Let the Great World Spin

It is before dawn in California, where four computer programmers are hacking the public telephone network in New York. Sam Peters, otherwise known as “The Kid,” explains that Compton—another programmer—got a message on the ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, an early precursor to the Internet) about a man walking a tightrope between the Twin Towers. The programmers—The Kid, Compton, Dennis, and Gareth—have placed bets on whether or not the tightrope walker will fall, and now they are calling payphones in the vicinity and trying to convince strangers to narrate the event in order to settle the bet.

The programmers speak to four people in New York before finally reaching someone who doesn’t hang up on them. Compton speaks to the man through a microphone, asking him questions about the tightrope walker. The conversation is full of stops and starts and misunderstandings as the man—whose name is José—tries to understand who he is talking to and why they are calling. He tells them only basic information, and the group becomes frustrated with his unobservant manner. Nonetheless, José tells them small details about the walk, narrating as the tightrope walker hops from foot to foot and lies down on the wire.

Frustrated with José, Compton asks him to hand the phone to somebody else. Now somebody with a deep voice comes onto the line and tells the programmers that the tightrope walker has fallen. “He splattered all over the place,” he says. Compton begins to suspect that José is tricking them by using a false voice. He accuses him of this, and soon the line goes dead. Compton, who bet that the tightrope walker would survive, declares that he is not paying his debt until they hear from another source. Dennis, who is the owner of the programming company for which the others work, says that they should get back to work—they are working on a project for the United States Pentagon.

Ignoring Dennis’s idea to keep working, the programmers call the New York payphones again. Each of them tries to find an open line. The Kid is the first to get one, and a woman’s voice answers. She proves much better at explaining the scene than José. She tells them that the tightrope walker has walked back and forth six or seven times. She says that there are helicopters and that they’re getting extremely close to him—she worries they’ll blow him off the wire. Then she explains that the walker is waving to the crowd, his balancing pole resting on his lifted knee.

The Kid, who is known for almost never speaking, is intrigued by this woman and begins asking her questions. She tells him that her name is Sable Senatore and that she works in a research library near the World Trade Center. Meanwhile, the other programmers silently mock The Kid for having an obvious crush on this strange faraway woman. In the middle of their conversation, Sable explains that the tightrope walker has finished, that he has walked off onto the other side, greeted by a swarm of police officers.

Before she hangs up, The Kid asks if Sable is married. She laughs, tells him she has to go, and hangs up. The Kid sits in disappointment as his coworkers berate him, making fun of his eagerness. Then Dennis tries to get everyone back on track, suggesting they start working again, but nobody wants to stay. They’ve been up all night, and Compton says he’s going home. Nonetheless, The Kid opens the program he was working on and looks over at Dennis, who is already at his own console. The program hums and clicks, and The Kid immerses himself in writing code, feeling high off the idea that he can forget everything, that there are no limits to where he can go on the computer.