Chimera (isaac asimov's robot mystery)

by Mark W. Tiedemann

  "Who is this?" Ariel asked, pointing to the body hanging from the bin ceiling.

  "Nyom Looms. She wasn't poisoned. She had her own rebreather. Her neck was broken, instead."

  "Fifty-one others," Hofton said. "How did she get attached up there?"

  "The bin was cracked. The air leaked out fairly quickly-not all at once, but in a vacuum it must've created a current. We think it drew her to it. Her clothing was pulled through. "

  "Cracked," Ariel mused. "Big enough for your robot to slip through?"

  "Hardly. You can see the dimensions for yourself."

  Ariel frowned and gave Derec a look Coren could not read. "It would be unlikely, I think," she said. She sighed. "You still haven't given us a convincing argument to indict a robot." She pointed to the image of Coffee. "What do you think, Derec? A modified DW-12?"

  "Looks like it. But it's not possible, Mr. Lanra. There is no way to modify a positronic brain to subvert its Three Law constraints. Tampering at that level would destroy the brain. The fact that it's collapsed proves that its programming was consistent with its original protocols. It witnessed the deaths of humans ostensibly in its charge. It failed to protect them. It collapsed."

  "As I recall," Coren noted, "a positronic brain was modified at Union Station to cause the deaths of a good number of people."

  Derec stiffened. "That's…inaccurate. It was modified to ignore a lethal situation. It caused nothing. And it collapsed shortly after it realized what had happened." He frowned thoughtfully. "What was this robot doing at the rebreather controls?"

  "As far as we can tell, trying to shut it off."

  "You've said 'we' a few times now. Who else is involved in this investigation?" Ariel asked.

  "Kopernik Station's chief of security is working with me on this," Coren replied.

  "How are you keeping it out of the newsnets, then?"

  "The bin was delivered to a Settler dock. She has an arrangement with the Settler security people. It's isolated, outside the usual legal channels. For the time being, it doesn't exist. That won't last long."

  "And the robot?" Derec asked.

  "Stored."

  "Still in the Settler section?"

  "In Chief Palen's morgue."

  "We need to have it."

  "There's no way I can bring it down here. Not in time, anyway. I need someone to go to it."

  Ariel looked at Derec. "What do you think?"

  Derec shook his head. "A risk. I'm still not sure what my status is."

  Ariel looked at Coren. "Our…range of free movement may be somewhat curtailed. Especially Mr. Avery's."

  "Mine isn't," Hofton said. "I could accompany Mr. Avery up to our embassy branch on Kopernik." He glanced at Derec. "You'd be in the diplomatic pouch, so to speak."

  Derec grunted, smiling thinly.

  "Excuse me," Coren said. "There's no question here, is there? You're going to help me."

  "You wouldn't be talking to us otherwise, Mr. Lanra," Ariel said.

  "Why."

  Ariel looked thoughtful. "Before I answer that, let me ask you something. Where was Nyom Looms taking this group of baleys?"

  "Nova Levis."

  "Why there? I can think of at least a dozen other Settler colonies that would accept baleys that aren't under blockade."

  "I don't know. Nova Levis is…romantic."

  "That's hardly a reason. But even so, the next question is, why kill them?"

  "Her father is running for office," Coren said. "Something like this"

  "Just letting it out that she ran baleys would accomplish as much, " Ariel said, shaking her head. "What was there about this run that warranted murder?"

  Coren said nothing.

  "That's the question, then," Ariel said. "Answer the why, you discover the who. Theoretically, anyway. And it won't be a robot."

  Coren leaned across her desk and touched an icon on her flatscreen. "I'd like your opinion on these, then."

  The image from Ariel's desk projector vanished, replaced a moment later by the autopsy images Sipha had sent him of the Brethe dealer who had died in her holding cell. The sight brought a sharp hiss from Derec Avery; Burgess paled.

  "At first we thought this was unrelated, " Coren explained. "Maybe it is, but I'm guessing not. Frame sixteen-" he gestured for Ariel to find that image "-is an enhanced display of a handprint left subdurally. Tell me what you think. "

  Ariel touched her projector control and the autopsy images shifted. The false color view of the oversized handprint bloomed.

  "Too big for a human hand…" Derec mused.

  Coren watched Ambassador Burgess. Finally, she nodded. She glanced at him, frowning briefly, and looked away.

  "I'd have to agree with Derec," she said. "A human hand didn't make that. But that still leaves the field open to a number of explanations. Prosthetics, for one."

  "I ran a catalogue check for any prosthetics commercially available that match that pattern. Nothing turned up. That doesn't rule out a custom manufacture, of course, but…"

  "But you still think it's a robot."

  "Something managed to slip past all the security in a police cell block to do this. I already told you the robot I saw was blind to my optam. It may be the same technique in this case: a masked robot, invisible to surveillance monitors."

  "So now it's a conspiracy of robots," Derec said. "Less and less likely."

  "Can you give me a better explanation to account for the damage?" Coren asked sharply.

  "Isn't that what we need to find out?" Ariel Burgess said. "You asked why we're helping. What you've proposed here is a good enough reason for me. Earthers think the worst of robots on a good day. This-" she waved at the projection "-validates all your fears, if true. A chance to head this off and perhaps prevent a very ugly purge would be a good enough reason, don't you think?"

  "For your part, that seems plausible. But that's not the only reason."

  Ariel bowed her head in mock acceptance. "Of course not. Illegal emigration is a point in common between us and Terra. There's a quid pro quo in that, too."

  "You're working with ITE?"

  "No. We're working with you. "

  Coren looked from one face to the other, returning to Ariel. He expected them to keep things from him, most of it details of their involvement that really did not concern him. But he also expected them to be subtle about it. Instead, they were very obviously not telling him something. If he did not need their expertise…

  "What specifically are you getting from this arrangement?" he asked.

  Ambassador Burgess gave a faint smile and a slight shake of the head. She gestured at the image of the dead woman on her screen. "Who was this? Why was she killed?"

  "According to Chief Palen, she was a small-time narcotics dealer," Coren lied. "Could be any number of people she may have crossed in the course of business."

  "This seems excessive for a bad debt, " Ariel said. She drew a deep breath, slowly released it. "Aurora has been asked by Terran authorities to look into the Nova Levis situation. That involves a lot of baleys. I was asked by my immediate superior to lend you aid. Partly, we may have a problem with Spacer businesses shipping illegally from Earth. It's being suggested that Spacers are colluding in bypassing immigration and trade laws. I presume they believe we'll find things that will be mutually helpful. Is that sufficient answer for you, Mr. Lanra?"

  Coren folded his arms across his chest. "It will do… for now."

  "In that case," Ariel said, smiling uneasily, "how do you want to proceed, Mr. Lanra?"

  Nine

  We have work, Thales. " Derec started feeding disks into the reader on Thales' console. "Load these."

  "Has Phylaxis been revived, Derec?" the RI asked.

  "No. This is an embassy assignment. Sort of." Derec slid the last disk into the reader, then pulled a chair over. "To be honest, I'm not sure about this. There's a possibility that our situation could get worse."

  "Then, is it advisable to accept?"
r />   "We don't have a lot of choices, Thales. Ariel has been handed this by Ambassador Setaris. I get the impression that Setaris is just passing on instructions from Aurora." He leaned back and laced his fingers under his chin. "We're to assist the chief of security for DyNan Manual Industries, a man named Coren Lanra, in an investigation concerning the death of Rega Looms' daughter, baley running, and a possible robot involvement."

  A few moments passed before Thales responded. "Based on the data I have just reviewed, am I correct that Mr. Lanra suspects a robot in the deaths?"

  "He does."

  "That is not possible."

  "I explained that to him. But he's an Earther-he believes positronics are inherently evil. Still, I don't have a better explanation for the body found in the holding cell."

  "The damage is singular."

  Derec grunted. "That's one way to look at it. For now, though, I want you to give me a program for a remote presence. I have to go up to Kopernik Station to try to salvage the DW-12 they have. It may be the only witness to what happened in the cargo bin. I'll need you to help me sift through what's left of its brain. I don't think I can take all of you, and even if I could I'm not sure I want to risk you outside Auroran territory."

  "According to my memory, the positronics laboratory on Kopernik is more than ample for our purposes. Do we have a free comm channel to the Auroran branch on Kopernik? I will need to establish that they have the facilities."

  "Ariel's setting that up now. I'll be on a shuttle in less than five hours, so we have to set this up quickly."

  "I have analyzed the data provided."

  "Good. I'd like to hear your assessment."

  "There are a number of inconsistencies, primary among them is the connection between the death of the Brethe dealer and the deaths of the baleys. Except for the suggestion that a robot is involved, there is no basis I can see for the link between them. If a robot is not involved in one or the other or, as is more likely, both, then the Brethe dealer is an entirely separate issue and a complication in the investigation of the murdered baleys."

  "And if a robot is involved?"

  "The likelihood of finding a robot capable of such crimes being as remote as it is, then there would be grounds to link the two, as it would be logical that only one such robot exists. But that prompts a number of questions, all of which require factors of chance and coincidence that recomplicate the central question. Such a robot would need to be transported to and from Kopernik on a regular basis, in a short period of time. "

  "Increasing the chance of discovery, " Derec noted.

  "Precisely, even given the capabilities described by Mr. Lanra of a robot able to hide from surveillance tools. It should be pointed out that it is not accurate to suggest that only a robot could use masking capabilities. For a robot, however, the risk of discovery in this instance would be unnecessarily higher. There is nothing in the data provided concerning the baleys that implicate a robot. This crime could just as well have been committed by humans."

  "How would the assassin escape? Everyone in the cargo bin was dead and the seals showed no indication of having been opened between the time the baleys boarded and Chief Palen's people opened it up on Kopernik."

  "Human history is overfull with examples of suicide assassins. However, barring that, I lack sufficient information to rule out all possible methods of escape."

  "What about the crack in the bin?"

  "There is insufficient information for me to speculate productively about that. It could be a structural flaw in the material."

  "All right, set that aside for the moment. Can you still access Terran data sources?"

  "Of course."

  Despite the fact that it was incapable of emotion, Derec nevertheless heard a note of smug pride in Thales' statement.

  "Of course," he echoed. "I want you to run a search for any recent murders or accidental deaths that bear similarities to the Brethe dealer. "

  "That will require me to access certain law enforcement datums."

  "Is that a problem?"

  "No, but it will take more time. I may not have that information for some hours. Unless you do not care about detection."

  "Do it right, Thales. I don't want the TBI on our backs about this. You said there were a number of inconsistencies. Continue."

  "All the passengers but one succumbed to a neurotoxin. Why not all of them? Nyom Looms carried her own rebreather. The question is why? Did she anticipate trouble? Was she sharing the primary rebreather before donning her own? And if there was time for one to remove the rebreather mask, why not more? The DW-12 unit appears to be trying to shut the rebreather off. This suggests that the bin was pressurized and contained sufficient atmosphere that shutting down the rebreather would not constitute further threat to human life. "

  "The crack. "

  "Why would they use a damaged bin? It is reasonable to assume that an inspection would have revealed the crack prior to its transfer to an orbital lifter-unless, as I already suggested, it was a structural flaw which manifested only after lift-off. But it also seems reasonable to assume the crack was made specifically to force the passengers to continue using the rebreather, as the air would leak out, thus guaranteeing that they would be poisoned. "

  "So the crack was made after the bin had been transferred," Derec said.

  "If it was intentional, that is reasonable. But by whom?"

  "Or what. That brings us back to the robot hypothesis."

  "Which remains unlikely. The opening is too small for a robot to pass through, and since the DW-12 is the only one present-and is still present-in the bin, then we can rule it out."

  "The masked robot?"

  "Being undetectable by surveillance equipment would not render it invisible to plain sight. It would still have been in the container. There are other possibilities for creating such a crack. "

  "Coren Lanra says he saw it board."

  "But it was not there when the bin was opened. Either it left before arrival on Kopernik, even before it left Earth, or Mr. Lanra is mistaken."

  "Agreed," Derec said, nodding. "But there are no tools in the bin. It appears that whoever made the opening also left."

  "Unlikely."

  "Again, I agree. Continue."

  "There is evidence of an absence. Not all the cradles in the bin are occupied. Two appear to have been empty when the bin was opened. One can be accounted for by the victim found suspended from the ceiling. The other was simply empty. Both were provided with rebreather masks. From the appearance of both empty cradles, one was occupied."

  Have to ask Lanra about that, Derec thought. "So? They miscounted. "

  "One assumes these bins are prepared in advance. That they would contain the exact number of cradles necessary for a single shipment seems unlikely. However, if they did outfit this one to specific requirements, why would there be an extra?"

  "Possibly someone elected not to go at the last moment?"

  "Not an unreasonable hypothesis, Derec."

  Maybe one of the late Nyom Looms' charges still lived, then. One not involved in the murder, at least, since that empty cradle remained unaccounted for.

  "I have a question, Derec," Thales said.

  "Yes?"

  "Should I suspend my work on Bogard's positronic matrix for the duration of this assignment?"

  "Why would-? Oh."

  Memory, Derec realized. Normally Thales possessed far more memory than either of these chores required, but already Bogard's problem took up more than Thales possessed. The hasty move from their former housing at the defunct Phylaxis Group building meant a good portion of Thales' auxiliary memory buffers waited, unused, in storage. Having access to Kopernik's buffers, however, represented an opportunity for Thales to once more utilize its full potential.

  "We'll wait," he decided. "Find out what facilities you can use on Kopernik. Maybe you can divide functions. "

  "I would appreciate the opportunity to test several hypotheses concerning Bogard. Koperni
k's facilities would offer that chance."

  "We'll find out. Is there anything else?"

  "Yes. Will identification of the deceased be provided?"

  "I don't know. Is it important?"

  "Finding commonalities among them may bear upon discovering who would want them all dead."

  Derec blinked. Sometimes he felt like an idiot. "Of course. I'll ask." He scratched his chin idly. "Speaking of Bogard, do you have an update?"

  "No change since last report. I do not possess sufficient memory to operate at a more effective level."

  "Okay. I didn't expect anything, but…"

  "There is a possible solution to the total problem."

  Derec hesitated. "You mentioned hypotheses…"

  "Part of Bogard's unusual make-up was based on unorthodox hardware configurations. I have attempted to simulate these, but like the human brain, the physical matrix itself represents a necessary and unpredictable condition of awareness. Given the limitations within which we are forced to work, I have compiled a protocol whereby it may be practical to encode a new positronic brain with a composite persona: Bogard's, and myself."

  Derec considered for a few seconds. "What good would that do? Bogard's matrix is completely collapsed. Trying to load it into a new brain would either be rejected by the load protocols or result in a duplicate encoding, collapsed condition and all."

  "Normally, yes. The encoding protocols require a stable framework for reception to work. I am suggesting that I can provide that framework while allowing those elements of Bogard that match a viable positronic template to load within it."

  "A combination?"

  "I could not predict to what extent the result would be a combination-how much of each source matrix would encode in the new brain-but in essence, parts of both Bogard and myself would transfer together."

  Derec shifted in his chair, intrigued. "The result could be only a slightly less coherent matrix. Collapse would occur at the first challenge."

  "Possibly. I am running simulations to account for as many variables as possible based on my own composition."

  "What, uh, would be the point?"