"With apologies, Commissioner Kelly. The Phages are, as you say, amazingly aggressive. It was unwise of me to come here. But there is good news also. I know where the masters are! And the Hymenopt Kallik. They are all three together, in a chamber closer to the center of Glister."
"I can't believe it." Birdie turned to E. C. Tally. "Is J'merlia telling the truth?"
"I have no direct evidence that supports his statement. But if you will accept indirect evidence, according to the central data banks the species that lead the spiral arm in deliberate falsehood are humans and Cecropians. Everyone else, including J'merlia and all Lo'tfians, is far behind."
"With respect, Commissioner Kelly, you may verify that I speak the truth. All you need to do is act as I did—follow the cable. It led me all the way from the surface, to were the masters and Kallik can be found."
"Which would certainly be direct evidence." E. C. Tally gestured to Birdie. "Go ahead, Commissioner, with J'merlia. When Councilor Graves joins me we will come after you. The cable provides an unambiguous trail for us to pursue."
Birdie found himself following the thin figure of J'merlia down an angled and jointed tunnel, whose sudden changes of direction made his head spin. The tunnel branched occasionally, and parts were so dimly lit that the walls could not be seen, but J'merlia followed the thin line wherever it led. Birdie trailed along behind, his hand touching the Lo'tfian's back. Their emergence into a giant domed chamber came as a shock.
The downward-curving floor formed a shallow circular bowl, marked off in concentric rings of pure color. Under the brilliant overhead light their reflection hurt the eyes. From the meeting place of each pair of rings rose insubstantial hemispheres, arching up over the middle of the chamber. The line that J'merlia had been following led toward that center, straight as a spoke on a wheel. Halfway in it stopped. Kallik was lying on the floor there, a compact dark bundle on the boundary between a purple and a red ring. In two front paws she held the spool for the line, and the other end had been wrapped securely around her body.
And beyond Kallik's unconscious form . . .
The innermost ring was blue, purest blue, a monochromatic 0.47-micrometer blue. At its center stood a raised dais of the same color, with a dozen glassy seats upon it. In two of those seats lolled the unmistakable forms of Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial.
Birdie started forward. He was restrained by J'merlia's grip on his sleeve.
"With respect, Commissioner, it may be unwise to proceed farther."
"Why? They don't look dead, just unconscious. But they could be in bad shape. We have to get 'em out and take care of them, soon as we can."
"Assuredly. My first reaction was the same as yours, that I must proceed at once and rescue the masters. But then I thought to myself, the Hymenopt Kallik surely operated with the same imperative. She saw the masters, she went forward toward them—and she did not reach them. When I realized that, I also realized that the worst way for me to serve the masters would be to become unconscious, as they are. I returned for safety to the second outer chamber. I had formulated no safe plan of action when the human, E. Crimson Tally, appeared."
"He's not a human. Tally's an embodied computer." Birdie did not go into details. He was too busy thinking about the other things that J'merlia had said.
"Why didn't you just grab hold of the line and pull Kallik out?" he went on. "She doesn't weigh much."
"I was unable to do so, Commissioner. Try it, if you wish."
Birdie seized the end of the line and heaved, as hard as he could. Kallik did not move a millimeter, and the line inside the pattern of rings did not even leave the floor. It was held there, fused to the surface or secured by some form of field. Birdie was still tugging and swearing when E. C. Tally and Julius Graves arrived.
There were five minutes of questions, suggestions, and counter-suggestions. At the end of it no one had bettered J'merlia's first proposal: that it was safe to do now what he had been reluctant to do before. He would enter the hemispheres and attempt to retrieve Kallik. If he failed, for any reason, the others would be on hand to help him. He would wear a line around him, so that if he became unconscious he could be pulled out.
"Which we know doesn't work for Kallik," Birdie said.
But he had no better ideas. They all watched in silence as J'merlia walked forward steadily, passing through the yellow and green rings and half of the purple one. At that point he hesitated. The thin head began to turn, and the pale yellow eyes on their short eyestalks moved dreamily from side to side.
"J'merlia!" Julius Graves shouted at him—loudly. The Lo'tfian stared around in a vague and puzzled way. He folded his thin hind legs and began to sit down.
"That's enough!" Graves was already pulling on the line. "Get him out, quick—while he can still stand."
J'merlia came reeling back from inside the pattern of rings. At the edge of the green annulus he jerked up to his full height and peered around him, but he allowed the others to haul him all the way out. On the edge of the yellow ring he sank down to his belly.
"What happened?" Tally asked. "You were progressing well, and then you halted."
"I don't remember." J'merlia crouched down on all his limbs and turned his eyestalks to stare back into the circle. "I was going in. Steadily, without difficulty. And then all at once I was going out, facing the other direction and being pulled clear."
"A Lotus field." Graves was nodding his head soberly. "Once Darya Lang pointed out that Glister is a Builder creation, we might have expected it. There are Lotus fields on many artifacts. The most famous one surrounds and protects Paradox. But J'merlia is lucky—he was exposed to only peripheral-field strength. Only the most recent of his memories were erased."
"Which may not be true of Kallik," E. C. Tally said. "And still less of Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial. The Lotus field of Paradox erases all memories."
"From men," J'merlia said, "and from Lo'tfians and Hymenopts. But from machines? Or from computers?"
The others turned to look at E. C. Tally. He nodded. "According to the records, all memories are lost in Paradox, from Organics or Inorganics. However." He bent down to release the line from J'merlia and place it around his own body. "However, this is not Paradox. The Lotus field here may not be the same. An experiment is in order."
They watched in silence as he cautiously stepped into the yellow ring, then passed across the five-meter band that led to the green. In the middle of the green annulus he paused and looked back.
"I feel some slight disturbance of circuits." His voice was calm. "It is not enough to inhibit performance, nor to prevent my further progress. I will proceed."
He walked on, descending across the shallow bowl of the floor. Five paces short of the place where J'merlia had faltered, he paused again.
"I must return." His voice had become halting and slow. "I cannot retain information. It is being destroyed in both current and backup files . . . I record a loss of fourteen thousand sectors in the past three seconds." He turned and took one hesitant step away from the center. Then he seemed to freeze.
"Twenty-three thousand more sectors are gone," he said dreamily. "The rate is increasing."
"That's enough." Graves heaved on the line, and Tally came bobbing and weaving back to the periphery of the chamber. At the edge he halted and shook off Birdie Kelly's supporting hands.
"Do not worry, Commissioner Kelly. I have lost some data—all recent—but I am still fully functional. Most of my stored memory has not been affected."
"But we've answered the main question," Graves said. "The field is just as effective on organic or inorganic memories. So we can't get them out—any of them."
"We must." J'merlia stood up and made a movement as though he was ready to run back toward the middle of the chamber. "The masters are in there! Kallik is there! We cannot abandon them."
"I am sorry, J'merlia." Graves walked across to place himself between the Lo'tfian and the silent forms at the center of the room. "If we could do som
ething to help Kallik and the others, we would—even though Atvar H'sial and Louis Nenda tried to kill us, back on Quake. But we can't do a thing to get them out."
"That statement is plausible, but not proven." E. C. Tally had been standing motionless. Now he raised his hands to touch the sides of his head. "I would like to question it. When I was receiving my original indoctrination, before I set out for Dobelle, there were calibration problems. To make the required adjustments, it was necessary to remove my brain."
Tally ignored Birdie Kelly's gasp of horror. He was feeling carefully around his temples. "I pointed out to the technicians at the time that my embodied design was intended for continuous sensory input. They employed a neural bundle connecting my brain to my spine. I lost sensory feeds and body control for a few seconds as the attachment was being made, but I was otherwise unaffected. Now, my observations suggest that J'merlia is the strongest and most agile of us. If he were to ascend the cable all the way to the surface, enter the Have-It-All, and return with a long high-capacity neural cable . . ."
Birdie Kelly had never seen anything so disgusting in his whole life. And that was saying something.
E. C. Tally lay on his side on the gently curving floor, eyes closed. A coil of high-capacity cable lay by him. His head was supported on a folded blanket taken from the Have-It-All, and he was giving calm directions to Julius Graves and J'merlia.
"The skull is of course real bone, and the skin was grown naturally. But for convenience of access the blood vessels were terminated in the rear section, on a line one centimeter above my ears. The blood supply to the upper skull has been rerouted to veins and arteries in my forehead. The upper cranium is hinged at the front and secured with a line of pins at the back. You will see the access line when the hair is lifted. If you raise the skin at the back you should see the pressure points, marked in blue on the bone."
Graves inserted a thin spatula into the horizontal gap a few inches above E. C. Tally's rear hairline. As he levered upward there was a gleam of white bone. Three blue dots were revealed on the smooth rear of the skull.
"I see them. Three of them?"
"That is correct. Very good. When those pressure points are simultaneously depressed, the rear pins release. You will find that the whole upper cranium lifts forward about the hinged line in the forehead. The skin, veins, and arteries there should stretch, but they will remain intact above the hinged region." When Graves hesitated, Tally added, "Do not concern yourself about my sensations. Naturally, the warning signals that you know as pain have been modified in my case. I will feel nothing that you recognize as discomfort."
Graves nodded, and while J'merlia held the spatula in position he reached in and pressed the three marked places on the white bone. There was a sharp click. The rear part of the skull jerked upward a couple of millimeters, revealing a narrow dark slit.
"That looks like poor design," Graves said. "Isn't there a danger that the release could be triggered accidentally?"
"Not while I am functional. I must cooperate, or be incapable of internal state transitions, before the release can take place. Now—grasp the rear hair and lift the upper cranium, rotating it about the forward hinge."
The whole cap of the skull eased upward under Graves's gentle pressure. Birdie saw the inside of the hemisphere, with its intricate network of red blood vessels. Below it was a bulging gray ovoid, sitting in the skull case as snugly as an egg in an eggcup.
"Very good." Tally remained completely still. "You will now see what appear to be the meninges—the outer protective membranes of the human brain. In my case they are of course artificial. I was embodied with my own independent power supply, so there is no need for anything other than a neural body-brain interface. You will find the neural interface when you lift me out of the skull cavity. Lift me only a few centimeters, and proceed with caution. It would be undesirable to disable the interface prematurely. A strong pull would unseat the connection."
Graves was reaching into Tally's head and cautiously lifting out a roughly spherical object, small enough to hold comfortably in his two cupped hands. As the wrinkled ball was raised, a short coiled spiral was revealed. It ran between the bottom of the embodied computer and the lower hindbrain of E. C. Tally's body, above the end of the spinal column. Clear liquid dripped from the coil onto Graves's hands as the computer brain was lifted free of its body.
"Now," Tally continued. "The next phase should be simple, but I will not be able to guide you through it. Commissioner Kelly, you and J'merlia must make sure that my body does not move—there may be some reflex muscle activity. Councilor Graves, you must break the connection between me and the body, and then connect it again through the high-capacity cable. Do it as quickly as you can, consistent with care, but do not worry if it takes a minute or two. This body's own hindbrain will permit it to function normally for at least that long, while I am absent. Also, do not be afraid to touch the inside of the skull cavity. This body is well protected against infection. Carry on, please, as soon as you feel ready."
Graves nodded. There was another click as he reached in and delicately separated the body and the sphere of the embodied computer. E. C. Tally's limbs jerked against Birdie and J'merlia's restraining grasp; then the body slumped and steadied.
The ends of the neural cable had been placed close to hand. Julius Graves picked up the male connector. After a few seconds of effort he inserted it snugly into position at the upper end of the body's hindbrain.
"Half the job done." He was breathing loudly through his mouth. "But the other one doesn't want to go in. Hold him still." Graves's fingers were slippery with cerebrospinal fluid. He could not force home the connector attaching the computer brain to the neural cable.
"Hold on a minute." Birdie Kelly wiped his hands down his pants, then reached across to take both the brain and the connector from Graves. He pressed the plug home hard onto the multiple prongs of the computer's receptor.
"Gently!" Graves said. But the body of E. C. Tally was already sitting up and lifting free of J'merlia's grip.
"Hmm—kkh—khmmm." The torso shivered, and the eyes snapped open.
Graves bent close. "E. C. Tally! Can you hear me?"
"Very well." The topless head turned. "Excuse me, Councilor, but there is no need to shout like that. This body is equipped with excellent sensory apparatus."
The skull was still gaping wide, the empty cranium inverted and hanging upside down in front of Tally's bright blue eyes. Birdie Kelly stared at that empty skull, split open like a coconut, and at the neural cable that ran from the base of the brain to the little sphere in his right hand. His torso wanted to shiver, too. Life on Opal was tough, but it had not prepared him for this sort of thing.
As Birdie watched, Tally reached up, took the open skull case in both hands, and casually rotated it back into position. "It won't quite close, I'm afraid," he said, "because the neural connector inhibits the seal. If possible we should tie it in place. It would be inconvenient to have the upper cranium detached and lost."
He turned to glance at the sphere that Birdie was holding. "Handle me with care if you please, Commissioner Kelly. What you have in your hands represents a substantial investment of Fourth Alliance property. I'm afraid that the body has already suffered minor damage, since it was not anticipated that we would need to perform brain removal in an unprepared facility." A thin trickle of blood was running down the left side of Tally's forehead. He wiped it away casually, stared around the chamber, and continued. "Also, my motor and sensory performance is somewhat impaired. The signal-carrying capacity of the neural cable is less than that of the original connection. I am able to see with rather less definition, colors are muted, and I sense that my muscular control is diminished. However, it should certainly be adequate for our purposes."
He rose to his feet, staggering a little before he caught his balance. At his direction J'merlia and Graves tied a makeshift bandage around his head, adding an extra wrapping to hold both the upper cranium an
d the external neural cable in position. Birdie Kelly was still holding the brain in nervous hands, doing his best to avoid jiggling it or putting any pressure on it.
"Are you sure you are ready?" Graves asked. "Don't you want to practice moving?"
But Tally was already stepping forward. "That would be pointless," he said. "My coordination would not improve. But as one precaution, let me do this." He picked up the strong line that he had used on his previous foray toward the center of the room and tied it around his waist. "You can always haul me back here. So now, if J'merlia will pay out the neural cable, Commissioner Kelly, as necessary . . ."
Tally took two staggering steps forward and began to weave his way down the gentle slope that led to the center of the chamber. He was soon into the first of the concentric rings. At the far edge of the yellow annulus he paused for a moment, while the others froze. Then he was off again, heading for the silent figure of Kallik. Birdie Kelly watched him, afraid even to blink, as J'merlia paid out cable from the reel that he was holding, at a pace just enough to prevent the line from tightening or drooping to touch the floor. There was something wholly unnatural about that human form, head bloody and bandaged, moving into the shallow and brightly lit cauldron of gaudy colors. He staggered as he walked, and the two cables trailing behind him swayed and jerked with a life and rhythm of their own.
"Come out at once if you feel you are losing memories," Graves called.
Tally waved an arm without slowing his progress. "Certainly. Though I do not expect that to happen. How can it, when I am with you in the hands of Commissioner Kelly?"
He was already past the green ring and moving on to the purple one. Two seconds more, and he was sinking slowly to sit on the floor beside Kallik, careful to keep his head upright. His fingers touched the Hymenopt's furry thorax. "She is alive. Unconscious, but not apparently injured. I cannot lift the line around her from the floor, but if I release her from it I see no difficulty in carrying her out."
Convergent Series Page 39
