How It Ends: Part 1 - The Evaluation Read Online Free PDF Page B

back in his chair. He crossed
his hand on his chest. It gave him a thoughtful air that Sidney
felt he didn’t need.
    “Have you ever been associated with
Denlas-Kaptek?” the dean asked.
    “Associated?”
    “Yes.”
    “Meaning have I ever done work for
them?”
    “Yes. Consulting, quality assurance testing,
high level programming design flows, et cetera. That sort of
thing.”
    “No. I’ve never been involved with
them.”
    “Have you ever done any third party testing
for them?”
    “Do you mean testing their product for a
consumer group?”
    “Yes, something like that.”
    “No.”
    “Good. How familiar are you with their
product base?”
    “From a consumer side? I make a point of
trying to stay current with the trends in robot manufacturing.”
    “No, I was thinking more from a technical
one.”
    “Not terribly. I know the inner workings of
their lower level designs pretty well, but the upper level stuff
they keep pretty well hidden. Robotics is a nasty business, really.
Cutthroat. There’s a lot of safeguarding against industrial
espionage. Almost to a point of paranoia.”
    “M-hm, m-hm.”
    Sidney narrowed his eyes. The dean was
gazing at the side wall of the highly polished office. He seemed to
be lost in thought. Sidney knew better. He knew the dean was paying
attention. To everything.
    “If I may ask, Dean Whittaker, what’s all
this about?”
    “Well, Sidney, I have an opportunity in my
hands. I just need to determine who to give this opportunity to.
It’s really a choice between you and Coleman.”
    The dean’s eyes flicked to Sidney just as
Sidney made a sour face but straightened it out almost immediately.
Dean Whittaker saw it.
    “I know he’s not your favorite person.”
    “He’s not my brand of people, really.”
    “Yes, I know. But he’s incredibly
intelligent. Something of a celebrity at this college.”
    “Is that why we put up with his
indiscretions?”
    Something in the dean’s face changed. Sidney
lowered his eyes. He had made a mistake. He was never a tactician.
The dean’s voice grew cold for a moment.
    “We put up with a great deal from many of
our professors, including those who haven’t published a research
paper in four years.”
    Sidney said nothing. The Dean had said
nothing false, so there was nothing for Sidney to refute.
    The Dean looked back at the wall. The
coldness was gone.
    “But no matter. I’ve considered you both.
I’m leaning toward giving this opportunity to you.”
    “What opportunity?”
    “Denlas-Kaptek had specifically requested
not to give this to Coleman. They came up with two names, yours and
his, and stated assertively that it was not to be him. Some would
cower before a company offering such an opportunity. Think of how
much we could learn in the process of evaluating this robot. This
is one of DKI’s most cutting edge programs, with access to the
inner workings of the robot laid bare for you to render judgment.
This will make you a celebrity in your own right. When you really
analyze the facts, there is no other organization on the east coast
as well-positioned as we are to perform this task. And when
complete, we will be the first choice of corporations like DKI to
provide such a service in the future.”
    The Dean paused. Sidney held his breath. He
pictured the Dean like a TV cartoon with dollars signs in his
eyes.
    With a deep breath—one that Sidney felt was
either the Dean coming back down to earth or resigning himself to
the fact that his only real choice was sitting before him—the Dean
went on.
    “I’m evaluating the best candidate to send
to them.”
    Sidney wanted to speak but knew better than
to push too hard.
    The Dean gazed at the wall for a long minute
before continuing.
    “Here’s what’s going to happen, Sidney. A
packet is going to come to you directly from DKI. In it will be the
technical and specs for a robotic doctor known as Kilgore. You will
read them over, then contact a man named Eric Breckenridge at