“Oh, yeah, the surprise,” teased Michaels. “I almost forgot.” He leaned over and rummaged in his briefcase. A minute later he had pulled out a small package wrapped with dark green paper and tied with a thick yellow ribbon.
Martin’s face fell. “What’s that?” He’d expected some papers, most likely computer print-out paper, showing some breakthrough in their research. He never expected a present.
“It’s your surprise,” said Michaels, reaching toward Philips with the package.
Philips’ eyes moved back to the gift. His disappointment was so acute it was almost anger. “Why the hell did you buy me a present?”
“Because you’ve been such a wonderful research partner,” said Michaels, still holding the package toward Philips. “Here, take it.”
Philips reached out. He had recovered from the shock enough to be embarrassed about his reaction. No matter how he felt he didn’t want to hurt Michaels’ feelings. After all, it was a nice gesture.
Philips thanked him while feeling the weight of the package. It was light and about four inches long and an inch high.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” asked Michaels.
“Sure,” said Philips, studying Michaels’ face for an instant. Buying a present seemed so out of character for this boy genius from the Department of Computer Science, It wasn’t that he wasn’t friendly or generous. It was just that he was so completely involved with his research that he usually overlooked amenities. In fact, during the four years they’d been working together, Philips had never seen Michaels socially. Philips had decided that Michaels’ incredible mind never turned off. After all, he had been singled out to head the newly created Division of Artificial Intelligence for the university at twenty-six. He’d completed his Ph.D. at M.I.T. when he was only nineteen.
“Come on,” said Michaels impatiently.
Philips pulled off the bow and dropped it ceremoniously among the debris on his desk. The dark green paper followed. Beneath was a black box.
“There’s a little symbolism there,” said Michaels.
“Oh? “said Philips.
“Yeah,” said Michaels. “You know how psychology treats the brain: like a black box. Well, you get to look inside.”
Philips smiled weakly. He didn’t know what Michaels was talking about. He pulled off the top of the box and separated some tissue. To his surprise he extracted a cassette case labeled Rumors by Fleetwood Mac.
“What the hell,” smiled Philips. He hadn’t the foggiest idea why Michaels would buy him a recording by Fleetwood Mac.
“More symbolism,” explained Michaels. “What’s inside is going to be more than music to your ears!”
Suddenly the whole charade made sense. Philips flipped open the case and pulled out the cassette. It wasn’t a musical recording. It was a computer program.
“How far did we get?” asked Philips almost in a whisper.
“It’s the whole thing,” said Michaels.
“No!” said the incredulous Martin.
“You know the last material you gave me? It worked like a charm. It solved the problem of density and boundary interpretation. This program incorporates everything you’ve included in all your flow sheets. It will read any skull X ray you give it, provided you put it into that piece of equipment over there.” Michaels pointed to the back of Philips’ office. There on the top of Philips’ worktable was a TV-sized electrical apparatus. It was obvious that it was built as a prototype rather than production model. The front was made of a plain stainless steel plate and its attaching bolts protruded. In the upper left-hand corner was a slot that was made to take the program cassette. Two electrical trunks protruded from its sides. One trunk fed into a typewriter input/output device. The other came from a rectangular stainless steel box about four feet square and one foot high. On the front of this metal apparatus was a long slot with visible rollers for the insertion of an X-ray film.
“I don’t believe it,” said Philips, afraid that Michaels was teasing him again.
“Neither do we,” admitted Michaels. “Everything just suddenly fell together.” He walked over and patted the top of the computer unit. “All the work you’d done in breaking down the problem-solving and pattern-recognition aspects of radiology not only made it apparent we needed new hardware but also suggested the way to design it. This is it.”