The Thinking Machine Affair

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!"

"It will come true one day, my child, it will," her father assured her. "I know what I'm talking about. My invention works perfectly within a limited radius, and I am almost certain that before long I shall find the solution and achieve unlimited distance thought transference."

It was now Vlasta's turn to be silent, and as, for a time, Professor Novak watched her, he assumed that she was trying to figure out how to overcome the stalemate of his experimental research. At last, as the silence grew, he felt he had to ask what she was thinking about.

"I was considering that your invention could actually be used as a two-sided weapon," she replied. "For instance, some unscrupulous power could get hold of it and use it for bringing other people under their yoke, instead of using it for world peace. That would be terrible."

She paused a moment, then continued:

"Some ruthless clique might want to condition the minds of other people to their own way of thinking. They could, without a drop of blood being shed, turn our country, or the Soviet Union, or any other land, into their satellite, and bring it under their control. It is horrible to even think that any freedom-loving and social-minded nation might be subjugated to fascism or some other form of ruthless dictatorship—the mere thought of it makes me shudder..."

"That is why my 'Project I.P.' was given top-secret clearance," the Professor explained; "that's why our villa is guarded day and night by hand-picked armed security officers, and why I am the only person who knows all the details of my experiment. Our Government is only too well aware of the grave dangers which my invention might constitute if it fell into unscrupulous hands, and consequently every humanly possible precaution is being taken to safeguard the world from terror or destruction. My invention is designed to help humanity, not to harm mankind, and that is why I have complete Government backing—both as far as finance and security are concerned."

"Let's only hope that no one else has the same lead as you have and that no one else works on exactly the same project as you do," Vlasta said. "If there were any scientists working on such an apparatus and if they were already more advanced than you are, it could well turn out that, for money gain, they might sell their invention to any unscrupulous elements prepared to pay any price for this sort of power..."

"There's no need to fear that anything of the sort could happen," her father stressed, anxious to put her mind at rest. "At present the only experts who are engaged in research of thought vibrations are Soviet scientists and research workers, and their experiments and findings are well-guarded. I only learned this because of my friendship with Professor Smirnov who heads this type of research in the Soviet Union. But, despite our close friendship, even he only provided the really important research data when both our Government and the Soviet Government decided to support my idea of inventing an apparatus for the transference of positive thought to any part of the globe. So you see, even if anyone anywhere in the world should embark on the same research, it would be years before he, or they, could arrive at the point where our scientists and research workers are now; and that means they would be too late. Once my 'Project I.P.' is perfected, 'World Operation Lasting Peace' will commence immediately and, once this is done, there isn't anything to worry about any longer."

Vlasta accepted the wisdom of her father's words. "You say that your apparatus works satisfactorily within a certain radius?" she asked after a short pause.

"Oh yes, without the slightest hitch," the Professor confirmed.

"How big is that radius at present?"

"About two miles." On sudden impulse he proposed: "Would you like to see it working?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed.

Professor Novak led her to his laboratory, which was secured by a solid steel entrance door with a security lock to which only he knew the secret combination. Before working the complex dials, he disconnected the alarm system, for this was linked with State Security Headquarters by electronic connections to inform them if any unauthorized person was trying to gain access to this top-secret laboratory.

It was Vlasta's first visit to this part of her father's villa.

She saw that the spacious room was lit by bright fluorescent lights, the large windows secured by thick steel plates harnessed to the same electronic alarm systems which were linked with state Security Head quarters. As soon as they entered, Professor Novak locked the door behind them. "One must always be prepared for every eventuality," he said. "We must be sure no one else enters." He unlocked the heavy, built-in, burglar-proof safe, removed something, and placed it on the table which was in the middle of the room.