that lasting peace could be made to prevail."

"It's a fantastic dream!" Vlasta said, after a moment's pause. "Although I never studied the subject of thought vibrations and the possibilities of sending positive thoughts around the world, I agree that if you accomplish your aim you'll create the most important invention mankind has ever achieved. To think that people all over the world could be made to stop thinking of wars, to disarm, to forget race and other hatred, and live in peace with each other! Think of the multi-millions of currencies now daily spent on armaments, maintaining armed forces, and waging local wars, instead being used for health research, education, social amenities, the arts, and culture—it's so wonderful that one is afraid to even hope!"