Talitha Koum

Chapter 03

TALITHA KOUM

CHAPTER 03

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Nope. Julie never showed the board a proposal. She never even put one together. The ‘proposal’, was just Julie, stalling. What she did, in fact, right away, was go back to the computer room, pull up a chair and stare into the face of DaNI.

At first, she didn’t know what she wanted. She just wasn’t sure. She was sure about one thing though and that was that the DaNI project had to go on. DaNI was good and powerful but there was something else. She just knew it. She wanted to maximize DaNI’s potential but she didn’t know what that potential was. And because she didn’t know what that potential was, she didn’t know how to get there. So she was stuck.

“So, what happened then?”

Julie smiled at him. “Then, one of the grandest moments in my life happened. The most brilliant idea I ever had, like ever, came to me out of the blue.”

“And that was…?”

Julie spread her arms out for effect. “—‘Why don’t I ask DaNI?’”

Tom gazed up into the ceiling. He began to nod, stroking his chin. You could almost smell the wood burning. “Actually, that’s not bad…”

Julie smiled. “You see?”

“Yeah.” He looked back down at her. He smiled too. “That’s not bad.”

“So I reached in, flicked the switch on, booted him up and told him my problem. I said that I wanted to make him better, maximize the project’s potential, but didn’t know what to do next.”

“So, what did he say?”

“Now, this is where it got interesting. DaNI turned to my comparison between him and an expert in the room. So now I had an expert that could assist me in whatever situation I ran into, wherever I might happen to be at the time—say, a doctor, or a lawyer, financial expert, pharmacist, engineer—whatever. How do I maximize the potential of this expert? He is a problem solver. He is a question answerer. How do I make him better?” Julie turned to face Tom. “Say, you had a doctor with you right now. How do you make him a better doctor?”

Tom bent his head and considered. “I suppose…I would want him to keep me really healthy. And help me when I get sick. Make me better…”

“And a financial expert?”

“Maybe help me make more money? Help me save more money?”

Julie smiled. “That’s it, that’s it!”

Tom looked up. “What?”

“That’s exactly what DaNI said. He said that for an expert in the room, in order for him to be a better expert, a better problem solver, a better answerer of questions, he needed to keep the ultimate purpose of an expert in mind.”

“And that was?”

“A doctor, lawyer, or an engineer’s ultimate purpose was to make his client or patient’s life better, happier, more meaningful. So then, it only follows that for DaNI to become better at what he does, to take the project to the next level of potential maximization, he must be able to make the lives of human beings better, happier and more meaningful.”

“Well, that makes sense. What happened next?”

Julie sighed. She reached up with her arms and gave herself a good stretch. “Next, I got moved to the basement.”

Tom’s eyes widened. “What?”

Julie sat back and turned her eyes toward the ceiling.

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