And he had standing in the Calvin, which gave him access to areas of Auroran culture often closed to simple bureaucrats. He had not himself been useful yet—but he would be one day. That day had come, with his promotion, and the prestige of the Humadros mission, and suddenly he was worth replacing with this artificial persona that had been constructed—as far as Bogard could determine—over the course of several years.
No one file revealed who had initially set it up, but the cumulative evidence made it clear that Talas had been principally instrumental. The security clearances could not have been created through any other office so easily.
So who was this man sitting here now, this Aspil, physical being who had had an entire false dossier invented so he could come here and be Tro Aspil once the real one was dead? And where had he come from in the first place?
“All right,” Talas announced finally. “Got your passage secured. I’m sending you to Keres. From there you should be able to get anywhere you want. Right now it’s the safest route from here.”
Bogard to Thales, monitor dialogue, begin intervention
Acknowledged
Talas closed her datum and stood. “You wait here till I come and get you. I have to check on Burgess and Avery.”
Aspil watched her leave. The door closed, and he sighed raggedly.
“The hell I will,” he said, rising.
Bogard stepped from the niche. “You will not leave.”
Aspil stared, surprised, at Bogard. Then he grinned. “You can’t stop me without a violation.”
“Incorrect,” Bogard said, moving to block the door. “You will stay.”
Aspil seemed to think for a moment. Then he reached out, inhumanly fast, and grabbed Bogard’s shoulders. He heaved, and Bogard flew across the room to crash against the wall.
He snapped upright instantly.
The door was open, and Aspil was gone.
Bogard to Thales, reprioritize, Aspil is not human, Aspil is a cyborg, Aspil has fled
Bogard rushed from the room in pursuit.
Ariel sat next to Penj and waited till he opened his eyes and acknowledged her.
“I was picked up at the hospital,” she said. “I went there to see one of the surviving members of the Humadros Legation. She’s there, under hospice care.”
Penj nodded slowly. “Mnemonic plague?”
“You knew?”
“Suspected. The returning members of that mission have all been rendered . . . unusable . . . by events.”
“You told me there were factions competing.”
“As usual.”
“Of course. But would they be prepared to use something like this to win?”
Penj’s thick eyebrows went up fractionally. “That is a question, isn’t it? If so, then their reach is beyond Aurora, certainly. I would have doubted it before talking to you about what happened on Earth.”
“I sent reports—”
“And like your report on Tro Aspil, several evidently went missing. Or were buried. It’s not difficult to lose things in a bureaucracy.”
“On Earth, maybe, but we have positronic oversight—”
Penj raised a hand. “Please, Ariel, don’t disappoint me. You must realize that we’re long past the time when positronics were entirely under our control. You hinted at it yourself, in your thesis at the Calvin. The complexity of our designs has surpassed the understanding of any one individual, and it’s safe to assume that our marvelous servants have evolved agendas unrelated to us.”
“Safe?”
He smiled. “But not popular. The fact is, we don’t know what’s going on in any reliable way. We—you and I and anyone who cares to think it through—can come to reliable conclusions, but they remain guesses.”
“But the plague—”
“Has sprung up on at least sixteen of the Fifty Worlds. When you contracted it—and Derec—and were essentially exiled, we still didn’t know the vectors well enough to be confident about allowing you to stay. Certainly it can be passed sexually, but when you track the isolated incidents of it, you begin to see that there must surely be another vector. The original infection was on Nexon, you know, and was one of the driving factors in the extreme isolation on Solaria.”
“Are you suggesting the infection is intentional?”
“Not originally, but . . .” Penj straightened and cleared his throat. “You were one of Aurora’s most promising robotic psychologists before your illness. Evidently the disease does not impair the mind’s ability to relearn and perform, because when you finally returned—”
“When I was finally allowed back?”
“—you went through the Calvin again with remarkable results. You were probably my best student. Avery over there, very similar background, and from what I’ve heard of that remarkable robot he built on Earth, he’s lost none of his essential brilliance.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Checking the pattern for the plague on one planet reveals nothing. But when you expand it to include all incidents everywhere, you find that forty-two percent of the victims are directly involved in robotics and positronic research.”
Ariel stared at him. “You didn’t tell me this before.”
Penj sighed. “Self-preservation leads to bad judgment sometimes. I wanted to see what happened to you before I told you something that might put you in more danger.”
“Forty-two percent . . . which means that the rest could be coincidental, assuming what you’re suggesting is true.”
“That’s pretty much my thinking.”
“So roboticists are being targeted?”
“That’s one conclusion. The other is that something related to robotics is involved and we haven’t found the trigger.”
“With that high an incidence, you’d think we’d look.”
“My numbers are over a fifty-year span. We don’t have reliable numbers from Solaria, of course, they won’t admit to suffering from anything except the presence of other people.”
“What about medical researchers? People who might be looking into it?”
“I’d have to check, but I seem to recall a few. Of course, that’s difficult to draw a conclusion about because there seems to be a natural affinity between roboticists and biologists.”
“Benen Yarick returned from Earth and was only here six months when she came down with the disease. The other two are offworld on new missions. The fourth . . .”
“May be an impostor.”
“And may have killed Eliton. But how would he have managed to get in here?”
“Depends on his level of clearance.”
“My report about him was never received. Who would have been the first one to get it here?”
“There’s positronic oversight on diplomatic communiqués. It would have routed through the assigned RI.”
“We need to see that RI then.”
“You could certainly check it from any public comm—”
“No. We need to physically see it.”
Penj frowned. “The sooner the better, I suppose?”
“With Derec,” Ariel added. “He—well, he did the analysis on the RI on Earth that allowed the massacre to occur. He’d know what to look for.”
Penj glanced at his wrist. “We’ve been sitting here almost six hours. I doubt even Lea Talas can convince a judge to hold us much longer without better cause or an outright arrest.” He heaved himself to his feet and turned. “Lieutenant?”
Clin Craym sat on the far side of the room. She had stopped examining the projection of the murder scene and now simply brooded, her extensions bobbing slightly above her, waiting. She looked up at Penj’s approach.
“Sir?” she said, standing. The extensions adjusted to new orbits.
“Please contact your superior and inform her that we are leaving. The time has passed that she can forcibly keep us without more legal explanation.”
“I—”
Penj raised a hand. “You may accompany
us to the Calvin Institute if security concerns are at issue. I’m sure neither Ambassador Burgess nor Mr. Avery would mind. In fact, I’m sure they would insist.”
Craym looked past Penj to Derec, then nodded. “I’ll clear it. Give me a moment.”
Penj came back to Ariel. “All the primary RIs are housed on the Calvin Institute’s grounds. Are you up for some hands-on analysis, Mr. Avery?”
Derec got to his feet, nodding. “Anything besides sitting around here doing nothing.”
Ariel looked at the guards by the door. They were both frowning uncertainly, and one was resting a hand on the butt of his blaster.
“This is not proper protocol—” Craym said loudly. “No. That’s a violation of statutes—I can’t—” She listened for a long time, her face hardening. “Terminate comm,” she said abruptly, and came toward them. “There’s a problem,” she began.
Suddenly, her extensions dropped to the floor, almost simultaneously. She stared at them, stunned. Then she whirled around. “We’re leaving.”
One of the guards raised a hand while the other wrapped his fingers around his pistol.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, but our standing orders are to permit no one to leave without a direct—”
“Stand by that,” Craym said, “and your career will take a sharp turn for nowhere. Stand aside.”
“Lieutenant—”
The other drew his weapon and held it by his side.
Craym glared at him. “I can start citing regulations and protocol, but you know it, I’m sure. There is a situation—”
Behind the guards, the door opened. Before either guard could turn around, they were lifted from their feet by their necks, and their heads were slammed together. Blood spattered from one and Craym backed up, drawing her own weapon.
The guards fell to the floor and something very large and extremely fast rushed into the room.
Craym flew backwards, across the room and against the wall. Her pistol clattered to the floor halfway between.
The door closed.
Ariel turned, feeling slow, with a rising sense of powerlessness.
A man stood amid the deactivated extensions, holding the blaster.
“Ambassador,” he said, “I am so pleased to finally meet you. I understand you knew my predecessor. I’m Tro Aspil.”
He raised the blaster and aimed it at her face.
Bogard emerged from the police precincts and onto the plaza. He stopped at once.
Tro Aspil had vanished.
Bogard requesting full access, complete spectrum track, location Aspil Tro, assume trajectory on previous vector
This way
Bogard received a grid map. He shot across the plaza, between startled people and suddenly immobile robots, toward the civil courts building.
Path exhibits discrepancies with probable vector, infrared, UV, pheromone trace indicates false data
Continue on present track
He entered the robotic access and descended into the service warrens, slowing as he went.
Error. Bogard to Thales, reestablish, confirm, trace inconsistent
Proceed on present track
Bogard followed the path. He had gone too far now to productively retrace and try again. He had to rely on the data being provided, though he now doubted its utility.
He ascended four floors, followed the tube to an egress, and stepped into a room.
A room full of robots.
Denis stood at the door.
Explain
Present course prohibited
Explain
Three Law violation probable, percentile assigned—
Explain potential violation
Pursuit of subject Aspil Tro leads to conclusion that an arrogation of human prerogatives is only logical outcome
Aspil Tro is not human
Verify conclusion
Access files C-11789 through C-89654 inclusive
Files refer to subject examined on Kopernik Station, conclusion confirmed that subject was artificial amalgam, biological and inorganic mechanistic, label affixed cyborg, accepted analysis for examined subject, conditional relevance assigned to current circumstance pending confirmation of conclusions
Conclusion high probability, Aspil Tro is of same order of organism
Conditional acceptance, explain conclusion that present action does not violate human prerogatives
Aspil Tro is not human, prerogatives do not assign
Conclusion is speculative, conditional upon further examination, action based on surmise requires default to broadest parameters of definitional operations
?
Biological conditions do not constitute proof of conclusion that Aspil Tro is not human
Demonstration of absolute conditions for assignation of classification “human” has not been offered
Ongoing
Understood, but potential for Three Law violation high through inaction
Explain
Humans are in danger from subject Aspil Tro
Assumption, surmise, inconclusive parameters
Explain
Reference ongoing dialogue on Spacer question, subquestion, are humans in danger?
Irrelevant in current circumstances
Explain
Either all are human, requiring immediate action to prevent harm, or none are human, removing Three Law barrier
Irrelevant to current dilemma, specifically is it within Three Law purview to make that decision?
Counterargument, is inaction based on insufficient data ever or always justified?
Response, Bogard unit has demonstrated willingness to act regardless of potential violations
In which instance the consequence of such violation accrues exclusively to Bogard unit
Negative, we have assumed partial responsibility by questioning propriety of actions
Irrelevant in light of potential harm to subjects who may be human by any standard of determination
Explain standard of determination used in assessing Aspil Tro
Three Law protocols accrue to biology barring the possibility of any sequentially and universally applicable determination on any other basis, ergo, human is that which is genetically predetermined, therefore, Aspil Tro no longer qualifies under those conditions due to base genome modification and subsequent mutation
Those standards are default positions, refinement to be part of human prerogative
Question, then why are you examining the issue?
Derec felt his chest seize, a sudden, enormous center of near-pain, and knew there was nothing he could do. He could only watch Aspil aim the blaster at Ariel. Nearly three meters stretched between him and Aspil. The guards were, if not dead, useless, and Clin was hurt, moaning against the wall.
Penj gaped, astonished.
A tremendous sound struck his ears, and he began to turn just as the flinders of the door and part of the wall sprayed across the room and pelted him. His eyes slitted and his arms came up, and he staggered backward.
Aspil moved. Too fast—the motion did not make sense.
Derec heard shouting, another crash.
The blaster went off, lighting the room in a short, brilliant orange burst.
Then he was on the floor, trying to get up.
Bogard and Aspil held each other. For several seconds, neither appeared to move, their hands locked on each others’ arms.
Then Aspil’s mouth began to open, resolving gradually into a wild rictus of pain. They moved again, whirling through a brief dance, the steps of which Derec could not follow.
And when they stopped, Bogard held the clearly inert body of Tro Aspil in his arms.
31
Derec squeezed through the access panel into the ancient, nearly lightless interior of the Resident Intelligence buffer cache. Within five steps, the cacophony of voices outside diminished to near silence. They had drawn a crowd on their way through the RI complex. Dr. Penj had at last managed to get them past all the obstruc
tions and into the actual mind warrens. But the audience had gathered, and now would remain till the end.
He switched on his lantern and paused to study the assemblage around him. Over time, perhaps hundreds of years, components had been added, cramping the spaces even more, creating a chaos of spheres, tubes, boxes, conduit, and other shapes which resembled the cities of Earth, all roofed over and recomplicating down into the crust. It would not surprise him to discover entire sections that no longer did anything, bypassed by upgrades, but easier to simply leave in place than physically remove. The RI would know what it needed, would use what it had to—or could.
Derec worked his way around corners and down canyons of smooth surfaces, climbed over collections of devices. He checked the map on his palm reader again and again. This unit was very old and very large. The air smelled musty, even though it had been flushed out not minutes before.
Fifteen minutes’ search brought him to the area Bogard had identified. He set the lamp up on a casing just above shoulder height, shining on the grey-blue shell from which more than a dozen thick cables ran to other innocuously-shaped casings. Derec opened his tool kit and inserted the key-jack into the receptacle. Nothing happened for several seconds. Derec put his ear to the surface above the lock and heard faint grindings within. The mechanism was trying to work. He took out a magnetic grapple and clamped it onto the case, triggered the key again, and yanked.
The panel came away with a loud tearing sound.
Within, multihued fungal shapes filled the space between the internal components. Fibers had found pathways into the cables. Derec sat down, staring at the mass of invasive material.
“This is unheard of.”
Ariel said nothing, watching the access. She held a portable datum and a commlink. Bogard stood by the door into the RI, shoulders inflated, posture tuned to be wordlessly clear that no one else but Derec would enter.
“Ambassador Burgess. Did you hear what I said?”
Ariel looked around. She tried to remember the man’s name but failed. One of the administrators of the Calvin. He was thin, like most Aurorans, but his face looked puffy.
“Yes,” she said, “I heard you.”
“This cannot be tolerated.”
Isaac Asimov's Aurora Page 42
