“Yes. I am not capable of lying about this.”

“Why do you believe me?”

“If you had a positronic brain, you would not be able to lie to me and say otherwise. Therefore you must be, or possess, the human brain in the robot body.”

“Okay, okay, fair enough. Say, why didn’t I think of ordering around search robots before? Jeffrey, you’re not yourself. That’s why.” He giggled to himself. “You certainly aren’t, are you?”

“Do you have further instructions for me?” asked Air Quality 6, in the same bland voice as before.

“Oh, yeah-you bet. I sure do. The first order is, you don’t let on to anyone who I am. Understand? I’m just another robot here in town. Got it?”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now we’re going to be a team. I’ll give you the orders and you’ll obey them. Since you have a comlink that works, you’re going to help me get away from all these search teams. If you detect the presence of one of those teams, you alert me and help me avoid them. We’re going to get out of here. Got it?”

“I understand that we are going somewhere. I do not know what ‘here’ we are getting out of.”

“I’ll explain one step at a time,” said Jeff, eyeing the robot thoughtfully. “Well, well. I think we’re going to get along. You know, taking over this town is going to be easier than I thought. Let’s go down to the nearest tunnel stop. You know where it is?”

“Yes. Follow me.”

Derec was munching bacon and wiping out the inside of the chemical processor’s receptacle when Ariel sat up straight in her chair by the computer console.

“Derec, we’ve got something. He’s been found. Sort of.”

“What do you mean, sort of? What is it?” He hurried to her and leaned down to read over her shoulder.

“A partial alert came into the central computer just now. All it says is, 'Jeff Leong located.’ “

“That’s all? That doesn’t sound like an efficient robot message. Move over. I bet the message was aborted somehow-maybe Jeff punched him or something.” He leaned in front of her and quickly keyed for the location of the report and read the coordinates. “Hey-that’s right outside! Come on!”

He turned and ran out, aware of Ariel following right behind him.

Derec skidded to a stop on the street, looking all around. Various humanoid robots were in sight, but none were doing anything unusual. He had no way of picking out one over another.

“Derec, how about those two?” She pointed at a pair of humanoid robots just going around a corner. “I think that one looks sort of like Jeff, don’t you?”

“Could be, I guess…There’s a tunnel stop over there. I think I’ve got it-he’s ordered another robot to run the tunnel booths for him. If he does, he can go anywhere. The whole search will be a waste of time. Come on!” He ran back inside and got on the console.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t we try to catch them?”

“We are. Here it is-the destination he’s chosen. I see he’s only going a couple of stops from here. He must be pretty sharp. Instead of just heading out as far as he can go, and risking interception, he’s going to leave a broken, unpredictable trail. Maybe I can alert some robots in that area, somehow-”

“That’s a waste of time!” Ariel shouted. “Look where he’s going-it’s right next to the Key Center. He still has a distance to go. We can beat him there ourselves!”

“What? How?” Derec turned to look at her, but she was already running out the door. He hesitated, then got up and ran after her.

Jeff and Air Quality 6 had had to squeeze into the same tunnel booth, of course, and it was very crowded. Jeff decided to make this stint a short one, to test Air Quality 6’s reliability. He still wondered if some kind of programming might have allowed the robots to act in unusual ways for the sake of trapping him. Air Quality 6 activated the booth, and they took off through the tunnel.

The awkward fit in the booth made the trip seem longer than it was. Finally, they slowed into the siding loop and got out. Jeff led the way up the ramp.

The great bronze dome he had often seen rose up in front of them, gleaming in the sunlight. He didn’t know what it was, but it was a visual reference point he had often used. Air Quality 6 had brought him here faithfully, so he supposed he could trust the robot after all.

“Good job, pal,” Jeff said to the robot. “Well, I guess we can take a longer trip now, maybe out to the edge of town. You probably know this place better than I do. You got any suggestions?”

“I detect the approach of two humans from one direction and a robot from another.”

“What? Where?”

“There.” Air Quality 6 pointed to a transparent, horizontal chute lined up with a loading dock not far away. Derec and Ariel were climbing out of the vacuum tube. “And there. The robot is not in sight yet, but is about to come around a corner. He had been using his comlink to contact me.”

“You didn’t respond, did you?” Jeff growled in a low voice.

“No.”

“Good. You freeze-don’t speak, move, or communicate in any way till I give you the counter order.”

Jeff froze himself into position at the same moment, just as Derec and Ariel came running up.

“Is that you, Jeff?” Ariel asked breathlessly.

Jeff held himself still, and was relieved to see that his last order to Air Quality 6 was being obeyed, as well.

“One of you has a positronic brain,” said Derec. “I order that one to answer us. Which one is Jeff?”

Jeff spent a very long moment waiting, but was glad to realize that his order to Air Quality 6 for silence had taken precedence. He might just figure a way out of this problem yet.

“You are Derec and Ariel?” asked another robot, joining them. “I am Assistant Planner 3. I have been participating in the random search for Jeff Leong and received your emergency message from the central computer. “

“Thanks for coming,” said Derec. “We seem to have a problem here. They aren’t responding.”

“So I understand. I have been attempting to communicate with them through my comlink ever since I received your message, but I have not had a response, either.”

Ariel stood right in front of Jeff and peered into his eyeslit. “I think this one’s Jeff. I’m not real good telling these robots apart, but they all have slight differences. This looks like him. You in there, Jeff?”

“All right,” said Derec. “This is going to take some effort. We’ll have to get them together with the other robots whose comlinks don’t work; I understand that two or three more have been found. Assistant Planner 3, please arrange for this. Make sure the medical team joins us. “

Chapter 16. Simon Says

Five suspect robots were taken to the Human Experimental Facility. Two were frozen into position and completely uncommunicative. The other three were mobile, apparently cooperative, and could speak aloud.

As Derec and Ariel entered the building, she shook her head and said, “I’m sure that one is Jeff. We really don’t have to waste time on the others.”

“I’m not doubting you,” said Derec. “I’m certain that one of those two is Jeff. The problem is that their bodies are the same model, so the medical team can’t tell them apart, and I’m not sure you can, either. In any case, it appears that we’ll have to smoke him out to make him admit which one he is.”

“Welcome to our facility,” said Research 1. “Please follow me down the hall. We have the suspect robots here waiting for you. It is large enough to accommodate everyone.”

He led them into a room from which all furniture and equipment had been removed. From the marks on the floor, Derec saw that it had been cleared for this project. The five suspects were standing in a line against one wall.

“Derec,” said one of them.

He looked up in surprise. “ Alpha? Alpha, is that you?” He laughed and walked over to the one robot whose physical details were unique, suppressing an impulse to embrace him. “Hi. How did you get here?”