“Are you sure?”
“We’ve been stuck in here long enough. Come on.” He got up, wincing at the shooting pains in his legs.
She stood up reluctantly. He pushed a button on the control panel on the desk, and a doorway opened in one of the viewscreens. It was a black maw in the center of downtown Robot City.
“Come on.” He edged carefully out the doorway, looking around. All he saw was the short spiral staircase, maybe three meters or a little more, that he had come up when he had first found the office. From here it led down to a closed door. “We won’t find any robots near here. We’ll at least be safe until we get out of the taboo area.”
“All right.” She hadn’t moved from the couch. “But what if I…you know. What if I go into one of my states right in the middle of everything?”
“We’ll just have to chance it.” He looked back and saw the reluctance on her face. “We’ve tried being cautious and we haven’t gotten anywhere. We have to go.”
“I might foul you up, Derec. Not knowing what’s going on and all. If you want me to stay…”
“I may need you to save me, too.” He smiled wistfully. “We’re still a team, no matter what.”
She relented, then. “No matter what.” She followed him to the door and gave his arm an affectionate squeeze.
Derec clung to the rail of the spiral staircase all the way down. His knees burned at every step. He took a deep breath at the bottom, thankful for the rest as she came down behind him. Then he opened the door.
A short hallway extended ahead of them. He recognized it and the gently glowing wall panels that provided light. The end of this hallway marked the nearest limit to the office that robots were allowed to come. Past that point, he and Ariel could encounter robots on their normal duties at any time.
He walked forward slowly, watching for shadows and listening for any sound that would mean unwanted company. If they could get down to the meeting room of the Supervisors, on a lower level, the robots might assume that they had entered from the street level. He did not want them to suspect any other possibility.
Ariel followed closely as he moved through the hallways. These halls were narrow, but this level of the pyramid had very little floor surface. In just a few moments, they came to an elevator.
He took a deep breath and pressed the single button on the wall panel. “About six floors down, if I remember right,” he said quietly. “Do you remember any of this?”
She nodded.
They waited in a tense silence. When the door began to open, he drew in a sharp breath and felt her grab a fistful of the back of his shirt. It was empty, however, and they entered with embarrassed smiles of relief for each other.
He pressed the button for six levels down. The elevator dropped precipitously, but slowed gently enough and came to a smooth stop. Again, they stood completely still while the door opened.
No robots were waiting outside the elevator, but for the first time they could hear sounds of activity. The noises were not specific; perhaps they were no more than a variety of hums created by function robots cleaning the rooms and halls. Still, this level was clearly occupied.
“We’re okay now,” he said quietly. “In fact, we may want to meet a robot who can act as a guide. Just remember. If a robot asks how we got in here, our story is that we came in the front door.”
“And got lost.” She grinned.
“Uh, yeah.”
The halls were wider here, and the ceilings higher; to make the trip worse, the maze was far more intricate. Intersecting halls crossed the main hallways more and more frequently, and they could look down any of them to see further expansions of the labyrinth. Long ago, he had guessed that this level was roughly halfway up the pyramid. The floor surface of this level was very large.
“I just can’t remember,” said Derec, stopping at an intersection of halls. He leaned against one of the glowing panels for support. “We could wander indefinitely. I’ve been taking all the largest halls, but they still haven’t led anywhere.”
Ariel studied his face. ”You’re in pain, aren’t you?”
“I can’t let that stop me, or we won’t get anywhere.”
“Then quit dawdling and come on!” Ariel pushed past him and started down the wider of the two hallways.
He smiled weakly as he followed her. She was being brusque in the hope of angering him, and causing another brief remission of his condition. It didn’t work because he recognized the effort, but he appreciated it as he forced his burning legs to follow her.
Suddenly a rhythmic beeping sound echoed down the hall toward them. A small function robot, only a meter high, rolled toward them with a blue light on its front. A small scoop front functioned as a vacuum, and brushes on retracted tentacles betrayed its second duty as a sweeper. Its beeping recognition of strangers in the halls was probably a third function, nearly an afterthought.
Derec and Ariel stopped, watching it hurry forward. It skidded to a halt in front of them, still beeping.
He laughed. “I guess that’s our alert. I thought we’d rate a siren or two, at least.”
“It’s kind of cute. I suppose it’s sending out another signal as well, huh?”
“I’m sure it is. Hey, there’s a familiar face-if you want to call that a face.” Derec grinned. “Euler!”
The humanoid robot striding down the hall toward them was one of the first they had met on the planet. Euler was one of the seven Supervisor robots whose brains together constituted one of the complex master computers of the city. His head was molded to the human model, and he had glowing photocells for eyes. To complete the pattern, he had a small round mesh screen in place of a mouth.
“Hey, Euler!” Derec repeated. “Why isn’t he answering? What’s wrong with him?”
Euler walked right up in front of them and stopped. The little function robot whirred and rolled away, apparently in response to a comlink order.
“Greetings, Derec. You are not allowed here. Come with me.” Euler stepped aside to let them go first.
“What kind of a welcome is that?” Derec demanded, walking forward reluctantly. “Euler, it’s us. We’re back. And we need help and information.”
“I recognize you, Derec and Ariel.” The robot was walking just behind them both.
Derec had the uneasy feeling that they were being guarded rather than accompanied in a friendly fashion. “You used to call me Friend Derec,” he pointed out.
“We are conducting urgent and important business,” said Euler. “You are acquainted with Robot City and you know you will be safe here. You must leave the Compass Tower.”
“I told you we need help!” Derec shouted angrily. “The First Law! Have you forgotten all about it-”
Ariel tugged hard on his sleeve, slowing him down. He shook her off, turning to stop and face Euler eye to eye.
“No,” Ariel insisted. “Don’t give anything away. Something’s gone wrong.”
Derec froze in his angry posture, glaring at the impassive face of the Supervisor. He hesitated, absorbing the unexpected behavior of Euler. She was right.
“What’s happened?” Ariel asked Euler. “Why are you acting different now?”
“You are not allowed in the Compass Tower.”
“Wait a minute,” said Derec. “What about your study of the Laws of Humanics? Remember those? You need humans for that.”
“Please continue forward. You will be removed by unharmful force if necessary.”
“Ha! ‘Unharmful force’? You don’t know how fragile we are, do you?” Derec laughed derisively.
“What’s happened since we were here last?” Ariel asked. “Have you changed your plans for the city?”
“Come with me.” Euler reached out with each pincer and took their arms.
Even the gentle pressure caused a snapping of adhesions in Derec’s arm. He winced in surprise, though the feeling was partly one of relief. The pincer immediately withdrew.
“You hurt me!” Derec shouted. “Ariel, come on!” He grabbed her arm and started to run.
Chapter 6. On The Run
His legs burned painfully and his back felt oddly stiff as he tried to hurry down the hallway. She was already ahead of him now and pulling him, rather than the reverse. Behind them, Euler was hesitating, his decision-making slowed by Derec’s accusation.