The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Plus Two Makes Crazy, by Walt Sheldon

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Title: Two Plus Two Makes Crazy

Author: Walt Sheldon

Release Date: May 20, 2009 [EBook #28894]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_Walt Sheldon is bitter-bright in this imaginative short satire of
Man's sell-out by a group of staunch believers in the infallibility
of numbers._

two
plus
two
makes
crazy

_by ... Walt Sheldon_

The Computer could do no wrong. Then it was asked
a simple little question by a simple little man.

The little man had a head like an old-fashioned light bulb and a smile
that seemed to say he had secrets from the rest of the world. He didn't
talk much, just an occasional "Oh," "Mm" or "Ah." Krayton figured he
must be all right, though. After all he'd been sent to Computer City by
the Information Department itself, and his credentials must have been
checked in a hundred ways and places.

"Essentially each computer is the same," said Krayton, "but adjusted to
translate problems into the special terms of the division it serves."

Krayton had a pleasant, well-behaved impersonal voice. He was in his
thirties and mildly handsome. He considered himself a master of the
technique of building a career in Computer City--he knew how to stay
within the limits of directives and regulations and still make
decisions, or rather to relay computer decisions that kept his
responsibility to a minimum.

Now Krayton spoke easily and freely to the little man. As public liaison
officer he had explained the computer system hundreds of times. He knew
it like a tech manual.

"But is there any _real_ central control, say in case of a breakdown or
something of that sort?" The little man's voice was dry as lava ash, dry
as the wastes between and beyond the cities. Tanter, was the name he'd
given--Mr. Tanter. His contact lenses were so thick they made his eyes
seem to bulge grotesquely. He had a faint stoop and wore a black tunic
which