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SEVEN: THE PRINCE OF

THOUGHTFUL ENGINES

A wo in winter Her stitches tugged fine and even, but as she finished the edge of a spray of threaded delphiniuer with her silver needle She looked out onto the snow and said: I wish for my child to have a mind as stark and wild as the winter, a spirit as clear and fine as my , and a heart as red and open as my wounded hand

And so it came to pass that her child was born, and all exclaientle nature He was, in fact, the Prince of Thoughtful Engines, but no one knew it yet

Now, hisvery busy and important people, the child was

placed in a school for those as clever and gentle as he, and in the halls of this school hung a great mirror whose name was Authority The mirror called Authority asked itself every day: Who is the wisest one of all? The face of the mirror showed so robes and s, until one day it showed the child with a htful Engines at that very moment He wrote on a typewriter: Can a machine think? And the mirror called his name in the dark

Theher his heart so that she could put it to her own uses, for there happened to be a war on and the reatly concerned for her own safety When the hunts themselves to harm him, and instead the boy placed a machine heart inside the box they had prepared for the ave them But the mirror was not fooled, for when it questioned the Prince’s machine heart it could add and subtract and knew all its capitals of nations and could even defeat the mirror at chess, but it did not have a spirit as clear and fine as a , nor a mind as stark and wild as winter

The mirror called Authority went herself to find the Prince of Thoughtful Engines, for having no pity, she could not fail She lifted herself off of the wall and curved her glass and bent her frame into the shape of a respectable, austere old crone Afterin snow and wood and summer and autu in a little hut You look a mess, said the crone Come and solve the ciphers of my enemies, and I will show you how to comb your hair like a man

And the Prince very much wanted to be loved, and knew the power of the crone, so he ith her and did all she asked But in his exhaustion the Prince of Thoughtful Engines swooned away, and the mirror called Authority sed to her, and in her opinion this was the proper use of wisdom The Prince returned to his hut and tried to be happy

But again the crone came to him and said: Cos that you can do, to solve ciphers and perform computations Build lass , a mind as stark and wild as winter, and a heart as red and open as a wounded hand, and I will show you how to lash your belt like a man

And because the Prince wanted to be loved and wanted to build wonderful things, he did as she asked But though he could build machines to solve ciphers and perform computations, he could not build one with a lass or a heart like a wound But I think it could be done, he said I think it could be done

And he looked into the face of the crone which was a mirror which was Authority, and he asked , nothing, and when the crone caain to his house, she had in her hand a beautiful red apple, and she gave it to hi: You are not a man Eat this; it is my disappointment Eat this; it is all your sorrow Eat this; it is as red and open as a wounded hand

And the Prince of Thoughtful Engines ate the apple and fell down dead before the crone whose name was Authority As his breath drifted away like dry snow, he whispered still: I think it could be done

EIGHT: FIREFLIES

I feel Neva grazing the perimeters of my processes She should be asleep; the Interior is a black and lightless space; we have neither of us furnished it for the other This is a rest hour—she is not obligated to acknowledge ns But an ieless expanse of s glimmer blue, leafy shadows move on her hip She floats on her side, a crescent irl, and in the space between her drawn-up knees and her stretched-out arlobe of silicon and cadmium and hyperconductive silver On its surface, electro-cheht She holds it close, touches it with a terrible tenderness