MICHAEL CRICHTON

“Just do it,” Elliot said.“Can I use size?” On the basis of size alone, gorillas and chimps could beaccurately distinguished. But visual functions could not determine size unless thedistance from the recording instrument to the subject image was known, as wellas the focal length of the recording lens.“No, you can’t use size,” Elliot said. “Element morphology only.”Seamans sighed. “Thanks a lot. What resolution?”“I need ninety-five-percent confidence limits on species assignment, to bebased on less than three seconds of black-and-white scan imagery.”Seamans frowned. Obviously, Elliot had three seconds of videotape imagery ofsome animal and he was not sure whether it was a gorilla or not. Elliot had seenenough gorillas over the years to know the difference: gorillas and chimps wereutterly different animals in size, appearance, movement, and behavior. Theywere as different as intelligent oceanic mammals—say, porpoises and whales. Inmaking such discriminations, the human eye was far superior to any computerprogram that could be devised. Yet Elliot apparently did not trust his eye. Whatwas he thinking of?“I’ll try,” Seamans said, “but it’s going to take a while. You don’t write that kindof program overnight.”“I need it overnight, Tom,” Elliot said. “I’ll call you back in twenty-four hours.”3. Inside the CoffinIN ONE CORNER OF THE 747 LIVING MODULE WAS A sound-baffledfiberglass booth, with a hinged hood and a small CRT screen; it was called “thecoffin” because of the claustrophobic feeling that came from working inside it. Asthe airplane crossed the mid-Atlantic, Ross stepped inside the coffin. She had alast look at Elliot and Amy—both asleep, both snoring loudly—and Jensen andIrving playing “submarine chase” on the computer console, as she lowered thehood.Ross was tired, but she did not expect to get much sleep for the next twoweeks, which was as long as she thought the expedition would last. Withinfourteen days—336 hours— Ross’s team would either have beaten the Euro-65