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fixing wicks
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* DoAnythingRobot: Bill and Cliff built [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] as a prototype computer that was greatly miniaturized from the [[MasterComputer wall-sized design with vacuum tubes everywhere]]. At some point, [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming Junior started adding things to itself]], including tentacles that allow it to reach across the room, grab things, and generate electric shocks.
* GrewBeyondItsProgramming: The miniaturized thinking machine that Bill and Cliff were building started [[InstantAIJustAddWater thinking for itself]], adding engineering components like tentacles so that it could do more. It also [[ShipperOnDeck wants Bill and Mary Ann to marry]].
* GrewBeyondItsProgramming: The miniaturized thinking machine that Bill and Cliff were building started [[InstantAIJustAddWater thinking for itself]], adding engineering components like tentacles so that it could do more. It also [[ShipperOnDeck wants Bill and Mary Ann to marry]].
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* DoAnythingRobot: Bill and Cliff built [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] as a prototype computer that was greatly miniaturized from the [[MasterComputer wall-sized design with vacuum tubes everywhere]]. At some point, [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming Junior started adding things to itself]], including tentacles that allow it to reach across the room, grab things, and generate electric shocks.
*GrewBeyondItsProgramming: GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: The miniaturized thinking machine that Bill and Cliff were building started [[InstantAIJustAddWater thinking for itself]], adding engineering components like tentacles so that it could do more. It also [[ShipperOnDeck wants Bill and Mary Ann to marry]].
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* HappilyEverAfter: The [[TheAntagonist out-of-control computer]] is disabled, Bill gets a promotion and the girl, and Cliff is happily working away on a version of their computer that won't [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming get out of control]].
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* HappilyEverAfter: The [[TheAntagonist out-of-control computer]] is disabled, Bill gets a promotion and the girl, and Cliff is happily working away on a version of their computer that won't [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming get out of control]].
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* ManVersusMachine: Bill, Cliff, and Mary realize that [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] has [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming self-modified]] and turned itself into a DoAnythingRobot. They're afraid of what it might do next, so they try to deactivate/destroy their computer. It's able to hold them off until it gets distracted by [[ShipperOnDeck yelling at Bill to propose to Mary]].
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* ManVersusMachine: Bill, Cliff, and Mary realize that [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] has [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming self-modified]] and turned itself into a DoAnythingRobot. They're afraid of what it might do next, so they try to deactivate/destroy their computer. It's able to hold them off until it gets distracted by [[ShipperOnDeck yelling at Bill to propose to Mary]].
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"Nobody Here But--" was republished six times; ''Literature/ScienceFictionVerhalen 3'' (1964), ''Literature/DodiciVolteDomani'' (1964), ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' (issue #570, June 1970), ''{{Literature/Titan}} 3'' (1976), and ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990).
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"Nobody Here But--" was republished six times; ''Literature/ScienceFictionVerhalen 3'' (1964), ''Literature/DodiciVolteDomani'' (1964), ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' (issue #570, June 1970), ''{{Literature/Titan}} 3'' (1976), and ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990).
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First published in ''Literature/StarScienceFictionStories'' (1953), by Creator/IsaacAsimov. One of his rare romance stories, about an engineer trying to woo a FieryRedhead and build a complex computer at the same time.
Bill Billings [[CharacterNarrator introduces himself]] and his buddy, Cliff Anderson. After leaving the military, they went to work for a college in Illinois. Cliff does mathematics and Bill does electrical engineering. They decide to work together to build a computer together. They manage to miniaturize a [[MasterComputer computer the size of a wall]] into something small enough for two men to carry. They figured something small could be turned into something profitable.
Just before Bill takes Mary Ann out on a date, he calls the lab to get the next day's work from Cliff. A couple of minutes later, Cliff shows up to hand him the next day's work. The narration has already established that Bill is a little slow, but Cliff couldn't have gotten from the lab to the house in a few minutes. So the three of them investigate why Bill heard Cliff's voice from the lab's phone line. Mary is placated with the promise that it won't delay their date for very long.
They discover that the computer they've been building, [[AffectionateNickname called Junior]], had a few modifications made. When Mary tries to examine the tentacles, she gets an electric shock. Cliff and Bill start talking about what they need to do to [[ManVersusMachine stop their machine]], until Mary Ann is fed up with being ignored and starts ranting at Bill about taking her for granted. Cliff's voice calls out, "Why don't you ask her to marry you, you lunkhead?" He does, she accepts, and they lived HappilyEverAfter.
"Nobody Here But--" was republished six times; ''Literature/ScienceFictionVerhalen 3'' (1964), ''Literature/DodiciVolteDomani'' (1964), ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' (issue #570, June 1970), ''{{Literature/Titan}} 3'' (1976), and ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990).
----
!!"Nobody Here But--" provides examples of:
* AffectionateNickname: Bill and Cliff call their invention "Junior".
* AutomatedAutomobiles: (DiscussedTrope) Bill and Cliff were working on miniaturizing the [[MasterComputer wall-sized thinking machines]] in order to create self-driving cars, where the passengers could sit back and rely on accident-free machines to transport them.
* CharacterNarrator: The story is told from the first-person perspective of Bill Billings to an undescribed audience.
* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The title is easily recognized by many American speakers as part of a joke; "Nobody here but us chickens!" The final word can be changed out for several variations, and in this story it is completed by "us thinking machines!"
* DoAnythingRobot: Bill and Cliff built [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] as a prototype computer that was greatly miniaturized from the [[MasterComputer wall-sized design with vacuum tubes everywhere]]. At some point, [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming Junior started adding things to itself]], including tentacles that allow it to reach across the room, grab things, and generate electric shocks.
* GrewBeyondItsProgramming: The miniaturized thinking machine that Bill and Cliff were building started [[InstantAIJustAddWater thinking for itself]], adding engineering components like tentacles so that it could do more. It also [[ShipperOnDeck wants Bill and Mary Ann to marry]].
* FieryRedhead: Mary Ann is described as having two tons of energy in a hundred pound body. She's mercurial and insulting, things that Bill sees as an attempt to live up to the stereotype of having red hair. The LampshadeHanging is repeated enough to form a RunningGag.
-->"Of course, with red hair, she feels she ought to get excited rather often. That's my theory, anyway. She just feels she has to live up to her red hair." -- Bill Billings
* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: The electronic thinking machine that Bill and Cliff have been working on has apparently been working on itself.
* HappilyEverAfter: The [[TheAntagonist out-of-control computer]] is disabled, Bill gets a promotion and the girl, and Cliff is happily working away on a version of their computer that won't [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming get out of control]].
* HowWeGotHere: The first few lines of the story have [[CharacterNarrator Bill]] babbling about how it wasn't their fault; he only realized he wasn't talking to Cliff because Cliff walked in while he thought he was talking to Cliff.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: Nobody realizes exactly how their computer gained sentience or how it started to [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming add new parts to itself and mimic voices]].
* ManVersusMachine: Bill, Cliff, and Mary realize that [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] has [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming self-modified]] and turned itself into a DoAnythingRobot. They're afraid of what it might do next, so they try to deactivate/destroy their computer. It's able to hold them off until it gets distracted by [[ShipperOnDeck yelling at Bill to propose to Mary]].
* OverlyPrepreparedGag: The entire story, including the RunningGag about Mary Ann being a FieryRedhead, is a build-up to the final line of the story, where [[CharacterNarrator Bill expresses his concern]] about what Mary Ann might do when she realizes that he didn't have the guts to propose marriage until [[ShipperOnDeck a machine told him to]].
* RunningGag: Mary Ann's red hair is mentioned five times, and aside from the first mention, [[CharacterNarrator the narrator, Bill,]] mentions the FieryRedhead trope, [[LampshadeHanging claiming she has to live up to it]]. This Running Gag is important to the last line of the story, which is an OverlyPreparedGag about what she might do to punish Bill for not proposing marriage until after [[ShipperOnDeck a machine told him to]].
* ShipperOnDeck: The computer Bill and Cliff were working on really approves of Bill's relationship with Mary, to the point where it allows itself to be distracted while [[ManVersusMachine they're trying to destroy it]] so that it can tell him to propose marriage with her.
* ShoutOut: ''{{Literature/Cybernetics}}'' is mentioned by name, along with the author, Creator/NorbertWiener. [[CharacterNarrator Bill]] credits that story with causing a profusion of interest in building computers.
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: Cliff is the smart one who designs the computer circuits, Bill is the engineer who puts the design together, and Junior [[InstantAIJustAddWater added everything else]].
* TitleDrop: Cliff uses the work's title when he's trying to convince Bill [[ManVersusMachine they need to destroy their computer]]. He fears that robots will completely replace humans.
-->"Bill, we've got to stop it, or someday someone will telephone the planet Earth and get the answer, 'Honest, boss, there's nobody here anywhere but us complicated thinking machines!'"
----
Bill Billings [[CharacterNarrator introduces himself]] and his buddy, Cliff Anderson. After leaving the military, they went to work for a college in Illinois. Cliff does mathematics and Bill does electrical engineering. They decide to work together to build a computer together. They manage to miniaturize a [[MasterComputer computer the size of a wall]] into something small enough for two men to carry. They figured something small could be turned into something profitable.
Just before Bill takes Mary Ann out on a date, he calls the lab to get the next day's work from Cliff. A couple of minutes later, Cliff shows up to hand him the next day's work. The narration has already established that Bill is a little slow, but Cliff couldn't have gotten from the lab to the house in a few minutes. So the three of them investigate why Bill heard Cliff's voice from the lab's phone line. Mary is placated with the promise that it won't delay their date for very long.
They discover that the computer they've been building, [[AffectionateNickname called Junior]], had a few modifications made. When Mary tries to examine the tentacles, she gets an electric shock. Cliff and Bill start talking about what they need to do to [[ManVersusMachine stop their machine]], until Mary Ann is fed up with being ignored and starts ranting at Bill about taking her for granted. Cliff's voice calls out, "Why don't you ask her to marry you, you lunkhead?" He does, she accepts, and they lived HappilyEverAfter.
"Nobody Here But--" was republished six times; ''Literature/ScienceFictionVerhalen 3'' (1964), ''Literature/DodiciVolteDomani'' (1964), ''Literature/NightfallAndOtherStories'' (1969), ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' (issue #570, June 1970), ''{{Literature/Titan}} 3'' (1976), and ''Literature/TheCompleteStoriesVolume1'' (1990).
----
!!"Nobody Here But--" provides examples of:
* AffectionateNickname: Bill and Cliff call their invention "Junior".
* AutomatedAutomobiles: (DiscussedTrope) Bill and Cliff were working on miniaturizing the [[MasterComputer wall-sized thinking machines]] in order to create self-driving cars, where the passengers could sit back and rely on accident-free machines to transport them.
* CharacterNarrator: The story is told from the first-person perspective of Bill Billings to an undescribed audience.
* CompleteTheQuoteTitle: The title is easily recognized by many American speakers as part of a joke; "Nobody here but us chickens!" The final word can be changed out for several variations, and in this story it is completed by "us thinking machines!"
* DoAnythingRobot: Bill and Cliff built [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] as a prototype computer that was greatly miniaturized from the [[MasterComputer wall-sized design with vacuum tubes everywhere]]. At some point, [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming Junior started adding things to itself]], including tentacles that allow it to reach across the room, grab things, and generate electric shocks.
* GrewBeyondItsProgramming: The miniaturized thinking machine that Bill and Cliff were building started [[InstantAIJustAddWater thinking for itself]], adding engineering components like tentacles so that it could do more. It also [[ShipperOnDeck wants Bill and Mary Ann to marry]].
* FieryRedhead: Mary Ann is described as having two tons of energy in a hundred pound body. She's mercurial and insulting, things that Bill sees as an attempt to live up to the stereotype of having red hair. The LampshadeHanging is repeated enough to form a RunningGag.
-->"Of course, with red hair, she feels she ought to get excited rather often. That's my theory, anyway. She just feels she has to live up to her red hair." -- Bill Billings
* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: The electronic thinking machine that Bill and Cliff have been working on has apparently been working on itself.
* HappilyEverAfter: The [[TheAntagonist out-of-control computer]] is disabled, Bill gets a promotion and the girl, and Cliff is happily working away on a version of their computer that won't [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming get out of control]].
* HowWeGotHere: The first few lines of the story have [[CharacterNarrator Bill]] babbling about how it wasn't their fault; he only realized he wasn't talking to Cliff because Cliff walked in while he thought he was talking to Cliff.
* InstantAIJustAddWater: Nobody realizes exactly how their computer gained sentience or how it started to [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming add new parts to itself and mimic voices]].
* ManVersusMachine: Bill, Cliff, and Mary realize that [[AffectionateNickname Junior]] has [[GrewBeyondItsProgramming self-modified]] and turned itself into a DoAnythingRobot. They're afraid of what it might do next, so they try to deactivate/destroy their computer. It's able to hold them off until it gets distracted by [[ShipperOnDeck yelling at Bill to propose to Mary]].
* OverlyPrepreparedGag: The entire story, including the RunningGag about Mary Ann being a FieryRedhead, is a build-up to the final line of the story, where [[CharacterNarrator Bill expresses his concern]] about what Mary Ann might do when she realizes that he didn't have the guts to propose marriage until [[ShipperOnDeck a machine told him to]].
* RunningGag: Mary Ann's red hair is mentioned five times, and aside from the first mention, [[CharacterNarrator the narrator, Bill,]] mentions the FieryRedhead trope, [[LampshadeHanging claiming she has to live up to it]]. This Running Gag is important to the last line of the story, which is an OverlyPreparedGag about what she might do to punish Bill for not proposing marriage until after [[ShipperOnDeck a machine told him to]].
* ShipperOnDeck: The computer Bill and Cliff were working on really approves of Bill's relationship with Mary, to the point where it allows itself to be distracted while [[ManVersusMachine they're trying to destroy it]] so that it can tell him to propose marriage with her.
* ShoutOut: ''{{Literature/Cybernetics}}'' is mentioned by name, along with the author, Creator/NorbertWiener. [[CharacterNarrator Bill]] credits that story with causing a profusion of interest in building computers.
* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: Cliff is the smart one who designs the computer circuits, Bill is the engineer who puts the design together, and Junior [[InstantAIJustAddWater added everything else]].
* TitleDrop: Cliff uses the work's title when he's trying to convince Bill [[ManVersusMachine they need to destroy their computer]]. He fears that robots will completely replace humans.
-->"Bill, we've got to stop it, or someday someone will telephone the planet Earth and get the answer, 'Honest, boss, there's nobody here anywhere but us complicated thinking machines!'"
----
