. Derec’s face paled. “You mean, they could still be alive, but floating in hyperspace?”
Wolruf laid a paw on Derec’s shoulder and sagged against him. “. Derec, if they made it int’ ‘yperspace, they could still be alive for centuries. ”
. Derec was still considering that idea when Wolruf took a deep breath and stood up straight. “What’s done iss done. What we need t’ do now is figure out where we are. ” She pushed off Derec, staggered over to the control console, and started punching buttons. As if in response, the normal cabin lighting returned, and the air recirculation fans kicked in with a buzz.
“Internal environment restored,” the ship announced pleasantly. “Thank you for your patience. ”
Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light, Derec put his hand on Wolruf’s shoulder and tried to turn her around. She shrugged it off. “What do you mean, figure out where we are?” he asked. “We jumped right on schedule. ”
“We jumped four seconds late,” she said without looking up, “an’ with th’ wrong calc’lations. We ‘ad the extra mass of th’ boardin’ party, an’ we lost ship’s mass in the fight. ” She paused to punch a few more buttons and study the readouts. “No tellin’ ‘ow far off th’ jump was skewed. ”
Avery gently took Derec by the elbow and pulled him out of Wolruf’s way. “Anything we can do to help?”
“Yeah. ” She tweaked a control and brought the main viewscreen back to life. “Fix Mandelbrot an’ get ‘im down ‘ere. I need ‘im. ”
Derec scowled. “But-”
“Come on, son. ” Tugging Derec’s elbow again, Avery began to steer him toward the lift. “Robot’s Rules of Order Number I: Never argue with the pilot until you’re back on the ground. ” The lift doors hissed open.
“But-”
“Mandelbrot needs you. ” Derec seemed to accept that argument, at least long enough for Avery to get him into the lift.
The doors hissed shut, and they started up.
Chapter 17. Janet
Central’s one red eye flared on the moment Dr. Anastasi entered the atrium. “Working. ” The massive brain’s voice was oddly flat and toneless, although Janet thought she detected a vaguely feminine inflection and the incongruous clacking of relays in the background.
“Good morning, Central,” Janet said pleasantly, as if speaking to a small child. “Are we feeling well today?”
“Feeling does not compute. ”
Dr. Anastasi’s eyes went wide. Slowly, as if expecting at any moment to see the “Celebrity Practical Jokes” camera robot step out of hiding, she turned to Basalom and arched an eyebrow. “Did I miss something?”
“Checking, madam. ” Basalom activated his internal commlink and patched into the city maintenance system. A moment later, he had his answer. “Central’s personality module is temporarily off-line for repairs. Its numeric computational powers and cerebellar functions are-I quote the technicians’ report-’unimpaired. ’ “
“No editorial comments, please. ”
“Sorry, madam. ” Something that sounded ever so slightly like a snicker escaped from Basalom’s speech membrane. Dr. Anastasi chose to let it pass… Central is currently operating in absolute literal mode,” Basalom added. “I advise using extreme caution in your choice of words. ”
“Oh. ” Janet looked at Central’s console input/output device again. “Are you trying to tell me that arguing with Central would be a complete waste of time?”
“It depends on how you define’ waste, ‘ madam. ” The sound Basalom emitted this time was without question a snicker. “You might find it extremely amusing!” He turned his head and brought a hand up to his face, as if trying to pretend that his sputtered laugh was a sneeze.
Frowning, Janet nodded slowly. “I might. ” Then she looked up and smiled, as if she’d just been struck by a particularly good idea. “Oh, and Basalom dear, could you add something to my calendar?”
Basalom bowed deeply. “Of course, mistress. Your wish is my command!”
“One of my robots has been acting quite strangely lately. When we get back to the ship, remind me to remove his brain and either fix it-” Her smile vanished, and her tone shifted to a low-pitched growl. “-or scrap it!”
Basalom straightened up in the way that only a being with picosecond reflexes can. “Yes, madam. ”
“That’s better. Now for the matter at hand. ” She turned to Central’s I/O console. “Central, where is Beta?”
“Working. ” A short flurry of mechanical beeps came out, followed by something surprisingly like teletype noise. “City Supervisor 3… is at present in Conference Room 32. ”
“Why?”
More clacking. “The meeting in which City Supervisor 3 is participating… has not yet concluded. ”
“What meeting?”
Clack clack clack.“City Planning Meeting 1042-dash-A. ”
Janet frowned at Basalom. “Absolute literal mode, huh?” Blinking nervously, Basalom nodded.
A scowl darkened Janet’s face. “Not good,” she said to herself. “I explicitly ordered Beta to meet me here at this time. The Second Law should have compelled him to leave his meeting in time to make it here. Unless…
“Central! Are there other humans in this city?”
Clack clack pause ding!“Ne-ga-tive. ”
Janet ran a hand through her long blond hair and paused to scratch her head. “So where the deuce is Beta?”
Clack clack.“City Supervisor 3… is at present in Conference Room 32. ”
Janet glared at the big red eye. “Central? Shut up. ”
“I must be opened before I can be shut. ”
Janet’s eyes flashed wide open, while her jaws and fists clamped tight. “Central!” Then she caught control of herself. “Oh, for-”
Basalom’s linear predictive module was still active. All his systems jumped to alert status as he anticipated what Dr. Anastasi was about to say.
“-get-”
His mylar eyelids started fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. Ramming a statement through his First Law filter, he pushed it into his speech buffer and set for dump.
“-it. ”
“No!”Basalom blurted out, a nanosecond too late.
“Forgetting,” Central said. There were beeps and clacks, and the red eye went black.
A moment later, it flared to life again. “Working. ”
Janet closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and concentrated on slow, calm breathing.
When she opened her eyes again, a new robot had joined her and Basalom in the atrium. “Good morning, Dr. Anastasi,” the robot said politely. “I am City Supervisor 12. You may find it more convenient to address me as Gamma. ”
Janet broke into a smile and nearly gave the robot a hug. “Gamma! I never thought I’d be happy to see your ugly can again. ”
The robot seemed puzzled. “Madam?”
She stepped back, put her hands on her hips, and looked him over. “Say, looks like you’ve been in for maintenance. Nice chrome job on the mesothorax there. ”
“Thank you. But, madam, I believe that you are mistaking me for another robot. We have never met before. ”
Basalom stepped in before Janet could react. “Madam,” he whispered, “this is Gamma 6. The unit we knew was Gamma 5. ”
“Correct,” Gamma said. “Gamma 5 was… lost. While I am functionally identical to my predecessor, I do not retain Five’s onboard personal-events memory. ”
“Lost?How can you lose a robot?” Janet wrinkled her nose and then shook her head. “No, I don’t want to know. What I want to know is, where-no, make that, why isn’t Beta here?”
“Beta is participating in a critical city planning meeting,” Gamma said. “I came in Beta’s place. ”
Janet shook her head again. “Wrong answer. I gave Beta an explicit order to meet me here at this time. Now, the only thing that could have overridden that was a First Law imperative to protect a human from harm. Since I’m the only human in this city, there’s no way-” Janet froze in mid-sentence and her face paled. “Gamma? Is there something here that’s a threat to me?”
“Nothing with a probability incidence greater than one in ten to the twenty-seventh power. ”