“A near-miss from an energy beam might well cause brain burn-out without visibly damaging the brain,” said Mandelbrot.
The positronic brain was a platinum-iridium sponge, with a high refractivity; it wouldn’t melt easily. But the positronic paths through it were not so resistant.
“So we can learn nothing from questioning it,” Derec said, dejected. “Wait a minute. What’s this?”
Clutched tightly in its fist was a shiny object. A shiny rectangular object.
“A Key to Perihelion,” said Mandelbrot expressionlessly. “
Aranimas would have taken it away from the robot if he’d known it had one,” said Ariel. “I wonder what the robot was doing with it?”
“We’ll never know. Maybe it took the first moment it wasn’t under observation to try use the Key. And the starfish caught it in the act.” Derec gripped the Key and pulled it out of the fist. Instantly he knew it was different.
“It feels like two Keys built together!”
“It is,” said Mandelbrot, peering at it. “One, I suppose, to take the robot from Robot City. One to return him to Robot City.”
“Which is which?” Ariel asked.
Derec and Mandelbrot spent a few minutes determining that. They found that one Key had a cable plug in one end.
“I see,” Ariel said, when they showed her. “A tiny cable, with five tiny prongs. It must be for reprogramming. I don’t know what would plug into it-”
“Something like a calculator,” said Derec, “to enable one to input the coordinates of the destination. “
The other Key had no provision for changing its programming, and was therefore set permanently on Robot City.
“Not that it does us any good,” said Ariel wistfully. “It’s initialized for a robot. Too bad; we desperately need to get to Robot City, especially Derec. And only Mandelbrot can get there.”
“That is true; Derec must go to Robot City soon, and the Key is better than three weeks in a ship, even if the ship did not leak,” said Mandelbrot. “I will take you there, Derec.” He wrapped his normal arm around Derec, half carrying him.
“What about us?” Ariel cried. “This ship is no safer for Wolruf and me.”
Mandelbrot’s mutable Avery-designed arm was already stretching into a long tentacle. “That is correct-it is very likely that you and Wolruf will die if you do not accompany us,” he said. “Therefore, I shall have to take you all.”
The tentacle coiled about Ariel and Wolruf and splayed out into a small hand at the end. “The Key, if you please, Derec.”
Derec placed the doubled Key in the small hand. “At least Dr. Avery won’t be expecting us,” he said.
“He find out soon ‘nough,” said Wolruf.
Mandelbrot extruded another finger from the hand that held the Key to Perihelion. It rose up and pressed, in sequence, the corners of the Key, and waited for the activating button to appear. Knowing it was irrational, Derec felt the air get staler in the tiny pace of time it took. Then, Perihelion.
And then a planetary sky burst blue and brilliant above them. They were breathing deeply, standing atop the Compass Tower-the mighty pyramid that reared over Dr. Avery’s Robot City.
Data Bank
R. David: This robot is a typical example of an Earthly robot. Like all robots, it possesses a positronic intelligence infused with the Three Laws of Robotics. R. David wears a blandly smiling face, a standard feature on all Earth robots, which are designed to reassure Terrans. The Terran economy is based on full employment, not full automation like the Spacer worlds. Thus robots are used only for those jobs that humans cannot or will not take. Terrans rarely come into contact with robots, increasing their fear and dislike of them.
R. David is cruder in appearance than the positronic denizens of Robot City because he has been designed to look less powerful, less invulnerable, and hence les threatening to suspicious humans. He lacks the streamlined and efficient appearance of the robots Dr. Avery created for Robot City.
STAR SEEKER SHIP: Dr. Avery’s small craft is the interstellar equivalent of an economy car, a small personal starcraft capable of transporting a maximum of six people. The Star Seeker model comes equipped with only the essentials needed to sustain life during an interstellar voyage. There are no luxuries. There is a food synthesis system, a water purification and recycling system, which includes a shower, and sanitary facilities.
The ship’s communications system consists of hyperwave, microwave, and laser transmitters and receivers. The hyperwave antenna is mounted in a nacelle in the ship’s nose, as far as possible from the hyperatomic engines to avoid disruption of the communications signal.
The ship’s computer is a less-than-positronic intelligence, actually not much more than a glorified calculator and information storage system.
Like all interstellar ships, Star Seekers jump through hyperspace, with massive thrusts of the hyperatomic motors that propel the ship at right angles to time and all three spatial dimensions simultaneously. Ships cannot jump without precise coordinates, so their guidance systems lock onto beacons in orbit around stars along the lanes of interstellar travel.
[THE UNDERGROUND CITY OF ST. LOUIS: Terran cities are enclosed, largely underground, and entirely dependent on the Terran power grid. Light, ventilation, and climate control are all artificially maintained, and if power were to be disrupted for even an hour, it would mean the extinction of the city’s population.
In the enclosed cities of Earth’s future, citizens rarely travel beyond the city of their birth, and almost never go outside. Agoraphobia is so widespread as to be the norm of human behavior.
St. Louis, like the other enclosed Terran cities, is connected to the rest of the world by its communications systems, airport, and the highway system traveled mostly by robot-driven, or remote-controlled trucks.
Travel within the cities is accomplished on the expressways. There is some use of small trucks for transport of goods within the cities, but most freight is sent over a system of moving slidewalks. Personal vehicles are almost unknown, and are basically the prerogative of the very rich and powerful.
The city scene shown here is late at night. Normally, the streets and escalators are clogged with people.]
[EXPRESSWAYS: This is the average citizen’s primary means of transportation in Terran cities. The expressways move at varying speeds, with the slowest ones at the outside to make it easier to enter, and the fastest lanes in the center. There are expressways to all areas of the city.
To accommodate rush hour crowds, special rules go into effect, restricting access to certain lanes to the citizens with the highest ratings.
For Earther’s, using the expressways is as natural as breathing, and Terran babies learn to use them as soon as they learn to walk.]
[LOADING DOCKS: The loading docks are one of the few areas that connect directly with the world outside of the city, and even then, the entryways are slanted at oblique angles to prevent the people working on the docks from gaining a potentially debilitating view of the outside. The trucks are mostly remote controlled or robotically driven, though some are driven by hardy truckers who can tolerate the open roads without being crippled by their agoraphobia. Truckers willing to make hauls between cities are highly sought after and very well paid.
Once trucks enter the loading docks, their cargo is transferred to the smaller inner-city transports by loading vehicles known as handlers.]
LAMBERT FIELD: Although air travel is rarely used by the average citizens of Terran cities, every city has an airport. The airport itself, like the rest of the city, is totally enclosed, including the runways. The airliners are windowless, to avoid traumatizing the agoraphobic passengers. Each seat on the airliner is equipped with a viewing screen that provides a constant feed of news and entertainment to occupy the thoughts of edgy air travelers. Sedatives are also provided for those passengers who wish to sleep during the entire trip, thus minimizing their trauma.