Pulling The Dragon's Tail by Kenton Kauffman Page A

Beethoven’s Ninth.” With eager anticipation
she looked forward to the prospect of visiting the Pisces Nebula.
As an atheist, she nonetheless found solace and spiritual
fulfillment in a worshipful experience on the grandest scale of
all—the universe.
    At the last second she decided that the trip
needed one more element. “Computer, please include a flyby of the
Moon.” As long as I don’t have to deal with any of the
colonists , she thought, briefly reflecting on her adventure
there seven years earlier.
    “Kind of ironic,” she mused as the space ship
lifted off effortlessly, “how I need to engage in a fantasy of my
own creation to cope with reality. Mr. Kristopher, or whoever you
are, you’ll have to wait.”
    As the symphony orchestra commenced, the Moon
was already on the horizon. Campbell Devereaux was in a state of
bliss. Momentarily, at least, no computers sought to dominate her
life, and no surprises from humans awaited her.
     
    * * * * * *
     
    “I trust your wait wasn’t too unbearable.”
    Nate looked directly into her eyes. Campbell
Devereaux sounded sincere enough. But she still wielded
tremendous power over his life. Can she be trusted? Which Dr.
Devereaux am I dealing with? The surly, monochromatic one, or the
well-balanced one who obviously loves nature, especially birds? His doubt was healthy and protective, and it led to questions.
    “At the risk of sounding paranoid …” he
asked.
    “Quite honestly there’s no way to really earn
your trust on this unit. One second.” She typed a few keystrokes on
her handheld computer. “I’ve turned off all CLUES programming. All
computer monitoring devices are off-line as well. And I can show
you if you don’t believe me. It’s just you and me.”
    He remained unconvinced.
    “Let me start then,” she said. “I believe your
trust in the confidentiality of this session will increase if I
share with you first. And I wouldn’t be so candid if I didn’t fully
believe that all our words stay right here.”
    That’s a good start , he thought. “Okay,
doctor, I’m listening.”
    “I don’t understand everything about you, Mr.
Kristopher. It’s whispered among us psychobiologists that our field
has no more enigmas. But right now I think I’m looking at one.”
    With a slight twinkle in his eye, he said,
“Actually there are a few more of us enigmas around.”
    “All right,” she smiled stiffly, noting his
playfulness. Another lesson in humility. If I actually spend
some time with the patient I’ll start to see a real person behind
the diagnosis . “Okay, but please don’t send them to my office,”
and she cracked a wry smile. “One’s plenty for right now.”
    Her smile quickly vanished. “In the field of
psychiatry—we often refer to it as psychobiology—a high level of
certainty exists about diagnosis and treatment. We believe that
intelligences, such as CLUES, have exhaustively mapped the human
brain and psyche.” Leaning forward, she cleared her throat. “In
other words—”
    “In other words, you’re saying that if CLUES
designates me to be such and such, then you professionals also
believe it.”
    She nodded, lips pursed into a tight smile. “But
you represent a threat to that, the biggest one I’ve ever seen. A
medical school supervisor warned me about placing too much trust in
artificial intelligence. Naturally I ignored him.” Nervously, she
tapped on her desk with her fingers. Glancing at her tic, she
stopped the tapping and gazed straight into Nate’s eyes. “He
asserted that the field was teetering toward a capitulation of
sorts, giving up our human intelligence in favor of computers and
their dictates.”
    Your actions on this unit, most particularly the
video you downloaded into my mailbox, have created enough doubt
about the absolute total reliability of CLUES that I’ve postponed
any Neuro Shock Treatment for the time being.”
    Nate immediately felt a flood of relief. Thank you, Father Abraham . “I’m