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Authors: Emma Barry & Genevieve Turner
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distracted by a detail,” Charlie said, trying to drag the conversation back where it was supposed to be. “The material point is Parsons is mad about the analog computers and will support the shift to digital. I finally have the leverage to get Hal to do what we all know he should have done in the first place.”
Dot looked at Beverly. Beverly threw her head back and laughed. “You’re crazy,” she said warmly. “Hal is never going to support the shift because he doesn’t know the digital hardware as well. And there’s no incentive for him to learn it because he delegates all the work to you, Jack, Dave, and the computers.”
“So since Hal will never change, the only thing of interest that happened yesterday is Parsons betrayed a fascinating vulnerability when it comes to you,” Dot finished.
“There is no vulnerability! There’s nothing at all.”
“We agree there’s nothing on your side,” Beverly said. “But his?” She cocked her head.
Charlie swallowed. She hadn’t even told them the worst part, about him helping her out of the training capsule. About how it had felt confusing and hot, slow and fast at once.
It was merely some polite reflex. There wasn’t any attraction or awareness between Parsons and herself.
Charlie shook her head. She wasn’t going to validate this lunacy by speaking of it further. “If Hal is so devoted to antiquated tech, what’s he doing at ASD?”
“I don’t know,” Dot said. She was now adding a generous spot of cream. She always started with enough sugar to choke a horse, drank about a third of her cup, and topped the rest with cream. It was the oddest way to drink coffee Charlie had ever seen.
“He likes some aspects of ASD. The glamour, the jet set, the buzz of it. And he’s not stupid.”
Hal wasn’t someone who put in the grunt work to develop ideas, and at core, he was good at evaluating the work of others. Not inspiring feats of genius in others necessarily. He wasn’t a leader, but he could examine two different plans and see how they were going to play out. And he wanted to make sure he backed the eventual winner, no matter what.
His management style couldn’t be more different than Parsons’s. While she respected Parsons more, and while he was clearly more dedicated to the mission, there was something about how Hal operated that she found interesting. She wished she could stop thinking about merit and focus on politics as he did, if only now and again.
“Well,” Charlie said, taking another sip of her coffee. “We have to get Hal to switch to digital, if only because I hate dealing with vacuum tubes.”
“The best course will be to tell him Maynard is doing it.”
Dot was right. Hal wanted ASD to follow industry in all things. If mentioning Maynard convinced him to switch to digital... Well, Charlie was going to do whatever it took to achieve it.
“Okay, then. I’ll put together some notes.”
Beverly turned away to doctor her own coffee, and didn’t comment on Charlie’s plan. But her time at ASD had taught Charlie something about her too: Beverly played her cards close to the vest. She never revealed too much, or gave too much away. If she wasn’t endorsing this course of action, it was because she thought it the wrong one.
Beverly didn’t voice these reservations, probably because no one was going to listen to her, because she was a computer, and a woman, and because of her race, but Charlie had learned to pick up on these moments of hesitation.
Just then, Hal came in, all ingratiating grin.
“I heard yesterday’s test was a rousing success,” he said as he perched his hat atop the stand by the door.
Not wanting to get into it with him until she had a plan, Charlie gave him an arch smile. “We got what we needed.”
That was true enough for now.
C HAPTER F IVE
October 1961
Charlie waited in the hall outside the conference room. Somewhere, someone’s secretary was typing, but the wing was otherwise deserted. A
Dot looked at Beverly. Beverly threw her head back and laughed. “You’re crazy,” she said warmly. “Hal is never going to support the shift because he doesn’t know the digital hardware as well. And there’s no incentive for him to learn it because he delegates all the work to you, Jack, Dave, and the computers.”
“So since Hal will never change, the only thing of interest that happened yesterday is Parsons betrayed a fascinating vulnerability when it comes to you,” Dot finished.
“There is no vulnerability! There’s nothing at all.”
“We agree there’s nothing on your side,” Beverly said. “But his?” She cocked her head.
Charlie swallowed. She hadn’t even told them the worst part, about him helping her out of the training capsule. About how it had felt confusing and hot, slow and fast at once.
It was merely some polite reflex. There wasn’t any attraction or awareness between Parsons and herself.
Charlie shook her head. She wasn’t going to validate this lunacy by speaking of it further. “If Hal is so devoted to antiquated tech, what’s he doing at ASD?”
“I don’t know,” Dot said. She was now adding a generous spot of cream. She always started with enough sugar to choke a horse, drank about a third of her cup, and topped the rest with cream. It was the oddest way to drink coffee Charlie had ever seen.
“He likes some aspects of ASD. The glamour, the jet set, the buzz of it. And he’s not stupid.”
Hal wasn’t someone who put in the grunt work to develop ideas, and at core, he was good at evaluating the work of others. Not inspiring feats of genius in others necessarily. He wasn’t a leader, but he could examine two different plans and see how they were going to play out. And he wanted to make sure he backed the eventual winner, no matter what.
His management style couldn’t be more different than Parsons’s. While she respected Parsons more, and while he was clearly more dedicated to the mission, there was something about how Hal operated that she found interesting. She wished she could stop thinking about merit and focus on politics as he did, if only now and again.
“Well,” Charlie said, taking another sip of her coffee. “We have to get Hal to switch to digital, if only because I hate dealing with vacuum tubes.”
“The best course will be to tell him Maynard is doing it.”
Dot was right. Hal wanted ASD to follow industry in all things. If mentioning Maynard convinced him to switch to digital... Well, Charlie was going to do whatever it took to achieve it.
“Okay, then. I’ll put together some notes.”
Beverly turned away to doctor her own coffee, and didn’t comment on Charlie’s plan. But her time at ASD had taught Charlie something about her too: Beverly played her cards close to the vest. She never revealed too much, or gave too much away. If she wasn’t endorsing this course of action, it was because she thought it the wrong one.
Beverly didn’t voice these reservations, probably because no one was going to listen to her, because she was a computer, and a woman, and because of her race, but Charlie had learned to pick up on these moments of hesitation.
Just then, Hal came in, all ingratiating grin.
“I heard yesterday’s test was a rousing success,” he said as he perched his hat atop the stand by the door.
Not wanting to get into it with him until she had a plan, Charlie gave him an arch smile. “We got what we needed.”
That was true enough for now.
C HAPTER F IVE
October 1961
Charlie waited in the hall outside the conference room. Somewhere, someone’s secretary was typing, but the wing was otherwise deserted. A
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