by Isaac Asimov
Katherine drew herself up. “Take us to Keymo,” she ordered firmly.
“This is a security area. What is your business with Keymo?” The robot asked.
“Identify yourself,” she demanded.
“I am Security 1K. What is your business with Keymo?”
“He must give us the Key to Perihelion.”
Derec stepped beside her, afraid that her direct, rather arrogant approach was going to backfire if they didn’t offer some kind of explanation. “According to the Second Law, you must obey our orders. After you take us to Keymo, we will instruct him to hand over the Key. Let’s go.” He started forward confidently, though it was only a bluff.
Security 1K did not take the bluff. It did not move aside at all. “No.”
Derec stepped back, not wanting to challenge the robot’s physical prowess. He knew that the positronic brains in the robots were reliable, so his earlier assumption seemed to be true: the robots were operating under Second Law instructions, certainly from the mysterious holder of the office in the Compass Tower.
That suggested a new argument to him.
“Hold it,” said Derec. “Look. Apparently you have a very strong Second Law imperative that you are operating on, established previously. Okay. But that was a general instruction, I’ll bet. Right?”
“That is right. The need for security in this matter is part of the entire project of this facility.”
“But I’m giving you a specific and important order right now. I believe that should override a general instruction relying on broadly based programming.” Actually, he wasn’t sure he believed that at all, but it was worth a try.
Security 1K hesitated. When the positronic brain of a robot paused long enough for a human to notice, the argument had at least been considered worth an internal debate.
“No,” the robot said, after what was for it a considerable length of time. “The earlier imperative stands.”
Derec sighed, but he wasn’t surprised.
“Our well-being is at stake,” Katherine declared. “We must consult with Keymo. Your prevention of this violates the First Law.”
“How?” Security 1K asked.
“We can’t thrive in a city full of robots. We need other people around us.”
As the robot continued to debate with Katherine, Derec looked at the open edge of the dianite. It seemed oddly familiar, especially in its texture, but he couldn’t figure out why. The substance offered no sign of any frame. It looked quite thin, and seemed to constitute the entire wall.
“You are in no danger,” Security 1K was saying. “This is not a First Law problem.”
She glanced at Derec, who shrugged. The robot was backing into the dome again. A moment later, the two sides of the dianite seemed to straighten and grow together.
Carefully, Derec tapped the former opening, afraid it might be hot. It was not, so he ran his hand over the wall in that area. The surface seemed fully integral with the rest of the wall. He looked at Katherine and raised his eyebrows.
“Katherine, whoever’s behind the creation of this city is some kind of genius. Maybe the robots invented this dianite and maybe they didn’t, but somebody created them. This stuff would be worth a fortune off this planet, just like so many other things here.”
She spun away and started walking quickly along the base of the dome.
Astonished, he watched her for a moment, then went into sputtering rage. “What is wrong with you?
You’ve been acting crazy all day—come back here!” He ran after her.
Katherine had stiffened at his shouts, and had then begun walking faster. At the sound of his running footsteps, she broke into a run, also. He slowed to a walk, realizing that if she was truly determined not to talk, catching her wouldn’t help any.
Then he whirled angrily and slammed his fist against the wall. “Hey! Open up in there!” He pounded on the dianite a few more times. Then he stepped back, breathing hard.
A new hole tore open in the wall and Security 1K appeared in the opening. It did not step out this time.
“Do you have further business here?”
“Yes! Bring Keymo out here!” It felt good to yell at somebody, and the robot couldn’t just walk away.
“If you do not have new reasons to see him, I request that you stop instructing me to listen to you. Do you have new reasons?”
“Uh—” Derec glanced down the way for Katherine, who had stopped to watch. “Well....”
“Please avoid unnecessary contact with this facility,” said Security 1K. It backed away from the opening, which began to heal again.
Derec watched in frustration as the substance quickly closed. On an impulse, he leaned against a solid portion of the wall and pulled off one of his boots. He stuck it into the small portion of the hole that still remained and kept a careful eye on the dianite as it grew together. Now he remembered why it was familiar—the substance was similar to the material out of which these robots were made, possibly even a cellular material. He had had experience with these robot parts when he had created the robot Alpha.
That had occurred long before he had reached Robot City, but after his amnesia had come on him. This dianite did not seem to be alive, exactly, but it certainly had some startling properties.
The dianite grew around the boot—and stopped, much to his relief. He had been afraid it would simply keep growing together even if it had to cut right through the boot. Instead, his boot had been incorporated into the wall as part of it.
He leaned down close and prodded the dianite around his boot with his fingers. He was right—the tearing sound had given away the secret. This stuff was very hard as an integral unit, but once the tear was started it was quite fragile, and even grew limp within a short radius of the tear. He was able to pull a few of the modular cells apart with his fingers now. The tear could be opened again.
He just hoped no one on the other side was in a position to see him.
“Katherine! Come on!” He gently began tearing the wall upward like fabric. It was tough, but it gave.
When he looked up, she hadn’t moved. “Come on—” He lowered his voice, suddenly aware that he had a sizable opening in the wall, nearly enough to crawl through...or be heard through.
Katherine turned and started walking away.
Derec wanted to shout, but didn’t dare. Then, clenching his jaw, he crawled into the opening, leaving his boot behind to hold the breach as the wall grew together again behind him. He would have a talk with her later.
He found himself on the floor behind a large, bulky piece of machinery. The sounds of robots moving about reached him, but most would be function robots. He did not hear any voices. Of course, the foremen had their comlinks for communication with each other.
He spotted Security 1K sitting high on a stool at the far side of the dome, monitoring a console that probably reported a number of effects that would include the vibrations in the wall that Derec and Katherine had caused by touching and punching it. Since IK was still at the console, Derec judged that the monitor had accepted the boot as part of the wall. Certainly, the wall had grown in solidly around it.
A ceiling was just over the security console, signifying at least one upper floor, if not more. The interior curve of the dome was out of sight above it. On the floor, the entire crew of robots assigned to Keymo seemed to be working on different pieces of equipment that varied greatly in size. One foreman was seated at a computer console on the floor beneath the raised seat of Security 1K. Derec guessed that this was Keymo, and started working his way through the machines to reach the robot without being noticed.
Chapter 3
THE KEY CENTER
DEREC KNEW THAT he would not have much time. Even as he crawled over cables on the floor and between different machine housings, he wondered if he should just stand up, run over to Keymo and start talking right away. As it was, Security 1K might become alerted to his presence and throw him out before he could start his pitch.
&nbs
p; He stopped to get his bearings. Keymo was much closer now, studying the readings on the console. It looked like a good time to approach the robot.
Security 1K had not moved.
If Katherine had come in with him, one of them could have provided a diversion while the other spoke to Keymo. But it was too late for that now. He took another deep breath and stood up.
He felt totally exposed and vulnerable as he walked across the floor, but his presence caused no noticeable stir among the robots. When he reached Keymo’s desk, the chief robot of the facility looked up.
“I require the Key to Perihelion,” Derec said formally. He edged to the side of the console and peeked at the readouts.
“You would be the human Derec,” said Keymo. “Giving you the Key is not possible.”
“We must get off the planet in order to survive. The Key is our only means of transportation.”
“What is the danger to you and your companion on this planet?”
“Well, we just aren’t supposed to live on a planet of robots. We need the company of other humans.
Uh....” He knew this line of debate was weak, but it was all he had. The exact nature of Katherine’s chronic condition was unknown to him, and therefore too vague to use.
“That is not a danger by itself.”
“That’s what I told him,” said a voice behind Derec.
He tried to turn, but felt firm hands under his arms that lifted him off his feet. It was Security 1K, of course, and Derec did not bother to protest as he was carted to the wall like a lump of waste matter. He could not see how the robot opened a new slit in the wall, but he noted that the boot was elsewhere, and apparently still unnoticed. It would provide another opportunity later.
He was deposited gently but unceremoniously outside the wall, where he stood awkwardly on one booted foot. Behind him, the wall grew together. Katherine walked slowly toward him and stopped.
“I could have used you in there,” he growled.
“I didn’t realize you’d get in. Then I didn’t know what to do.” She stared at the ground in front of her.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Derec was in no mood for another crazy ride in the vacuum chute, and he didn’t want to talk to her until they were in private. He hitched rides for them on the top of an enclosed transport vehicle, and on the exterior ladders of a vehicle the purpose of which Derec could not divine. As long as the robot drivers judged their human passengers to be riding safely, they had no objection. Katherine was withdrawn all the way home, and he left her alone.
When they had returned, he went right back to the console. She reluctantly stood behind him with her arms folded. He kept his mind on his work with an effort.
“Did you learn anything while you were inside?” she asked quietly.
“A little,” he said coldly. “It might amount to something and it might not. I read an entry number on Keymo’s console, and I’m running it through the central computer.”
“Are you sure it’s really the Key Center?”
“Don’t you remember? We demanded to see Keymo, and the security robot didn’t deny he was in there. I demanded the Key from the top robot, and he didn’t deny having it.”
“Okay, okay.”
He paused to study the information that had come up. She came closer to read over his shoulder.
“It’s a list of substances, mostly metals and synthetics. Percentages of each one...energy consumption in the dome.”
“Look on the right,” said Katherine. “That’s the designation for hyperspace. It’s an experiment of some kind, consuming air.”
“Air—the chutes! The vacuum chutes. That’s why they’re using such an old technology. What did that construction robot say? The vacuum is a side effect of something else going on. This is it.”
“But what is it?” She asked cautiously.
He started an angry retort, then decided to have it out with her after he had finished considering this information. In the long run, it was more important. “I’m taking another look at that supply requisition we saw earlier. All the same substances are listed, in the same percentages. I wonder....”
“They’re duplicating the Key.”
“You think so?”
“I’m sure of it, Derec. And, look at the addendum on the supply requisition. They added small amounts there at the dome.”
“That would be the original Key,” Derec said slowly. “They...had to break it down to analyze it. Then they tossed the pieces into the pool of materials. It’s gone.”
“But they’re making more. Derec, this will make it easier for us to get one. Instead of one Key under careful guard, they’ll have a bunch of them we can try for.”
“I just hope Keymo is duplicating them accurately. And we might have to wait for them to turn out a few. We can’t get something that hasn’t been made yet.”
“Uh, Derec? Would you turn around?”
He turned in his chair and looked up at her.
“I guess you deserve an explanation. I know I’ve been acting weird. And I’m sorry I didn’t go inside with you. I had my mind on something else at the wrong time.”
“The wrong time!” Derec leaped out of his chair, glad to have the opening. “The worst possible time! We might have gotten the Key—or a key, anyway!”
“Derec, please. I’m trying to explain. Anyway, maybe there weren’t any to get, like you said.”
“All right! All right. Go ahead and explain.” He paced away from her and turned at the wall. “Go ahead.”
“Derec, I know who designed Robot City. And why.”
“ What?”
“I—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He raged. “No! Never mind that —who did build this place?” His astonishment and curiosity were interfering with his anger.
“Before I get to that, my real name is Ariel Welsh.”
“Well—glad to meet you. Finally.”
“I’m the only daughter of Juliana Welsh, of the planet Aurora.” She watched for his reaction.
“Should that mean something to me?”
“I thought you might have heard of her—she’s extremely wealthy. Lots of people have.”
Derec shrugged.
“My mother was the biggest patron of a man called Dr. Avery. Have you heard of him?”
“Dr. Avery. You know, I think I have...his name sounds familiar. What about him?”
“Dr. Avery was the brain behind all this.” She waved a hand, indicating the entire planet. “Robot City is his. And my mother’s money got it started.”
Derec’s heart began to pound. Dr. Avery. He had sat in the man’s office and used his terminal; now he had a name to go with the vague, limited information. Someone had been in that office shortly before he had; he had found a recently discarded food container.
“Whew. You really were keeping a secret, weren’t you?” He spoke more sympathetically. “What was he doing? Why did he build it?”
“From what Mom said, I think he was a famous architect. She called him a visionary. He was also eccentric, and used to argue with everyone. Robot City was a place where he could test his theories.”
“I get it. Here’s this...genius, I suppose, with all these outlandish ideas that no one can handle. So he wants to try out his experiments without interference, and your mother finances him.”
Katherine—now Ariel—nodded. “She gave him enough to get started, with the understanding that his project would have to be self-supporting after a certain point. Since that was part of his experiment, he didn’t object. And of course the robots are always very efficient.”
“He wanted to create an ongoing, self-sufficient city?”
“With a fully functioning society.”
“Where is he now?”
“He vanished a long time ago. Just went off somewhere. I suppose he’s dead, but Mom said he’s so strange that you just never know.”
“And he left behind an entire city of robots running on their ori
ginal programming.” Derec shook his head. “Well, that clears up more than you think.”
“Like what?”
“When the microbes from the blood of...of the dead man set off the automatic shapechanging in the city, this entire community went berserk because its programming made an interpretation that no human would have made.”
“In other words,” said Ariel, “something went wrong and Dr. Avery wasn’t around to fix it. He wanted an ideal experimental environment and he didn’t quite get it.”
“When you put it that way, though, he came pretty close. If he had stayed here, he might have kept it going the way he wanted.”
“There’s something else.” She looked at her hands, and started playing with her fingernails. “I’ve been banished from Aurora. I can’t go back.”
“You’ve been banished? How? I mean, what for? Did you break a law or something? Are you a criminal?”
She gave a wry sneer. “I wish. I’d be a lot better off. Derec, I’m—sick.”
“The chronic condition you’ve mentioned.” He spoke gently, allowing her whatever leeway she wished in such a personal matter.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’re in no danger. You can’t get it from just being around me.” She laughed bitterly. “I had an affair. I guess it was, you know, a rebellion against my mother and all her fancy friends.
They all expected me to be such a good little girl and grow up to be just like them.” It was her turn to start pacing.
Derec waited patiently.
“The guy was a Spacer from, I don’t know, some other planet. He was just traveling through, you might say, and he was long gone by the time I found out he’d contaminated me.”
“Couldn’t your mother help? With all her money and everything?”
“Ha! They don’t have any cure on Aurora—or maybe anywhere. Besides, this wasn’t just a matter of getting sick and getting well. On Aurora, this is a deadly sin. My mother bought a ship and outfitted it for me, complete with a couple of robots as aides. Getting away was the best I could do.”
“Your mother made quite a contribution, at that. You left Aurora in style, at least.”
“I can’t complain about that.”
