MATCHMAKER
By CHARLES L. FONTENAY
Ask a sensible question and you're sure
to get a sensible answer—remembering that
one man's sense may be a machine's poison!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, May 1960.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Jasso laid the bulky report on his superior's desk.
"No one living can solve the problem," he said.
Tern stared at him quizzically and leaned back in the cushioned chairbehind his desk.
"That's encouraging," Tern said with a wry smile. "The secondgeneration?"
"The probabilities are high. The most likely father is a man named LaoProtik, a psycho-artist living in Nuyork."
"The mother?"
Jasso grinned, a flashing grin in a dark face. He sank into a chair,pulled out a cigarette pack and offered one to Tern. The older manshook his head, fishing in his pocket for an old-fashioned pipe. Jassoclicked out a cigarette and drew deeply on it.
"That's one of the fascinating angles about dealing with theCalculator," he said. "We combined the fifty most probable fathers,including Lao, with the fifty most probable mothers. Believe it or not,we drew an absolute blank. They just don't jibe at all."
"Not too surprising," said Tern. "It's happened before. But I gatheryou've already decided to work with this psycho-artist. Why?"
"Lao's so far ahead of the rest, both men and women, it's the onlything to do. And, since life is full of little surprises, we foundthe probability highest if Lao marries a woman whose own separateprobability rating is close to zero." Jasso consulted his notesand added: "She's a language teacher named Grida Mattin, living inSouthgate, Tennessee."
"You're pretty sure these results are right?" asked Tern.
"I've checked every angle I could think of," replied Jasso carefully."Of course, there's always the possibility that two near-zeroprobabilities would add up better, when combined. But the probabilityrating for marriage between these two is very high—you can see foryourself when you check the figures. I think it's the best we'll find."
"It would be so much simpler if we had a high probability among peoplein this generation," said Tern thoughtfully. "Arranging a marriagebetween two strangers is a ticklish business."
"It's been done before," said Jasso. "I'll put a team of agents to workon it right away."
There were millions of cards—if you could call things the size of abedsheet "cards." Each punched with holes like a swiss cheese, theyfilled one of the Calculator's most strategic banks. They representedevery man, woman and child in the civilized world.
Through them, the course of history could be guided, the advancementof civilization accelerated. By racing through the backgrounds andcapabilities of every person in the United Nations, the Calculatorcould find the best one to do any job, to solve any problem.
Lao Protik, as he strolled into his swank Nuyork apartment buildingthat July evening, was completely unaware that the Calculator hadpointed a finger at him. Life flowed smoothly for him. Not a worrydarkened the horizon. His annual salary from Consolidated Ads was fivehundred thousand dols—a comfortable thirty thousand after taxes—andhe