11 ICU, ICU, and ICU2

CHAPTER ELEVEN ICU, ICU, AND ICU2 Franny had Igor lock on to a television satellite. She knew he could do it, because once Igor had locked himself in the lab and used it to make every TV in the world play Miss Wizzywozzle's Story Time. Because he loved the show, he wanted to make everybody else love it too.

Last month Franny had figured out how to get a return picture from other people's TVs. If she wanted to, she could simply type in your name and then watch you through your TV. She called it the ICU2, and she had quite a few laughs at people walking around in their underpants, but she had never thought of a really good use for it—until now. Franny revealed her plan to Igor.

"You just keep that satellite locked in position. The cameras will be on me inside the Frandidate skin," she said, pulling the skin on the rest of the way.

"The system is going to activate every TV in the country, and the ICU2 will send us a picture of the viewer. The Frandidate will sense what each person wants, and it will change its shape according to those feelings. All I'll need to say is something like 'vote Franny K. Stein for president.'" Igor looked a little uncomfortable. The Frandidate skin helped Franny sense Igor's concerns. "This is not like taking over the world," said Franny. "If the voters elect me as president, it's because they freely choose to

do so. It's not by force. I'm not making them do it. It's their choice." Igor nodded. That made sense. "And think of all the good I could do if I got elected." Igor nodded again.

"Now, look at this," she said. "The system will automatically measure the amount of success we're having, so we can look at this Support Meter and know second-by- second just how many voters we have on our side." Igor looked at the clock. "Don't worry about the timing. The Frandidate moves fast, and as it does more and more of this, my calculations say that it will get easier and easier for the skin to do its thing." Igor pointed at a second camera, which was aimed at the Frandidate from a different angle.