The Project Gutenberg eBook of Test Problem, by Alan J. Ramm.

When he came to the head of the examination corridor, Jeremy glanced briefly at the slip of paper in his hand. Room 16B. He strode unhesitatingly down the long hall; his long legs carrying him along swiftly. After six years at the University, he knew the exact location of the tiny testing cubicle which had been assigned to him for his final exam in Advanced Deliberation And Memory.

He hesitated a moment before the door of 16B, shook his head as if in defiance, then entered the room. He was in for a tough time and he knew it. The classes he had cut were sure to affect his chances of passing the test and he needed the course credits for graduation.

Taking the course record card from his pocket, he slipped it into the machine that would automatically record his mark at the close of the test.

Then he settled his long frame into the seat placed conveniently in front of the panels of dials and the computing machines which filled one entire side of the room. Checking to make sure that everything he might need was in place, he reached out and snapped the switch marked—INSTRUCTIONS.

"You are ready, Student Hovah?" The voice came gently from a hidden loudspeaker.

"Then listen to your orders. You have been alloted sector 2645 of space in parsec three.

"In the next ten minutes we shall transmit a detailed study of a star system to you. Using only the raw materials of space and the mental techniques taught you in your studies, you will reproduce a reasonable facsimile of the system in the space sector you have been assigned. Have you any questions?"

"It must be reasonably correct as to physical makeup. All life forms must also be reproduced."

For the next ten minutes he sat tensed in his chair as the impulses from the psychoscope washed through his mind and body. He gradually absorbed a three dimensional mental picture of the system he was to reproduce. When the image faded, he relaxed a moment, then laid his fingers on the keyboard and went to work.

Gradually his confidence grew. Under the direction of his flashing fingers, the energy machines created a warp in the space of his sector. At exactly the correct moment he adjusted the wavelength of his Thought Augmentor until it matched the thought matrix of his own mind. The full impact of his tremendous mental abilities jolted into the space warp. And as the sweat of concentration gathered on his forehead, he hopefully watched the viewing screen on one of the panels before him. At first there was only a mere flicker in the center of the warp. Then swiftly, so swiftly that he barely had time to lower his eyes protectively, the entire screen flared into the light of raw uncontained energy.

Once more Jeremy's fingers worked feverishly and constricting force beams slowly brought the chaos under control. At last there gleamed on his screen the steady glare of a hot new sun.

Now that he had the sun material to draw upon, he easily reconstructed the entire system he had been assigned. By setting up stresses and strains within the star he caused huge chunks to spin off and take up orbits about it.

The problem so engrossed him that he scarcely noticed the passage of time. Periodically he would get hungry or thirsty. It was a simple matter to press the proper buttons and hurriedly gulp the foods that appeared. Whenever he tired mentally, he tilted his chair to a comfortable position and slept.

And as the days passed, the facsimile took shape under his genius. Each separate world became a duplicate of its original. Mountains were born; the seas dashed at first against shores that were bare and bleak; then the magic of plant life on all the varied worlds assumed a rainbow of colors. The ooze of the oceans began to crawl. On land and in the air animals appeared.

At last, through fatigue-rimmed eyes, he looked at what he had created and it was good. With a smile on his lips he relaxed. Although he reached out to cut off the power to his Thought Augmentor, he didn't quite reach the switch before he fell into a restless sleep. He tossed and turned, twitched and dreamed.

When he awoke, he noticed that the power was still on. He quickly turned it off. A hurried, searching glance at the screen assured him. The facsimile was still good. Then he pressed the switch marked—INSTRUCTIONS.

Suddenly a gasp burst from the loudspeaker. "What is this? There is no creature such as this on any of the original worlds assigned to you. Explain please."

Jeremy tuned in on the thought and sight wave of the Instructor. Before him was a creature that he could not remember creating.

"But it must be yours. The entire facsimile is tuned to your wavelength. We have checked. Only you could have brought it into being; only you can destroy it. You know it is against the rules to increase the number of species in Creation. Destroy it!"

Jeremy looked at the creature so comfortably asleep against a tree and he felt pity and compassion and love for it.

"I cannot, Instructor. I do not know how it got there, unless it is a product of my dreams. Once I forgot to shut off the power while I slept."

"No it belongs there now. And it looks lonely." Without warning he snapped on his Augmentor and before the Instructor could interfere, there appeared on the grass beside the creature another of the same species.

"Now you've done it," the Instructor screamed. "It can reproduce its kind." His voice grew coldly stern. "You have created an unreasonable facsimile. You know what that means."

Mutely Jeremy got up from his chair. Automatically he reached for his course record card in Advanced Deliberation And Memory. To save space on it all courses were listed by the first letters of the course name. A glance verified the Instructor's verdict:

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TEST PROBLEM

By Alan J. Ramm