Derec jumped off the cart. “I hear you were the first robot awakened on this planet,” he said.
“That is correct,” the robot said.
“Come with me,” Derec said. “Let’s get out of the confusion.”
They moved through the rapidly widening chamber to the place where Avernus had first dropped him. “I am searching through the origins of Robot City,” Derec said, “and that search has led me to you. You were the first.”
“Yes. Logical. I was the first.”
“I want you to tell me exactly what your first visual input was and what followed subsequently.”
“My first visual input was of a human arm connecting my power supply,” the robot said. “Then the human turned and walked away from me.”
“Did you see the human face?”
“No.”
“What happened then?”
“The human walked a distance from me, then disappeared behind some machinery meant to help in our early mining. I was to wait for one hour, then turn on the other inoperative robots in the area. Then we were to begin work, which we did.”
“Of what did that original work consist?”
“There were fifty utility, plus Supervisor Avernus. Twenty-five of us built the Compass Tower from materials left for us, while Supervisor Avernus and the other twenty-five began the design and construction of the underground facilities and commenced the mining operations.”
Derec was puzzled. “Avernus didn’t supervise the construction of the Compass Tower?”
“No. It was meant as a separate entity from the rest of the city. It was fully planned, fully materialized. There was no need for Supervisor Avernus to take an interest in it.”
Derec heard an engine noise and saw lights, far in the tunnel distance, gradually closing on his position. “What do you mean when you say it was ‘meant as a separate entity?’ ” Derec asked.
“The Compass Tower is unique in several respects, Friend Derec,” 1-1 said. “It is not part of the overall city plan in any respect; it has the off limits homing platform atop it; and it contains a fully furnished, human administration office.”
“What!” Derec said loudly, as he watched the mine tram rushing closer toward him in the tunnel. “An office for whom?”
“I do not know. Perhaps the person who awakened me.”
“You’ve never spoken of this with the supervisors?”
“No one has ever inquired before now.”
“Why did you call it the administration office?”
“The construction plans are locked within my data banks,” 1-1 answered. “That is what it was called on the plans.”
The tram car screeched to a halt right beside Darren, the huge bulk of Avernus stuffed in its front seat. “We must go,” the supervisor said.
“Just a minute,” Derec said. “Why did you call it a homing platform?”
“We must go now,” Avernus said.
“It was designed as a landing point of some kind,” 1-1 said. “Nothing is ever allowed on its surface, or within twenty meters of its airspace.”
Avernus took hold of Derec’s arm and gently, but firmly, turned him face to face. “We must go,” Avernus said. “Something has happened to Friend Katherine.”
Derec reeled as if he’d been hit. “What? What happened? Is she all right?”
“She is unconscious,” Avernus said. “Beyond that, we do not know.”
Chapter 8. Identity Crisis
Derec hurried into the apartment to buzzing activity. Arion was there, and Euler, plus Eve and several utility robots. There was also a rather frail-looking machine with multiple appendages that Derec surmised to be a med-bot.
The living room seemed different, much squatter, but he really wasn’t paying attention.
“Friend Derec… Euler began, hurrying to intercept Derec as he crossed the living room floor.
“Where is she?” he asked, still moving.
“The bedroom,” Euler said. “She has regained consciousness and is resting. I do not think you should try and see her just yet.”
“Nonsense,” Derec said, hurrying past him. “I’ve got to see her.”
“But you don’t underst… ”
“Later,” Derec said, moving down the hallway. There were now two bedroom doors. He opened one to an empty room, then turned to the other, pushing the stud. It slid open. Katherine was sitting up in bed, her face drained of all color, her eyes red.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Her eyes focused on him, then grew wide in horror.
“Noooo!” she screamed, hands going to her straining face.
Derec ran to her and took her by the shoulders. She kept screaming, loudly, hysterically, her body vibrating madly on the bed.
“You’re dead!” she yelled. “Dead! Dead!”
“No!” he yelled. “I’m here. It’s all right. It’s all… ”
Euler was pulling him away from her, robots filling the room. “What are you doing?” he yelled. “Let go, I… ”
“You must leave now,” Euler said, lifting him bodily in the air and carrying him, Katherine’s screams still filling the apartment.
“Katherine!” he called to her as Euler carried him out the door. “Katherine!”
Euler carried him all the way to the living room, then simply held him there, the med-bot slipping into her bedroom and sliding the door closed, muffling the screams somewhat.
“Put me down!” Derec yelled. “Would you put me down?”
“You must not go in there,” Euler said. “It is dangerous for Katherine if you go in there.”
He felt the anger draining out of him. “What’s going on?” he asked sheepishly. “What’s happened to her?”
“She’s suffered some sort of emotional trauma,” the supervisor said. “May I put you down?”
“Believe me,” Derec said, “at this point, I don’t want to go back in.”
Euler set him gently on the floor. Derec rubbed his arms to get the circulation back into them.
“I am sorry if I caused you any discomfort,” Euler said. “Truly.”
“It’s all right,” Derec replied. “Tell me what happened.”
Thunder crashed loudly outside, both Derec and Euler turning to look at the building thunderheads through the open patio door. They were in for another bad one. From the bedroom, the sounds of screaming had died to occasional whimpers.
“Katherine found the body of David,” Euler said, “and had a utility robot cut into the sealed room that contained it.” The robot swiveled its head to take in the rest of the room. “Perhaps it is better to have Arion witness the story. He was present for it.” He motioned for the human-like machine to join the discussion.
“Friend Derec,” Arion said as he moved up close. “I had no idea that seeing the body would have this kind of effect on Friend Katherine. I would never have allowed her to come close to it had I known.”
“I understand,” Derec said. “Just tell me what happened.”
“She was examining the deceased,” Arion said, “when she called me in to help her roll the body over. I, of course, complied. She screamed when she saw the face, then lapsed into a state of unconsciousness.”
“She’s been disconsolate ever since,” Euler said. “Most peculiar. She persisted in the belief that the dead man was you.”
“Why would she do that?” he asked, moving to sit at the table. Arion’s CRT was busily finding the cube roots of ten-digit numbers.
“I don’t know,” Euler said. “Perhaps because the body looked like yours.”
Derec sat up straight, staring hard. “You mean… just like me?”
The robots looked at one another. “Perfectly,” Arion said.
“Doesn’t that strike you as odd?” Derec said, dumbfounded, still not believing the information.
“No,” Euler said.
“I don’t understand,” Derec said. “When you first saw me, didn’t you take note of the similarity of our appearances?”
“Yes,” Euler said, “but it didn’t mean anything to us.”
“Why not?”
Arion spoke up. “Why should it? We’ve only seen three human beings. Robots certainly can look exactly alike, why not humans? We knew you and Katherine were different, but that didn’t mean that you and David couldn’t be the same. Besides, we knew that David was dead; so, consequently, we knew that you couldn’t be David. Simple.”
The med-bot came gliding down the hall, moving quickly up to Derec. “She’s calm now,” the robot said. “She’s lightly sedated with her own pituitary endorphins, and wants to see you.”