Page 146 - The Perpetrations of Captain Kaga

Sorting the Sexes on Dulup

The two old friends walked to the communications room. Its door
opened to Lugo’s thumbscan, and they went inside. As the door
closed behind him, Kaga noticed an algae-scraper casually shuffling
past in the hall, eyes glued to the briefly-revealed array of hardware.
“Now,” he said, “how does this monitoring and transmission
system actually work? En route I reviewed the report on Dulup, but
my mind was wandering.”
Lugo explained how the remote scanners provided real-time data
for the computers carried by the nomadic foraging sex groups. The
original programming made frequent adjustments to its output
commands as the various bands of gastrobrachioids wandered
unpredictably in search of their particular nourishment. Of course, the
system did not guarantee that an equal number of each sex would
meet at the site of any given Ovulator: imbalances could still occur,
though at a level low enough to halt the population implosion.
“You see,” said Lugo, pointing to a graphic display he had invoked,
“three full moons ago the bug-diggers stopped following the system
plan. Instead, many of their groups split up and headed for mating
locations where they were, almost without exception, in the minority.
As a result, their numbers are now relatively higher than they should
be, either randomly or optimally. The only way they could have
known where to go was by changing the program in their computers.”
“What would happen if they all did that?” asked Kaga.
“No good. That sort of total cancellation of the benefit of the
information would leave them back where they were before we got
here: slowly but surely decreasing in number.”
Captain Kaga stared at the screen showing population growth. On it
a series of superimposed curves dimly glowed; on the left side of the
panel the lines were roughly together, rising slightly as they moved
through time to the right. But abruptly there was a break toward the
right-hand edge: two of the lines turned sharply upward, and the rest
began to droop.
“Tell me,” said Captain Kaga. “ The same signal can’t be broadcast
to all receivers, how does a specific computer identify its own data?”
“Oh, I think it’s by frequency. That feature is hard-wired into each
machine. The Dulupian whiz-kid s wouldn’t be able to change that
without destroying the circuitry.”
“Well, now: there is your answer,” Kaga said.

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