The Infotransmitor

Trurl’s Machine Creative Writing Assignment

Vanessa Davies

In the year 2050, scientists created the ultimate invention. It was a small chip in which, upon being injected into the human body, allowed any one person to know everything there is to possibly know. It was called the Infotransmitor. All they needed was this chip, and even the most unintelligent people could perform brain surgery. Schools closed in favour of the practical chip, and implants of them became mandatory. Much like a vaccination, every one had to get one once they reached the age of majority. The entire world depended on the Infotransmitor, and to them, it seemed like the best thing in the world.

“What a relief it is not having to go to school anymore,” they would say “it was such a waste of time!”

What no one seemed to realize though, was that upon injection, the Infotransmitor used all thought originated for the skill of reading and converted it into pure knowledge. No one who had been injected with the chip could read.

One day, a group of men sat in the operator room, where all knowledge of the world was fed into the chips. As it was their job to man the station, they did what they always did on days like these; they discussed the meaning of life.

“You see Oftrasch, Zane here is perfectly right,” A great bear of a man said as he reclined casually in his chair, “Obviously, we are here to keep everything else on the planet in check, I mean, if it weren’t for us, this world would be nothing!”

Just then the janitor walked in. He was a short man who appeared to be in his late fifties. He froze as he realized all three heads were turned to glare at him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “thought there was no one else in here. Guess I’ll come back later.”

Abruptly the man turned and walked out, towing his cleaning supplies behind him.

“What is with that man?” Zane asked. “It’s like he’s the only one around here with not a speck of brains! What is his name again?”

Oftrasch looked back from the door and replied “John.”

What none of the men in that room knew was that as they spoke, they were becoming less intelligent by the minute. Somehow, the Infotransmitor mainframe had overridden itself and was now failing.

The men forgot what they were discussing as they spoke to one another, and even stranger circumstances were beginning to take place throughout the world simultaneously. Race car drivers on the track forgot how to drive, chefs forgot how to cook, the famous surgeon Dr. Ramsey Von Struggerknoff snipped the wrong artery in the middle of open heart surgery!

The men looked at the machine and tried in horror to understand the strange figures flashing across the screen. A siren began to wail, repeating the same phrase over and over again.

“See Manual, See Manual, See Manual,” it screamed, like a broken record.

The men scrambled for the thing the manual, mounted being glass on the wall like a fire extinguisher. They broke the glass, and flipped through the manual frantically.

“But it’s only those strange figures again! We are doomed!”

Once again, the janitor came back into the room, this time looking startled. He looked at the men staring at the book desperately.

“What’s going on?” He asked, confused.

“The mainframe has shut down and the manual is filled with these strange figures!” The third man said.

John, the janitor, walked across the room, and looked at the book.

“What do you mean its strange figures? It’s all written here in plain English! Can’t any of you read?”

The men stared at him blankly. Truth was John never had gotten the Infotransmitor injection. He didn’t like needles, and so the day he was meant to get the shot, he got his best friend to take his place for him. Fake ID and all. His friend was fine with it because he thought it would make him twice as smart. John knew the basics, thanks to his years of schooling before they were shut down, but he never was quite as smart as the rest of the world.

But at least he could read.

Taking a seat he grabbed the book, looked at it and pointedly began to read.

“In case of emergency see page… 23.”