“Do you know why?” Jeff didn’t move. He was thinking as fast as he could. If he could stall, he would.
The robot looked at him without speaking. After a moment, Jeff realized the reason.
“Please answer me out loud,” said Jeff. “I’m not receiving you, any more than I’m transmitting.”
“Yes,” said the robot out loud. “I know why.”
“Tell me.”
“We are searching for Jeff Leong. He is a human brain in a robot body. It possesses no comlink. A secondary benefit may be the identification of robots whose comlinks have malfunctioned without their having noticed, so they can be repaired.”
“Identify.”
“I am Air Quality Foreman 6.”
“Who gave you this instruction?”
“Human Research 1. “
“Yeah, I know him. Another robot, in other words.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Don’t get smart with me, slag heap. Now, then. I know something about robots from when I was on Aurora. If a human gives you an order that contradicts an instruction from a robot, the Second Law makes you obey the human, right?”
“Assuming no other influences pertain, yes.”
“Other influences?” Jeff said suspiciously. “Like what? You aren’t trying to break the Laws, are you?”
“No, decidedly not. An example of another influence might be prior programming, for instance. Another would be the force of the First Law, which of course takes precedence over the Second and Third. Are you unaware of this? If you are testing me, under what authority are you acting? Identify.”
He was trapped, and would have to gamble.
“I’m Jeff Leong, the human-robot you are searching for. Don’t contact anyone!” he shouted suddenly. “Did you obey me? I know how fast those positronic brains of yours can work.”
“I obeyed you. I started to use my comlink to report locating you, but I aborted it.”
“Aha!” Jeff laughed. “So you have to obey me, eh? Well, well.”
“Your orders override the instructions I received from Human Research 1, because programming itself was not involved. He gave me a simple instruction. If you issue orders contrary to my programming, I will not obey.”
“Hmm. You believed me pretty quick. Are you sure you believe me?” He demanded.
“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. “