Pinder showed his hands. “Well, naturally we’ve had to reexamine some things to accommodate the new opportunities.” So something had changed. “EVIE will consist of wedding VIV to Pinocchio One, which will require Frank’s people and Joe’s. Pinocchio Two, which is what Evelyn Vance is being brought in for, will be an extension of it. Therefore, it seems to me, she ought to start out as part of that general group, rather than with DINS. You’ll be busy enough dividing your time between both teams anyhow, Eric, without taking on more at this stage.”
So there it was: Shipley would not be getting Evelyn as he had been led to believe. He didn’t seem especially surprised. The rest of the meeting passed with a more detailed airing of goals, aims, and first guesses for completion dates.
* * *
When they talked it over in the lab afterward, Shipley was less stoic than he had appeared earlier. “I’ve felt this kind of atmosphere before,” he told Corrigan. “It’s the first step to politicizing the territory. This started out as a line of pure research. Now the science is going to take a back seat.”
“Ah, come on, now, Eric, and admit that you’re just sore about Evelyn being switched out of DINS,” Corrigan said. “I think it was a bit mean too, if you want to know the truth, but I’m guessing that Jason had his orders.”
“Hell, you know I’m not interested in those kinds of games,” Shipley told him. “But I think you should watch out. Tyron has got `political animal’ stamped all over him. Didn’t it strike you as significant that with all these changes, there still isn’t a clearly defined slot heading up DNC? It’s still as vague a mess as it was before.”
Corrigan shook his head. “You’ve got it the wrong way around, Eric. Think about it. This will allow some sound consolidation on Pinocchio Two—the chance to do it right. You’ve got to agree that this hybrid idea is a bit of a mishmash. I mean, in the long term where can it lead? When P-Two expands to take in vision, what’s left for the hybrid? Then, I’m a-thinking, it will be Frank-me-boy who’ll be finding himself with nowhere to go.”
Shipley remained unmoved by Corrigan’s confident optimism. “We’ll see,” he replied neutrally.
Chapter Twelve
Evelyn’s position was confirmed, and a month later she moved from Boston to a rented apartment that Ivy Dupale helped her find in Aspinall, on the north bank of the Allegheny River. One of the better-preserved older districts of quaint streets with traditional stores and houses, it suited Evelyn’s taste and was conveniently close to Blawnox.
Evelyn soon became good friends with Ivy, and she and Corrigan continued seeing each other out of working hours. They were well matched to each other’s needs. He, on his way up and all set to fly, had an appreciative and willing admirer; she, the emerged fledgling, found a guide and protector. They sampled the restaurants, from the best French at Cafe Allegro on the Southside heights overlooking the Monongahela River, to the traditionally romantic, old-stone-built Hyeholde, set in a wooded estate out near the old airport. They toured the bars, took in the zoo, the theaters, and did the round of Pittsburgh’s museums. Some weekends they spent at his place, some at hers.
Tyron and his group from SDC installed themselves in space provided at Blawnox, and work commenced on the initial phases of EVIE. The new, more comprehensive interface warranted going for a greater degree of realism than had been justified with MIMIC. Accordingly, Ivy Dupale’s graphics group were given the go-ahead to enhance Pinocchio with an upgrade that had been in abeyance for some time: the addition of “Personal Attribute Files.”
The hologram figure generated by Pinocchio was not a representation of anyone in particular, but simply a generic human form with rudimentary features and attire. The PAFs were lists of data descriptors specifying the features and physical appearance, build, and dress of an actual person: Corrigan, say, or anyone else on the research team. An individual’s PAF could be superposed on the generic Pinocchio form to create a lifelike miniature of whoever was coupled into the system at a given time—or, just for the fun of it, of anyone else whose file was in the system. Having one’s PAF compiled and filed for Pinocchio became something of a fad around the company, and most of the senior executives managed to find some pretext for stopping by to see their analogs cavorting in various simulated environments.