Free Living in Syn by Bobby Draughon Page B

anything
you're unsure of.  Is that fair?"
    She
nodded.  "What do we do first?"
    "Well,
I use the battery pack because it's simple and because it's never failed. 
Unfortunately, it destroys the brain.  What we need is a device to incapacitate
a syn without harming memory.  Now, the way I understand the synthetic brain,
the impulses are generated at a specific, ultra-high frequency.  True?"
    "Yes,
but if I understand where you're going, it won't work.  The brain automatically
shuttles between ten standard frequencies upon detecting interference.  We had
some models shutting down in industrial or tech environments so we made the
adjustment for all future versions."
    Mission
looked crestfallen.  "Do you have any ideas for incapacitating a synthetic?"
    Susan
smiled.  "As a matter of fact, I do."
    She told
Mission her idea and left him awestruck.  "That is brilliant.  Let's see
what we can put together around here to make it happen."
    After
dinner, Mission moved to his spare bedroom that actually served as an extended
electronics workbench.  He pulled up a software package to build an electronics
schematic.  In less than 15 minutes, he completed his drawing and exported it
to a simulation program.  The simulator quickly identified the three errors in
his diagram, and in another 15 minutes he completed his testing.  He translated
the diagram to a full scale physical connection graphic.  Now he could
construct the wiring complex on his printer.  He looked around.  No, he had switched
printers last week and the one he needed now sat in the living area.  He found
the cartridge he wanted and headed to the printer.
    Susan
laughed uncontrollably, pointing weakly at the vue screen.
    She
said, "Mission, this old movie station is wonderful.  I don't know what
the name of this movie is, or who this guy is playing the President, but it's
the funniest thing I've ever seen!"
    Mission
turned and looked.  "That's Peter Sellars in Dr. Strangelove . 
George C. Scott plays the general."
    "This
is hilarious.  Now who is this guy?"
    "That's
Peter Sellars, too."
    "No,
I mean the scientist in the wheelchair."
    "That's
Peter Sellars, too.  He plays several different roles in this movie.  Stanley
Kubrick made this movie as the cold war/nuclear war obsession peaked.  To make
this film twenty years afterward would have been a triumph, but the cynicism
and black humor right in the middle of it all, well it’s a masterpiece."
    "Did
he make many more movies?"
    "Sure,
but not like this.  Clockwork Orange attacked violence and our reaction
to it, but it was too far off center for the public in general to regard it as
much more than a cult classic.  Many critics see 2001- A Space Odyssey as the definition of the science fiction film.  Full Metal Jacket explored the Vietnam War as an exercise in molding teenagers into killing
machines that were then unfit to rejoin society.  And The Shining seemed
to be a standard horror film, but I find it disturbing on several different
levels.  The trademark of a Kubrick film is that I am always certain that I
only understand about half of what is there." 
    Susan
looked at him and said, "I take it old movies are a hobby of yours?"
    He
shrugged.  "I guess.  I don't much care for made for television
programming.  They have to crank it out so fast that it's tough to do any
quality work.  So I watch old movies."
    He
wandered over to the printer and opened the top.  He popped the standard
cartridge out and replaced it with the one from his workshop.  He closed the
top and instructed the computer to load his file and print it.
    He saw
that Susan was curious and finally she asked, "Mission.  What in the world
are you doing?"
    He
turned around and grinned.  "This is one of my toys.  You realize that
many printer applications still use ink jet technology?  The printer magnetizes
the paper in the shape of the letters to be printed and then the ink is
attracted to those spots.  Well, I found a