“All we can do is give them the instruction and hope they get us some information,” she said. “Then we’ll try to think of something else. What’s wrong with that?”
“Yeah, here goes. But what we really need is for the robots to detain them if they can, and I don’t see how they can do that. That might violate the First Law.”
“Wouldn’t that depend on the particulars of the situation? Maybe the robots could persuade them to come. Anyway, the robots just have to avoid harming them. And they might want to see us. I guess they could bring them here, don’t you?”
“I’m putting in the order. If there are any robots who can find and identify these strangers, they are to bring them here if they can. The robots can worry about the Law problems when the time comes.” He sat back in his chair with a sigh. “I just don’t know if any of this will make a difference.”
“We’ve been going at this pretty hard,” said Ariel. “Why don’t we take a break? It’s time for something to eat, anyway.”
“Ugh,” said Derec, and they both laughed. “All right. We’ll force down anything we can stomach from the processor for lunch. After that, assuming we live, we’ll probably be glad to go out and engage in endless debates with uncooperative robots.”
Ariel got up, smiling. “I guess we can take our motivation wherever we find it.”
After they had eaten, they ventured out once more to see if they could find some evidence of the strangers in the city. Derec started out eager and full of energy, in large part because Ariel’s illness was on his mind. He wanted to make sure that she knew he wasn’t dawdling.
At her suggestion, he agreed after a while to take it easy. Rushing around wasn’t likely to help at this stage of the search. They had alerted the robots as much as they could, and they had a list of locations of previous sightings. Now all they could do was walk around, hoping to chance across a lead.
The worst problem was that the sightings offered no pattern that they could recognize. Since the lone traveler had not been reported at all for some time, they decided to forget about that one for the present. The sightings of the two traveling together were completely random, as far as they could tell.
The most recent sighting had taken place on the outskirts of the city. They rode the tunnels to the end of the trunkline at the edge of the city, and then had to surface. There, they managed to hitch a ride in the cab of a huge liquid transporter of some kind. They hopped off when its route diverged from theirs.
As they walked, they got their first look at the long, three-stage mole device that dug the underground tunnels and left a fully equipped, functioning platform system behind. This segment was not being used because it had not been connected to the main system elsewhere; otherwise, the mole device would have been underground and out of sight. It also simultaneously mined ores for construction and other uses, according to a foreman robot whom Derec questioned. It seemed to be a modified version of a gatelike device he had seen sifting the asteroid in search of the original Key for the Avery robots, shortly after waking up with amnesia, and the great mining and construction devices that had been crucial to the automatic shapechanging of the city.
They also saw a number of buildings under construction and some freshly finished. These included some smaller domes of bronze dianite reminiscent of the Key Center. Nowhere, however, did any of the robots remember any additional sightings of humans.
Chapter 7. The Cyborg
His name was Jeff Leong. He opened his eyes in darkness and wondered where he was. At least he was alive, and not in pain.
He seemed to be lying on his back, comfortably. Pale, colored lights crossed his vision from his left, suggesting monitor readouts. He supposed they were medical equipment of some kind, and turned his head to the left, expecting it to involve considerable effort and discomfort. Instead, he moved easily and comfortably, though he found wires, now, under his cheek, that connected his head to the equipment by his side.
Dim light seemed to have come on in the room. He could see outlines in the room around him, and of course the lit displays of the monitors. The readouts meant nothing to him, though, so he straightened his head again.
He felt fine. That hardly made any sense.
Since he had only been a passenger on the spaceship Kimbriel, he did not have a clear understanding of the disaster. The captain had spoken over the intercom, saying that a mechanical problem had developed, and that they had left Aurora too far behind to return safely. The navigator had located a habitable planet, however, and they would attempt an emergency stop in a lifepod.
At the time, Jeff had been excited. He had had faith in the crew and had actually looked forward to an unscheduled adventure on a planet he had never seen. He assumed that was where he was now.
The door at the far end of the room opened and a robot entered. Full light came on in the room, and Jeff saw that his visitor was a blue-skinned robot of a specific type that he did not recognize. The robot walked to the monitors and studied each one carefully.
“Where am I?” Jeff asked. His voice sounded a little odd, but he had no trouble speaking.
“You are in Human Experimental Facility I, Room 6, in Robot City,” said the robot.
“Robot City? On what planet?”
“The planet is also called Robot City,”
“Who are you?”
“I am Surgeon Experimental I.”
“Uh, can I see my doctor?”
“I am your doctor, along with Human Medical Research 1.”
“Is he a robot, too? From his name, I suppose-”
“Yes. What is your name?”
“I’m Jeff Leong.”
“Are you still in harm?”
“Huh?”
“How…are you? How do you feel?”
“Oh. I feel pretty good, actually. My voice sounds kind of strange, though, doesn’t it?”
“It has changed. Please tell me the events leading to your arrival here.”
“Our ship developed a mechanical emergency of some kind. We came here for an emergency landing, but we didn’t make a very good job of it. I remember the captain warning us that it would be a hard impact.”
“What other events led to your landing?”
“What other events? I don’t know any other events. I was just a passenger. Look, where’s everybody else?”
“I must inform you that you are the only survivor.”
Jeff stared up at the ceiling, filled with many emotions. He had not expected that answer, yet he was not surprised. All the crew and passengers had been killed because of an accidentyet, he had somehow survived. It hadn’t really sunk in yet. If anything, he felt more guilt than sorrow.
“Were you traveling with family or friends?”
“No,” he murmured softly. ‘.No, I didn’t know anybody on board.”
“What was your destination?”
“Mine, personally? Well, I was leaving home for college. I’m from Aurora.”
“You were not coming to Robot City?”
“Not deliberately, no. Not until the ship malfunction.” Jeff looked up at him. “Do you know what happened to it?”
“The mother ship exploded outside the atmosphere. The lifepod you were riding with the other passengers crashed in its attempt to land.”
“I guess I lucked out, huh? I feel okay.”
“I have summoned Research 1, the other member of the Human Experimental Team. We shall explain together. Perhaps you did luck out, as you put it. You say you feel well?”
“Yeah. Can I get up?”
“Have you observed yourself?”
“No…why, was I scarred or something?” Jeff put a hand to his face, and felt a hard, unfamiliar surface. “Am I in a mask? Bandages or something?”
Surgeon 1 paused as another robot entered the room. “This is Human Medical Research 1. Our patient is named Jeff Leong.”
“Hi,” Jeff said cautiously.