"Sure thing," he said. "You're going to take charge of a very important
lab. The Pro lab." I guess he saw my puzzled look. "Pro--that's short
for prosthetics, artificial limbs. You know, it's really a scandal.
With our present level of technology, we should have artificial limbs
which in many ways are even better than the originals, but actually
we're still making do with modifications of the same primitive, clumsy
pegs and hooks they were using a thousand years ago. I'm counting on
you to get things hopping in that department. It's a real challenge."
I said it sure was a challenge, and of course I'd do my level best to
meet it. Still, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. Around
cybernetics circles, I hinted, you heard a lot of talk about the
hush-hush MS work that was going on at IFACS and it sounded so exciting
that, well, a fellow sort of hoped he might get into _that_ end of
things.
"Look here, Parks," the boss said. He seemed a little peeved.
"Cybernetics is teamwork, and the first rule of any team is that not
everybody can be quarterback. Each man has a specific job on our team,
one thing he's best suited for, and what _you're_ best suited for,
obviously, is the Pro lab. We've followed your work closely these last
few years, and we were quite impressed by the way you handled those
photo-electric-cell insects. You pulled off a brilliant engineering
stunt, you know, when you induced nervous breakdown in your robot
moths and bedbugs, and proved that the oscillations they developed
corresponded to those which the human animal develops in intention
tremor and Parkinson's disease. A keen bit of cybernetic thinking,
that. _Very_ keen."
It was just luck, I told him modestly.
"Nonsense," the boss insisted. "You're first and foremost a talented
neuro man, and that's exactly what we need in the Pro department.
There, you see, the problem is primarily one of duplicating a nervous
mechanism in the metal, of bridging the gap between the neuronic and
electronic. So buckle down, and if you hear any more gossip about MS,
forget it fast--it's not a proper subject of conversation for you. The
loyalty oath you signed is very specific about the trouble you can get
into with loose talk. Remember that."