Robot City - Perihelion Part 2

The chemfets were microscopic circuit boards with biosensors that interfaced his body. These tiny circuit boards were capable of preprogrammed growth and replication, and apparently Dr. Avery had programmed them. He had also planted a monitor in Derec's brain that told him what they were and what was happening now: a tiny Robot City was growing inside his body.

Derec had no idea why Avery had done this to him, but the monitor had made one fact clear: the number of chemfets was growing, and some of them were joining together to grow larger. They were already interfering with his ability to coordinate his movements normally, and they were going to kill him from the inside-paralyze him, he suspected-if he didn't get rid of them.

Only Dr. Avery could do that. Derec had no idea how he could convince the man to do so.

Derec woke up spontaneously, looking at a plain ceiling of light gray. For a moment, he was completely disoriented. Then, remembering he was back in Avery's office, he sat up with a start of near-panic and looked around.

Ariel was sitting at the desk. She flinched in response to his movement and looked at him. Her expression was at first blank, then relaxed to a shy smile.

"Ariel! How are you feeling?" Derec smiled in embarra.s.sment himself at his sudden awakening, and ran a hand through his hair to brush it out of his eyes.

"I feel all right. I just...get confused sometimes." Her voice was apologetic.

Derec swung his feet over the edge of the bed and looked around. Mandelbrot had found a way to opaque the walls, which were the same light gray as the ceiling, and now stood motionless with his back to Derec. Wolruf was awake, sitting quietly in the chair where she had been when he had gone to sleep.

"How are you?" Ariel asked. "I'm able to get several decent dishes out of the chemical processor, by the way. My memory was a little weak, but I learned some of it from scratch. Wolruf and I have eaten. Some of it is waiting for you."

"Thanks. I'm okay," said Derec. He had benefited a great deal from the sleep. "A quick trip to the Personal and I'll be fine."

A moment later, he was standing in the cramped shower stall, letting steaming water ma.s.sage his scalp with needle spray and run down his back. He stood with his head down, eyes closed. The heat made him feel better, telling him just how poorly he really felt. It was loosening kinks in his neck that he had never had before.

They were all refreshed as though it were morning, which it could not be. Their biological clocks would adjust soon enough.

He forced himself to leave the shower and dress again. If at all possible, he would disguise his ailments from his companions. Ariel and Wolruf were counting on his knowledge of Robot City to keep them safe and he would have to do that somehow until they located Dr. Avery. If Mandelbrot knew how fast the chemfets were interfering with his health, the robot just might have to turn him and Ariel over to the medical robots of Robot City under the First Law. That would play right into Dr. Avery's hands.

He left the Personal and forced a cheerful smile.

"I've been reading up in the city computer," said Ariel, nodding toward the terminal. "In particular, anything that we were involved in before."

"Really? What have you found?"

"Did you know that our visits to the Key Center are recorded here? And this whole episode with Jeff Leong, the cyborg, when he was running amok?"

"Were there any reviews of Hamlet?" Derec grinned.

"Not that I noticed." She seemed to miss the joke. "Oh, and of course the mystery of that wild, automatic shapechanging mode in the city, and how you stopped it."

"I guess I hadn't thought about being in the records much," said Derec. "I'm not surprised, though." He thought a moment, watching the cursor blink on the screen. "What is different from when we were here before is being able to get all the information you ask for. Have you been able to do that?"

"Yes...." She looked at him thoughtfully. "I do remember, now...you had trouble getting your terminal to respond at times."

Derec nodded. "There were blocks on other terminals, all right. This terminal had no blocks, like I said last night. Still, that just refers to the ones Avery deliberately installed in the rest of the system. The problem with the city computer before was that so much information had entered during the fast pace of the shapechanging mode. It was all in the computer somewhere, but the information wasn't really organized anymore."

"If you want to see what you can do here...." Ariel started to get up and move away from the desk.

"No, not yet." Derec tasted a bit of leftover breakfast and nodded appreciatively. "Mandelbrot, have you found any blocks in the city computer yet?"

"No." The robot's voice was low in both pitch and volume.

Derec and Ariel both looked at him in surprise. Wolruf also studied his impa.s.sive face.

"Mandelbrot?" Derec said. "Come to think of it, you've been quiet since I woke up. What's wrong?"

"I have been unable to resolve the First Law contradiction I described to you last night. I am only functional now because I do not have complete information on which to base my judgments."

Ariel looked back and forth between them. "What contradiction? Was that after I...fainted?"

"Yes," said Derec, ignoring a tightening in his stomach. "Go on, Mandelbrot. Can I give you instructions or explanations that will make a difference?"

"I do not see how. Ariel's condition is a serious matter. The robots at the Human Medical Facility here demonstrated a potential that I must logically consider."

"Dr. Avery is crazy. If he gets us in his power, that may threaten her life-all of ours."

"It is possible, but so far his greatest interest has been in you. The possible harm to her from Dr. Avery is not greater than the clear harm that inaction may bring about."

"Are you approaching some kind of conclusion about this?" Derec asked.

"Conclusion!" Ariel cried. "How can you just sit calmly and talk about conclusions? This isn't a philosophy cla.s.s! He's talking about turning us in to the enemy!"

CHAPTER 3.

RELAPSES.

Derec was quivering with tension, but he forced himself to stay clear-headed. "Mandelbrot?"

"I am finding it difficult to concentrate. I am dwelling on this problem and going in circles. If I enter a closed loop on the First Law, I will be useless to you."

"Now listen to me! Before you go into any kind of closed loop, uh-okay, I've got it. Listen." Derec was talking fast, really before he had more to say. "Urn...."

"I am listening," said Mandelbrot.

"Maybe 'u have more information to give 'irn," Wolruf suggested. She got down from the chair and stood in front of Mandelbrot, straining her neck to look up at him.

"Yes! That's it," said Derec. "Mandelbrot, we're working with limited information on Ariel. The process she went through was experimental, but I think it worked. I reprogrammed her memory myself. We have to give it a chance."

"People will have relapses," Ariel pointed out, in a tightly controlled tone. She was gripping the edge of the desk so hard that her fingertips were white.

"These appear to be similar to a mechanical malfunction," said Mandelbrot. "Certainly medical care is a logical and customary treatment to facilitate healing."

"No!" Ariel wailed. "People don't just fall apart in a straight line like machines. I may be just fine." Her voice broke at the end, and she blinked back tears, turning away from Mandelbrot.

"I understand," said Mandelbrot. "Inaction may not necessarily cause further harm to you."

"Exactly." Derec let out a long sigh of relief and caught Wolruf's eyes. She made a face that might have been her version of a wink and then hopped back up on the chair.

"Maybe we can build on that and find out something at the same time," said Derec. "Mandelbrot, I want to see if your attempts to get information through the city computer are blocked. That will tell us just how special this terminal is. Can you concentrate now on a function of that kind?" Distracting him wouldn't hurt at the moment.

"Yes, Derec. I judge that the apparent First Law contradiction is still incomplete. The potential loop will close no further unless I receive more evidence that inaction could cause harm."

"Good." Derec sat down on the edge of the desk. "Now, last night we found out that the computer would not admit the existence of this office to you. I want to know if that has changed. I ordered it to block all information about our presence here. See if you can call up any hint of our using the facilities here."

"I am trying several avenues," said Mandelbrot. His voice was returning to normal. "I'm asking for information about intruders, humans, and energy consumption or oxygen usage in the Compa.s.s Tower."

"What do you get?"

"All is as you instructed," he answered promptly. "I am told that the office is not listed anywhere. Nor are the water or nutrient tanks in the chemical processor listed. No alerts of any kind have been entered since our arrival."

"Good!" Derec grinned. "So we really are safe here. Our next problem is to get a line on Avery. Ariel, may I?" He slid off the desk and nodded toward the terminal.

"Of course." She rose carefully, leaning her fingertips on the desk as though she was worried about her balance.

"Derec," said Mandelbrot. "I suggest that we attempt parallel work with the city computer. The result should confirm or disprove your suspicions."

"Good idea. I'll enter questions and tell you what I'm doing." Derec seated himself comfortably and started on the keyboard. "All right. How many humans are on the planet of Robot City right now?"

"I learn none," said Mandelbrot.

"Ha! I've got one," said Derec triumphantly. "Where is this human at the present time?"

"SEATED BEFORE THIS TERMINAL," said the terminal.

Derec smiled wryly despite his disappointment. "Serves me right," he muttered. "Wait a minute-" He typed in the question, "How do you know I'm human and not a robot?"

"THE CONSUMPTION OF NUTRIENTS FROM THE CHEMICAL PROCESSOR, USE OF WATER IN THE PERSONAL, AND CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE AIR IN THE OFFICE INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF AT LEAST ONE HUMAN. THE PROBABILITY OF THE PRESENCE OF MORE THAN ONE HUMAN BASED ON THE AMOUNT OF HEAT GENERATED IN THE ROOM IS HIGH. COMBINING THIS FACT WITH THE ABILITY OF ROBOTS TO CONTACT THE CITY COMPUTER DIRECTLY THROUGH THEIR COMLINKS INDICATES THE PROBABILITY THAT YOU ARE HUMAN.".

Derec felt a twinge of panic. "So the use of this office has been recorded in the computer, after all?" His fingers fumbled on the keys, and he had to retype the question twice.

"NO.".

"Explain your knowledge of this information, then."

"INFORMATION FROM THIS OFFICE IS STORED IN LOCAL MEMORY AT THIS TERMINAL. IT HAS NOT BEEN SENT TO THE CITY CENTRAL COMPUTER, PER YOUR INSTRUCTION.".

"Is the information in your local memory available to anyone else, anywhere?"

"NEGATIVE.".

Derec relaxed then, rubbing his fingertips against each other. At some point, he would no longer be able to use the keys. Someone else could handle the keyboard if necessary, but that would mean admitting his disability.

"What's wrong?" Ariel asked.

"False alarm." Derec placed his fingers back on the keyboard and thought a moment. Then he entered, "What other locations indicate similar evidence of human presence on this planet?"

"NONE.".

"I'm not surprised." He looked at the others. "Wherever our paranoid friend is hiding, he had the presence of mind to keep that information unavailable, even here."

"Maybe especially here," said Ariel, "if he was expecting us to search this office."

"Maybe 'e lefft," suggested Wolruf. "Used a Key to leave the planet entirrely."

"Oh, no." Ariel looked from her to Derec. "You don't think he left Robot City, do you? How can we find him then?"

Derec set his jaw grimly. "Wherever he is, we have to pick up his trail here."

"But if he has kept all the information out of the computer, we won't have any to find." Ariel's voice was cracking again.

Wolruf moved to her side in a silent offer of moral support.

"Mandelbrot," said Derec. "Find out if any humans have been treated at that medical facility. If you can think of any more avenues for reaching evidence of humans on the planet, go ahead and follow them. And if you don't get any results, let me try."

"Yes, Derec."

Derec put his hands on the keyboard again and missed the first two keys he tried. "Wait a minute. We can shortcut this. Mandelbrot, you sit down at this terminal and use it." He got up carefully, looking at Ariel and Mandelbrot to see if they had noticed his mistakes on the keyboard. If so, they did not show it.

Wolruf was eyeing him closely, but she said nothing. Instead, she left Ariel's side and took a position where she could watch the screen as Mandelbrot worked on it.

"Mandelbrot," said Derec, "turn on the viewscreens." He turned to face one wall, hands on hips.

A moment later, the little office was flooded with light. On all sides, Robot City bustled on the ground far below them, stretching away until it vanished over the horizon. Above them, the sky shone down with brilliant sunlight.

Ariel turned slowly, as though in awe. "I don't recognize any of it," she said softly.

Derec saw towers, spires, swirls, and loops in the architecture he had never seen here before, either. Humanoid and function robots moved about on the streets and on vehicles or machinery everywhere. He remembered that single-rnindedness, that sense of purpose, from the asteroid where he had first seen the Avery robots.

Circuit Breaker, the distinctive structure that had revealed the ability of Robot City robots to think and dream creatively, was gone.

"The changes are extensive," said Derec. "It's not your memory at fault right now."

"The shapechanging has to be stopped," said Ariel. "It's causing the ma.s.sive rainstorms every night."

"What?" Derec turned to stare at her.

She clutched at his chest, looking over his shoulder at visions only she could see. "The floods. They're caused by the shapechanging mode in the city's central core. We must stop it!"

Mandelbrot had already left the terminal and was gently reaching out to pull Ariel away from Derec.

"It's just a temporary relapse," said Derec quickly. "It doesn't mean she's getting worse. Understand?"

"I understand," said Mandelbrot. He was easing Ariel into a sitting position on the bed. "You know, however, that discussing the shapechanging mode a short time ago did not trigger a relapse. Her condition is inconsistent at best."