Diamond Age or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

"Slightly taller than average, flashing green eyes, raven hair falling in luxuriant waves to my waist unless I pin it up to emphasize my high cheekbones and full lips. Narrow waist, pert breasts, long legs, alabaster skin that flushes vividly when I am passionate about something, which is frequently."

"Your description is reminiscent of my late wife, God rest her soul."

"Tell me about your wife."

"The subject fills me with such unutterable sadness that I cannot bear to write about it. Now, let's buckle down to work on the Turing machine."

Since the prurient approach had dead-ended, Nell tried a different tack: playing stupid. Sooner or later, the Duke would become a little testy. But he was always terribly patient with her, even after the twentieth repetition of "Could you explain it again with different words? I still don't get it." Of course, for all she knew, he was upstairs punching the walls until his knuckles were bloody and simply pretending to be patient with her. A man who'd been locked up in a tower for years would learn to be extremely patient.

She tried sending him poetry. He sent back glowing reviews but declined to send her any of his own, saying it wasn't good enough to be committed to metal.

On her twentieth day in the dungeon, Princess Nell finally got the lock open. Rather than making an immediate escape, she locked herself back in and sat down to ponder her next move.

If the Duke was human, she should notify him so that they could plan their escape. If he was a machine, doing so would lead to disaster. She had to figure out the Duke's identity before she made another move.She sent him another poem.

For the Greek's love she gave away her heart

Her father, crown and homeland.

They stopped to rest on Naxos

She woke up alone upon the strand

The sails of her lover's ship descending

Round the slow curve of the earth. Ariadne

Fell into a swoon on the churned sand

And dreamed of home. Minos did not forgive her

And holding diamonds in the pouches of his eyes

Had her flung into the Labyrinth.

She was alone this time. Through a wilderness

Of blackness wandered Ariadne many days

Until she tripped on the memory.

It was still wound all through the place.

She spun it round her fingers

Lifted it from the floor

Knotted it into lace

Erased it.

The lace made a gift for him who had imprisoned her.

Blind with tears, he read it with his fingers

And opened his arms.

The answer came back much too quickly, and it was the same answer as always: "I do so envy your skill with words. Now, if you do not object, let us turn our attention to the inner workings of the Turing machine."

She had made it as obvious as she dared, and the Duke still hadn't gotten the message. He must be a machine.

Why the deception?

Clearly, the mechanical Duke desired for her to learn about the Turing machines. That is, if a machine could ever be said to desire something.

There must be something wrong with the Duke's programming. He knew there was something wrong with it, and he needed a human to fix it.

Once Nell had figured these things out, the rest of the Castle Turing story resolved itself quickly and neatly. She slipped out of her cell and stealthily explored the castle. The soldiers rarely noticed her, and when they did, they could not improvise; they had to go back to the Duke to be reprogrammed. Eventually, Princess Nell found her way into a room beneath the windmill that contained a sort of clutch mechanism. By disengaging the clutch, she was able to stop the Shaft. Within a few hours, the springs inside the soldiers' back had all run down, and they had all stopped in their tracks. The whole castle was frozen, as if she had cast an enchantment over it.

Now roaming freely, she opened up the Duke's throne and found a Turing machine beneath it. On either side of the machine was a narrow hole descending straight through the floor and into the earth for as far as her torch light could illuminate it. The chain containing the Duke's program dangled on either side into these holes. Nell tried throwing stones into the holes and never heard them hit bottom; the chain must be unfathomably long.