Odyssey

Chapter 21. Robot City

Eager to hasten the meeting, Derec skipped the last few steps, swinging out and jumping down to the ground. As Katherine clambered down behind him, he turned to face the robots.

Several were already leaving. Derec presumed that they were medical specialists who had been there in case of a fall, plus perhaps a few riggers who could have climbed up the wall to help them. Their skills no longer needed, they were efficiently moving on to other tasks.

The robots that remained were similar in appearance to each other, but not identical variations on a theme. One had a seemingly purposeless swatch of blue enamel above the right ear, a second brilliant green optical scanner, still another sensor mesh wrapped around its skull like a headband.

“What’s your name?” Derec asked, singling one of them out.

The robot took a step forward. “I am M-3323.”

“Very well. M-3323, take me-us-to the city manager.”

“The city as presently constituted does not have a manager,” the robot replied. “What is your name, please?”

“Derec,” he said. “David Derec. But-”

“And I’m Katherine Burgess,” she said, stepping forward. “Look, we don’t need to talk to the person on top, no matter what you call them-city manager, king, president, god. We need a place to see to our hygienic needs-something with a shower and a Personal. While we’re busy with that, you can arrange a meeting for us with someone who can help us with our other problems. Is there any problem with that?”

“No, Katherine,” M-3323 said. “Arrangements are now being made. If you will follow me, I will lead you to the appropriate facilities.”

Mercifully, the house they were taken to was less than a minute’s walk away. It was nestled between two great six-sided towers like a child hiding amongst its mother’s skirts. The interior was startlingly new and pristine, as though the house had not only never been occupied, but never entered.

But the house contained everything they needed, including two Personals that opened off a room containing a futonlike sleeping platform. The three robots which had accompanied them inside waited downstairs, which afforded them an extra measure of privacy.

“There,” Katherine said, emerging from her Personal after twenty minutes. “More presentable?”

Derec rose from where he had been seated on the edge of the platform. “You’re very easy on the eyes.”

“A quaint expression,” she said, obviously pleased. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“None whatsoever,” Derec confessed.

“But we’re on our way out of this,” she said with some anxiety. “I’m going to get to go home. You’re going to get to go find home.”

He held up crossed fingers.

“You promised me there’d be nothing more than red tape,” she said warningly.

“That was a prediction, not a promise.”

“Still stand behind your forecast?”

“Sure,” Derec said. “Let’s go start hacking through the tangle.”

M-3323 led them out of the house and guided them back the way they had come, up the street toward the great central tower. It was a strange little procession-a pair of robots in the lead, matching stride for stride-M-3323 walking between Derec and Katherine like a vigilant chaperone-another pair of robots trailing a few steps behind.

Were the extra robots an honor guard, bodyguards, or prison guards? The pair following silently behind bothered Derec the most. Before they had gone half a block, he glanced back over his shoulder to check on what they were doing. What he saw behind the robots-or, more to the point, what he did not see-made him do a double-take. The house they had just left was gone. The gap between the two towers which had flanked it had closed.

He shook his head and chided himself for foolishness. It must be the angle, he told himself. The house is set farther back than you realized. It’s there, between the towers. You just can’t see it. Then he remembered the grouping of icosahedrons he had seen, and then not seen, from the high plaza.

“Excuse me,” he said to Katherine and M-3323. “I’ll be right back.”

He ran back down the street until he had gone far enough that he should have been able to see the house, and then slowed to a walk. He could scarcely believe his eyes. The house was gone. The two towers now flanked an open courtyard.

He looked around wildly, wanting to believe that he had taken a wrong turn, that he was the victim of some sort of illusion. The house had been just what Katherine had asked for, and so conveniently located. Could they possibly have built it just for us, and then torn it down again?

It was an insane thought, and he did not want to deal with it just then. Demand-driven architecture-a modular structure that swapped whole buildings around like toy blocks or fabricated them from elemental forms-what kind of society was this? How could people live in a city like this?

With an effort, he tore himself away from the sight of the empty courtyard and found two of the escort robots standing two steps away behind him.

“Are you finished here, sir?” one asked politely.

He grunted. “Yeah, I’m finished.”

There was no keeping the troubled expression off his face as he rejoined the others.

“Is there a problem, David Derec?” asked M-3323.

“You bet there’s a problem. What happened to the house we were just in?”

“My apologies. Did you have other needs that you did not previously identify? Or do you have additional personal needs?”

“Ineed a straight answer. Where’s the house?”

“That facility has been released to the general inventory.”

“So I’m not just imagining that it’s gone-you brought it there for us and then cleaned up when we were done.”

“Yes, David Derec.”

“Do you do that all the time around here?”

“All physical resources are managed for maximum efficiency.”

“I’ll take that as yes. Crazy,” Derec shook his head.

“But it doesn’t matter to us,” Katherine said.

“No,” Derec agreed. “So forget it and let’s get on with this.”

They walked on until they came to a great plaza at the convergence of several main streets. In the center of the plaza was a great white tetrahedron perhaps fifteen stories tall. Their guides directed them toward an entrance on the right.

“M-3323-”

“Yes, David Derec?”

“Is this part of the city exclusively used by robots? I didn’t see any people along the way here.”

“Yes, Derec.”

“I thought so. Whereare all the people?”

“I do not know, sir,” M-3323 said. “This way, please.” It led them through a lobby area which was itself a tetrahedron and down a corridor. At the third door, the robot turned and paused. “In here, please.”

“Who are we meeting?” Katherine asked, pausing in the open doorway.

“Rydberg and Euler,” M-3323 said. “They are waiting for you in the inner office.”

Rydberg-Euler-The names gnawed familiarly at Derec’s memory as he followed Katherine first through one doorway, then through another.Where have I heard them before-

Preoccupied, he entered the inner office with his eyes lowered. When he looked up, he received a jolt. The spartan compartment contained three straight-backed chairs, a quarter-circle work station with a sophisticated hypervision computer terminal, and two blue-skinned robots with silver slits for optical sensors.

This can’t be-A chill went through Derec as he stared at robots that were clones of the supervisors on the asteroid.It’s all connected. I don’t understand -”Kate-” he started.

Just ‘ on the left stepped forward. “I am Rydberg.”

“I am Euler,” the other robot said.

“I’m afraid there’s some mistake,” Katherine said. “We want to talk to people.”

“There is no error. We are the representatives assigned to your case,” Euler said.

“Kate, this is wrong,” Derec said hoarsely.

Pursing her lips, Katherine decided, “If they want to do it this way, I don’t care.” She addressed Euler. “We need to see about transportation to Aurora and Nexon-that is where you’re going to go, isn’t it, Derec?-and temporary accommodations.”

“I am afraid that that is not possible,” Euler said, shaking his head gravely.

“What?” exclaimed Katherine. “Why not?”

“Friend Euler’s statement was imprecise,” Rydberg said. “It is possible to leave. But there is a problem. A human being has been killed-”

“Why does that involve us?” Derec asked.

“It would be an unthinkable violation of the Laws of Robotics for a robot to harm a human being,” Rydberg said. “I am unable even to form the thought without experiencing distress.”

“Of course it wasn’t a robot,” Derec said impatiently. “Another human being did it, obviously.”

Euler said, “Disregarding yourselves, there are no other humans here.”

“Our guide said something about that,” Derec said. “But just because they have no business here doesn’t mean that they didn’t come over from some other sector anyway. Someone who’d murder wouldn’t worry too long about proper travel passes or whatever it is you use here.”

“I will clarify,” Rydberg interjected. “Friend Euler meant to say that there are no other human beings in this city.”

“Then from one of the other cities-,” Katherine began.

“There are no other cities on this planet.”

“What are you saying? Where are we?” she demanded.

“I regret that I may not identify this planet or its star,” Rydberg said. “But we who live here call this place Robot City.”

“There’s nothing but robots here?” Derec said slowly, an uncomfortable idea pricking at him.”

Discounting yourselves, that is correct,” Euler said.

Katherine gaped. “No one in this whole city-it must be fifty hectares-”

“Two hundred five,” Euler corrected.

Derec interrupted. “Where are the inhabitants? The builders? Where did they go?”

Rydberg cocked his head slightly. “We are the inhabitants, and the builders, Friend Derec,” he said matter-of-factly.

It was the answer he had been expecting, but he still resisted its implications. “Where are your owners?” Derec persisted. “Where are the people you report to?”

“Your question is based on an erroneous assumption,” Euler replied. “Robot City is a free and autonomous community.”

“That can’t be,” he protested. “Maybe there are no humans here now. Maybe you’re not presently in contact with any. But they must have brought you here, or sent you here. You must still be following their directives.”

“No, Friend Derec. We are self-directed,” Euler said. “But we are not unaware of human beings. We have a vast library of book-films by and about human beings. And we have accepted our responsibility to see that humans do not come to harm.”

“I hope you understand, Friend Derec, why we are obliged to delay your departure,” Rydberg said. “This is our first experience with death. We need your help in understanding how it happened, and in understanding how the experience of death should be integrated into our study of the Laws of Humanics.”

“The Laws of Humanics? What are they?” Katherine asked, puzzled.

“The human counterparts of the Laws of Robotics-those guiding principles which govern human behavior.”

Euler continued, “At present the Laws of Humanics are a theoretical construct. We are attempting to determine if Laws of Humanics exist, and if they do, what they are. This incident has placed the research project in crisis. You must help us. I assure you that you will be afforded every possible comfort.”

As Euler was speaking, Katherine had slowly ‘ and closer to Derec, and now was standing at his elbow. “This is crazy,” she said under her breath. “A city of robots, with no one to guide them? Doing research on human beings, like we were some curiosity?”

And in that moment, Derec stopped fighting the truth and embraced it:The community on the asteroid and the great city surrounding him were products of the same mind, the same plan. He hadn’t escaped at all.

But at least he at last understood why-why he was given the key, and why it had brought them there. For the last to touch it had been Monitor 5, an advanced robot desperate to fulfill its First Law obligation to save him. Knowing what it was and what it was capable of, the robot could do nothing other than give it to him-programmed for what it knew would be a safe destination, a sister colony of robots light-years away.

“Sssh,” he said to Katherine, then looked to the robots. “Could you excuse us for a moment? We need to talk.”

“Certainly, Friend Derec,” Euler replied, “We will-”

“You stay. We’ll leave,” Derec said, taking Katherine’s hand and leading her out the door.

“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly as he guided her a dozen meters down the corridor. “They’re going to follow us.”

He stopped short and released her hand. “We’re not going anywhere. At least I’m not. I really did want to talk privately.”

“What do you mean, you’re not going anywhere?”

“I’m going to stay,” he said. “I won’t tell them that, though. I’ll offer to stay and cooperate on the condition they arrange transportation for you. They don’t need both of us.”

“No!” she said emphatically. “You don’t have to do that. They’ve got no right to hold us. They have to let us both go. They’re robots, aren’t they? They have to help us.”

“They’re robots, yes. But not like any you’re used to. I don’t think they’d agree with your definition of their obligations,” Derec said, shaking his head. “But that’s not the point. I’m not going to stay just to appease them, or to get them to let you go. I’m staying because I want to.”

“Want to! Why?”

Derec flashed a tight-lipped smile. “I started thinking about how I’d feel if they did what we asked and put us on a ship to Aurora, or wherever. How I’d feel if I never found out any more about the key-”

“We could take it with us.”

“-never found out where this planet is or why the robots are here-never went back for Wolruf or found out what happened to her. I thought about it and realized I couldn’t just walk away. It’s true that I don’t know who I am. Even so, I know that’s not the kind of person I want to be.”

There was a studied silence, which Derec finally broke. “Part friends?”

Her eyes flicked upward and her gaze met his. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Because if you’re staying, I’m staying, too.”

It was his turn to protest. “You don’t have to do that. They’re my causes, not yours. This is a safe world. I’ll be fine alone.”

“You don’t like my company?”

He shrugged. “We get on all right.”

“Then are you trying to tell me that this is something a girl can’t handle or shouldn’t worry her head about?”

“Of course not.”

“Then it’s okay if I stay just because I want to?”

Derec surrendered. “Sure.”

“Then let’s go tell Euler and Rydberg.”

“After you,” he said, bowing with a flourish of his hand.

Wearing a contented smile, Katherine led the way back to the office. As the door opened, she turned and whispered back over her shoulder. “Just tell me this-when do our lives turn normal again?”

Derec laughed aloud, startling the robots. “Maybe never, Katherine,” he said. “Why are you complaining? You said your life was dull, didn’t you?”

“Dull isn’t so bad,” she said wistfully. “Dull has its good points.”

Chuckling to himself, Derec picked out a chair and settled in it as though planning to stay for a while. “We’ll do what we can to help,” he said to Rydberg. “Tell us the story. Who’re the suspects?”

But the robot’s dispassionate answer erased the smiles from both their faces so thoroughly it was as though they had never been there. Like a bitter aftertaste to a sweet drink, it stole all the pleasure that had come before.

“Yes, David Derec,” Rydberg said. “There are two suspects. Yourself-and Katherine Burgess. We are most curious to learn which of you committed the act, and why.”