"And all this because Homunk happened to come here?"
"Yes."
Pucky stood up and stared at the image of the Galacteer.
"If only I’d spent my vacation with the tall-talers! I could have spent all day in my cabin by the sea and have been with Iltu. My friends would have spoiled me and would have woven the most lovely tales for me. I could have eaten as many carrots as I wanted… no one would have bothered me. And instead of all that, I’m here to play a reformist. How could I have deserved it?"
"Because of your curiosity," Harno replied.
Homunk had also stood up. "You can’t be serious about the crusade, Harno?" he asked. "Wouldn’t it be easier to re-program the robot brains one by one? That wouldn’t be too difficult."
"If it were easy, it would have been done long ago, Homunk. Thinking positron beings cannot be programmed. They can only be convinced. And only by presenting evidence. In our case, the only evidence we can present are miracles. Miracles expected of superbeings or gods."
"Miracles?" Pucky stared at Harno in shock. "Miracles…?"
"Robots are coldly rational beings—at least they consider themselves such. When something happens for which they have no logical explanation, they must take it for a miracle. They don’t know telepathy, since they are not capable of it. Every memory of teleportation or telekinetics is absent, since they have never experienced them. Even man would not have known anything about these things, if they had not taken place on Earth. We know that they did exist on Earth. Even the first Utopian histories of Terra’s antiquity only related parts of the deeply buried past. Teleportation, for us a perfectly natural phenomenon, must be the work of supernatural powers."
"Supernatural powers have nothing to do with logic," Pucky countered anew. "That way we’ll never overpower them."
"At least we’ll get more followers for the believers. More we may not, cannot, hope for."
Homunk asked: "When will the EX-238 land? Is it on its way here?"
"Tomorrow or the day after. I showed Koster the way after I’d received Iltu’s call for help."
"Good girl," Pucky murmured with dreamy eyes.
"You’d have done better to have left the ‘good girl’ at home," Homunk said.
"Then Harno wouldn’t be here." Pucky bared his incisor for several seconds as he grinned. "You’d do better to appreciate my mousebeavers when they’re let loose in this world to work the necessary miracles. Woe unto the robots when they actually are let loose!"
"The road to heaven sometimes leads through hell, Harno lectured them soundlessly but insistently. Then he added: "When the robots return for the adoration of Homunk, I’ll turn on some magic. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to make use of magic but after all it’s for a good cause."
"Hopefully there won’t be any trouble when the EX-238 lands," Homunk added to the overall excitement.
* * * *
The next day, Homunk communicated with the robots for the first time.
To do that, he made use of the altar’s robot brain and its coloured symbols. He assured them that he was not God, only a representative of the former masters of this world. He was only the vanguard; soon the others would arrive.
"We’ve seen what’s been happening on this planet for thousands of years," he said over the symbol screen to the silent robots. "You have done well in guarding the possessions of your masters, in furthering their work. But many of you have lost faith in the creators, the creators who gave you the ability to think. You have built spacefleets because you were able to think. But you’ve also forgotten—and that presages the doom of a civilization, decadence."
The robot priest had watched motionlessly as Homunk took over the controls for the colour symbols with perfect assurance. It was not really the words that convinced him; it was this very sureness with which Homunk used the electric altar to carry out his purpose. At the same time, despite the conviction that this was no traitor but really one of the lords and masters who stood before him, the robot priest had doubts. Whenever the gods returned, he would become superfluous. He, who based his position of power on his imaginary contact with the beings who had long since disappeared, would be undone by their return. Thus, they were his greatest enemies.
Homunk, who had not the least idea what the robot priest was thinking, continued to speak over the symbol screen. He knew that six robot brains, controlled by this sector, were tuned into him. His colour symbols would be broadcast throughout the planet.
Just below the dome, Harno was floating invisibly. He was in telepathic connection with Homunk and was advising him. Pucky stayed hidden in one of the many unused adjoining rooms. Through Harno, he found out what was happening in the dome hall and what messages the android sent to the robots. More and more, he had to admit, the initiative was being taken from him. But he also saw that without Homunk he could have done nothing under the circumstances. His outward appearance simply did not fit in with the image that the robots had of their creators. In this world, he would always be the hunted.
"We had assumed that our return to this world would not be necessary again but we were wrong. We created you so that you could build a new civilization, not take sides and destroy each other. You are just as guilty as those who would shake off every remembrance of us. At the same time, both your groups are behaving naturally. The one group would be independent and hammer out its existence as it wished but you want to be thankful to those who created you. At the same time, for convenience sake, you were grateful, for you do not want to take the responsibility. You push it off on the gods, as you called your creators. Perhaps it was only the priests, who did that not solely because it was convenient but for many additional reasons."
He paused for a short time, as if to make sure of the robots’ reaction, but their eyes remained expressionless.
Harno explained soundlessly:
"Don’t go too far, Homunk. These are not organic beings but are filled with cold logic. They’ll accept no gods who want to punish them. They want nothing but to serve, because for that purpose they were created. Don’t tell them they want to serve only for their own comfort because then they’ll do the opposite simply to please their gods."
Homunk understood that he could not go beyond a certain point. Pucky and he had not entered this world just to bring the robotdom back to sanity. They’d come, at most, simply to isolate the robots. To isolate them from the universe. For if the robots should take it into their heads, for whatever reason, to attack the unprotected planets of the former Empire, it would mean catastrophe. So long as they could not agree and were divided by internal strife, it would never occur to them to send out interstellar expeditions.
He must feed the present conflict.
"Even so," he continued, "the sympathies of the creators are on your side, on the side of true servants who have not forgotten their origins. Not only does the rule of logic guide the universe but also the rule of morality. It is a rule that applies not only to all organic living beings but also to you."
For the first time there was a reaction. A few of the robots in the first rows made approving gestures. One of them stepped forward and bowed before Homunk; then he pointed to the altar and the controls.
Homunk understood and stepped aside.
The robot ignored the priest and for a few seconds examined the installation; then he sent his answer over the symbol screens:
"As far back as our memory banks go, we have always advocated this moral and have fought for it. But in vain. The numbers of the non-believers grew even greater, for they had the factories and assembly lines for new robots. They built spaceships and weapons. Now they’re trying to exterminate us. They want to become the masters of our world and then to conquer the universe. They want to find the gods and show them who is stronger. We know that they think the gods are weak, easily wounded beings of organic origin who can be crushed with one blow. Even if that were so, they did nevertheless create us. Is it right to want to destroy them? We say no! And
that’s why we continue to fight. Now more so than ever! Beside the masters who will return."
The robot bowed and returned to the first row.
Homunk tried to figure out what Rhodan would have said if he were in Homunk’s place here. Logically, he would hold the ‘believers’ in the right, in order to dam up the will for expansion of the robots. But was it right to interfere in the internal affairs of such a complicated civilization? Robots who were waging a religious war…!
The decision was not difficult.
"We’ll break up today in order to be in the capital city to meet the ship on time. We’ll leave the holy city to be guarded by the priests. We’ll march till it grows dark. The faithful robot brains will send us means of transportation and will provide arms for our followers. Tomorrow the capital city will be in our possession."
The robots reacted immediately. Without any expression of feeling, they turned around and left the dome hall. In an hour, the first of them would already be marching. The metallic army would grow and start east toward the capital city and the spaceports. An army of robots that was determined it would be allowed to serve again.
Homunk stood motionless until the last had disappeared, then he looked up toward the ceiling. Harno, a great, shimmering sphere, floated slowly downwards. Just above the floor, he stopped.
The robot priest had withdrawn. Though it was precisely he who ministered to the belief in gods, promoted and defended them, deep inside he was convinced that there were neither gods nor miracles.
And now one was happening right before his eyes.
The weightless, weirdly shimmering sphere could not be understood through logic. Something emanated from it that could not be explained by normal scientific laws.
The priest drew back and, since no one stopped him, he disappeared in the back rooms of the temple for another thorough search of his memory banks to see whether the extinct creators had ever appeared together with such a sphere.
Pucky received Harno’s signal and teleported back into the dome hall.
"Well, you’ve told them a pretty story," he said to Homunk and grinned in the direction of the symbol screen. "That’s using reason properly, if you ask me. In my opinion, we shouldn’t mess with this whole affair. The purpose of the expedition was to find out the origins of the mysterious Silver Arrows. We’ve done that. Whether the robots here believe in ghosts, gods or lubricating oil can’t make any difference to us."
"But no," Homunk countered. "With the bare discovery of their home base nothing has been accomplished. This really unique civilization of intuitively behaving and yet logically thinking robots means great danger for all of us. If the so-called ‘nonbelievers’ should win the upper hand, their Silver Arrows will soon overrun the entire Milky Way. Don’t forget that the natural resources of this planet are inexhaustible. Haven’t you thought about why, on a planet at the centre of the galaxy and pulled by unimaginable centrifugal forces, there should be a quite normal gravity? I will tell you, Pucky: because the entire planet consists of a solid metal core whose weight and gravitational fields compensate for these centrifugal forces. If the Earth were on this spot, it would have broken apart long ago. Only such a massive planet as this one could withstand the strain. The crust is only a few meters thick, then there are rocks; and at a depth of 500 meters there is the massive core. Out of it, a million spacefleets can be built."
"How do you know all this?" Pucky asked in disbelief.
"From Harno," said Homunk.
"Oh, well, if it’s really so… what now? Without the EX-238, we’re finished, particularly me. I can’t even let myself be seen by these crazy robots. They think I’m the devil or something. Frankly, Homunk, with me you’ll win no religious wars."
"You’re just not built like a god," Homunk smiled.
In the meantime, the robot priest had seriously deliberated trying to find a way out of the personal dilemma into which he was in danger of falling. There was only one possibility of restoring his prestige and even of increasing it: he had to prove that the so-called representative of the masters was a fraud. If he could manage that, there would be no one to fight him for pre-eminence any more.
Carefully he stepped to a wall in his private quarters, shoved aside a few newly installed panels and pressed various buttons. More panels slid aside and a screen became visible.
It was a multi-purpose screen.
After a few landscapes and technical installations, the inside of the dome hall appeared on the screen. The priest did not wince as he saw the mousebeaver standing next to Homunk and Harno. He knew right away it was the being who had escaped twice already by inexplicable means. It must be an organic being.
That could easily be proved.
With a few motions the priest changed the functioning of the screen. The hidden cameras were no longer sensitive to visible light waves in sending images to the screen but concentrated only on heat waves produced by living organisms.
The screen had become dark.
As the priest pressed appropriate buttons, the contours of the mousebeaver appeared on the screen. Otherwise there was nothing else.
The priest stared at the screen in disbelief.
Where was the representative of the masters? Only the little furry being had appeared. It threw off heat waves and was therefore organic.
And the emissary?
Neither he nor the sphere were visible.
The emissary was a robot!
The realization hit the priest like a bolt of lightning, though he, too, was a robot. Quite by accident he had been able to expose the new god as an impostor. He had managed to uncover fraud. A fraud that was greater and far graver than the one perpetrated by him and to which he owed his present position.
The voice projection reproduced the conversation of the impostors but it was an unknown and therefore an incomprehensible language. It would only take a short while to decipher it, though. The priest plugged in supplementary equipment. He had to have evidence to destroy his hated rival for good. Perhaps, even, they were special constructions of the non-believers, and the capture in the ship, the flight and sudden appearance near the holy city was nothing but a clever trick in the strategy of their enemy.
The priest was triumphant.
He was smarter than the others.
Much smarter.
They would be surprised.
They would even be very surprised.
* * * *
All over the planet the mighty robot armies rolled toward the great cities where the robot brains stood. They soon met the first opposition, initially weak, disorganized and easily overcome. Already five hours after Homunk’s call to arms, three robot brains were in the hands of the rebels.
Harno had left Homunk and Pucky to their own devices and after a few suggestions and advice had disappeared, not without having promised to return at the appropriate time.
Pucky had taken Homunk by the arm and teleported in the direction of the city. They hid in the topmost dome of a tall building close to the spaceport and awaited further developments in the events they had gotten under way.
It was an empty hall with abandoned machines and work benches. A few fully constructed robots stood lifeless on long shelves, waiting to be activated. The dust told them that the robots had waited for decades already, if not for centuries.
From the windows, Homunk and Pucky had a good overview.
"More ships have landed," Pucky reported while Homunk was searching the cupboards. "Those guys have gathered together a handsome fleet. It’s swarming with soldiers and officers. But they all look alike. I would sure like to find the bat who wanted to throw me into the converter."
"Find the Silver Arrow in which we came and you’ll have your rat," Homunk corrected dryly.
Pucky looked at him.
"The ships all look alike, too. What’s in the cupboards? Anything to eat? I’m beginning to be bored with these stupid pills. There must be something to eat on this crazy planet!"
"What woul
d robots eat?" Homunk asked. "Do you have any appetite for the finest of lubricating oils or graphite? In the main, though, my-hm-my colleagues nourish themselves on atomic energy. How would that be?"
"Since you became the founder of a religion, you talk nothing but nonsense," Pucky said decisively. "No wonder your mechanical comrades are fighting each other because of you." He sighed. "I would bet a hundredweight of carrots against Reggie’s stubbly hair that we’d find something to eat if we tried. And you know where? No? Then I’ll tell you: in the former dwellings of the noble gods."
"Gods? You mean the creators of the robots?"
"Good guess, my friend." Pucky looked out the window again. "Something’s happening outside but until the arrival of the EX-238 we have plenty of time. If Harno’s right, the ship won’t land before tomorrow noon."
"That’ll be in about 30 hours, for the sun will go down soon. We can leave the robots to themselves. The spark has taken hold; we can’t do any more. Let’s hope the spaceport is in the hands of the believers when Lan Koster arrives. Until then, as far as I’m concerned, we might as well go carrot hunting."
Pucky grinned.
"I’m afraid they wouldn’t have lasted these thousands of years but maybe we’ll find other things in the refrigerators and the storerooms of the… what did Harno call them?"
"The Galacteers."
"Right, the Galacteers. Let’s go see. Teleportation is a fine thing."
"It compensates you for your organic body which otherwise consists of practically nothing but handicaps," smiled Homunk and took Pucky’s paw.
From Harno they knew that nearly everywhere under the cities there were living quarters that reached down 200 meters below the surface of the planet. A miscalculated leap was practically impossible, especially if Pucky was careful.
In the Centre of the Galaxy Page 10
