Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things by Carlos Bueno Read Free Book Online Page A

longer than that, moving her finger over the page . . .” Laurie
cleared her throat and spoke to Jane. “Is the password, um, About?”
    “A . . . B . . . O . . . No.”
    “See?” she whispered.
    “Okay, but what does it mean?”
    “Maybe it means the real password starts with AB! So if we keep guessing AB words . .
.”
    Letter by letter they cracked Rustic’s password. It was difficult for Laurie to think of
words that started with the right letters. She did not know many of the words Xor told her to try,
but he swore they were real, on the honor of Thesauruses everywhere. She knew they were getting
warmer because Jane would take longer and longer to say no.
    “Abend!”
    “A . . . B . . . E . . . No,” Jane replied.
    “Abdicate!”
    “A . . . B . . . D . . . No.”
    “Abrogate!”
    “A . . . B . . . R . . . O . . . No.”
    “It starts with ABR!” Laurie whispered to Xor. “Abrupt!”
    “A . . . B . . . R . . . U . . . No.”
    “Abraid!”
    “A . . . B . . . R . . . A . . . I . . . No.”
    “We’re getting close,” Xor said in her ear. “What starts with
ABRA?”
    “Abracadabra?” Laurie said out loud.
    “A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A!” said Jane. “That’s the password, right as
rain. Welcome to Probability!”

Chapter 11. A Fair Exchange

    The first thing Laurie tried to do in Probability was buy a muffin, but her strange money
wasn’t any good. Nobody wanted her “Quarter Dollars.” Nobody wanted any
algorithms, either.
    “Message for you!” A red daemon carrying a mailbag appeared out of nowhere on the
street.
    “For me?” Laurie said.
    “You don’t see me talking to anyone else, do you?”
    The daemon handed Laurie an envelope and walked away, and once the note was out of the
envelope, Xor made short work of the gibberish in Colonel Trapp’s latest message. This one was
shorter and more useful than the last.
    L AURIE, YOU CONTINUE TO SURPRISE ME . I WONDER IF A BANK CAN HELP WITH YOUR MONEY PROBLEMS . C OL . T RAPP
    After reading the Colonel’s suggestion, Laurie remembered a building she’d walked
past earlier: the Fair Coin Savings & Loan. She rushed back there and stepped inside to find it
looked just like banks back home.
    “Why are we at a bank?” asked Xor.
    “Because I’m getting hungry. It’s almost dinner time.”
    “Finally. But you can’t eat money!”
    “I can’t spend my money either, which means no food. Fair Coins are all anyone
takes around here!”
    Laurie walked up to the teller window and put everything money-like she had on the counter: a
few dollar bills, three quarters, a penny, a dime, and her lucky poker chip.
    “Excuse me, sir?”
    “Yes?” The teller was a tall, thin man with round glasses. A little card said his
name was Trent Escrow.
    “I’m from a foreign country and I want to know what these are worth.”
    “Hmm! I’ve never seen these coins before! And what are these fancy little pieces
of paper supposed to be?”
    “That’s money, too. One dollar,” Laurie said.
    “Money made of paper ,” Trent said. “How strange! They
are very pretty, but I’m sorry to say they are worthless here.”
    “Oh no, really? Why?”
    “You can’t flip a piece of paper fifty-fifty, now can you?
But these coins are remarkable,” he said, examining the poker chip carefully and flipping it a
few times.
    “Are they worth anything?”
    “Well, they look pretty balanced to me. But they aren’t certified Fair, so no one
will take them at face value.”
    “Tinker said the same thing, but I don’t understand,” said Laurie.
“Where I come from, you can flip quarters fifty-fifty, no problem.”
    “Ah, but one side might be a little different from the
other,” Trent said, “so it might not be exactly even.”
    “Really?”
    “Surely. The unfairness shows up better if you spin the coin instead of flipping it.
That’s how we test all of our Fair Coins.”
    “So my coins are worthless too?”
    “Not quite. I can give you an exchange rate: two of