The God Wave by Patrick Hemstreet Page A

problem is the user interface,” she told the team later when they paused in momentary defeat. She ran a weary hand through her dark, collar-length hair, mussing its usually sleek texture. “I have to concentrate so hard on triggering the track pad that I can’t focus on what I’m producing. The moment I take my attention off the pad and think about the workspace, I lose control of the mechanics. And, well, frankly I can’t think of a way around that.”
    â€œWe’ve got to think of a way around it,” growled Matt. “There’s no reason this device would work for Mike and not work for you—unless it’s your lack of computer savvy that’s the issue.”
    Chuck winced at that.
    â€œMy computer savvy is just fine, thank you,” said Sara coolly. “What I don’t know about that software and my work you could stick up your cute little button nose and still have room for the Washington Monument.”
    â€œI think we should quit for the day,” said Chuck, flipping his laptop shut to underscore the point. “Let the subconscious work on the problem. It never fails that when I hit a wall and sleep on it, I’ve got some piece of the solution by morning.”
    Sara nodded.
    Matt sighed and rolled his eyes. “You’ll have to forgive Chuck,” he told the group. “He still believes the science angels visit him in his dreams.”
    Chuck shook his head. “I didn’t say anything about angels,” he said quietly.
    â€œAnd you’ll have to forgive Matt—he still believes he knows what a normal interaction between people is,” Dice said. Chuck smiled, but Matt wouldn’t let it go.
    â€œYou do believe in angels, right? Being a religious type and all.Do you think God will visit you with a vision of how to solve our little interface problem?”
    Where’s he going with this? He almost seems angry. For a nonreligious person, he sure has his crusades.
    â€œActually,” said Eugene, hoping to defuse the situation, “they’re more like science fairies. Or elves of invention maybe.”
    Sara gave Matt a frosty smile. “I think maybe Chuck’s right. Happens to me all the time. A design is intractable, impenetrable, unworkable. I go to bed whacking my head against the wall and wake up and realize there’s a gate hidden behind some ivy. Don’t mock the elves of invention, Dr. Streegman. They work.”

Chapter 6
ELVES OF INVENTION
    This time the elves of invention didn’t work. Not fairies or angels or elfish intercessors or even Elvis himself visited any member of the Forward Kinetics team overnight, and when they began their day’s work with Sara back in the harness and Tim the Troll postponed until the afternoon, little had changed.
    Matt’s look said it all: I told you so .
    As if we did this to him on purpose, Chuck thought. Despite that resentment, he couldn’t help feeling frustrated, too.
    Certainly Sara’s skills with the basic maneuvers were slightly smoother, but she still had no clue how to manage the simplest activities within an interface she knew inside and out. She could move the mechanisms. What she could not do was create objects.
    They worked at it all morning. Just before lunch she suggested she go back to working with Roboticus for a while. That sabbatical relaxed her and renewed her confidence.
    Unfortunately, it did little for her performance with the software she used every day.
    By 2:20 P.M., the time Tim Desmond chose to stroll in late, Sara was sagging in her chair, the neural net twinkling like stars in her hair, while the others tried to assess the situation.
    â€œIt’s clear that the kinetic converter is working,” said Matt tersely. “And that the subject’s brain waves are generating sufficient triggers to drive it. The problem has to be the warmware.”
    Sara shot him a sideways glance. “Meaning me, right?”