Maverick

Chapter 22. Twolegs, Fourlegs

Avery grimaced and put the laser back into his pocket. “Well, that’s that. Here’s hoping we haven’t unleashed a monster. ” He turned to Ariel. “Will you be okay while Derec and I go check out Central?”

She shrugged. “The spaceport’s crawling with security robots. As long as they still obey the Laws, I’ll be fine. “

“All the same, be careful. Mandelbrot, don’t let Ariel out of your sight. ”

“Yes, Master Avery. ”

Avery started to turn to Lucius and then had another thought. “Oh, and Mandelbrot? How’s the translation program coming along?”

Mandelbrot’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Not well. I am optimized for personal defense and valet service, not linguistics. The kin inflections are extremely complex, and morphemic meaning appears to vary depending on the social status of the person being addressed. ”

“It’s not that difficult,” Lucius muttered.

Mandelbrot’s eyes flared brighter, and he swiveled his head to look at Lucius. “Perhaps, Friend Lucius, you use an alternative definition of difficult. I find it almost impossible to tell the difference between bark, meaning ‘Welcome, friend,’ and bark, meaning ‘Strangers attacking. ’ “

Lucius pursed his lips, put his hands on his hips, and shook his head. “Oh really, Mandelbrot. If you’d just listen to the stress modulation on the third harmonic”

“Ahem!” The robots interrupted their embryonic spat long enough to look at Avery, who smiled paternally at them. “I’m sure you two can get this hammered out soon enough. In the meantime, Mandelbrot, stay close to Ariel and keep your personal defense routines at the top of your stack. ”

“Yes, Master Avery. ”

Avery turned to look at Lucius. “Lucius, you’re our relay. Keep your commlink to Eve open at all times and report anything unusual to Derec. ”

The silver Avery frowned. “Are you also ordering me to stay close to Ariel and Mandelbrot?”

The real Avery frowned right back. “Would you even if I did?”

Lucius smiled and shrugged. “Probably not. ”

“Then I won’t waste my breath. Just try to stay out of trouble, will you?”

“I always try, Friend Avery. ”

“Yeah. I know. ” Avery sighed and turned to Derec. “Okay, son, let’s see if we can’t find a groundcar. ”

An hour later, Avery and Derec stood in the atrium of Central Hall, facing Central’s console input/output devices. “So why isn’t it responding?” Avery asked.

Derec broke off commlink contact and shook his head. “I don’t get it. This is weird. ”

“Sensory impairment?” Avery suggested.

“No. ” Derec shot the console an odd look. “Central’s sensories are fine. It knows that we’ re here. ’, Derec paused and scowled. “Let me rephrase that: The information is available to it. It just doesn’t care that we’re here. ”

Avery blinked. “That’s impossible. As a positronic intelligence-”

“Yeah, well, that’s part of what makes it so weird. ” Derec scowled again, and then shrugged and turned to Avery. “The mental impression I keep getting is one of intelligence without sentience. Does that make sense?”

Avery wrinkled his nose. “It isn’t even aw~ of its own existence?”

Derec thought it over a moment, then nodded. “It seems to be fully functional. There’s a tremendous amount of computational power waiting to be applied. But there’s no personality. It simply isn’t… troubledby conscious thoughts. ”

“That’s impossible,” Avery said again. “Try your commlink one more time, and this time tell me exactly what you’re receiving. ”

With a shrug, Derec closed his eyes and invoked his internal commlink. “Okay. Commlink on: Central is acking. I’m picking up some shell primitives-cats, splits-okay, and that’s a t-sort. Now it’s mounting a device. “ Derec broke concentration and opened his eyes. “I know this sounds silly, but it seems to be running on pure cron. ”

Avery frowned and scratched his head. “I don’t understand this. ”

“Dad, as I told you on the way over, SilverSides destroyed parts of Central the last time she was here. ”

Avery waved a hand to dismiss that idea. “That was almost a year ago. By now the supervisors should have either repaired the damage or scrapped Central and built a new one. What went wrong?”

Derec cocked his head as a commlink message came in. “We’ll know in a few minutes. A supervisor has just entered the building. ”

Long afternoon shadows reached out from the city and stretched like giant fingers across the spaceport tarmac. The crowd had long since broken up and gone away, save for one mature kin female that lay in the shadow of the boarding ramp and four fat little cubs that rollicked about in the last splash of sunlight on the tarmac. Ears flopping wildly, little tails erect like flagpoles, the cute little furballs darted in and out of the ship, yipping happily and playing hide-and-seek around Mandelbrot’s legs.

Ariel, squatting on the tarmac like a football player, smiled pleasantly and wondered if the cubs’ mother would stop growling before her knees gave out.

“This is strange, Mandelbrot,” Ariel muttered through smiling, clenched teeth. “You don’t bother them a bit, but if I try to touch them… ”

Slowly, gently, she began to reach toward one of the cubs. A deep, guttural growl from the mother reminded Ariel that she was being watched. The growl rose in intensity the closer she got to the pup and stopped only when she stopped.

“The kin seem to accept robots as part of the natural environment,” Mandelbrot observed, “whereas anthropoid humans are a new and unknown thing. ”

“Anthropoid, Mandelbrot?’, Ariel said with a growl.

“I was attempting to distinguish between humans like you and humans like Wolruf. If the term offends you, I will try another. ”

“Never mind. ” Ariel made eye contact with the mother again. The female kin lay on her side in what appeared to be a relaxed position, but her ears were erect and her eyes were wide and filled with an alert, savage intensity. Ariel continued to look the kin right in the eye. She tried another smile. The mother responded by shifting nervously and looking away.

Stepping high to avoid the puppies and their byproducts, Mandelbrot strolled over and touched Ariel lightly on the shoulder. “May I make a suggestion, mistress? Stop staring the mother-her name is BlackMane-straight in the eye, and don’t bare your teeth when you smile. In the body language of the kin, these are hostile gestures. ”

“Oh. ” Ariel closed her mouth and looked away and was rewarded when BlackMane’s ears relaxed. “Well, this seems to be working. Any more suggestions?”

Mandelbrot’s eyes dimmed as he sorted through the kin lexicon. Presently he said, “Yes, although this may seem somewhat undignified. Try lying on your side and closing your eyes, as BlackMane is doing. ”

Ariel’s eyes went wide. “Mandelbrot! I am not going to nurse cubs!”

“Nursing is unnecessary. The key part of the gesture appears to be exposing your throat. ”

Ariel frowned. “If you really think it’ll work. ” With a grunt for stiff joints, she slowly rolled out of the squat, lay down on the rough, gritty tarmac, and closed her eyes. Within a minute she was rewarded by a cold little nose snuffling around her ear. “That tickles!” She giggled, and the pup scampered away.

“Hold still,” Mandelbrot said. “All four of them are approaching you. ” Ariel tried hard to suppress her giggles as one cub nuzzled her ear, two more sniffed her face, and one feisty little monster fastened its teeth on her pants cuff and began growling and tugging. “Move slowly,” Mandelbrot advised, “but you may open your eyes now. ” Carefully, Ariel opened her eyes.

She was rewarded by a big lick across her face.

This time her giggles sent the cubs scampering just a few feet back. The four of them went into a huddle, tails wagging excitedly, yipping in high, squeaky voices. BlackMane sat up a bit more alertly, but this time without the fierce, protective look. As one, the cubs turned to their mother, and she answered with a low, whuffing bark.

Ariel sat up. “What is it? What are they saying, Mandelbrot?’, The robot cocked his head as if listening more closely.

“I am unsure of the dialect,” Mandelbrot said, “but they appear to be saying, ‘It’s friendly. ’ “ BlackMane gave Mandelbrot a bored look, and then made another soft bark that must have meant, “Okay. ” As one, the puppies wheeled and charged Ariel. A second later she was giggling like a seven-year-old and covered by a mass of wiggling, licking, tailwagging cubs.

“Either that,” Mandelbrot added, “or, ‘It tastes good. ’ “

The tall, slender, pale blue robot-to appearances a standard Euler model-rounded the corner and entered the Central atrium. Avery struck while the robot was still in mid-stride.

“You there! Identify!”

“City Supervisor 3,” the tall robot responded. “For your convenience I respond to the name Beta. ” At two meters’ distance the robot stopped and stood with its head tilted slightly back, as if baring its throat.

“Beta, eh? Well, Beta, I am your creator, Doctor Wendell Avery, and let me tell you, I am absolutely appalled with the way you supervisors are handling this city. The streets smell like kennels, the transit tunnels are filled with joy-riding wolves, and to top it off my son and I came here in an insane groundcar that insisted on driving on the slidewalks!”

To Derec’s eyes, the supervisor seemed even colder and more imperturbable than was typical for Avery robots. Beta’s eyes didn’t flicker, nor did its posture waver a millimeter as it responded to Avery’s attack. “In searching the permissions list, I find no special privileges reserved for Creator Wendell Avery. ” The robot paused a moment, then continued. “In response to your other statements: olfactory cues are an important source of information for the citizens, and the transit tunnels are fulfilling their intended purpose. As for the groundcar, we have surveyed the citizens and found that the majority enjoy Personal Vehicle One’s unique route-planning methods. ”

The robot’s response seemed to surprise Avery. He blinked a few times, shook his head as if unable to believe that a robot was disagreeing with him, and then recovered his bluster. “Citizens? What are you talking about? Beta, the kin are not human, and for you to treat them as if they have Robotic Law status is a serious malfunction. ”

“The definition of ‘human’ is not implicit in the Laws,” Beta answered, as it studied Avery with cold, gleaming eyes.

Avery bit back his first angry retort and struggled to speak calmly. “Beta, are you blind? The kin are aliens. ”

The supervisor’s head rotated down, and it locked its unblinking gaze on the short man. “On the contrary, Dr. Avery; on this planet, you are the alien. ”

Avery’s jaw worked, but no sound came out. His fingers clutched-

The robot leaned forward, placed one hand on its hip, and opened its other hand in a purely human gesture. “Please allow me to explain.

“Dr. Avery, our first mission on this world was to build a city. Our underlying mission was to serve humans. After the end of our first mission, we found ourselves with insufficient data to complete our underlying mission. Therefore, we devoted considerable time to the question of how to find humans.

“After much discussion, we decided that we needed a clearer definition of the word human. There is no explicit definition in our general programming. Consulting the ancient sources, we found that it means:

“1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of man.

“2. Consisting of men.

“3. Having human form or attributes.

“4. Susceptible to or representative of the sympathies and frailties of man’s nature.

“Evaluating the kin in terms of these criteria, we found that they met three of the four. They are intelligent, social, tool-and language-using beings, fully capable of altruism, greed, opportunism, faith, loyalty, cowardice, curiosity; indeed, the entire range of human”

Avery found his voice at last. “Enough!” Fighting to avoid hyperventilation, he turned to Derec. “This tin moron has obviously blown a main circuit. When are the rest of the supervisors going to get here?”

Derec broke off his commlink contact and looked up, blinking with wonder. “Alpha and Gamma decline to come. ”

“What?”Avery wheeled on Beta as if to attack it.

“I alone have been delegated to meet with you,” Beta explained. “The other supervisors are occupied with tasks that are important to the well-being of the native humans. ”

“I do not believe this. ” Avery shook his head slowly, then studied Beta with a cold, unblinking glare. “Beta, are you trying to tell me that the supervisors are no longer subject to the Second Law?”

The robot’s eyes flickered briefly. “Of course not. Alpha and Gamma’s Second Law duties to you simply have been superseded by their First Law obligations. ”

“First Law-” Avery suddenly snapped around and looked at Derec. “Ariel!” Before he’d finished saying the name, Derec had invoked his commlink and reached Mandelbrot.

“No,” Derec reported, shaking his head. “Ariel’s a little wet and mussed up, but she’s not in any danger. ” He concentrated harder and checked in with Eve. “Wolruf’s fine. Adam is still playing SilverSides; he’s up on a balcony, addressing a crowd, but he’s speaking too fast for Eve to translate. ”

Derec frowned. “Lucius II isn’t answering. ” He broke concentration and opened his eyes; both he and Avery turned to look at Beta.

“When you assume that the First Law applies only to members of your party, you are making a species-ist assumption,,, Beta said. “If you plan to reside in this city, you must learn to overcome your speciesism. ”

Slowly, sighing heavily, Avery nodded. “I see where this is leading. Beta, if I were to tell you that your definition of human has become corrupted and the kin are not human, would you allow me to correct it?”

Beta considered this barely a moment. “No. Redefining the native humans as nonhumans would injure them, and thus is prohibited by the First Law. ”

Avery frowned. “Circular logic: See logic, circular. The kin shouldn’t be considered humans, but since they are, you won’t let me fix the problem. ” With a disgusted look, he turned to Derec. “Come on, son, let’s get out of here. ”

Wolruf whined nervously and sidled closer to Eve. An unpleasant change had come over SilverSides with nightfall; the raw emotions of BeastTongue now threaded through her speech as she addressed the crowd in the street below. “What’s she sayin’?” Wolruf whispered to Eve.

“I’m not getting all of it,” Eve whispered back. “Some kind of anatomical comparison between Friend Avery and a sharpfang. ” She rotated her head and listened more closely. “Now she’s talking about-wonders. The ship; she’s mentioned the ship. And she’s saying that the city is capable of producing more wonders just like it. But-rhetorical question-why isn’t the city providing them?”

Silversides paused for dramatic effect and then thundered the answer.

“TwoLegs!” Eve translated.

The crowd broke into the savage, rhythmic chant in heavily accented Standard. “TwoLegs out! TwoLegs out!” Everywhere Wolruf looked, she saw angry, gaping jaws, fangs bared and glistening orange in the torchlight, chanting. “TwoLegs out! TwoLegs out!”

Eve shook her head in disbelief. “SilverSides taught them to say that in Standard! This is impossible!” Her voice became slurred and her movements erratic, clear signs of an impending First Law crisis. “He’s training the mob to hate bipeds!”

“ TwoLegs out! TwoLegs out!”

Eve and Wolruf looked at each other, then both discreetly dropped down to all fours. Eve began to transform herself into an image of Wolruf.

“ ‘U think we ought t’ warn Derec?” Wolruf asked.

“‘U better b’lieve it,” Eve answered. Closing her eyes, she activated her commlink and sought out Lucius.