Singularities by W.T. Quick

Author:W.T. Quick [Quick, W.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

He found Franny Webster in the main labs, surrounded as usual by a covey of obsequious assistants.

“Franny,” Schollander said, “a moment, please?”

Webster paused in mid-sentence, nodded, and waved one pudgy hand. “Let me finish. Meet you in my office?”

“Sure.” Schollander wandered on through the busy room. He glanced into Lizzybet Meklina’s cubby and saw her hunched over her console, lost in her work. He didn’t interrupt her. What he had to say was for Franny Webster’s ears alone. He more than suspected that Meklina wouldn’t support his notion, anyway. With luck, if Webster went along, she would have to deal with a fait accompli, which was exactly the way he wanted things to go.

He seated himself on the one chair which faced Webster’s cluttered desk, and waited. After a few minutes Webster bustled in, settled himself, and began shoving piles of tapes, chips, and scribbled bits of paper out of his way. “Sorry,” Webster said. “Nothing important, but I wanted to finish. Those idiots have to be watched every second.”

Schollander looked up. “I thought they were good people?”

Webster grinned. “Oh, the best. But they still have to be watched.”

Schollander stared at his fingertips, wondering where to begin. Finally he sighed and said, “Have you seen Karl lately?”

A shadow flickered across Webster’s puffy features. “Uh-huh. This morning. There’s no change.”

“Gene Kilhelm said you had some ideas. Something you could try with Karl.”

Now Webster hunched himself forward, as if he’d just thrown his thoughts into high concentration. “I did,” he said carefully, “mention something along those lines.”

“Well, tell me.”

Webster raised a cautionary hand. “It might not come to that, Robert.”

Schollander felt a small wave of irritation. Why did everybody watch themselves so carefully around him now? Then he realized what a stupid thought that was. He was Chairman of the Board. The free and easy chats with Bobby Schollander, waiter, were a thing of the past.

“Franny, I need to know. Karl Wier was important before the assassination attempt. Now he may have become absolutely critical. If there’s any way to bring him back, to make use of what he knows, I have to be aware of it.”

“I understand that, Robert. It’s just that… well, Karl was the expert. I just followed along as best I could.”

“Whatever it is, all I want to know is, can you do it?”

“I think so.”

“I need a better answer than that, Franny.”

Webster puffed his cheeks in and out. Finally he said, “Yes. I can do it.”

It was like pulling rusty nails. “Okay, you can do what, Franny?”

“I can transfer Karl’s personality into Levin. Or I could have.”

Schollander thought a moment. “Oh, I see. You could, except that Levin won’t come online. Is that it?”

“Well, partly. But the other problem is the damage to Karl’s brain. I don’t know if the pattern’s damaged so badly it can’t be deciphered.”

“Pattern? What are you talking about?”

Franny grunted. “Some questions about what I want to try. I’ll explain when the time comes. But, as you say, Levin himself is the initial problem.

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