Robot City - Perihelion Part 20

"A compliment. Consider my actions a compliment. Breaking your hold on my son's will required extreme measures. Judge it as the extent to which he cares about you." He leaned back in his chair, holding the little item he had been playing with. "Cared, I should say. He doesn't remember even now, of course...but he does seem to have formed an affection for you allover again, seen by the way you two have remained a team."

"You practically destroyed two people just to keep them apart." Her anger was mixed with sheer astonishment.

"Ah, no. Sorry. You are not so important as you think. My other motive was to test my son's resourcefulness. You see, if he succeeded in manipulating and controlling Robot City, then he was truly worthy of my final plan for him."

"Final plan...? Do you mean to say," she said slowly, "that you wiped his memory and placed him on that asteroid as a test?"

"It is what I mean to say and what I have said." He sat up and for the first time his face reflected enthusiasm. "You see, Robot City has been finished. Now each of the humanoid robots here has had implanted in his body...one or two duplicate Keys to Perihelion. Even now, they are marching to predetermined sites around this planet from which they will launch themselves to different galaxies. In each galaxy, they will begin replication of themselves and construction of more Robot Cities. And David, my son who has now earned the right to act as my son, will control each and every robot in every Robot City...making him the most powerful man in the universe!"

"He what? How?"

"The chemfets, my dear. The memory chemfets in his body. You see, a tiny Robot City is growing inside him...and when it matures, his mere thoughts will control every Avery robot in the universe."

"Oh, no...you are insane. You don't know what's happened to him!"

"Of course I do. The chemfets develop slowly and cause certain physical disabilities. I know that. They behave like a disease and can even cause the formation of antibodies in the bloodstream."

"You're murdering him! He's almost dead now!"

"Oh, nonsense. The chemfets didn't kill you, did they? I wouldn't kill him, would I? After all this? Why would I throw away all this effort?"

"But you're wrong! Your chemfets for me were much simpler. He's dying!"

"Where is he?"

She paused, suddenly realizing the dilemma that Derec and she had never solved. They could not force Dr. Avery to cooperate. He had to be convinced.

"The central computer is calling. For several moments now, I have ignored a little light on my table here. I have done so because I know what it signifies, I believe. Excuse me, will you?"

Ariel stared at him, amazed at his composure and his refusal to believe her.

A small section of the table in front of Dr. Avery swiveled to reveal a computer console on what had been the underside of the table. "Would you like to hear?" He pushed a b.u.t.ton. "I'll set it on voice, which I usually find intrusive. Report," he said into the console.

"HUNTERS REPORT APPREHENSION OF HUMAN NAMED DEREC.".

"Thought so," said Dr. Avery pleasantly. "Report status of Hunter project."

"THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN APPREHENDED AND ARE HELD ON THE NORTH SLOPE OF THE VALLEY: DEREC, JEFF LEONG, MANDELBROT, WOLRUF. STILL MISSING: ARIEL WELSH.".

Dr. Avery laughed casually. "Now, who would have thought I could outperform my own team of Hunter robots?"

Ariel's heart was pounding with tension. If Derec was already in Avery's control, very little risk was left. "Dr. Avery. Will you agree to a test?"

"Eh? What kind of test? Haven't we had enough testing around here for a while?"

"Have the robots check David and see if he is in danger from the chemfets. They'll tell you."

"A party," said Dr. Avery. "An excellent idea. I'll have the Hunters bring everyone. We'll have a party." He tossed the object in his hand over his shoulder into the fire.

Ariel saw it clearly for the first time. It was a small model of a humanoid robot.

CHAPTER 20.

TO RULE IN ROBOT CITY.

Ariel watched the gray stones, or whatever they were, in the wall dissolve into air for a moment and the Hunters brought in their captives through the opening. The first one carried Derec gently in his arms as though he were a giant baby, but limp and unconscious. The second entered holding Jeff Leong firmly by one upper arm as they walked. The third held Wolruf cradled on one elbow and the fourth marched in with Mandelbrot lying over his shoulder, completely shut down.

The stone wall reformed behind them.

"Clear the table," said Dr. Avery. "Don't worry about where the stuff goes."

The Hunter carrying Mandelbrot laid him down on the floor and then extended his arm along the full width of the table at the far end. He then walked down the length of the table as his arm knocked everything it struck onto the floor. By the time he had reached the near end, Dr. Avery had himself swept aside the items within his own reach.

Ariel watched in horror. She had never seen a humanoid robot act so messily, even destructively, on a casual instruction. This one must have known that Dr. Avery wanted to be taken literally and did not want him to remove the items on the table with any care.

"Put him down." Dr. Avery nodded to the Hunter holding Derec. Then he waved at the one carrying Mandelbrot. "And turn him on, will you? This won't be much of a party with so many people feeling unsociable."

Ariel felt some relief as the Hunter located Mandelbrot's controls and activated him again. "Mandelbrot, tell him. Tell Dr. Avery what's happening to Derec."

Mandelbrot scanned the room quickly. His observation probably told him as much about the current situation as Ariel already knew. "Dr. Avery," he said clearly. "Derec has undergone extreme physical debilitation that continues to increase. He believes that the chemfets you placed in his body are killing him. My observation of his symptoms confirms that likelihood."

"Doesn't anybody here want to have a party?" Dr. Avery sighed. "Everyone is so morbid. Say, Mr. Leong. Haven't we met before? Not lately and not on this planet, however."

"That's right," Jeff said sullenly. "You were more sociable in those days, yourself."

Dr. Avery pushed back his chair and stood up. Trailing the fingers of one hand along the table, he walked down its length looking at the motionless figure of Derec. "He has done very well. I have not given him any challenge he cannot surmount."

"Till now." Ariel insisted. "How can you take a risk like this? Even your own robots wouldn't risk his life for a test."

Jeff, Wolruf, and Mandelbrot all looked at her in surprise. "Oh, I don't think he'll have any trouble. He'll be fine." Dr. Avery nodded to himself.

"Aren't you even going to test him? Check him out in your laboratory?" She cried.

"He'll be fine. Let's have a party." Dr. Avery turned to the Hunter who had brought Derec in. "Take him to one of the guest rooms, though. We can't have a party with a guest lying motionless on the dining table, can we?"

"Hold it!" Ariel got between Derec and that Hunter. "Can't you understand that he's dying?"

"Pick him up," Dr. Avery ordered.

The Hunter gently but firmly moved Ariel aside and lifted Derec. She threw her arms around Derec's shoulders and hung on. "Wait! Mandelbrot, they're letting him die!"

Mandelbrot was standing by the Hunter who had brought him in. That Hunter, however, had one hand resting on Mandelbrot's open control panel. At the slightest resistance from Mandelbrot, the Hunter would shut him down again.

The next sequence of events took place very quickly, some of it timed by the speed of positronic brains.

Suddenly Jeff, who was still held by one Hunter, reached over and started grabbing Mandelbrot's Hunter by the neck, feeling around quickly for his controls. The Hunter, required by the Third Law to protect himself, grasped Jeff's arm in his other hand. In the tiny fraction of a second that the Third Law imperative was foremost in the Hunter's mind, Mandelbrot stepped away and closed his own control panel with his flexible cellular arm.

From the moment Mandelbrot was free, the battle was on. His belief that Derec's life was in danger forced him under the First Law to take Ariel's anxiety seriously. At the same time, the Hunters believed Dr. Avery's declaration that Derec was not in danger, so under the Second Law they followed their orders from him to detain and control the others.

Mandelbrot also shot out an array of information through his comlink to the Hunters. He told them of Derec's delicate condition, of Ariel's memory failures, of their physical hards.h.i.+ps. In the tiny instant it required, he demanded that they back away from Derec and Ariel immediately or risk major violations of the First Law.

He did not know if it would work, but even the slightest hesitation and doubt on their part would help.

Even as Mandelbrot sent these signals, he moved toward Derec. Ariel let go of Derec to grab the Hunter holding him, knowing that the Hunter would be impeded by the necessity of not harming Derec or her. In a couple of quick moves, Mandelbrot's flexible arm had shut down this Hunter in a motionless standing position, still holding Derec. Mandelbrot and Ariel lifted Derec and placed him back on the table.

One Hunter had now taken Wolruf and Jeff under each arm and had lifted them into the air where they squirmed helplessly.

"You're hurting me!" Jeff shouted. "First Law violation!"

The Hunter was not convinced.

"Stop them!" Dr. Avery screamed. "Don't hurt them, but stop them! And don't collide with David! His condition is too fragile!"

"You've got to believe us!" Ariel shouted, turning to plead with him. "You don't want him hurt, either! Just test him!"

They stood face-to-face now and Ariel saw a strangely twisted expression on his face. It was an angry smile of triumph. For the first time since meeting him, she understood that he truly was crazy-and beyond persuasion by reason.

"You did this!" Dr. Avery hissed in her face. "Without you, these extremes would not have been necessary. Leave him alone!"

"How dare you blame this on me?" She screamed, and in a mixture of frustration, rage, and exhaustion she lost her temper completely. Unbound by any Laws except her conscience, she launched herself at him angrily, grabbing his sideburns in both hands.

One of the four Hunters had been shut down. Another was holding Jeff and Wolruf away from Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot was trying to reach the unguarded control panel of this one with his flexible arm while using his other arm to grapple with the other two Hunters. With all the robots' attention focused on each other across the room, they did not notice or respond to the potential harm Ariel and Dr. Avery might do to each other.

Dr. Avery grimaced in pain and growled at her as they shuffled around in a tight struggle.

Deep in the darkness of Derec's mind, robots marched. He was lying on his back in darkness as robots stepped in rhythmic time with a precision only robots could maintain. They strode by him in files that split at his feet and tramped past him on either side, their heavy feet pounding by his head. He was ignored, insignificant, not even present in their positronic awareness.

Out of darkness, the robots marched. A slight glow of skyline shone behind them but mostly he could see only a bloodred sky above, one that had never really existed, where s.p.a.ce stretched endlessly beyond the planet. Still the robots streamed past, intent on their destination with that single-mindedness so evident in the Avery creations.

Avery. Avery. Avery. The beat of pounding feet seemed to take on the name. It was name of his enemy, the name of... of...

His dream s.h.i.+fted. Even as the robots continued to march, he watched strange green shapes, some cubic and some pyramidal, rising in the air around him. When he reached for them, missing, he floated up after them. They turned, light s.h.i.+ning off their different facets as they rose. He snagged one and it became a computer console under his hands.

He was floating higher in the air now. The blood night of Robot City threw its myriad streets into a golden glow without logic or explanation, and "Still the robots marched. His fingers seemed to type without thought from his mind: "Stop them."

"NO," answered the central computer.

"Stop the city."

"NO.".

"Why not?"

"WHO ARE YOU?".

"I am I am I am...who am I?"

"WHERE ARE YOU?".

"I am...Robot City."

"ERROR. I AM ROBOT CITY," said the central computer. "WHO ARE YOU?"

"Who am I?"

"YOU ARE DAVID AVERY.".

"I am David Avery?" Derec stared at the name on the dream console. The dream console was green, made of a floating pyramid like a tiny Compa.s.s Tower...made of a chemfet.

He looked around. This wasn't the real central computer. The blood-red sky told him how small he was. He was floating in his own bloodstream, watching chemfets and Robot City grow inside him...

"I am David Avery," he typed. "I am David Avery. This is my bloodstream, my body, my...Robot City."

"ACKNOWLEDGED," said the central computer.

The robots stopped marching. He floated in the air high above them now and looked down on the endless rows of robots. Every single Avery robot on the planet raised its head to await Derec's commands.

He raised his head and shouted, "Robot City is mine! I am David Avery and I am Robot City!"

At his shout, the sky split. The scene dissipated. He blinked and gradually heard more yells and sc.r.a.ping sounds around him. A chandelier was blazing over him. He took in a deep breath-and realized that, for the first time in a very long time, his body felt normal.

His mind was clearing slowly as he came awake. His body was tired, and cold with dampness, but the weird stiffness was gone. He was no longer in physical danger.

"Derec!" Ariel yelled. "You're awake? Tell him! Tell Avery what's happening to you."

Avery? With a surge of fear and anger, Derec sat up and found himself on a long table. He turned. Ariel and his father, Dr. Avery, were scuffling around in a circle.

"I'm all right," Derec said hoa.r.s.ely.

"What?" Ariel looked at him in surprise. "Then help me!"

"No!" Dr. Avery roared. "No! This is not right! You must help me!"

"Help you?" Derec shouted angrily. "You're crazy!"

"Kill them!" Dr. Avery screamed at the Hunters. "Kill them! You must kill them or everything will be for naught!"

Ariel pulled free of him and turned toward the two Hunters who were still functioning; Mandelbrot had succeeded in shutting down a second one. "Dr. Avery is mad. You understand? He's...he's malfunctioned. You remember the Laws of Humanics that the Supervisors were trying to devise?"