Asimov's Future History Volume 5

by Isaac Asimov

  Katherine looked down at him from where she stood, and shook her head in apparent disgust. “I didn’t know computers could be stupid,” she said pointedly.

  “Well, this one is,” he muttered lamely, feeling his face grow hot. “Look if someone else programmed a higher priority of secrecy into the computer, it won’t answer any questions it was forbidden to answer. I can’t do anything about that.” He was glad he was seated. She was a bit taller than he, though he was—he hoped—still growing. He guessed that she was a year or two older than he was, but that was as uncertain as the rest of her identity...and his.

  Derec sprang out of his chair to put some distance between them and started pacing around the room.

  Through his manipulation of the computer, he had ordered the builder robots of Robot City to continue developing the quarters he and Katherine shared. They had constructed a bedroom for each of them, a kitchen area, and a console for the computer access equipment he had put together himself. Now he strode around the perimeter of the office, burning up nervous energy.

  The apartment was hexagonal, and the furniture was shaped from the interior surface. Light glowed from the ceiling itself in a pleasant, soft diffusion. The room walls now obscured the elegant shape of the quarters, which resembled the interior of a crystal, but he and Katherine were more comfortable than before, and more independent.

  Ever since Derec had stopped Robot City from its automatic, frantic, and self-destructive growth, they had been living in a city that almost resembled a normal one. Construction now continued at a steady pace, within the capacity of the city to adjust as it grew. With the Laws of Robotics in effect, the two humans had a comfortable and safe existence here now.

  The First Law of Robotics is: “A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”

  “Look, Derec,” said Katherine. “We both want to get off this planet, I guess. At the moment, we aren’t suffering here. Sure, if we had a ship, we’d be gone by now. But as long as that Key is our only chance to get away, we simply have to find it.”

  Her tone was milder now, Derec noticed, but he just spun around, turning his back on her, and went on pacing. Ever since he had found out that she was not really Katherine Ariel Burgess, as she had told him she was, he had known he could not trust her. Or, at least, he could only believe her when she was being sarcastic or condescending. When she sounded pleasant, he had to figure out what she was up to.

  Besides, he still suffered from his amnesia. It was a little too awkward to demand her identity when he couldn’t even figure out his own. In fact, even raising the subject was embarrassing. The situation left him perpetually uneasy. The best place to get away from it was in the computer.

  He moved past her and threw himself back into the chair. Then he started working on the keyboard before he had any idea of what he should do. He just tried to look busy.

  He had declined to construct a VoiceCommand in his terminal, since he felt it a barrier between him and the labyrinth of the central computer. The computer was comprised of the top seven planner robots, or Supervisors, in the city, joined by their communication links. The central core could only be accessed in the mysterious office inside the Compass Tower, but he had had no use for it since instructing it to discontinue the excessive building and shapechanging of the city. Using only his keyboard to access the computer allowed him to bring up more raw data and to streamline the whole system when he had the time. Now it also allowed him to tinker silently.

  After a moment of concentrating, his discomfort was gone. When he spoke, his voice was casual.

  “Actually, this computer really is kind of stupid. Not the individual Supervisors, of course, but the way they combine their information. The shapechanging loaded so much data into them so fast that they recorded it without organizing it. The computer has become too complex to work well. It needs a lot more streamlining to become efficient.”

  “I thought you were streamlining it.”

  “When I get the chance,” he snapped, suddenly annoyed again. He was fairly sure he could make some real progress, given time, but he was tired of her always questioning his ability with computers. It was the one subject he actually knew something about, and he had demonstrated it many times over. Since his amnesia had left him with little knowledge of himself, the knowledge he did have was very important to him. He had even learned the kind of amnesia he had, something called “fractionated, retrograde, hypnosis-resistant psychogenic amnesia”—whatever that meant.

  Katherine didn’t say anything, though he remained aware that she was watching him.

  “Well, we are stuck with a rather odd computer, after all,” he said. Her composure made him self-conscious about his own discomfort. He made an effort to cool off a little. “Here we are in Robot City, a place built and run and populated exclusively by robots, and we have no idea of who created it, or why. I mean, who ever heard of a planet like this?”

  “I know,” she said gently. “Derec, we are in this together.”

  “Let me explain the computer again. We’re sure the robots have the Key, because there is no one else here on the planet except us. No—”

  “Derec, I know this part,” she said with exaggerated weariness.

  “Let me go on. I’m trying to build up to my point. Look, I’ve never encountered a computer quite like this, and I’m still trying to think through how to handle it.”

  “Go on.”

  “The computer obviously is subject to the Three Laws of Robotics, and that should make it honor my requests for information, under the Second Law. It did not, probably for two reasons. One is prior programming, where the Second Law required the robots collectively to keep certain secrets under orders they received from another human, presumably the creator of Robot City, whoever it was.”

  The Second Law of Robotics is: “ A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.”

  Katherine nodded quietly, now gazing at the floor. “What’s the second reason?”

  “The second reason is that the computer system has apparently expanded to the point where it needs fundamental reorganization to operate efficiently. Too many parts of the system just don’t seem to know what the other parts know. All sorts of information is lost in there. Even when it does know the answer to a question, sometimes the information takes much too long to locate. And I have to think up special ways of giving orders and asking questions to get it out.

  Katherine lifted her head and smiled. “We’re both getting better at that, Derec. We’ve had some practice now, especially with individual robots.”

  Derec grinned. “I guess I can’t argue with that. So far, the best way to make the robots cooperate is to convince them that we’re in danger, thus activating their First Law programming.”

  “I know, I know—have you forgotten my charade on Rockliffe Station with that little alien friend of yours, Wolruf? The trouble is, it’s even harder to convince them when we’re just debating. I seem to recall that we’ve both gone a few rounds with various robots that way.”

  “That’s true, too.” The positronic brains of the humanoid robots were quite sophisticated, and debating with their cold logic could be frustrating. “The Supervisors were so cooperative—within their limits of programming, of course—that it’s too bad we can’t just try to work with them to get the Key back.”

  “They haven’t even admitted that they took it from our hiding place on the Compass Tower,” said Katherine. “Why would they cooperate with us?”

  “I’m sure they wouldn’t, or couldn’t. That’s why we’ll have to try locating the Key without confronting them. The longer it takes them to realize that we’re after it, the more freedom we’ll have.”

  Despite their current rapport, Derec was afraid that if he didn’t stay on the computer, Katherine would make more comments about his incompetence. She might even call him a quitter. Determined not to give her a
ny excuse for that, he continued to play idly on the keyboard.

  Katherine pulled up the other chair—they only had two—and sat down. “Derec, let’s try to think up some questions I could ask some of the other robots, not the Supervisors. I know they won’t answer our direct questions about the Key, but I’ve gotten information out of them before. Like you were saying, we just have to think up the right questions. Stuff they have to answer because of the Laws.”

  He nodded. “Or else questions they don’t realize will lead us anywhere. The problem is, that’s what I’ve been trying to do through the computer. I guess I just don’t know.”

  All they really knew about the Key to Perihelion was that it was a teleportation device and that it had been taken from the place where they had hidden it. Obviously, the robots had taken it, and so far they had not even revealed that much information. Since the Key seemed to belong here, or at least had some special relationship to Robot City, the robots apparently did not feel that they had stolen it. They were incapable of dishonesty as such.

  “We know the robots were searching for the Key for a long time,” said Derec. “So whatever they’ve done with it must have been part of their long-term programming.”

  He could certainly use her help, but he didn’t know if he trusted her enough to speak freely. At one point, he had offered to let her use it to leave the planet while he stayed, and she had chosen to remain here with him. That had been some time ago, though. Sometimes they seemed very close, but he still wasn’t sure that if she got to the Key first, she would share its use with him. She had some kind of chronic physical condition—precisely what kind of condition was her secret—and she just might be in a bigger hurry to get off the planet than she claimed.

  For that matter, he was worried about her. He wanted to get her some human medical care, and that meant getting away from Robot City. However, he did not want to be left behind.

  “What they’re doing is obvious,” said Katherine. “They plan to teleport somewhere. That’s all the Key is good for, as far as we know.”

  “But where do they have to go? The planet is all theirs already, except for us.”

  “Oh, Derec.” She sounded exasperated. “At some point, they’re going to teleport off the planet entirely, just like we want to do.”

  “But why—” Derec stopped. They couldn’t possibly know why, because they didn’t know the robots’

  purpose here on the planet in the first place. Discussing the robots’ motives would not get them very far.

  “Well, let’s think out loud for a minute. On the asteroid where they found the Key, they were programmed to self-destruct when they were under attack. The Key and the element of secrecy were much more important than the robots or other materials to the person who programmed them. Cost was absolutely not a real concern. And that programming was critically important, since it violated the Third Law.”

  The Third Law of Robotics is: “ A robot must protect his own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.”

  “So their self-destruction—probably for the purpose of secrecy—must have been programmed by their creator under the First or Second Laws.” She thought a moment. “There’s that minimalist engineering again, which you keep talking about.”

  “Now, wait a minute.” He turned in his chair to face her. “Haven’t I already explained this? When I use that term, I mean these designs that we keep seeing that make things easy to use, even though the technology may have to be much more complicated than necessary to make it that easy.” He laughed, glad to have the advantage on her for a change. “What’s that got to do with robots melting themselves down into hot puddles of molten junk?”

  “Well, it’s the same attitude. It’s not the engineering as such, but the priorities. The creator of Robot City doesn’t care about conserving materials.”

  “Oh. Well...you might have a point, I suppose. Of course, they have all the materials they want, since there is no competition here. I...say!” He suddenly turned back to the console. Without mentioning the Key at all, he called up the records of supply requisitions. Then he searched out unusual movements of materials with a top-level priority. Several locations were given. “Ha! What do you bet they’ve just set up some kind of place to keep the Key?”

  “Yes!” Katherine threw her arms around his neck and gave him a quick squeeze. “They must have.

  Considering how important it is, they’ll want it under the tightest security you ever saw on this planet.”

  She laughed. “And if we get too close, maybe these suicidal robots will start melting themselves down into hot little puddles of molten junk again.”

  Derec had stiffened in surprise at her embrace and felt his face grow hot with embarrassment again.

  They had been affectionate at times before, but arguments always seemed to follow. He had no idea how she really felt.

  Katherine went on excitedly. “Do you suppose a particular robot is in charge? That would tell us who to look for.”

  Glad to have something else to do, Derec called up a list of duty changes among the robots. That list included geographical changes of assignment where they were pertinent. Major changes in reorganization were still taking place in the wake of the building frenzy that Derec had recently stopped. Now he correlated that information with the list of locations for which an abundance of materiel had just been requisitioned. All at once, he had the number of a single robot. “There it is!”

  Katherine was looking over his shoulder. “And, look—it has a huge crew that’s just been assigned to work under it. Wow, this serial number is a mouthful.” Normally, robots with a lot of human contact were given language names instead of numbers or duty designations, but on Robot City the robots had no reason to assume that human contact would be made with any frequency; only the Supervisors had been given names.

  “Watch this. Let’s see. Key....How about Keymo?” He hit a sequence of keys.

  “What did you do?”

  “I’ve given it a name. It’ll be easier for us to remember. Now that it’s in the computer, it’ll respond to that as well as its number. The other robots can learn it if they ask.”

  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  He grinned up at her. “I just figured it out today.”

  “Congratulations. Say, Derec....”

  “Yeah?”

  “Look at the size of that crew it has assembled. What could they possibly be doing?”

  Derec shrugged. “Security? You’re right about that part. The robots will have that Key guarded heavily.”

  “What would they be afraid of on Robot City?” Besides, they can have other kinds of security systems.

  They don’t need a bunch of robots just standing around.”

  “You got me, kiddo.”

  “What about their last duties? What kind of skills have they specialized in?”

  He started calling up a list of their previous duties, and spoke as he worked. “I know that skills matter to some of the robots, but I’m not sure how much. Certainly, for information, they can all draw upon the central computer. If they can manage to get the data out of that tangled contraption, anyone of them can know practically anything that any robot here knows.” He looked at the list that came up. “There we are.

  Hmm—let me try this.” In a couple of strokes, he had the computer subdivide the list according to previous duties that the various robots had in common.

  “I don’t see much of a pattern,” Katherine admitted after a moment.

  Derec shook his head. “I don’t, either. They have all kinds of different backgrounds.”

  “Maybe they have something else in common. Can you ask the computer to tell you if they have some other common trait?”

  “I can ask it anything we can think of.” Derec smiled ruefully. “Whether or not I get a civilized answer is another matter.” A moment later, he had a new list in front of them. He looked it over and let out a slow breath. “Wow
.”

  “It must be the Key,” Katherine said softly.

  According to the computer, the robots on this new duty roster had been selected for their absolute peak efficiency. They had recorded the fewest breakdowns, the shortest repair times, and the finest work records. Those who had experienced contact with humans had consistently reached any necessary decisions regarding the Laws with the least time and effort, though of course all the robots reached the correct decisions eventually. This team represented the best robots from all over Robot City.

  “This Keymo must be the best of the best,” said Derec, “considering that they put him in charge.

  Tangling with this bunch is going to be tough.”

  “Think of it this way: if we can talk him out of the Key to Perihelion, we can talk these robots into anything.”

  Derec looked up at her, smiling weakly. When he caught her eye, they both laughed.

  “All right,” Katherine conceded. “If we can talk them out of the Key to Perihelion, we won’t need anything else from them.”

  “We should go to Keymo prepared with an argument.” Derec got up and walked over to the kitchen area. “ And since we can’t count on finding food outside our apartment here, we’d better eat first. “ He looked over the limited list of fare that the chemical processor could simulate. “I’m afraid we’re out of the fresh produce. We’ll have to request another delivery. Right now, we can’t afford the time.”

  Katherine joined him, peering over his shoulder with a look of distaste. “That’s another good reason for us to get off this planet. This stuff tastes terrible.”

  “The robots did what they could, I guess. Before we got here, they just had no reason to concern themselves with cooking. Maybe we’re lucky they could make a chemical processor that’s even this tolerable.”

  “As far as I’m concerned, the best meal out of this machine is the fastest one I can eat, so I don’t have to taste it any longer than necessary.”

  “Fine. We don’t want to waste time, anyway.” Derec entered the code and turned it on. “Nutrition bars it is—again.”