“Of course it wasn’t a robot,” Derec said impatiently. “Another human being did it, obviously.”
Euler said, “Disregarding yourselves, there are no other humans here.”
“Our guide said something about that,” Derec said. “But just because they have no business here doesn’t mean that they didn’t come over from some other sector anyway. Someone who’d murder wouldn’t worry too long about proper travel passes or whatever it is you use here.”
“I will clarify,” Rydberg interjected. “Friend Euler meant to say that there are no other human beings in this city.”
“Then from one of the other cities-,” Katherine began.
“There are no other cities on this planet.”
“What are you saying? Where are we?” she demanded.
“I regret that I may not identify this planet or its star,” Rydberg said. “But we who live here call this place Robot City.”
“There’s nothing but robots here?” Derec said slowly, an uncomfortable idea pricking at him.”
Discounting yourselves, that is correct,” Euler said.
Katherine gaped. “No one in this whole city-it must be fifty hectares-”
“Two hundred five,” Euler corrected.
Derec interrupted. “Where are the inhabitants? The builders? Where did they go?”
Rydberg cocked his head slightly. “We are the inhabitants, and the builders, Friend Derec,” he said matter-of-factly.
It was the answer he had been expecting, but he still resisted its implications. “Where are your owners?” Derec persisted. “Where are the people you report to?”
“Your question is based on an erroneous assumption,” Euler replied. “Robot City is a free and autonomous community.”
“That can’t be,” he protested. “Maybe there are no humans here now. Maybe you’re not presently in contact with any. But they must have brought you here, or sent you here. You must still be following their directives.”
“No, Friend Derec. We are self-directed,” Euler said. “But we are not unaware of human beings. We have a vast library of book-films by and about human beings. And we have accepted our responsibility to see that humans do not come to harm.”
“I hope you understand, Friend Derec, why we are obliged to delay your departure,” Rydberg said. “This is our first experience with death. We need your help in understanding how it happened, and in understanding how the experience of death should be integrated into our study of the Laws of Humanics.”
“The Laws of Humanics? What are they?” Katherine asked, puzzled.
“The human counterparts of the Laws of Robotics-those guiding principles which govern human behavior.”
Euler continued, “At present the Laws of Humanics are a theoretical construct. We are attempting to determine if Laws of Humanics exist, and if they do, what they are. This incident has placed the research project in crisis. You must help us. I assure you that you will be afforded every possible comfort.”
As Euler was speaking, Katherine had slowly ‘ and closer to Derec, and now was standing at his elbow. “This is crazy,” she said under her breath. “A city of robots, with no one to guide them? Doing research on human beings, like we were some curiosity?”
And in that moment, Derec stopped fighting the truth and embraced it:The community on the asteroid and the great city surrounding him were products of the same mind, the same plan. He hadn’t escaped at all.
But at least he at last understood why-why he was given the key, and why it had brought them there. For the last to touch it had been Monitor 5, an advanced robot desperate to fulfill its First Law obligation to save him. Knowing what it was and what it was capable of, the robot could do nothing other than give it to him-programmed for what it knew would be a safe destination, a sister colony of robots light-years away.
“Sssh,” he said to Katherine, then looked to the robots. “Could you excuse us for a moment? We need to talk.”
“Certainly, Friend Derec,” Euler replied, “We will-”
“You stay. We’ll leave,” Derec said, taking Katherine’s hand and leading her out the door.
“Where are we going?” she asked breathlessly as he guided her a dozen meters down the corridor. “They’re going to follow us.”
He stopped short and released her hand. “We’re not going anywhere. At least I’m not. I really did want to talk privately.”
“What do you mean, you’re not going anywhere?”
“I’m going to stay,” he said. “I won’t tell them that, though. I’ll offer to stay and cooperate on the condition they arrange transportation for you. They don’t need both of us.”
“No!” she said emphatically. “You don’t have to do that. They’ve got no right to hold us. They have to let us both go. They’re robots, aren’t they? They have to help us.”
“They’re robots, yes. But not like any you’re used to. I don’t think they’d agree with your definition of their obligations,” Derec said, shaking his head. “But that’s not the point. I’m not going to stay just to appease them, or to get them to let you go. I’m staying because I want to.”
“Want to! Why?”
Derec flashed a tight-lipped smile. “I started thinking about how I’d feel if they did what we asked and put us on a ship to Aurora, or wherever. How I’d feel if I never found out any more about the key-”
“We could take it with us.”
“-never found out where this planet is or why the robots are here-never went back for Wolruf or found out what happened to her. I thought about it and realized I couldn’t just walk away. It’s true that I don’t know who I am. Even so, I know that’s not the kind of person I want to be.”
There was a studied silence, which Derec finally broke. “Part friends?”
Her eyes flicked upward and her gaze met his. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Because if you’re staying, I’m staying, too.”
It was his turn to protest. “You don’t have to do that. They’re my causes, not yours. This is a safe world. I’ll be fine alone.”
“You don’t like my company?”
He shrugged. “We get on all right.”
“Then are you trying to tell me that this is something a girl can’t handle or shouldn’t worry her head about?”
“Of course not.”
“Then it’s okay if I stay just because I want to?”
Derec surrendered. “Sure.”
“Then let’s go tell Euler and Rydberg.”
“After you,” he said, bowing with a flourish of his hand.
Wearing a contented smile, Katherine led the way back to the office. As the door opened, she turned and whispered back over her shoulder. “Just tell me this-when do our lives turn normal again?”
Derec laughed aloud, startling the robots. “Maybe never, Katherine,” he said. “Why are you complaining? You said your life was dull, didn’t you?”
“Dull isn’t so bad,” she said wistfully. “Dull has its good points.”
Chuckling to himself, Derec picked out a chair and settled in it as though planning to stay for a while. “We’ll do what we can to help,” he said to Rydberg. “Tell us the story. Who’re the suspects?”
But the robot’s dispassionate answer erased the smiles from both their faces so thoroughly it was as though they had never been there. Like a bitter aftertaste to a sweet drink, it stole all the pleasure that had come before.
“Yes, David Derec,” Rydberg said. “There are two suspects. Yourself-and Katherine Burgess. We are most curious to learn which of you committed the act, and why.”
Data Bank
Illustrations by Paul Rivoche
Derec: An amnesiac who awakens inside a Massey survival pod, marooned on an asteroid composed of ice, his past and identity are total mysteries to him. Despite his amnesia, his intelligence remains unaffected, and he knows a great deal about robotics. He has adopted the name found in his clothing, apparently the name of the manufacturer.
ARANIMAS: Like all Erani, he is ambitious, aggressive, inventive and acquisitive. The Erani are the dominant species in their solar system and treat all other races as their servants and inferiors, including humans, whom they have only recently encountered.