The Library

Seventh Story

"Would you say she passed?" No. 4 asked No. 5. They both evaluated Gwen with critical looks, like project managers running through a punch list at the end of a project.

"I don't know. What other tests do you think we could run?" No. 5 replied. "Call No. 1, he might have some logical routines to run her through we didn't think about."

Gwen smiled, insecure.

She was feeling very self-conscious in the face of this evaluation process, which made her feel like a product.

"What's up with you guys?" She said, eventually. "Pass? Pass what? Is this some sort of test or something?"

"That looked very natural, didn't it?" No. 4 turned to No.5. "I sure couldn't tell. How about you, No. 1?"

"I don't know," No. 1 came closer and stared uncomfortably, as if he expected some standard reaction.

"What test?" Gwen raised her voice, and they all stopped and looked at her.

"The Touring test, dear," No. 4 replied, kindly.

"Hilarious," Gwen brooded.

"I definitely couldn't tell," No. 1 smiled, relieved.

"Congratulations, team, we got lift-off."

"Would someone care to explain this to me? Not that I'm a person or anything!"

"You're not exactly a person, Gwen."

"Of course not. A person would get an explanation when people laughed at her," Gwen's frown deepened.

"Sit down, my dear. This is going to be hard for you to hear. Do you remember that time when you were nine and fell off a swing? You lost consciousness, yes?"

"So what? They gave me an MRI scan and a clean bill of health."

"They most certainly did," No. 4 agreed. "After."

Gwen looked at him without blinking and No. 4 pointed at her eyes and told No. 1 "we have to fix that."

"After what?" The girl ignored him.

"Did you ever actually see the MRI scan?"

"No, the doctor just told me it was normal."

"Normal for you, yes. Would you do me a favor and feel your scalp behind your left ear?"

"I had surgery?"

"It's a little more involved than that. What's 578932 times 56983?"

"32989282156," Gwen answered without thinking.

"Never asked yourself how you can do that?"

"No, I just thought I was good with numbers. Some people are like that."

"Do you have photographic memory?"

"Yes."

"That has an unusually large storage capacity?"

"I have an excellent memory, yes."

"How many of the Greek and German quotes we sprinkled in our conversation since you arrived here do you still recall?"

"All of them, I think."

"With what level of accuracy?"

"I remember exactly what you said."

"Do you speak any of those languages?"

"No," Gwen felt a pit grow in her stomach.

"And that didn't strike you as strange at any point?"