One Hunter had now taken Wolruf and Jeff under each arm and had lifted them into the air where they squirmed helplessly.
“You’re hurting me!” Jeff shouted. “First Law violation!”
The Hunter was not convinced.
“Stop them!” Dr. Avery screamed. “Don’t hurt them, but stop them! And don’t collide with David! His condition is too fragile!”
“You’ve got to believe us!” Ariel shouted, turning to plead with him. “You don’t want him hurt, either! Just test him!”
They stood face-to-face now and Ariel saw a strangely twisted expression on his face. It was an angry smile of triumph. For the first time since meeting him, she understood that he truly was crazy-and beyond persuasion by reason.
“You did this!” Dr. Avery hissed in her face. “Without you, these extremes would not have been necessary. Leave him alone!”
“How dare you blame this on me?” She screamed, and in a mixture of frustration, rage, and exhaustion she lost her temper completely. Unbound by any Laws except her conscience, she launched herself at him angrily, grabbing his sideburns in both hands.
One of the four Hunters had been shut down. Another was holding Jeff and Wolruf away from Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot was trying to reach the unguarded control panel of this one with his flexible arm while using his other arm to grapple with the other two Hunters. With all the robots’ attention focused on each other across the room, they did not notice or respond to the potential harm Ariel and Dr. Avery might do to each other.
Dr. Avery grimaced in pain and growled at her as they shuffled around in a tight struggle.
Deep in the darkness of Derec’s mind, robots marched. He was lying on his back in darkness as robots stepped in rhythmic time with a precision only robots could maintain. They strode by him in files that split at his feet and tramped past him on either side, their heavy feet pounding by his head. He was ignored, insignificant, not even present in their positronic awareness.
Out of darkness, the robots marched. A slight glow of skyline shone behind them but mostly he could see only a bloodred sky above, one that had never really existed, where space stretched endlessly beyond the planet. Still the robots streamed past, intent on their destination with that single-mindedness so evident in the Avery creations.
Avery. Avery. Avery. The beat of pounding feet seemed to take on the name. It was name of his enemy, the name of… of…
His dream shifted. Even as the robots continued to march, he watched strange green shapes, some cubic and some pyramidal, rising in the air around him. When he reached for them, missing, he floated up after them. They turned, light shining off their different facets as they rose. He snagged one and it became a computer console under his hands.
He was floating higher in the air now. The blood night of Robot City threw its myriad streets into a golden glow without logic or explanation, and “Still the robots marched. His fingers seemed to type without thought from his mind: “Stop them.”
“NO,” answered the central computer.
“Stop the city.”
“NO.”
“Why not?”
“WHO ARE YOU?”
“I am I am I am…who am I?”
“WHERE ARE YOU?”
“I am…Robot City.”
“ERROR. I AM ROBOT CITY,” said the central computer. “WHO ARE YOU?”
“Who am I?”
“YOU ARE DAVID AVERY.”
“I am David Avery?” Derec stared at the name on the dream console. The dream console was green, made of a floating pyramid like a tiny Compass Tower…made of a chemfet.
He looked around. This wasn’t the real central computer. The blood-red sky told him how small he was. He was floating in his own bloodstream, watching chemfets and Robot City grow inside him…
“I am David Avery,” he typed. “I am David Avery. This is my bloodstream, my body, my…Robot City.”
“ACKNOWLEDGED,” said the central computer.
The robots stopped marching. He floated in the air high above them now and looked down on the endless rows of robots. Every single Avery robot on the planet raised its head to await Derec’s commands.
He raised his head and shouted, “Robot City is mine! I am David Avery and I am Robot City!”
At his shout, the sky split. The scene dissipated. He blinked and gradually heard more yells and scraping sounds around him. A chandelier was blazing over him. He took in a deep breath-and realized that, for the first time in a very long time, his body felt normal.
His mind was clearing slowly as he came awake. His body was tired, and cold with dampness, but the weird stiffness was gone. He was no longer in physical danger.
“Derec!” Ariel yelled. “You’re awake? Tell him! Tell Avery what’s happening to you.”
Avery? With a surge of fear and anger, Derec sat up and found himself on a long table. He turned. Ariel and his father, Dr. Avery, were scuffling around in a circle.
“I’m all right,” Derec said hoarsely.
“What?” Ariel looked at him in surprise. “Then help me!”
“No!” Dr. Avery roared. “No! This is not right! You must help me!”
“Help you?” Derec shouted angrily. “You’re crazy!”
“Kill them!” Dr. Avery screamed at the Hunters. “Kill them! You must kill them or everything will be for naught!”
Ariel pulled free of him and turned toward the two Hunters who were still functioning; Mandelbrot had succeeded in shutting down a second one. “Dr. Avery is mad. You understand? He’s…he’s malfunctioned. You remember the Laws of Humanics that the Supervisors were trying to devise?”
Dr. Avery had backed away toward the fireplace. “You must save us!” he shouted at the Hunters. “Kill them!”
“Listen to him,” Ariel called out, now more in control. “His orders violate the First Law. You can’t trust his orders any more. Orders that violate the Laws of Robotics also violate the Second Law of Humanics, which says humans will not give robots unreasonable orders. Listen to him, and you’ll understand that he can’t be followed anymore.” If the Hunters had learned how she and Jeff and Derec had shut down Pei, they wouldn’t listen to her, either.
The remaining Hunters had not moved. One held Jeff and Wolruf. The other was in a stand-off with Mandelbrot, as each tried to reach the manual controls of the other to shut him down.
“Acknowledged,” said the Hunter holding Jeff and Wolruf. “Dr. Avery’s instructions cannot be followed. However, the central computer also directs us. We are still under orders to detain the members of your group without harming them.”
Dr. Avery had cowered into a corner, still shouting.
“I am Robot City now,” said Derec. “The chemfets in my body have matured and I have reprogrammed them.” He visualized the computer console in his mind. Maybe he wouldn’t always have to do that, but right now it made the task easier. “Central computer,” he thought. “Eliminate the orders to the Hunter robots regarding Derec or David Avery, Ariel Welsh, the robot Mandelbrot, and the caninoid alien Wolruf. Then notify all pertinent robots of the change.” Then aloud he said, “Hunters. A new order should come through to you-”
“Acknowledged,” said the Hunter in front of Mandelbrot. He straightened, dropping his guard
“Acknowledged,” echoed the other Hunter, releasing Jeff and Wolruf.
“I received it also,” said Mandelbrot.
“Now, then,” said Derec, turning to Dr. Avery.
Dr. Avery was standing in the corner of the room to one side of the giant fireplace. As the others turned to watch him, he drew himself up. “Consider what you have accomplished, my son,” he said. “Think of it. Everything I envisioned to this point has come to pass as I intended. Well, almost-never mind this young woman. You rule in Robot City. Soon you will rule in every Robot City, in thousands of them throughout all the galaxies.”
A stinging sadness came over Derec, draining his anger. “You’re…not right. Not right in the head. You started out seeking a utopia and instead you’ve gotten sidetracked. This has become a springboard for power, not for good. Maybe if you took it easy for a while, got some professional advice…”