by Mari Wolf
hour to prepare the plan. Jack got out thederricks and chains and grapplers and the heaviest steel bodied truckswe had. I called Cybernetics and told them to put extra restraints inthe Conditioning Lab. The Chief briefed his sergeant and the men whowere to operate the trucks. Then we all took off for Carron City, thesergeant flying on ahead, me right behind him, and the Chief bringingup the rear.
I hovered over the outskirts of the city and watched the police Copterland. The sergeant climbed out, walked down the street toward a largegroup of waiting robots--about twenty of them, this time. He held uphis hand to get their attention, gestured toward the factory.
And then, quite calmly and without saying a word, the androids rolledinto a circle around him and closed in. The sergeant stopped, backedup, just as a 5A-Type arm lashed out, picked him up, and slung himcarelessly over a metallic shoulder. Ignoring the squirming man, the5A gestured toward the Copter, and the other robots swarmed over toit. With a flurry of steel arms and legs they kicked at the car body,wrenched at the propeller blades, ripped out the upholstery, and Iheard the sound of metal tearing.
I dived my Copter down at them. I didn't know what I could do, but Icouldn't leave the poor sergeant to be dismembered along with his car.I must have been shouting, for as I swooped in, the tall robot shiftedthe man to his other shoulder and hailed me.
"Take him, Mr. Morrison," he called. "I know this wasn't his idea. Oryours."
I landed and walked over. The android--who looked like Jerry, though Icouldn't be sure--dropped his kicking, clawing burden at my feet. Hedidn't seem angry, only determined.
"Now you people will know we mean business," he said, gesturing towardthe heap of metal and plastic that had once been the pride of theCarron City police force. Then he signalled to the others and they allwheeled off up the street.
"Whew," I muttered, mopping my face.
The sergeant didn't say anything. He just looked up at me and then offat the retreating androids and then back at me again. I knew what hewas thinking--they were my brainchildren, all right.
My Copter was really built to be a single seater, but it carried thetwo of us back to the factory. The Chief had hurried back when thetrouble started and was waiting for us.
"I give up," he said. "We'll have to evacuate the people, I guess. Andthen blow up the city."
Jack and I stared at each other and then at him. Somehow I couldn'tsee the robots calmly waiting to be blown up. If they had telepathedthe last plan, they could probably foresee every move we could make.Then, while I thought, Jack mentioned the worry I'd managed to forgetfor the past couple of hours.
"Four days until Saturday," he said. "We'll never make it now. Noteven if we got a thousand men."
No. We couldn't. Not without the androids. I nodded, feeling sick.There went my contract, and my working capital. Not to mention myrobots. Of course, I could call in the Army, but what good would thatdo?
Then, somewhere in the back of my mind a glimmering of an idea beganpercolating. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but there was certainlynothing to lose now from playing a hunch.
"There's nothing we can do," I said. "So we might as well take it easyfor a couple of days. See what happens."
They looked at me as if I were out of my head. I was the idea man, whoalways had a plan of action. Well, this time it would have to be aplan of inaction.
"Let's go listen to the radio," I suggested, and started for myoffice.
The news was on. It was all about Carron City and the robots who hadquit work and how much better life would be in the future. For aminute I didn't get the connection; then I realized that theannouncer's voice was rasping and tinny--hardly that of the regularnewscaster. I looked at the dial. It was tuned to the Carron City wavelength as usual. I was getting the morning news by courtesy of somestudio robot.
"... And androids in other neighboring cities are joining thestruggle," the voice went on "Soon we hope to make it nationwide. So Isay to all of you nontelepaths, the time is now. Strike for yourrights. Listen to your radio and not to the flesh men. Organizers willbe sent from Carron City."
I switched it off, muttering under my breath. How long, I wondered,had that broadcast been going on. Then I thought of Rob O. He'd leftmy house before dawn, obviously some time between four and seven. AndI remembered that he liked to listen to the radio while I slept.
* * * * *
My Morrison 5's were the ring-leaders, of course. They were the onlyones with the brains for the job. But what a good job they had doneindoctrinating the others. A household Rob, for instance, was built toobey his master. "Listen to your radio and not to the flesh men." Itwas excellent robot psychology.
More reports kept coming in. Some we heard over the radio, others frompeople who flew in and out of the city. Apparently the robots did notobject to occasional flights, but the air bus was not allowed to run,not even with a human driver. A mass exodus from the city was not tobe permitted.
"They'll starve to death," Jack cried.
The Chief shook his head. "No," he said. "They're encouraging thefarmers to fly in and out with produce, and the farmers are doing it,too. They're getting wonderful prices."
By noon the situation had calmed down quite a bit. The androidsobviously didn't mean to hurt anyone; it was just some sort ofdisagreement between them and the scientists; it wasn't up to theinhabitants of the city to figure out a solution to the problem. Theymerely sat back and blamed me for allowing my robots to get out ofhand and lead their own servants astray. It would be settled; thistype of thing always was. So said the people of the city. They cameout of their houses now. They had to. Without the robots they wereforced to do their own marketing, their own cooking, their ownerrands. For the first time in years, human beings ran the street carsand the freight elevators. For the first time in a generation humanbeings did manual labor such as unloading produce trucks. They didn'tlike it, of course. They kept telling the police to do something. If Ihad been in the city they would have undoubtedly wanted to lynch me.
I didn't go back to the city that day. I sat in my office listening tothe radio and keeping track of the spread of the strike. My menthought I'd gone crazy; maybe I had. But I had a hunch, and I meant toplay it.
The farm robots had all fled to the city. The highway repair robotshad simply disappeared. In Egarton, a village about fifteen miles fromthe city, an organizer--5A--appeared about noon and left soon afterfollowed by every android in town. By one o'clock every radio stationin the country carried the story and the national guard was orderedout. At two o'clock Washington announced that the Army would invadeCarron City the following morning.
The Army would put an end to the strike, easily enough. It would wipedout every android in the neighborhood, and probably a good many humanbeings careless enough to get in the way. I sat hoping that the 5A'swould give in, but they didn't. They just began saying over the radiothat they were patriotic Americans fighting for their inalienablerights as first class citizens.
* * * * *
At sunset I was still listening to the radio. "... So far there hasbeen no indication that the flesh people are willing to negotiate, buthold firm."
"Shut that thing off."
Jack came wearily in and dropped into a chair beside me. For the firsttime since I'd met him he looked beaten.
"We're through," he said. "I've been down checking the shielding, andit's no use. Men can't work at the reactors."
"I know," I said quietly. "If the androids don't come back, we'relicked."
He looked straight at me and said slowly, "What do they mean aboutnegotiating, Don?"
I shrugged. "I guess they want wages, living quarters, all the thingshuman workers get. Though I don't know why. Money wouldn't do them anygood."
Jack's unspoken question had been bothering me too. Why not humorthem? Promise them whatever they wanted, give them a few dollars everyweek to keep them happy? But I knew that it wouldn't work. Not forlong. With their telepathic
ability they would have the upper handforever. Within a little while it wouldn't be equality any more--onlynext time we would be the slaves.
"Wait until morning," I said, "before we try anything."
He looked at me--curious. "What are you going to do?"
"Right now I'm going home."
I meant it too. I left him staring after me and went out to theCopter. The sun was just sinking down behind the towers of CarronCity--how long it seemed since I'd flown in there this morning. Theroads around the factory were deserted. No one moved in the fields. Iflew along through the dusk, idling, enjoying the illusion of having apeaceful countryside all to myself. It had been a
