So I did build Frank on the framework of a powered wheel chair. He looked like a hat rack making love to an octopus but, boy, how he could polish silverware!
Miles looked over the first Frank, watched him mix a martini and serve it, then go around emptying and polishing ash trays (never touching ones that were clean), open a window arid fasten it open, then go to my bookcase and dust and tidy the books in it. Miles took a sip of his martini and said, “Too much vermouth.”
“It’s the way I like them. But we can tell him to fix yours one way and mine another; he’s got plenty of blank tubes in him. Flexible.”
Miles took another sip. “How soon can he be engineered for production?”
“Uh, I’d like to fiddle with him for about ten years.” Before he could groan I added, “But we ought to be able to put a limited model into production in five.”
“Nonsense! We’ll get you plenty of help and have a Model-T job ready in six months.”
“The devil you will. This is my magnum opus. I’m not going to turn him loose until he is a work of art . . . about a third that size, everything plug-in replaceable but the Thorsens, and so all out flexible that he’ll not only wind the cat and wash the baby, he’ll even play ping-pong if the buyer wants to pay for the extra programming.” I looked at him; Frank was quietly dusting my desk and putting every paper back exactly where he found it. “But ping-pong with him wouldn’t be much fun; he’d never miss. No, I suppose we could teach him to miss with a random-choice circuit. Mmm. . – yes, we could. We will, it would make a nice selling demonstration.”
“One year, Dan, and not a day over. Fm going to hire somebody away from Loewy to help you with the styling.”
I said, “Miles, when are you going to learn that I boss the engineering? Once I turn him over to you, he’s yours. . – but not a split second before.”
Miles answered, “It’s still too much vermouth.”
I piddled along with the help of the shop mechanics until I had Frank looking less like a three-car crash and more like something you might want to brag about to the neighbors. In the meantime I smoothed a lot of bugs out of his control system. I even taught him to stroke Pete and scratch him under the chin in such a fashion that Pete liked it-and, believe me, that takes negative feedback as exact as anything used in atomics labs. Miles didn’t crowd me, although he came in from time to time and watched the progress. I did most of my work at night, coming back after dinner with Belle and taking her home. Then I would sleep most of the thy, arrive late in the afternoon, sign whatever papers Belle had for me, see what the shop had done during the day, then take
Belle out to dinner again. I didn’t try to do much before then, because creative work makes a man stink like a goat. After a hard night in the lab shop nobody could stand me but Pete.
Just as we were finishing dinner one day Belie said to me, “Going back to the shop, dear?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Good. Because Miles is going to meet us there.”
“Huh?”
“He wants a stockholders’ meeting.”
“A stockholders’ meeting? Why?”
“It won’t take long. Actually, dear, you haven’t been paying much attention to the firm’s business lately. Miles wants to gather up loose ends and settle some policies.”
“I’ve been sticking close to the engineering. What else am I supposed to do for the firm?”
“Nothing, dear. Miles says it won’t take long.”
“What’s the trouble? Can’t Jake handle the assembly line?”
“Please, dear. Miles didn’t tell me why. Finish your coffee.”
Miles was waiting for us at the plant and shook hands as solemnly as if we had not met in a month. I said, “Miles, what’s this all about?”
He turned to Belle. “Get the agenda, will you?” This alone should have told me that Belle had been lying when she claimed that Miles had not told her what he had in mind. But I did not think of it-hell, I trusted Belle!-and my attention was distracted by something else, for Belle went to the safe, spun the knob, and opened it.