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Topic: Soul (07/13/06)
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TITLE: The Missing Linx | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dave Kissling
07/19/06 -
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"Wait a minute. There’s a commotion behind me. Has he arrived? Yes, his limo has just parked and he and his assistant are climbing out at this very moment. If we hurry, maybe we can catch his comments. Dr. Linx … Dr. Linx!"
His deep brown eyes looked over the crowd, mostly reporters attended by a variety of cameras and microphones. Many mikes were shoved in his face as he grinned through his salt-and-pepper beard, peering through the narrow eyeglasses. He held up his hands, his grin never changing.
"You know my assistant, Dr. Linda Howe. She’s been working with me for the past five years."
"Dr. Linx," one man shouted over the others, pushing his mike forward. "What is this great new breakthrough you’ve invented? Can you let the public know about it now, since the symposium is closed to them?"
"I see no reason to delay telling the world. You see, I have discovered the means to imbue my androids with a human soul."
A gasp scattered through the crowd. A few reporters chuckled.
"I know how it sounds," said Linx, holding up his hands. "But let me explain. One of the biggest objections to my work is that a machine would have no soul—no consciousness of God, no personality, and no emotions. My big breakthrough, which I intend to explain in scientific detail at the symposium, is how I developed a psychocircuit to give my androids a living soul."
"What do you say about this, Miss Howe?" asked a woman.
"Dr. Linx is a brilliant man. I’m proud to be his assistant."
"As you might have guessed already," said Linx, "Linda is not just my assistant. She is also my creation. Isn’t she beautiful? Once I had the gyrostabilizer perfected, I installed it in her, and she doesn’t just sit at her desk anymore. She gets up, walks around, bends over—does everything a human can do." He shared grins with her. "She is my pride and joy."
"And you have also installed this … soul, as you called it … into your assistant?"
"Yes, I have. She is my prototype, if you will. I intend to present her as proof of my work. Linda, my dear, tell them who God is."
"God is the Creator, the Sustainer of all life."
"You see? Total success. And she even has a personality now …"
Questions came fast and furious. "What about other beliefs?"; "Can she be programmed to believe in Muhammad, or Buddha?"
Linx waved desperate palms at these and a myriad of other questions, patiently enduring the salvo. When at last the myriad of voices quieted, he said, "I have only begun my work. Now that I have created a soul, all the rest will become possible in time. But as I said …"
More questions came rapid-fire. "Have you had intimate relations with her, Doctor?"; "Do you have lover’s spats?"; "Can she have children?"; "What’s it like making love to a machine?"; and so on.
The barrage seemed to become to much for Linx. His eyes darted this way and that, his mouth trying to form words. Again he held up his hands, but the reporters would not stop.
"I don’t … she doesn’t … but let me … we don’t …"
Sparks spit from his collar. Acrid smoke rose. Dr. Linx jerked back and forth; the stench of burning circuitry caused the volley of questions to cease. He stumbled forward, his arm raised to his head, and he collapsed backward on the pavement with a loud clank.
"He’s an android, too!" ran astonished remarks through the crowd. "Where is the real doctor?"
A woman thrust a microphone into Linda’s beaming face. "Miss Howe, where is Dr. Linx?"
"Dr. Linx is a brilliant man. I’m proud to be his assistant."
"Yes, we know that. But that’s not your real boss, is it? Where did he go?"
"Dr. Linx is a brilliant man. I’m proud to be his assistant … assistant … assistant … assistant …"
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