“You’re doing all that right now?” Elaine studied MC Governor’s face, as though for a clue of some sort to the effort he was expending.
“That is the job.” MC Governor shrugged amiably. “I was constructed for it, so to me, combining all these duties is not surprising.”
“Tell me,” said Elaine, studying his face curiously. “What do you do for fun?”
“Aw, I don’t think robots have a lot of fun,” said Max. “Oh, do they?”
“As a robot, my greatest pleasure is in obeying the Three Laws of Robotics. That value is hardwired into my positronic brain, as it is with all positronic robots.” MC Governor smiled, enjoying the mere thought of them. “The First Law of Robotics says,, A robot may not injure a human being-’ “
“Yes,” said Elaine, nodding recognition. “We learned them in school.”
MC Governor heard her, but he really wanted to recite them all. Doing so gave him a feeling of security and satisfaction. “The Second Law is, ‘A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.’ Then the Third Law of Robotics is-”
“‘A robot must protect his own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws,’ “ Elaine finished, grinning impishly.
“Yes-exactly,” said MC Governor, suddenly embarrassed. “Please pardon me for boring you with this matter.” He was about to ask Elaine some polite questions about her interests when he received a radio alert from the city’s communication center.
“Governor, Priority 6 communication is requested.”
“Acknowledged,” said MC Governor. Priority 6 also required a shielded communication, so he would have to take it in his office, but it was not enough to override his duty to Max. He delivered Max to the robots at a first aid station, bade both humans goodbye, and hurried toward his office.
As MC Governor strode quickly down Antelope Valley Boulevard toward one of the slidewalks, he judged the damage he could see. The underground city had different levels, connected by various moving ramps, slidewalks, and lifts; generally, they appeared untouched. Of course, much of the water damage would not be immediately visible.
As he walked, all he could think about was that he had failed in his duty.
MC Governor sat down in his desk chair and plugged his humaniform forefinger into a wall jack once more. He gave his password and called for the Priority 6 message.
“Message source: The Governor Robot Oversight Committee Computer.
“Text: The Governor Robots of the following experimental cities have entered closed loops: Emerald City, Republic of Ireland; Kenyatta Center, Kenya; New Monegaw Springs, Missouri; Osaka Center, Japan; Rio de Oro Center, Brazil.“
The exact times that each Governor had entered the closed’ loop were given next. MC Governor adjusted those times for the different time zones in which each city was located around the world. He found that each Governor robot had malfunctioned within the last three hours.
MC Governor disconnected, his mind working quickly. He was one of only six Governor robots being tested on Earth right now, and the other five had all failed today. Since the Governors had all been constructed with the same basic design, he was forced to conclude that he would experience the same fate, probably very soon.
MC Governor had a very levelheaded, rational, not very flashy personality. He was totally dedicated to his job. However, when he was thinking alone, without having to pace himself to human abilities or to slower electronic equipment, he could think extremely quickly.
Now his own existence was threatened. Since neither a threat to humans nor direct human orders were present, the First and Second Laws of Robotics did not apply. Under these conditions, the Third Law of Robotics compelled him to evaluate his position at maximum efficiency in both speed and clarity.
Obviously, some crucial design flaw was about to make him enter a closed loop. It would put him into a state roughly parallel to a comatose condition in humans. Even worse, however, was the danger from the Oversight Committee of scientists.
In order to study him, they would have to dismantle him even if they could take control of him before he entered the closed loop. They would need nothing more than to reach him with a direct order for him to shut himself down until further notice; under the Second Law, their instruction alone would be enough to control his behavior. His first priority was to insulate himself from receiving any such instruction. After that, he would have to find out how to avoid entering the endless loop.
He was able to infer some information that was not actually part of the message. For instance, the message came from the Oversight Committee’s computer, not the committee itself. Their computer had probably judged for itself that the message should be sent to him. So far the scientists had apparently not learned of this.
MC Governor did not know how often the scientists actually reviewed the data regarding the Governors. Since the experimental robots had already been functioning successfully for many months without a problem, the four roboticists were probably not bothering to check the data too frequently. However, an emergency of this magnitude would probably prompt their computer to contact their offices directly. When they learned that he had caused water mains to break by incorrectly routing the normal water supply, they would be even more concerned.
His deliberations and immediate plans were formed in less than a second. A more detailed strategy would have to wait until he had more information. First he plugged back into the secure link to the city computer.
“Priority 10,” he instructed. That meant that only he or the scientists on the committee could access this. He had no way to prevent them from getting information from anywhere in the Mojave Center system, but he could stop accidental leaks of information. “Delete all records of receipt, storage, and acknowledgment of last Priority 6 message. Until further directives from me, indicate to all exterior and interior communications that city operations are functioning normally. Do not pass any direct instructions to me from any humans. Store them and use Priority 10 communication to tell me that some. have arrived, without revealing their content.”
When the city computer had acknowledged receipt, he withdrew his finger. That would delay any instructions from the Oversight Committee, but not for long. They would merely have to call any human here in Mojave Center and ask him to pass the orders on to MC Governor. If he stayed in his office, however, he would not have to hear any human instructions in person, either.
MC Governor plugged back into the city computer. “Priority 10. Have a detail of Security robots report to the exterior of my office immediately and block all humans from entering. The Security detail is to report to me if any humans approach my office. They are not to convey any direct messages of any kind to me from a human until and unless I personally give further instructions.”
He hesitated, at least by robotic standards. If a human ordered a Security robot to convey a message, the Second Law would override his own orders. He would have to block that possibility with a First Law imperative.
“I, MC Governor, may be in personal danger from anticipated human contact. If my functions are disrupted, harm may come to the human residents of Mojave Center. A First Law imperative is therefore involved.”
That would not stop the Oversight Committee’s directives from reaching him forever, but it would be enough at least to force the Committee to make some effort. The robots on Security detail would have to be persuaded that a greater or more immediate First Law imperative overrode this one. Otherwise, they would have to be physically disabled or destroyed before they would disobey his instructions.