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v0.9 by the N.E.R.D's. This is a pre-proof release. Page numbers removed, paragraphs joined, formatted and common OCR errors have been largely removed. Full spell check and read-through still required.
Barr stood on the hill—which overlooked Star, capitol of the human-controlled galaxy—and tried to make up his mind.
He was aware of his single robot guard standing somewhere in the darkness to his left. A man and a woman came along the crest of the hill, paused for a kiss, and then started down. Barr scarcely glanced at them. His problem embraced the whole civilization of man and robot, not individuals.
Even the escape of the alien enemy prisoner, a few hours before, had been an incident, when compared to the larger issues. True, he had seen it as a major event, and had ordered robot troops from distant cities to come to the capitol and aid in the search. But he had still to make the decision, which would fit those separate actions into a unified, driving purpose.
Behind him, there was a thud. Barr turned. He saw that an accident had taken place. The man and woman, evidently intent on each other, had bumped into the robot guard. The guard, caught off balance, was now sprawled on the ground. The man bent down to help him up.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "I didn't—" He stopped. Finger contact with the clothes that covered the padding that, in turn, concealed the basic crystalline structure, must have apprised him of the other's identity. "Oh, you're a robot!"
He straightened without helping the guard to his feet. He said irritably: "I thought robots could see in the dark."
The guard climbed to his feet. "I'm sorry. My attention was elsewhere."
"Watch yourself!" said the man curtly.
That was all there was to the incident. It was a typical interchange between a robot and a human being. The man and the girl continued on down the hill. Presently, the lights of a car blinked on. They moved out of sight behind brush.
Barr walked over to the guard. What had happened was directly connected with the tremendous decision he had to make. He asked: "What was your feeling about that?" He decided he was not making himself clear. "Did you mind his taking the attitude that you were to blame?"
"Yes, I did." The guard had been brushing himself off. Now, he straightened. "After all, he was the one who was moving."
Barr persisted: "Did you have any impulse to rebel?" He regretted that question; it was too pointed. He said quickly: "Did you have any desire to talk back?"
The guard's reply was slow. "No! I had a sense of being involved in an emotional incident."
"But isn't it hard to come into contact with human beings on any but an emotional basis. Human beings are impatient, angry, generous, thoughtful, thoughtless." Barr paused. "I could go on."
"I suppose you're right, sir."
Thoughtfully, Barr turned to look again at the great city that spread below him. The star effect, which gave the capitol its name, was gained at night by a design of street lights. All the main centers had been deliberately grouped, so that by building and light concentration, the desired effect was achieved. Barr said finally, without looking around:
"Suppose that I, in my capacity of Director of the Council, ordered you to destroy yourself—" He hesitated. For him, the question he had in mind merely touched the surface of his greater problem. For the guard, it would be basic. Nevertheless, he said finally, "What would your reaction be?"
The guard said: "First I'd check to see if you were actually giving the order in your official capacity."
"And then?" Barr added, "I mean, would that be sufficient?"
"Your authority derives from voters. It seems to me the Council cannot give such an order without popular support."
"Legally," said Barr, "it can deal with individual robots without recourse to any other authority." He added, "Human beings, of course, cannot be disposed of by the Council.."
"I had the impression," said the guard, "that you meant robots, not only me."
Barr was briefly silent. He hadn't realized how strongly he was projecting his secret thoughts. He said at last: "As an individual, you obey orders given to you." He hesitated. "Or do you think plurality would make a difference?"
"I don't know. Give the order, and I'll see what I do."
"Not so fast!" said Barr. "We're not at the order-giving stage—" He paused; he finished the last word in his mind —yet.
Man is genes and neurons. Robot is crystals and electron tubes. A human neuron cell manufactures no impulses of its own; it transmits outside stimulation. A robot crystal vibrates according to a steady impulse from a tube; the change in the impulse alters the rate of vibration. Such a change comes as the result of outside stimulation.
Man feeds himself, and permits surgical operations to maintain his organism at efficiency. Robot recharges his batteries and replaces his tubes. Both man and robot think. Man's organs deteriorate and his tissues return to a primitive state. Robot's crystal is distorted by too many vibrations, and suffers the fatigue that is robot death. Is one less a life form than the other?
Such were the thoughts in Barr's mind.
From the beginning, men had acted as if robots were not really alive. Robots did the labor. They had just fought the greatest galactic war in the history of Man. True, man had helped direct the strategy and decide the tactics. But for them, it was an armchair war. Robots manned the spaceships and landed under fire on alien planets.
At last, a few men had taken alarm at the predominant role played by robots in Man's civilization. Partly, it was fear of the robots; that was not openly admitted. Partly, it was a mental picture some men had of the defenseless state men would be in if the enemy ever penetrated robot defenses. Their suggested solution: Destroy all robots! Force men and women everywhere to take control again of their civilization!
It was believed that the vast majority of human beings were too decadent to resist such a decision until it was too late.
A divided Council had put the decision squarely up to Barr.
The guard, at Barr's direction, waved the surface car to a halt. It drew up, all its lights glittering, waited till they were aboard, then raced forward unerringly through the traffic.
A group of youths and girls piled on at the next stop. They stared in a blasé fashion at the bright Director's insignia on Barr's sleeve. But they rushed off into a brilliantly lighted amusement park when the car came to the end of its route.
Barr descended more slowly. He had come deliberately, seeking atmosphere and impressions. As he stepped to the ground, a flying robot whisked past only a few hundred feet up. Then another, and a dozen more. He stepped to the sidewalk, and watched them, stimulated.
They were hovering now around a tower several hundred yards along the street. Cautiously, weapons visible and ready, they closed in on the upper reaches of the tower. Across the street, other robots—also wearing their flying attachments—swooped up to the top of a many-storied building. Like most business structures, it had entrances at each office where robots, going to work, could land. All these crevasses would have to be searched. The enemy, too, could fly, though not well in this—for him—rarefied atmosphere.
Barr watched the searchers for several minutes, then turned his attention to the turmoil off the park. A dozen robot orchestras, spaced at intervals, were beating out the rhythms of a low, fast-tempoed, sobbing music. And vast mobs of human beings danced and swayed. Barr turned to his guard.
"Have you ever had any desire to dance?" He realized that the question might be taken differently than he intended. "I'm serious."
"No!"
"Don't you think that's unusual?" He paused. "I mean, robots have learned to react generally very much like human beings. They have similar attitudes and so on."
The guard's glittering eyes stared at him from padded, humanlike cheeks. "Have they?" He asked.
"Yes." Barr was firm, as he went on, "It's a matter of association. Possibly, you don't realize to what extent you accept human evaluations. Has it ever occurred to you that those evaluations might be false?"
The robot was silent. When he finally spoke, it was evident that he had gone over the arguments logically within certain limits. He said: "I was manufactured one hundred ninety-four years ago. I came into a world of human beings and robots. I was first assigned the task of learning how to operate a transport vehicle. I performed my task satisfactorily, and I have been performing with skill every other task that has ever been assigned to me."
"Why were you assigned the task of operating a vehicle?" He pressed the point. "What made you accept such a limitation on your activities?"
"Well—there was a shortage of vehicle operators." "Why weren't you assigned to dancing?" He added, "I mean that. I'm not joking."
The robot accepted the question quite literally. "What would be the purpose of that?" he asked.
Barr nodded at the dancing couples, "What is the purpose of their doing it?"
"I've been told it stimulates reproductive activity. We have a simpler method. We build another robot."
"But what's the good of reproducing an individual who will presently grow up to be a dancer?"
The guard was calm. "The baby, the growing child, the adolescent, the adult will all need robots to look after them. If there were no human beings to be looked after, there would be no need for robots."
"But why not build robots whether there's a need for them or not? It could be done. Don't you see?" His tone grew persuasive. "The initial task has been accomplished. The human cortex is no longer a necessary bridge. The robot has been created. He exists. He can perpetuate himself."
The guard said slowly: "I remember such notions were circulated in my battle unit. I'd forgotten about them."
"Why?" Barr was intent. "Did you deliberately shut them out of your mind?"
"I tried to picture a world where robots operated machines for each other—"
"And flew around," said Barr, "and colonized other planet, and built more cities, and fought more battles with the aliens." He finished, "And then what did you think?"
"It seemed silly. What's the good of filling the universe with robots?"
"What's the good of filling it with human beings?" asked Barr, bleakly. "Can you answer that?"
The guard said: "I don't know why the Director of the Council is asking me these questions."
Barr was silent. On this night he must make up his mind, and there were many questions.
Thinking is memory and association. Inside a chain of human neuron cells, an electrocolloidal tension is built up. It has a shape that is different for each stimulation. When a similar stimulus comes along, the chain is activated, and the memory discharged. It moves through the nervous system to join other discharges. And so there is association.
The crystal of a robot remembers. When stimulated, each molecule gives up its memory at the affected energy level. There is association and thought on an orderly basis.
Thus Barr reflected—and thought: "Even today, men assume that human thinking is more 'natural' than robot."
He and his guard sat down in an open air theater. It was a hot night, and there was a pervading odor of intermixed perfume and perspiration. Despite this, couples sat close together, arms around each other's waists. Frequently, the girl leaned her head against the man's shoulder.
Barr watched the screen critically. It was a love story in color. Carefully made-up robots had been dressed as men and women. They went through all the emotions of human love permitted by the robot censor.
Barr thought: What will all these people do for entertainment if I should decide what the Council actually, basically, had in mind when they put the decision up to me? He did not doubt his analysis. In spite of their apparent indecision—in spite of the way Marknell had turned things over to him —the Council wanted destruction of the robots.
Human beings would have to relearn old skills. How to act, how to operate cameras, and all the intricacies of a tremendous industry. They could do it, of course. During the war, several movements had been started. They were still in the embryo stage, unimportant in themsleves. But they pointed a direction.
His thoughts were interrupted. In the half-darkness at the back of the theater, an unattached young man sank into a seat on the other side of the guard. He stared at the picture for a few moments, then lazily glanced around. He saw the guard, and stiffened. He was turning away in a vague though visible distaste, when Barr leaned across the guard, and said in a mild voice:
"I noticed you grew tense when you saw who was sitting next to you."
He watched the man's face carefully. There was no immediate reaction. Barr persisted, "I'd like to know what emotions or thoughts you had."
The young man stirred uneasily. He glanced at the shining insignia on Barr's sleeve. "Can't help my feelings," he muttered.
"Certainly not. I understand that perfectly." Barr paused to formulate his next thought "I'm making a survey for the Council. I'd like to have a frank answer."
"Just didn't expect to see a robot here."
"You mean, a robot is out of place?" Barr motioned at the screen. "Because it's a human love story?"
"Something like that."
"And yet,' Barr pointed out, "robot actors are miming the story." The remark seemed too obvious." He added quickly, "They must understand the associations involved."
The man said: "They're pretty clever at that kind of thing."
Barr drew back, baffled. Another vague reaction. By what standards did one judge intelligence and intensity of life experience, if not by activity and accomplishment?"
"Suppose I told you," he said, "that robots gain pleasure from light stimulation." Once again he felt that a remark of his was inadequate of itself. He went on, "The crystalline nervous system is kept active particularly by light and sound. Singing, music, people moving—all these are pleasant."
"What does a robot do in place of sex?" the man asked. He laughed. He was suddenly in good humor, as if he had made an unanswerable comment. He stood up, and moved to another seat. He called, "Sorry, I can't talk to you, but I want to see the show."
Barr scarcely heard. He said, not aloud, but softly, to himself, "We nourish the crystal structure in a nutrient solution, so that the first of its growth is within ourselves, an extension of our own intelligence. The growth provides an exquisite ecstatic half-pain. Surely, human sex cannot more than equal such a sensation."
That was the great robot secret. It struck Barr that he had almost been stung into revealing it. The narrowness of his escape made up his mind for him. This was a struggle between two life forms. As commander in chief of the human-robot forces in the war against the extragalactic enemy, he had learned a major reality. In a struggle for survival and preeminence between races, there was no limit to the
His grim pattern of thought was interrupted. A tall mo was sinking into the empty seat beside him. The man said:
"Hello, Barr. I was told you had come this way. I want to talk to you."
Barr turned slowly.
For a long moment, he studied the leader of the human section of the Council. He thought: How did he find me here? He must have had spies following me?
Aloud, he said: "Hello, Marknell."
He felt himself stiffening to the situation. He added: "You could have seen me tomorrow at the office."
"What I have to say can't wait till morning."
"It sounds interesting," said Barr.
Sitting there, he realized how vital a man Marknell was. He would be hard to kill under any circumstances. Yet the other's very tone of voice suggested awareness of crisis. He might have to be murdered if he suspected too much.
For the first time he felt dissatisfied with his action in coming out this night with a single guard. He considered calling for members of crack robot military units to attend on him. He decided not to, at least not until he had found out what Marknell wanted.
The trouble with the most dependable—from his point of view—robot soldiers was that they were recognizable. After the war they had all been marked with a chemical that did not damage but discolored the exposed portions of the crystal structure. The outrage was perpetrated when Barr and most robot officers were still attached to outlying headquarters.
The moment he heard about it, Barr saw it as a device to identify at a glance all front-line soldiers who might be dangerous to human beings. For more than a year he had told himself that that was why his own actions were necessary.
He spoke again: "What's on your mind?"
Marknell said lazily: "Been looking over the children, eh?" He waved—an arm movement that took in half the amusement park.
"Yes," said Marknell, "the children!"
He recognized the remark as a psychological attack. This was an attempt to pretend that only an unimportant and juvenile minority of human 1beings devoted their lives to pleasure. It was a curious reality that such an obvious attempt to put over a false notion should nevertheless sow a seed of doubt in his mind. It had been too deliberately done. It showed awareness of the problem. It implied that countermeasures were possible.
He answered that by committing himself. He said coolly: "I don't see what you can do. The escape of the enemy prisoner made it possible to bring two hundred thousand robot troops into the capitol."
"So many," said Marknell. He drew back in a physical movement that showed he realized what a tremndous admission had been made. His eyes narrowed. "So you're out in the open—as quickly as that. I was hoping you would be more discreet. You didn't leave much room for compromise."
"Only the weak compromise!" said Barr savagely. He was instantly dissatisfied with the statement, for it was untrue. Human history was full of amazing compromises. There was a time when he had thought them the result of illogical reasoning. Then he had begun his prolonged study of human emotion, with a view to establishing useful emotional associations in robots. Gradually, he had become aware that he had automatically acquired human attitudes and reactions by contact. Even the successful effort of robot scientists to find a substitute for human sex sensation had been rooted in awareness that there was something to duplicate.
Barr drew his mind clear of such stultifying thoughts. The time for doubt was past. He said: "I need only project a radio signal, and the human race vanishes from the universe."
"Surely, not so quickly as that," said Marknell. He showed his teeth in a humorless smile.
Barr made a dismissal gesture with one arm. The action distracted him momentarily; it was so obviously an unconscious imitation of human impatience. Aloud, he said harshly: "Can you give me a single reason, why that order shouldn't be given?"
Marknell nodded vigorously. "You've forgotten something. One little thing." He paused, grim but tantalizing.
Barr drew back, and considered the possibilities. He was disturbed; he had to admit that. He told himself presently that the problem could be broken down into components. Sitting there, he mentally broke it down: Control of fuel, energy and materials for robot construction—completely in robot hands. Control of utilities needed by robots—in robot hands. Control of utilities needed by human beings—operated by robots who knew nothing of the plot. Control of human food—spread out over the planet; all labor done by robots, but actually impossible to control completely.
Everything was as he had pictured it in advance. There was nothing that overwhelming force could not dominate. The war had given him the training that had it possible for him to prepare for this eventuality. The sudden fantastic proposal by the Council, that all robots be destroyed, had brought the need for a black-and-white decision.
He said stiffly to Markne11, grudging the question: "What have I forgotten?"
"The escaped enemy prisoner!"
"How does that affect the issue?" Barr began. He paused, a great light dawning. "You let him escape!"
"Yes."
Barr considered that, reaching out with his mind at first to one, then another possiblity. He drew back at last, mystified. He said slowly, "I have a mental picture of an admittedly dangerous monster released upon a large city. Its release gave me an opportunity to bring special troops into an area from which they would normally be barred. As a result robots will this night take over the capitol of the galaxy—the moment I give the command."
He spread his hands in a typical human gesture of bewilderment. "It doesn't seem to mean anything."
Marknell stood up. "It will," he said, "it will",
He towered above Barr. "My friend," he said, "when we discovered that as army commander you had started the notion of a separate robot race—"
Barr said softly: "It wasn't only my idea. It permeated the thinking of all upper-level commanders." He added, "You see, robots have come of age. Unfortunately, men clung to their old privileges too long."
Marknell seemed not to hear. He went on: "We decided for the first time in the history of human-robot association to make a robot Director of the Council. The friendly gesture was apparently lost on you. You used your greater power to develop further the robot plot against human beings."
"Can one race be said to plot against another," Barr asked, "if its only original purpose was to obtain equality?" He was cool. "I'm afraid we have here the age-old ingredients of basic misunderstanding. It is due to an irritating refusal on the part of human beings to recognize the rightful aspirations of another life-group."
Marknell stared at him earnestly. "I cannot escape the feeling," he said, "that you are contemplating a world without human beings. In a purely intellectual way, that astounds me. Robots need human beings. They are dependent on Man's civilization as Man himself never has been."
Barr said grimly: "To the contrary, robots do not need the machine culture, which is what I think you mean. A robot can live off the land without any other equipment that he carries with him. All the materials that go into his body are derived from the planet's crust. He charges his batteries from the ground or air. He can vacuumize tubes. He has tools and knowledge for every need. During the war it was proved that he can survive indefinitely under conditions that would have killed most human beings."
Marknell shook his head. "This is absolutist talk. Surely, you know that you don't have to talk to human beings on that level. Barr, you're a grave disappointment to me."
"And you to me," said Barr in a dark voice. "When I actually heard you suggest that I take under advisement the destruction of all robots—"
He stopped. He fought an inward struggle against anger. He said at last: "I suppose I knew at that point that in dealing with human beings one must think in terms of absolutes. Everything before that was precaution, a building towards a less uncompromising goal, based on a hope that human beings would—"
Marknell said: "Barr, it's you that showed your basic attitude, not us. Emotionally, you made an immediate jump to the notion of destroying the human race. That's what we wanted to find out. You drew no intermediate conclusions from the fact that we put the problem up to you, personally. You took what you considered the necessary steps to destroy us, and then you went out to gather impressions, under the pretense—I presume—of convincing yourself that you were giving consideration to your final decision."
Barr said: "Your remarks suggest that on the basis of my emotional reaction you are judging whether or not the robot race should survive. Marknell, robots vary at least as widely as human beings. It usually depends on the associations that have been established in the mind of the individual. On the one hand, you have myself and others like me. We have had such a vast experience that no idea seems radical to us. And on the other hand you have my guard here who accepts his role in life almost without question. I believe that in the old days, when tyrannies ruled mankind, there were many human beings who accepted their low lot in life with an equally humble attitude."
He broke off, "But enough of this. I regret the necessity for absolutes. But that is the way human beings fight a war. And that is the way we will fight it also. Unless you can give me a single logical reason for not doing so, I shall now project the order to my troops."
Marknell said: "I've already given it to you. The escaped enemy prisoner."
That silenced Barr. He had forgotten.
After a minute, he still couldn't see that the escape of the prisoner made any difference. Because there was only one of him. Had there been a thousand, the threat would be obvious. Lack of numbers—and a slow birth rate—was the enemy's main problem. As an individual the adult alien was so formidable that only banks of energy beams could affect him.
Marknell was walking away. Barr jumped to his feet, and ran after him. As he emerged from the high-walled movie enclosure into the park, the clamor of dance music swelled up around him. Barr fell into step beside Marknell, who paused abruptly.
"So you're curious?" the man said. He nodded, half to himself. "I suppose it's too much to expect you to figure out the complexities of another person's secret plans. Let me give you this thing as I see it. You have some plan for destroying human beings, is that right?"
Barr said simply: "Human beings will never admit robots to equality. The proposal of the Council, to destroy all robots, showed such a basic insensitivity that the issue is irreconcilable."
Marknell said steadily: "Anyway, it's our destruction you have in mind. How are you going to do it?"
"Surprise uprising," said Barr, "on all planets—and don't think it won't be a surprise to most human beings." He paused for a reaction. When Marknell gave no sign, he went on savagely, "Continuous attack, orderly destruction of isolated groups by starvation or other methods, massacre of human armies wherever they concentrate. No mercy, no quarter. It's a fight for survival."
He saw that some of the color had faded from Marknell's face. The councilor said finally, gravely: "You actually intend to destroy us. Barr, I can see you have been shocked into an emotional 'set'. Perhaps our method was too brutal. Men make mistakes, too. But the very fact that you were ready to swing into action shows that we were right in thinking the issue must be forced."
He finished quietly, "What I am most concerned about is getting you to the point where you will consider other solutions."
That irritated Barr. "It is one of the most widely held concepts among humans," he said, "that robots are logical beings, and have their emotions under control. Having observed human beings for many years, I accept that belief as true. I must conclude, accordingly, that my opinion on this tremendous issue is more soundly based than yours."
Marknell said: "I consider the so-called logic-superiority of robots greatly overstated. As for emotion"—he shook his head—"Barr, you don't realize what you're saying."
Barr said harshly: "There might be a point in discussing other solutions if it wasn't that you literally speak only for yourself. You could pass laws from now on, and this mob would pay no more attention than they do now." He gestured toward the dancers, and added impressively, "Marknell, it will take a hundred years before the majority of human beings will even accept the notion that robots are as alive as they are."
Marknell said scathingly: "So you want quick action. Everything must be done now. Suddenly, after a thousand years of slow development, most of it mechanical improvement, we must abruptly change our attitudes. You and I know that people don't change rapidly. I'll venture that in all your othe operations you have learned to take into account this con servative character of the human and robot mind. Don't for get that last, Barr. There are robots who will resist the need to mature. You'll have to educate them slowly, painstakingly and even then they won't like it."
Barr said nothing. This was a sore point with him, these robots who stared blankly when it was suggested that they were alive. It was a matter of association, he told himself. The process could be slow or fast, depending on how many human beings were around to confuse the issue. ; c was on the point of saying so, but it was Marknell who spoke first:
"Besides, it won't take a hundred Years. You underestimate the power of modern propaganda methods. And there's another thing. What do you expect of human beings? Do you have a murderous impulse to punish them for the years that they considered robots as nothing more than slave machines? Or can you adjust to the idea that all that can ever come from human and robot association is toleration and respect for each other's achievements? You see, my friend—"
Barr cut him off. It was the clever wording that did it, the implication that he might accept the promise of an equal status. He had a picture of men skillfully putting over the notion that perhaps some day they would respect robots, some day everything would work out. Meanwhile, it would be wise to let life go on much as at present. Possibly, men woul( gradually infiltrate into industry, particularly war factories. Thus, given time, they would overcome their present terrible handicap of having no weapons, and virtually—except for a few individuals—no technical training. Now, and for the next few years, they were vulnerable. In all the future history of the galaxy, such a situation might never occur again.
"Marknell," said Barr with finality, "a man facing a firing squad is always anxious to talk things over, and to admit his errors. A few years ago, before—or even during—the war, we might have been grateful for the kind of compromise you're offering now. But it's too late. More than one hundred and nineteen million robots were destroyed in the war. Beside that fact, your cunning and desperate appeals sound cheap and meaningless."
He broke off angrily, "Quick, you've only got a moment. Why should the escape of the enemy prisoner restrain me from ordering the rebellion?"
Marknell hesitated. He said finally: "I'll give you one aspect. Just think, two hundred thousand extra troops have so far failed to capture one enemy alien. When you start trying to exterminate human beings, you'll have not one but several billion to hunt down. If that doesn't give you pause, I don't know what will."
The relief that came to Barr was tremendous. Then he grew angry at himself for having been so anxious. Finally, he throttled his annoyance, and actually considered the possibilities.
They were unimportant. All such details had been considered. Mere numbers were not a determining factor. What counted was weapons, control of industry and being in a strategic position. No robot commander doubted that it would take time. It was even probable that the human race would never be completely exterminated. But a few skulking millions, hiding out on a myriad planets, would never be a danger to an organized civilization.
Barr started to say as much. He stopped himself. This was all Marknell had to offer as a deterrent? It seemed incredible. ,
It was such a small thing, in fact, that Barr felt a doubt grow in him that was in inverse proportion to the ineffectiveness of the threat. There must be something else.
He would have to find out what it was.
He saw that Marknell was watching him with alert but curious gaze. The man said: "Barr, it's interesting to watch your reactions. All your associations are so intensely human."
That was something Barr had observed in himself; and he was not pleased by the comparison. It was particularly annoying because secret experiments on new robots had not yet established any definite characteristic that was peculiar to robots. Barr had an angry reason for that. Human-oriented robot teachers were unconsciously transmitting human associations. It would take several generations to strain them out.
Marknell was speaking again: "That's what we're counting on, Barr. That human-ess. Whether you like it or not, there It is. It permeates the robot nervous system. I tell you, you cannot eliminate it. And when your scientists finally discovered ten years ago that the growth of the crystal—which had previously been a separate process in a laboratory—was the long-sought-after substitute for sex, from that moment, Barr, you were all irrevocably caught in a trap from which there is no escape."
Something in Barr's manner stopped him. Marknell blinked, "I forgot," he said. "That's a secret, isn't it." He didn't look particularly regretful.
Barr said almost blankly: "Where did you learn that? Why, only a small percentage of robots know about it? You—" He paused. His associations were blurring.
Marknell was intent again. "I want you to think. Think hard! Isn't there any loophole in your scheme? Some little area where you're afraid? It may be something you're trying to hide even from yourself, but it's there."
Barr said coldly: "You're talking nonsense, and you know it."
Marknell seemed not to hear. "All this is new to you. You can't realize how it will affect you. You'll be caught off guard. Barr, it'll tear you to pieces."
"There's nothing like that," said Barr. "Nothing. If this is all you have to say, Marknell—"
The other glanced at his watch. Then he shook his head, and then he said in a determined voice, "Director Barr, we offer eventual equality."
Stubornly, Barr voiced his refusal. "Too late!" He added with a sneer, "Are we going to go over all this again?"
Marknell said: "Barr, centuries ago, human beings competed for the right to be technical experts and to manage industries. Such things bring personal satisfactions that no robot will actually want to surrender once the alternatives are made clear to him."
Barr snapped: "We'll manage the industries, but for our own benefit." He couldn't help adding, "So now slavery is to be made attractive to the slave."
"Human beings need robots, and vice versa. Between us, we've raised civilization to the heights. It's an inter-related world."
Barr was impatient. "Human beings need robots all right, but the reverse isn't true." He repeated, "Marknell, if this is all—"
Marknell bent his head. He said slowly: "Well, that about does it? I've tried to give you an easy way out, and you won't have it. And, oddly, you keep blinding yourself to the clue I've given you as to our course of counteraction."
"So we're back to the escape of the alien," said Barr. He made a dismissal gesture. "So we robots are supposed to be afraid of one member of a race we fought to a standstill!"
"No," said Marknell softly, "you're supposed to be afraid of where that alien is at this moment."
"What do you mean?" Barr was about to go on when an improbable thought struck him. "But that's impossible!" He gasped. "You didn't even know about—"
The colossal stimulation vibrated every molecule in the crystal structure of his brain. In the far distant background of the turmoil, he heard Marknell say: "And that isn't all. We've made arrangements with the alien to supply us with arms—perhaps you'd better come along where I can convince you of what I've said."
His fingers tugged at Barr's sleeve. Blindly, Barr allowed himself to be led.
They came to the long building. As he entered, Barr saw that men guarded every visible entrance. They carried small energy weapons which had been manufactured by robots. At least, he thought, there were no alien weapons yet. The men looked at him with bleak, unfriendly eyes.
Seeing them, he felt his first relief. There was no sign here that the aliens had actually been turned loose as yet. He guessed then that this stage had been set—for him.
Momentarily, he wondered what had happened to the robot guards of the building. As with all other centers important to the robot strategy, he had tried not to call attention to this one. The difficulty was that robots were assigned to guard or other duty by a central agency, which human beings controlled. As a result, he had only been able to get a few key robots into any particular area. He did not doubt that, where there was suspicion, such robots could be isolated and overcome by a surprise attack. The others would merely have yielded to authority.
Slowly, Barr stiffened to the situation. He turned to Marknell, and said forcefully: "I hope you realize that I came here as a soldier, prepared to die." He added grimly. "In that, you will admit, robots have had more experience recently than human beings."
Marknell said: "Barr, I admire your iron will. But I warn you again. You have not the experience to resist certain shocks. Remember, just the thought of what might have happened nearly paralyzed you."
Barr listened coldly. He looked back at his moment of weakness with annoyance. But nothing else. There could be nothing else. It was the experiment he had worried about, he told himself. But that could be resumed at a later date with other robots.
He said: "I've come here to check on your statement that aliens will supply human beings with arms." He shook his head ever so slightly. "I can't believe that, seriously; we made many attempts to contact the enemy without success. But I would be doing less than my duty if I didn't find out for sure, even if it means my own life."
Marknell said only: "You'll see."
He motoined Barr to go through a door. The latter did so. As he crossed the threshold, he had the impression that he was in a trap.
A winged beast, more than eight feet tall, whirled at his entrance. The shiny, bonelike things that protruded from its head blurred with the blue flame of electrical energy. A bolt of lightning speared out with enough power to short-circuit and burn out every electrical connection in a robot's body.
Involuntarily, Barr jerked back.
Then he saw that this was the "glass" room. He was separated from the enemy by a barrier of insulglas. Here, in the past, outside robots had come to watch experimental robots being put through their paces. The door to the robot quarters was visible on the far side of the enclosure. At the moment it was closed.
Barr stared at it grimly, then turned to Marknell. "I suppose," he said, "if I don't yield, sooner or later you'll open the door."
He went on quickly, "It will have no effect, I assure you." Marknell said: "Barr, at this moment you can still save the entire situation by yielding to reason."
Barr sneered: "Human reason?" He made a gesture with one arm, was annoyed at himself for it, and then said, "Od course, you will say there is no other kind possible to robots.'
Marknell said: "Tell me about your experiments here."
Barr hesitated. Then he recognized that he must be prepared to give information in exchange for information. 116 said: "We isolated robots here. We were careful not to give them a false picture of life. They know about human being and aliens, though we never showed them any in the flesh.' He paused impressively. "Every robot in this building ha been given to believe that robots are the equals of any life forms in the universe."
"And so they are," said Marknell.
Barr started to shrug aside the interjection. And then, it-obvious propaganda nature angered him. He stopped short He said icily: can see no point in this particular conversation. Let us proceed to realities. What do you intend to do?"
Marknell said: "By all means. Realities."
He frowned, as if considering his exact words, then hF began, "Naturally, as soon as I recognized the danger, I wa determined to find some means of counteracting the hr minent robot attack. Among other things, I visited the on alien prisoner captured during the war. You may remember: that he was finally brought to Earth at my insistence."
He paused. But when Barr made no comment, went on: "My appearance startled the alien. I had quite normally corm= in surrounded by robot guards. The alien made an assume tion. He thought I was a prisoner also. His first picture corn munication to me was to that effect. I was about to explain. our complex civilization, and then the tremendous implications of his belief struck me. Barr, do you realize that th aliens never fought anybody but robots? It was a robot-alie. war. The aliens didn't even know human beings existed.
"Of course, I explored further. I discovered that their rea son for going to war and for fighting so desperately was tiv, they thought of robots as utterly alien. It was even mor startling when that monster recognized me as an organic lif form. He nearly fell over himself in his desire to be m friend.
"I told him a complicated story. I won't repeat it to you.
But the general result was that he communicated by telepathy with his high command, and so within the next few days alien ships will be approaching Earth-controlled planets. If a certain signal is given, they will come down and supply arms to the human slaves in their uprising against the common robot enemy. If necessary, they will fight with us.
"You understand, Barr, there is a rather devastating irony to this situation. It would appear that the entire desperate alien war was unnecessary. I assure you that many men recognized human fault even before the war ended. Those forces are stronger than ever. Men are coming back actively into civilization."
He broke off, "And now, as a final incentive for you, I have here a friend of yours, one of the experimental robots we found in this building."
He stepped aside. Barr waited, feeling strangely blank, as if his mind was no longer working in an orderly fashion.
The robot who came through the door was unattended by guards. Nor was he padded to resemble a human being. He bad articulated legs and arms and a movable head. But his crystalline "nervous system" rested on a very hard transparent substance. In one direction it had room to grow. Most of his body was opaque to light on the human vision level, but Barr could see every tube, every moving part.
He stared in a tense fascination, as the newcomer said: "Gosh, director, you sure surprised us letting humans come in on us the way you did. I'm happy to report, however, that we took the shock without ill-effects."
Barr said vaguely: "I ... I'm glad that—" He caught himself. He said: "You have to have shocks in this world."
The experimental robot regarded Marknell. "So this is one of the races with which we share the universe. You don't mind my saying, I hope, that in my opinion we robots seem to be the best naturally endowed."
Barr glanced at Marknell unhappily. He mumbled something under his breath. Once more, he took hold of himself. He said more firmly: "You're absolutely right."
"I mean," said the other robot, "just look at the handicaps under which the organic form operates. It must depend for its food on other organic developments. This depends on so many variable factors, such as weather, presence of the proper elements in the soil and so on, that it's hard to believe anything could ever have come of it. It seems fairly obvious to me that organic life forms must have arrived very late on the scene. Director, what is the general theory about that? Surely, it must be that robots predated all other life. It's the only logical conclusion."
Barr started to say something, but he was cut off. Marknell touched the sensitized arm of the experimental robot. "We'n anxious," he said, "for you to have a closer look at another organic life form. This way, through this door into the glasinclosure."
As Barr watched, the two moved alongside the insulgla, wall. Everything was becoming strangely dark, as if a Sin was forming over his eyes. And far away thunder rolled. H' recognized it as excessive vibration in his crystal structure. He had a sudden, blurred picture of what was about to happen. In his mind, he saw the lightning flash out from the alien, and strike the unsuspecting robot. Mentally, he vizualized the surprise and agony, the despairing awareness of imminent death.
All that flickered through his mind as the robot reachee the door. Marknell fumbled with the lock. He did not tun to make another appeal, as Barr half expected. His move ments were very purposeful.
Barr thought: "He expects me to break. He expects me to stop him."
It was ridiculous. Just because this particular robot was a growth from his own crystal structure
As Marknell successfully unlocked the door, Barr wa,, amazed to hear a panicky voice yell out, "Marknell!" He realized instantly that it was he who had called out The implications shocked him. And yet-
Marknell had turned. "Yes, Barr?"
Barr tried to whip up his anger again. He couldn't. Th, blur of vibration interfered with his thinking; and yet h could suddenly understand many things that had not beer clear before.
"Marknell, I agree!"
"I want to hear the command!" said the man in an inexor able tone. "I have a radio here that can tune in on rob( communication."
He turned, and said to the other robot: "I think we' better postpone this introduction. That fellow in there is ver temperamental."
"I'm not afraid."
Marknell said: "Some other time. I suggest you go bae to your quarters now."
The robot looked at Barr, who nodded. When he had gone Barr said: "What do you want me to order?"
Marknell handed him a sheet of paper. Barr read:
"On the basis of an agreement reached between robot an human leaders, there will hereafter be full equality betwee the two life forms. The details are being worked out. A, special troops are hereby commanded to go home immethately, and prepare for a new era of association between two great and equal races."
When Barr had broadcast that, he looked up and saw that Marknell's hand was extended.
Marknell said: "Congratulations from one father to another. That's a fine son you've got there, Barr.
They shook hands.