“I doubt it. Maybe your robot is just stewed from incompatibility with the city's meta-lubricant.”
“You're grasping at neutrons!" said Derec, futilely trying to kick off the bars over his feet and succeeding only in twitching his toes. "Isn't it more reasonable to assume that the environmental stress of the replication crisis-caused by a bug in your own programming-triggered the emergence of abilities latent in all robots of a sufficiently advanced design?"
Avery thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "Explain.”
“There's no precedent for Robot City. There's never been another society of robots without humans. Different things were already happening before Ariel and I got here, things that had never even been imagined before."
"What kinds of things?" Avery was studiously blase.
"I'm sure you saw them from your office in the Compass Tower," Derec said. He was rewarded with a raised eyebrow from Dr. Avery. "Oh, yes, we've been up there. I've also been to the central core, and I've talked to the chief supervisors. Your robots decided to study humanity in order to serve it better. Robots don't usually do that. They even tried to formulate Laws of Humanics to try to understand us. I've never heard of robots doing that before."
"And I suppose you have a theory as to why this is happening."
"A couple." Derec started to count the points off on his fingers, but it didn't work in his position. "First, the stress of the replication crisis. It was a survival crisis comparable to the ice ages of prehistoric Earth. The robots were forced to adapt or perish. My interference helped end the crisis, but also helped shape the adaptation.
"Second, the actual isolation of Robot City. Without any humans around, evolutionary steps that would have been halted were allowed to continue: the study of the Laws of Humanics, for one example; robots getting accustomed to taking an initiative, for another. These changes not only survived, they flourished. They've become part of the ingrained positronic pathways of the robots here. Even the primitive early microchips went into something like a dream state when they weren't in use. Now we're seeing what happens when we don't wake them up forcibly."
"These things you're telling me don't prove a thing. They're theories, nothing more. They certainly don't constitute empirical proof." Avery stifled a yawn.
"Oh? I'm boring you, am I?"
"Excuse me. No, you're not boring me at all. You're actually quite interesting for a young man, though your charming ideas about robots and reality positively reek of your inexperience. That's to be expected though, I suppose." Again he patted the bar across Derec's feet.
Derec scowled. One thing was certain. He could deal with Avery's mental instability, he could tolerate the man's arrogance, but the man's condescending tenderness nauseated him to the core of his being. And not for any reason that Derec could discern. That was just the way it was. He couldn't help but wonder if he had ever had anything to do with Avery at some time during his dim, unremembered past. "So what information did you get out of me?"
Avery laughed. "Why should I tell you?"
"Because I've nothing to hide. Only you are insisting that I should be hiding things. You don't ask my robot questions-you incapacitate him. You don't ask the other robots questions-you ignore them. You ask me questions but you only half believe my answers. You treat my friends like they were-they were mere inconveniences."
"I'm afraid that's exactly what they are," said Avery not unkindly.
"But-but I thought you created this place to learn about the kind of social structure robots would create on their own."
"Perhaps I did, and perhaps not. I see no reason why I should trust you with my motivations."
"But aren't you interested in our observations?"
"No."
"Not even those of Ariel Welsh, the daughter of your financial backer?"
"No." Avery glanced in Ariel's direction. "Parents and their children are rarely close on Aurora. "
"You've heard of her, but you don't want to help her? Aren't you concerned in the least for her?"
"She is now an outsider in the eyes of Spacer society, and hence is basically an inconsequential individual. I suppose in an earlier, more idealistic time, I would have sacrificed some of my time and resources to assist her, but time has recently become a precious commodity to me, too precious to waste on a single human life out of billions and billions. My experiments are at a sensitive stage, anyway. I can't afford to trust any of you."
"It's yourself that you don't trust," said Derec.
Avery smiled. " And just how did you, who know so much about robots but so little about men, manage to figure that out?"
Derec sighed. "It's just a feeling, that's all."
"I see." Avery turned toward Canute and signaled the ebony with his finger.
In a moment, both Avery and Canute were leaning over the prone Derec. Already Derec could perceive there was something different in Canute's demeanor…something missing. The old polite arrogance and self-confidence were gone, replaced or suppressed with a subservient manner that might have been willing, or might have been only what Avery expected of him.
"Are you well, Master Derec?" asked Canute in even tones.
"As well as can be expected. You're strong, Canute. Why don't you pull off my bonds?"
"I fear that, while I might be able to succeed should I make the attempt, it is otherwise impossible," replied the robot.
"Why, 'Master Derec,' I expected better of you," said Avery. "So long as you are not harmed, Canute has no choice but to follow my orders. They take precedence over any you might conceive."
"I was just checking," said Derec. "But how do you know that lying here isn't causing me grave harm?"
Avery appeared shocked, but Canute answered before he could. "I do not. I simply must take Dr. Avery's word that no injury will come to you as a result of your restraint."
"How does it feel to be a robot, Canute?”
“That question is meaningless!" exclaimed Avery with a derisive snort. "He has nothing to make a comparison to!"
Canute turned toward Avery; a familiar red glow was returning to his visual receptors. "Forgive me, Dr. Avery, but I must beg to differ with you. I do have something to compare the sensation of being a robot to, because after having spent the past few weeks attempting to imitate the actions of a fictional human being, I have some notion, however vague, of what it may be like to be that human being. From that base I may extrapolate what it might feel like to be the genuine article."
"I see," said Avery, nodding in a manner that indicated he believed none of this, and that he wouldn't be taking it too seriously if he did. He glanced at Derec. "Who's grasping at neutrons now, young man?"
"What else can I do while I'm stuck here?"
Avery smiled. Derec was beginning to dislike that smile intensely. "I can't fight logic like that," said the doctor, stifling a yawn.
"Master Dr. Avery, are you verging upon the state of exhaustion?" Canute asked.
"Why yes, I am. I've been awake for some time now-in fact, since I left-no, I won't say. There's no reason for any of you to know."
"Might I suggest you take refuge and sleep? It may be quite harmful for you to remain awake long past your body's stamina quotient."
Another yawn. "That's a good idea." A third yawn. "You'd like me to leave, wouldn't you?"
"Only because of your halitosis. "
"Ha-ha. You seek to hide your true designs behind a mask of frivolity. No matter. I shall take up Canute's suggestion. I'll decide what to do with you four after I awake." He took a step to leave, then turned to Canute. "Under no circumstances are you to touch the bars restraining our friend Derec unless I am physically present in this room, understand? That is a direct order."
"What if I have to go to the bathroom?" said Derec.