The Dark Lady

any of the others?” I asked.
    “The courting of death is an inexact term, and hence calls for a subjective judgment that I am not qualified to make.”
    “Then I will need your input on how best to structure my questions,” I said. “The subject of the portraits you have been searching for is a woman known as the Dark Lady. Over the millennia she has appeared in the company of numerous men, and invariably she has been attracted to men who relish life-threatening situations. The last two men she visited were a bounty hunter and an outlaw. Is there any way to predict where she will appear next?”
    “There are several internal contradictions in your statement,” said the computer.
    “Please elaborate,” I replied.
    “ Lady is a term applied to human women. The longest-lived human woman on record died at age 156. You claim that the Dark Lady has been alive for many millennia. Either she is not a human being and hence not a lady, or else you are in error concerning her age.”
    “I do not believe that she is a normal human being,” I said.
    “No sentient, carbon-based, oxygen-breathing life form has a life span of several millennia.”
    “You must accept as a given that she exists, and that she is not an alien life form.”
    “This is contrary to my programming.”
    “Then consider her to be hypothetical,” I said. “ If this hypothetical woman exists, is there any way to predict where she will next appear?”
    “Even granting her existence for the purpose of this exercise, you still possess internal contradictions in your initial premise,” answered the computer. “There is no factual data proving that either bounty hunters or criminals relish life-threatening situations.”
    “I see.”
    “And since those terms imply entire classes, unlike the Dark Lady, which implies a specific individual, I cannot allow you to hypothesize that all bounty hunters and criminals relish life-threatening situations, for I possess data to the contrary.”
    “I understand,” I said. “If you will grant the Dark Lady's existence for the purpose of this hypothesis, can you recommend the most efficient means of predicting her next appearance?”
    “I possess insufficient data about the Dark Lady,” answered the computer.
    “May I give you more?”
    “Yes.”
    “The Dark Lady seems to be attracted to men— human males— who knowingly and voluntarily place themselves in life-threatening situations.” I paused for a moment, half-expecting the computer to interrupt with a reason why that statement was invalid, but it remained silent. “As a limiting factor, I believe that this would eliminate those military personnel and law enforcement officials, both paid and voluntary, who are thrust into battle on direct orders, as opposed to those who exceed the scope of their orders by performing acts of individual heroism.”
    “Contradiction,” announced the computer. “Acts of individual heroism are frequently committed in compliance with direct orders, such as a soldier who is told to hold a position in the face of overwhelming enemy strength without being told how.”
    “Thank you,” I said. “Please ignore my qualification.”
    “Registered.”
    “It is possible that she may be attracted to a military man,” I continued, trying to order my thoughts more carefully, “but since war is a series of brief engagements punctuated by nonengagements of indeterminate length, I believe that it is impossible to predict her appearance in a pitched battle, simply because the time and location of the battle is itself impossible to predict. I also believe that the same principle holds true in regard to law enforcement officials and any others who are charged with maintaining public safety.”
    “Agreed.”
    “Therefore, while she may indeed appear next in the company of a military man or a police officer or a bounty hunter, if we are to have any chance of predicting where she will eventually appear, we must look elsewhere.”
    I waited for the computer to tell me why I was mistaken, but it remained silent.
    “I therefore suggest that we search for a man who possesses a job that is neither military nor involved with public safety, but which nevertheless requires him to put himself in life-threatening situations on a regular basis.”
    “Contradiction. This eliminates from consideration all men who put themselves into life-threatening situations for some reason other than employment.”
    “That is a very interesting