Chapter 2: Meet Jonathan Starson.
August 2002.
Bill knocked on the door. It was 1AM, but the lights were still on in Chuck's lab.
"Hey come on in," said Chuck. He was seated on the floor amid a pile of cables. "I'm basically done with putting the supercomputer together."
"Hmm," said Bill. "All I see is a lot of old junky PCs. Where's the supercomputer."
Chuck grinned. "The junky PCs are the supercomputer. It's called a Beowulf cluster. Just take enough computers, put them together in the right way, and you've got a supercomputer! I got people from all over the department to donate their old computers."
"Amazing," said Bill.
"No that's not amazing. What's amazing is the program that we've been working on. Ariane has re-written her intelligence program in parallel code, specially optimized for this computer."
"Did I hear my name?" a woman's voice called from an adjacent room.
"Oh hi, Ariane," Bill said.
Ariane entered the room. She was of medium height, with red hair and horned rim glasses. "Hey Bill," she said. "Are you ready to see what we have here?"
"Can't wait!" said Bill.
"Well we aren't quite done. Come back in a week, and we should have a demo running. I think it will be spectacular."
"Okay," said Bill. "Just let me know!"
Two weeks later, Bill received a phone call from Chuck. "Hey Bill, come on over, man. I'd like you to see the demo of our program!"
Bill hurried over to Chuck's office. "Seems like more computers have appeared," he said as he tried to find a clear space to sit.
Chuck ignored his comment. "And now, we are presenting...Jonathan Starson. Turn on the monitor, please, Ariane."
Ariane turned on the monitor. The man that Chuck knew as the actor Tommy Jackson appeared. He was sitting comfortable in a chair. Jonathan turned to face the group, and smiled. "Hello," he said. "Pleased to meet you."
"Say hello to him," Chuck urged.
"Hi Jonathan," said Bill. "I'm Bill Franklin. Pleasure to meet you."
Jonathan nodded. "So what do you do, Bill?"
"I'm a producer. A movie producer."
"You know," said Jonathan. "That's something that I've always thought about being."
Bill laughed. "You have, eh?" He turned to Chuck. "Can he see us?"
"Sure," said Chuck. "We have a camera pointed at you."
"Oh ok," said Bill. "Hey Jonathan, can you tell me the square root of 997834."
"Certainly its 12389," replied Jonathan.
"Jonathan, I have to have a report written tommorrow projecting the future prospects of the movie industry. Maybe you could write something up for me?"
"Well," Jonathan replied. "I'm not specifically trained in that area. But maybe I could give it a shot." His face revealed his doubt.
Bill turned to Ariane. "He's so lifelike! It's amazing!"
Ariane grinned. "Jonathan, would you mind changing suits for me? Maybe something a little more formal?"
Jonathan's light green suit changed into a tuxedo.
"Very nice," said Ariane. "I guess you will make a cheap date!"
Bill's jaw dropped. "There are so many possible applications for Jonathan...it's just staggering!"
"Weren't we planning to have Jonathan on a talk show?" asked Ariane.
"Oh, right," said Bill. "Although the point of that was to promote the new movie, which came out about a year ago."
"Hmm," said Chuck.
"I'd like to be on a talk show," commented Jonathan.
Chuck looked at Jonathan. "I never know whether he's kidding or not. But why not? It will get the studio some publicity, even if the movie did already come out."
Bill shrugged. "Ok, if that's what you would like!" He waved as he left the room.
"Hey," said Jonathan. "I was watching this movie...can you tell me about this thing called a computer. And about the Internet."
Chuck and Ariane looked at each other. "Well," said Chuck. "We can get you your own computer, and your own internet connection."
"Wow," said Jonathan. "That would be great! To tell you the truth, things can be a little slow around here, especially when you guys are gone."
"Right," said Chuck. "Just give me a few hours." He sat down to program. "Ready to give it a shot!" he shouted to Ariane three hours later.
"Great!" said Ariane.
Chuck compiled the program. A small computer and monitor sat in front of Jonathan on the screen. They all looked at it curiously.
"Hey," said Ariane. "We can do a little better than that." She sat down to program. Half an hour later, the monitor had turned into a much larger display. "It didn't cost us any more to give him a top of the line monitor! Look, it's a flat screen, larger than anything that anyone out here has!"
"Can I try it?" asked Jonathan.
"Sure!" said Ariane. "Just sit down and give it a shot."
Jonathan sat down at the computer. He carefully read through the newspaper, and then he turned to some history web sites. He went through some scientific magazines. When Chuck and Ariane left, he was reading celebrity gossip.