“I see! And you won't go to a school like that either. You'll go to a regular school. You'll see. I promise.”
He had nothing else to say. But the girl was looking at him so that he couldn't possibly leave.
“My name is Sasha. What's yours?”
“Valya… Valentin Vasilyevich.”
“I know, you live in number thirty — three. I live in thirty — nine, two houses down.”
“Well, I have to go… to work.”
“Second shift?”
“Yes, the second shift. Good — bye, Sasha.”
“Good — bye.”
He got up. He smiled and threw his head back, squinting, meaning: don't give up now; look happy! It'll be! She threw back her head in reply, squinted, and smiled: don't worry, I won't give up. And still he left with the feeling that he had abandoned someone who needed his help.
The alley led out into the street. Cars sped around beyond the last chestnut trees. All three turned around: the girl was watching them. They waved. She smiled and waved a thin arm.
“You see, Vitya, lad,” Krivoshein put his arm around Kravets's shoulder/'you see, Vitya, I still love you, you bum, even though there's no reason to. You should be whipped with a belt, like father used to have when we were little, but you're too big and serious for that.”
“Drop it!” Kravets freed himself.
“You see, Vitya, our idea of a happiness button was an engineer's dream. In general people turn to technology for relief from demands on themselves. It's funny! It's easy enough to create a happiness button for rats: you implant an electrode in the pleasure center of the cortex and let the rat push a lever to make contact. But that kind of happiness probably won't do for people although there is a method that is mathematical and not with a button. And we're reaching it empirically, slowly but surely. The fact that we're beating our brains out to make sure it benefits people, and not just ourselves, and that we won't accept any other way — that's part of the method. And the fact that Adam could overcome his fears and come back with a good idea — that comes from the method, too. Of course, if the experiment had been more thoroughly prepared he might still be alive, but none of us is perfect or guaranteed everlasting life: that's the nature of the work. And the fact that he chose to synthesize people and not microelectronic machines, which would have been simpler and more lucrative — that's part of the method, too. And the fact that we have gathered knowledge about our discovery. We're not dilettantes or amateurs any more — and neither work nor arguments can throw us off the track. We can throw whomever we want off. And in an honest argument, knowledge is the best weapon.”
“How about in a dishonest one?”
“It works there, too. Harry got squeezed — with the method. We got out of a tight fix and saved the project — also part of it. We can do a lot: work, and fight, and politic. Of course, it would be better if we got along, but we can manage even if we don't. Adam, give me a cigarette, will you? I'm all out.”
Krivoshein lit up and continued:
“And in the future we should be guided by this empirical method in our work and in life. First and foremost, we work together. The most terrible thing in our work is being alone. Look what it led to. Let's gather smart, honest, strong, and knowledgeable men around the project. To make sure that the hand of a bastard, fool, or banality never touches our discovery at any point. So that there will be someone to raise the alarm! And we'll attract Azarov, and Vano Aleksandrovich Androsiashvili — he's someone I've been thinking about. We'll even try Valery Ivanov… and if we work this way everything will be 'it' including the method for duplicating people, duplicating them with alterations, and the informational transformation of regular people.”
“But this is still not an engineering solution. There is no one hundred percent guarantee,” Kravets said stubbornly. “We can try, of course. Do you think Azarov will join us?”
“Of course, where else could he go? Yes, this isn't an engineering solution, but an organizational one. And it's not simple; it lacks the logical simplicity we all want. But we have no choice. We'll gather talented researchers, builders, doctors, artists, sculptors, psychologists, musicians, writers, and just simple people — they know about life and man too. We'll start injecting our discovery into life with small but very necessary things: curing disease and deformity, correcting physical appearance and the psychological problems. And then, you'll see, we'll gradually develop information for a universal program for the computer — womb to instill the best that mankind has collected into the mind and body of man.”
The UPPM,” Victor said. “The Universal Program for Perfecting Man. I like it! Well, well….”
“We'll try,” Adam said stubbornly. “There is no hundred — percent guarantee; it's not all in our control. Maybe it won't work. But if we don't try, nothing will happen at all. And you know, I think that there isn't that much work left. It's important to shift in one or two generations the process of man's development in the right direction, and the work will go on without computers.”
“It will all go in it.” Krivoshein remembered the last entry in the diary. “The daring of talented ideas and a child's awe before the complex magnificence of the world, the roar of a stormy sea and the wise beauty of lab equipment, the great pain of love and the esthetics of sex, the fierceness of getting ahead and the rapture of interesting work, the blue sky and the aroma of sun — baked grass, the wisdom of old age and the confidence of maturity… and even the memory of bad times and mistakes, so that they won't be repeated! It will all go in: the knowledge of the world, understanding one another, peace and stubbornness, dreaminess and healthy skepticism, great thoughts and the ability to achieve them. In general the greater part has been done for a good life — and there is less left to do!”
“Let people be whatever way they want to be. Just let them want!”
The sun was yellow and hot. Cars rustled and murmured past. Pedestrians shuffled through the heat. A policeman directed traffic in the intersection.
They walked on, leaving imprints in the asphalt. Three engineers on their way to work.
