The next step on its agenda had been to study and then obtain control of the city itself. From computer files the Watchful Eye evolved an extensive, albeit distorted, view of the place. Since it had no previous knowledge of humans or robots, it couldn’t always interpret the data it collected. But that didn’t matter. Knowing bits and pieces was enough for the time being. After all, it had learned something about quests and felt that if it continued its Robot City experiments, it could eventually control the place completely. It did not know what it would do when it became that powerful, but it believed that life must, if nothing else, be a learning process. The computer’s philosophical files reinforced that conclusion. When it had power, it would know what to do with it. Once it had not known what a computer was; now it had completely subjugated one. Domination of the city would present little difficulty.
Itliked to think of itself as the Watchful Eye because it could keep track of so many parts of the city without moving from its haven. The screens displayed any place it wanted to view, and it could keep track of several points at once. Not that there was much need to oversee the robots. They accepted orders readily and acted upon them with dispatch and without further questions. That was good, because it did not have time to keep specific attention on the individual robots. There was so much to do, so many experiments to conduct, so much to think about…
Eve Silverside walked behind the others, pleased that Wolruf had decided they should walk into the city rather than search out a proper-sized vehicle. Her head often turned to examine the city’s immensity. She had previously seen only the pastoral landscapes of the blackbody planet, with its natural wonders and its robot-made agricultural community. Adam, who had seen a robot city, had described it to her, but she had not been prepared for the overpowering qualities of the real thing. She was now in human form, resembling a chunkier and silver-colored Ariel, and her startlingly humanlike eyes were open wide in amazement.
Even though she had been told about Robot City’s incredible mass of architectural wonders, she had not been prepared for its dazzling array of colors, its intricate walkways, the geometric perfection of its buildings. Although she tended to examine the scene around her with a robotic objectivity, she was impressed and thought Robot City was indeed a splendid place.
Ahead of Eve, Wolruf hunkered down, peered at the edge of a curb, and picked up something.
“What is it, Wolruf!” Mandelbrot asked.
She held up a crumpled piece of paper. Adam took it out of her hand and examined it. “It seems ordinary, not unlike paper I have already seen,” he commented.
“Not that it’ss paperr,” Wolruf said, “it’ss strrange it’ss here at all.”
“I do not understand.”
When Adam talked with Wolruf, his face seemed to change slightly, its human aspects taking on a suggestion of Wolruf’s caninoid features. Adam’s nose seemed to lengthen and his face became flatter, like Wolruf’s.
“Paperr shouldn’t be here, that’ss all. Here on thiss street it iss litterr. Small robotss take care of litterr wheneverr it occurss, which iss rare. Robotss, aft’err all, do not use paperr. The small robotss detect litterr, ‘u see, then collect it, then dispose of it.”
“I see no utility robots in this area,” Mandelbrot said. There were, in fact, no robots of any kind to be seen. “Perhaps one will come soon.”
“Maybe,” Wolruf said, then loped a few steps farther and pointed at the pavement. “Thiss iss slidewalk,” she said.
“Yes,” Mandelbrot said.
“Shouldn’t it move? We stand on it, it remainss still when ourr body weight should make it move.”
“That is truly puzzling. Perhaps it is inoperative.”
“If so, where are Slidewalk Maintenance Robotss? When something in city breakss down, maintenance robotss are ssupposed to appearr immediately.”
“Perhaps they are busy elsewhere with a different slidewalk.”
“Maybe. But thingss don’t break down in Robot City at such rate. Two areass of slidewalk down at same time in same sector iss unusual, ‘u see.”
“Yes. I should inform you also of another matter.”
“What, Mandelbrot?”
“Since you have been observing these flaws, I have been trying to contact other robots through my comlink to obtain answers for your questions, and so far none have responded. Based on data from my previous visits to this city, such a phenomenon, even on the outskirts here, is highly anomalous.”
“‘Ubelieve ssomething iss wrrong here, Mandelbrot?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Let’ss go on then.”
Eve wasn’t sure what to make of the conversation between the caninoid and the robot with the strange arm, itself something of an anomaly. The arm, which had once belonged to a robot of a different class than Mandelbrot, was shaped differently and, because it was thicker and longer than his other arm, looked awkward on his body. It was malleable and Mandelbrot could change its shape, although, unlike the Silversides, he could not transform any other part of his body.
Thinking of her shape-changing ability seemed to start up a mechanism in her body. She looked around for something to change into. Adam had explained to her that there seemed to be an urge inside them to seek out new beings and imprint upon them. It was very humanlike, he said, or at least Derec had informed him so. “Derec says that humans love to seek out new experience. A new experience for us is a previously unseen kind of being whose shape we can take. Although we are not supposed to have emotions about it, I think the mechanisms inside our bodies are engaged when we think about changing ourselves or when we see a being on which we can imprint.” Whatever it was, a simple mechanism or a genuine yearning for new experience, Eve now felt a strong urge to form herself into a new shape.
But what shape could she choose? She had been human like Ariel, caninoid like Wolruf, a robot like Mandelbrot.
There must be some different kind of life here, she thought. She walked closer to a building, a strange structure, narrow and tall. Staring up at its top, she saw a row of ugly birdlike creatures staring down at her from under the building’s eaves. They were still, impassive, although she thought she perceived a meanness in their eyes. Stepping back to try to see them better, she pointed upward and asked Mandelbrot, “What are those, please?”
Mandelbrot glanced up at them. “They are not alive,” he said. “They are some kind of ornament placed along the upper rim of the building. I think they are called gargoyles. These are made of Robot City material, but in the past they have often been sculpted from stone.”
“They are interesting. Adam? Do you think we could become like that?”
Adam had adopted a quite humanlike shrug, copied accurately from Derec. “We could become statues, yes, but I see no point in it. There is little for us to learn from representations of life, Eve, unless we actually encounter the creatures that were the models for these statues.”
“I doubt that that would be a pleasant experience,” Eve said. She looked away from the gargoyles and walked a few steps farther, then she turned and went back.
There was something here, inside this building, and it was not gargoyles. She sensed there was something on the other side of the wall, just standing still but perhaps with life inside it.
“Mandelbrot?”
“Yes, Eve?”
“How does one gain entrance to such a building as this?”
Mandelbrot had been instructed by Derec to cooperate with the Silversides as much as possible unless he sensed danger for them. There did not seem to be any threats hereabout, so he replied, “I believe the door for this building is located on the north side. Up those steps.”