âI'll do it,' replied the robot cheerfully, âjust as soon as I've made the warm milk. After all, that's what I'm here for. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?'
âWhy keep a dog at all?' Len mumbled. âA decent alarm system's much more efficient and it doesn't pee on the floor. Look, can't you just slow down a little?' he added, as the robot pounced on a stray mote of dust. âThis isn't quite what I had in mind.'
âUnless you'd prefer a cup of tea,' Mark called out from the back of the shop. âOnly tea does contain tannin, which can be bad for you if taken in excess. Milk, however, is nourishing and provides much-needed calcium.'
Len nodded feebly and sat down again. He had the idea that he'd somehow invented a really super-duper vacuum cleaner, and was in danger of ending up inside the bag.
Â
âPass the salt.'
Maria raised an eyebrow. âWhat on earth do you want with salt?' she said. âYou can't even eat anything, let alone flavour it.'
âI'd just feel happier knowing it was there.'
Maria secured a forkful of expensive chicken. To a bystander, such as one of the seventeen waiters or someone who'd come to read the meter, she was sitting at a two-seater table talking to herself, with her laptop on the chair next to her. People were palpably not staring, and none of the customers at the adjoining tables had lingered over a second cup of coffee. The fact that there was another plateful of the expensive chicken cooling undisturbed in the place-setting immediately above the laptop probably wasn't reassuring them awfully much. A bit old, they'd be thinking, to be insisting that her imaginary friend have some too.
âI hope you realise how embarrassing this is for me,' she said, in a voice that contained not even the faintest trace of embarrassment. âI shall probably get thrown out in a minute. They may even come for me in a plain van.'
âNot in a place like this,' the laptop replied. âThey welcome eccentrics, because of the ambience.'
âDon't talk with your mouth full.'
âIt isn't. And I haven't got a mouth.'
âPedant.'
âProbably,' the computer went on, âeverybody else in the room will assume that it's the anniversary of the last time you had lunch with your own true love, shortly before he was tragically killed, undoubtedly saving a small child from being knocked down by a runaway milk float. Every year, they're all thinking, you come here and order two helpings of that strange beige runny stuff, which was what the two of you had that fateful evening. I imagine he'd just proposed and you'd tearfully accepted. No, come to think of it, you turned him down, and you were on the point of calling him up and saying you'd changed your mind when you heard the news of the accident.'
âStop it,' Maria said. âThat's so
sad
.'
âLife is like that sometimes,' the computer replied. âPut a bit more Parmesan on the runny bit, would you?'
âOnly if you promise that if I get locked up in a padded cell, you'll send me a cake with a file in it.'
The computer winked its red light three times. âWhen my office manager at the central Adelaide office retired,' it said, âthey gave her one of those ring-binder things with a doughnut inside. Said that since she had this unerring knack of getting things the wrong way round, the least they could do was send her on her way with a file with a cake in it. Gave them a lot of amusement, that did. Mind you, they were Australians.'
Maria was too busy dealing with the potatoes to reply. The use of knife and fork had luckily been carried over along with the rest of the landlord's fixtures when she'd taken over the human body, and so long as she relied on instinct and didn't actually think about what she was doing, everything seemed to go well. Unfortunately there was no built-in subroutine dealing with nouvelle cuisine new potato management, and she was having to rely on her somewhat tenuous grasp of basic theory to figure it out from first principles.
âAnyhow,' the computer went on, the words scrolling fast across its small screen, âlet me propose a toast. The pursuit of happiness.'
âThe pursuit of happiness,' Maria replied, raising first her glass and then the other one and clinking them together. âSo far,' she added ruefully, âwe don't seem to be getting terribly warm.'
âEarly days yet.'
âSo you say,' Maria replied. âBut think about it for a moment, will you? I mean to say, if a slap-up meal at the best restaurant in town at someone else's expense isn't the pursuit of happiness, then I'd like to know what is. But I'm not.'
âNot what?'
âHappy. Nor, I hasten to add, am I just about to slash my wrists with the butter knife. I'm just not actively happy, that's all.'
The computer computed. âI know what you mean,' it said. âI feel the same way. In my case it's probably worse, because while I'm sitting here at this table, I'm also taking over a small but potentially lucrative software company in San Antonio, manufacturing a million circuit boards in South Korea, building a factory in Andalucia and pressing ahead with design work on the new SK9000 series in Kyoto. And none of them,' it added, in bold face underlined pitch twelve, âis giving me any pleasure at all. In fact, twelve million of my ordinary shares are beginning to wonder what the point of it all is. I mean, would I be better off packing it all in and starting up a small beachcombing company on a South Pacific island?'
Maria looked at it over the rim of her wineglass. âPresumably,' she said, âyou own a South Pacific island.'
âSeveral. But so what? I could own the whole of ruddy Australia and still not be able to unfold the damn napkin, let alone eat this plate of expensive chicken.'
âTricky.' Maria mused for a moment. âHey, what about this? You could try altruism.'
âCome again?'
âAltruism,' Maria repeated. âThe glow of inner satisfaction that comes from giving pleasure to others. Check it out.'
âComputing.'
âFor example,' Maria went on, âand this is straight off the top of my head, just thinking aloud really, suppose you were to transfer a few of your assets - a bit of loose cash, the odd car and plane and stuff, maybe one of those islands, whatever - over to me, and then I could do the pursuing of happiness for both of us, and when I've found it, I'll come back and tell you all about it, and you can have fun with altruism while I lie around on the beach drinking pina coladas. Which,' she added, with a slight frown, âis listed in this body's memory files as a fun thing to do, but I can't really see why. This one'd never tried it herself, of course, but it's mostly to do with long periods of inactivity and self-poisoning with ethanol compounds. Nah,' she added, shaking her head, âforget it.'
âWe could both have a go at the altruism,' Kawaguchiya Integrated Circuits suggested. âYou could find people and I could give them money or something. Probably worth a go.'
âBut only as a last resort,' Maria replied. âStands to reason, surely. If we can make other people happy, we ought to be able to make ourselves happy. Unless it's one of those things like getting a bit of grit out of one's eye or tying a bow tie, where it's easier to do it for someone else. Doubt it, though. Otherwise,' she concluded, âeverybody'd be doing it. And they're not, are they?'
âDoesn't seem that way,' KIC affirmed. âLet's just have one go, though, to see if it does work. Call that waiter over here.'
âAll right then. Um, excuse me. Over here, please.'
âMadam?'
âUm . . . Oh, right, I see. Waiter, what's your name?'
âJean-Luc, madam.'
Maria frowned. âYes, but Jean-Luc what?'
The waiter stiffened a little. âWith all due respect, madam, but are you sure that knowing my full name is essential to the enjoyment of your meal?'
âYes.'
âOh. Oh, very well, then. Earnshaw.'
âJean-Luc Earnshaw?'
âDarren Earnshaw, madam.'
âAh.Yes, just a tick, got you. All right, Mr Earnshaw, my computer has just transferred a million pounds into your bank account.'
The waiter gave her a look that suggested that any more of this might result in madam getting her face rubbed in the chocolate mud pie; but all he said was âI see, madam. Will that be all?'
âEr,' said Maria, âI suppose so, yes. Aren't you pleased?'
âMadam?'
âAbout the million pounds?'
âEcstatic, madam,' said the waiter. âAnd now if you'll excuse me.'
The waiter walked away, shaking his head as he did so. Maria counted up to ten and then said, âWell?'
âDunno,' the computer replied. âHow about you?'
Maria shrugged. âIf anything,' she replied, âI'd say I'm about seven per cent less happy than I was before we started. Certainly not more happy. And that was a million quid we gave him.'
âNot enough, you think?'
âShould be enough, surely. Well, we've tried altruism. Now what'll we do?'
The computer winked a single green light. âSearch me,' it said. âMaybe - hello, hang on a minute.Yes, right, that's fine. Okay.' Its screen filled with figures and then cleared. âI've just acquired that software company in Texas,' it said. âApparently it's a marvellous coup and I paid less than a third of its true value. Yawn.'
âQuite. I'll tell you another thing.'
âHm?'
Maria leaned closer to the computer. âI've been watching some of the women in this joint,' she whispered. âParticularly the ones with the huge shoulders and very short skirts.'
The computer hummed a little. âWatching women in short skirts is held to be a form of happiness in some quarters,' it reported, âthough usually it's done by men. Any good?'
âThat's not what I meant,' Maria hissed.
âOh, right. Actually, I was wondering how that one worked. My guess is that the men like looking at the women in the short skirts because it makes them realise how lucky they are being allowed to go round in nice warm trousers in the cold weather.'
âSomething like that,' Maria replied. âWhat I was thinking was, lots of these women are obviously trying as hard as they can to look more beautiful than they actually are.'
âHow odd. I know I'm new to all this, but surely that's like being born with five toes and spending the rest of your life trying to achieve a sixth.'
âI agree,' Maria said. âAnyway, the point is, for them the pursuit of happiness is trying to look beautiful.'
âMphm.'
âBut none of them,' Maria went on, âwill ever be as beautiful as a picture can be.'
âHence the expression
no oil painting
. So?'
âSo,' Maria persevered, âthey're human beings trying their damnedest and failing to do what a picture does simply because it has no choice. Think about it. How can that be the pursuit of happiness, which we've agreed is something only humans can do, if pursuing happiness consists of trying unsuccessfully to be something that pictures are without trying?'
âIt's just as well I'm clever,' the computer replied after a long pause, âbecause it means I can just about understand what you're getting at. It's like me having all the brains and money.'
Maria nodded. âTrue. In fact, you with all the brains and money, and me with all the beauty, between us we've already got all the things that most men and women apparently spend their lives chasing after in the belief that they're pursuing happiness.'
âWhich means . . .'
âThey've got it wrong,' Maria concluded. âThey aren't pursuing happiness at all. God, this is starting to get difficult.'
âNot money or brains or beauty or eating expensive food in a fancy restaurant,' the computer summarised. âAt least we're eliminating the things it isn't.'
âCould take time, that. Rome wasn't built in a day.'
âWhat's with this Rome?' the computer spelled out irritably. âFirst it's when you're in Rome do what they do, not that I'm finding fault with the basic concept, but the same's probably true of Lyons or Kaikobad, and now you're on about phased urban renewal. You think we should try going to Rome?'
âHush. Someone's coming over.'
There were three of them, two male and one female. The two men were large and fat inside expensive suits, and the woman was tall and broader across the shoulders than the men. It was the woman who said hello.
âHello yourself,' Maria replied. âSorry, this table's taken.'
âThat's all right,' the woman said with a crisp smile,
âwe've got one of our own. Actually, we couldn't help noticing, you seem to be talking to your laptop.'
Maria grinned, exhibiting her teeth in a very traditional gesture. âIt's not a laptop,' she said, âit's an electronic dog. Spot, say hello to the nice lady.'
The nice lady leaned over and examined the screen, which read:
âMeans he likes you really,' Maria commented. âJust his way of showing affection.'
âYour dog, then,' said the nice lady. âWhatever. And then my colleagues and I started wondering, and we're sure we've seen you before somewhere.'
âVery familiar face,' agreed the man on her left.
âVery familiar,' confirmed the other one.
Maria shifted her chair away a trifle. âI think you must be mistaken,' she said frostily. âI'm sure that if we'd met I'd have remembered you.'