Interlin

    Adrian was a young man who worked in an office. He had worked there for two years, and although the work was interesting and the other people were nice, he did not like his position in the office because he did not have a desk near the window. There was another man who had a desk near the window. When this man got a new job, Adrian moved to the desk near the window, and found that the man had left a few papers and things in the desk. 

    After a few days Adrian decided to tidy the desk. He did not want the papers but he found some computer USB sticks. Adrian thought, "These may be useful, I will keep them." He put the sticks into his computer to see what was on them. They were mostly letters and reports, but one stick had some games on it. Adrian thought, "I know these games, Tetris, Pac-Man, Life, and Space Invaders, but they are all rather old and too easy for me." Then he saw one he did not know. It was called "Interlin". Adrian decided to try it. When Adrian opened "Interlin" the computer screen said, "Select text file." Adrian thought, "What can I use quickly ? I know, I will use the draft of my weekly report." So Adrian clicked on his report and the computer screen showed the message, "The job will be late and cost more than we thought. There are problems we never expected." Adrian felt angry, and he thought, "I never wrote that. I wrote in my report that we are working on some new improvements to make an even better design, which will take just a little bit longer." 

    At night Adrian could not sleep, because he kept thinking about the computer message from Interlin. Then he sat up in bed quickly. "I know," he said, "Interlin is telling me what I was thinking when I wrote the report. It is quite true, the job is late and it will certainly cost more. I wrote that it would be better in the end, just to keep my manager happy while we sort out the problems. But "Interlin" is a strange name for the computer program." Then Adrian thought, "Oh, maybe it means "Inter Line", and it is "reading between the lines." Hey, this could be really useful ! But how can a computer do that ? Perhaps the program makes several versions with slight variations, like tense, 1st or 3rd person etc, and looks for what they all have in common, as this could be what the writer was holding back."

    Next day at work Adrian tried the program Interlin with many things. Each time the computer gave a very interesting message. Then Adrian thought about Gloria. He remembered, "She suddenly wrote that she did not want to see me anymore. That was five months ago. I really miss her, and now I do not even know where she is living. I will see what Interlin says she was thinking when she wrote to me." Adrian found Gloria's letter and typed it into the computer. That was easy to do because Adrian had read the letter many times. She had written, "Dear Adrian, I told you that I have to move to London with my family. It has been very nice to know you, but I am afraid it is finished now. I know you will miss me, but please just remember the wonderful times we had, like a nice holiday. Goodbye and good luck, your friend, Gloria."

    Adrian waited for Interlin to show him on the computer screen what Gloria had been thinking when she wrote. Interlin said, "Dear Adrian, I have to move to London with my family. They think you are too old for me, and they do not want me to meet you anymore. I am very sorry. It was wonderful knowing you, but I am worried about trouble if we meet again. It is best if we try to forget each other."

Adrian read this message several times, and he thought, "So, it really is finished with Gloria. Ah well, at least it was not because I made a mistake, it was because of her parents." Then he copied the message to a new computer file which he called "Gloria." Adrian tried other letters with Interlin, to see what people really meant when they wrote them. He found a politician's speech in the newspaper, and typed that in. Interlin took a long time, and then it said, "This page is intentionally left blank." Adrian laughed, "I always thought that politicians just say words without meaning anything." 

Then he copied the staff letter from his company, and Interlin showed, "The pay rises are very small this year because the owners of the company want to take more money for themselves." Adrian was not surprised at that either. 

Next Adrian tried using Interlin again, and without thinking, he clicked on the "Gloria" file. Adrian could hardly believe his eyes when he read what the computer showed on the screen, "Adrian, I miss you so much. You are the mirror of my soul. I really hope we will be free to meet again someday."

Adrian was very excited and wondered what had happened. "First of all I typed in her letter," he thought, "and Interlin read between the lines to show me what she was thinking as she wrote it. Then I used Interlin with what she was thinking. This last message must have "read between the lines" of what she was thinking, and shows the real feelings of her heart when she wrote to me !" Adrian hoped this would help him meet Gloria again. Then Adrian wondered what would happen if he ran that last message on Interlin. He thought, "Perhaps it will show me something she knows, but which she has promised never to tell me. Let's try." He quickly copied the last message to a new file which he called "GloriaHeart", and then he used Interlin with GloriaHeart. He was rather disappointed when there was no text on the computer screen. simply a few numbers. Then Adrian realised that the numbers were for a London telephone ....