Then acting on a sudden impulse, be called the number that Khedron had given him so long ago in the Tower of Loranne. He did not, of course, expect an answer, but there was always the possiility that Khedron had left a message. His guess was correct; but the message itself was shatteringly unexpected.
The wall dissolved, and Khedron was standing before him. The Jester looked tired and nervous, no longer the confident, slightly cynical person who had set Alvin on the path that led to Lys. There was a haunted look in his eyes, and he spoke as though he had very little time.
«Alvin,» he began, «this is a recording. Only you can receive it, but you can make what use of it you wish. It will not matter to me.
«When I got back to the Tomb of Yarlan Zey, I found that Alystra had been following us. She must have told the Council that you had left Diaspar, and that I had helped you. Very soon the proctors were looking for me, and I decided to go into hiding. I am used to that-I have done it before when some of my jests failed to be appreciated.» (There, thought Alvin, was a flash of the old Khedron.) «They could not have found me in a thousand years-but someone else nearly did. There are strangers in Diaspar, Alvin; they could only have come from Lys, and they are looking for me. I do not know what this means, and I do not like it. The fact that they nearly caught me, though they are in a city that must be strange to them suggests that they possess telepathic powers. I could fight the Council, but this is an unknown peril which I do not care to face.
«I am therefore anticipating a step which I think the Council might well force upon me, since it has been threatened before. I am going where no one can follow, and where I shall escape whatever changes are now about to happen to Diaspar. Perhaps I am foolish to do this; that is something which only time can prove. I shall know the answer one day.
«By now you will have guessed that I have gone back into the Hall of Creation, into the safety of the Memory Banks. Whatever happens, I put my trust in the Central Computer and the forces it controls for the benefit of Diaspar. If anything tampers with the Central Computer, we are all lost. If not, I have nothing to fear.
«To me, only a moment will seem to pass before I walk forth into Diaspar again, fifty or a hundred thousand years from now. I wonder what sort of city I shall find? It will be strange if you are there; some day, I suppose, we will meet again. I cannot say whether I look forward to that meeting or fear it.
«I have never understood you, Alvin, though there was a time when I was vain enough to think I did. Only the Central Computer knows the truth, as it knows the truth about all those other Uniques who have appeared from time to time down the ages and then were seen no more. Have you discovered what happened to them?»
«One reason, I suppose, why I am escaping into the future is because I am impatient. I want to see the results of what you have started, but I am anxious to miss the intermediate stages-which I suspect may be unpleasant. It will be interesting to see, in that world which will be around me in only a few minutes of apparent time from now, whether you are remembered as a creator or as a destroyer-or whether , you are remembered at all.»
«Good-bye, Alvin. I had thought of giving you some advice, but I do not suppose you would take it. You will go your own way, as you always have, and your friends will be tools to use or discard as occasion suits.»
«That is all. I can think of nothing more to say.»
For a moment Khedron-the Khedron who no longer existed save as a pattern of electric charges in the memory cells of the city-looked at Alvin with resignation and, it seemed, with sadness. Then the screen was blank again.
Alvin remained motionless for a long time after the image, of Khedron had faded. He was searching his soul as he had seldom done before in all his life, for he could not deny the truth of much that Khedron had said. When had he paused ; in all his schemes and adventures, to consider the effect of what he was doing upon any of his friends? He had brought anxiety to them and might soon bring worse-all because of his insatiable curiosity and the urge to discover what should not be known.
He had never been fond of Khedron; the Jester’s astringent personality prevented any close relationship, even if Alvin had desired it. Yet now, as he thought of Khedron’s parting words, he was shaken with remorse. Because of his actions, the Jester had fled from this age into the unknown future.
But surely, thought Alvin, he had no need to blame himself for that. It proved only what he had already known-that Khedron was a coward. Perhaps he was no more of a coward than anyone else in Diaspar, he had the additional misfortune of possessing a powerful imagination. Alvin could accept some responsibility for his fate, but by no means all.
Who else in Diaspar had he harmed or distressed? He thought of Jeserac, his tutor, who had been patient with what must have been his most difficult pupil. He remembered all the little kindnesses that his parents had shown him over the years, now that he looked back upon them, there were more than he had imagined.
And he thought of Alystra. She had loved him, and he had taken that love or ignored it as he chose. Yet what else was he to have done? Would she have been any happier had he spurned her completely?
He understood now why he had never loved Alystra, or any of the women he had known in Diaspar. That was another lesson that Lys had taught him. Diaspar had forgotten many things, and among them was the true meaning of love. In Airlee he had watched the mothers dandling their children on their knees, and had himself felt that protective tenderness for all small and helpless creatures that is love’s unselfish twin. Yet now there was no woman in Diaspar who knew or cared for what had once been the final aim of love.
There were no real emotions, no deep passions, in the immortal city. Perhaps such things only thrived because of their very transience, because they could not last. forever and lay always under the shadow which Diaspar had banished.
That was the moment, if such a moment ever existed, when Alvin realized what his destiny must be. Until now he had been the unconscious agent of his own impulses. If he could have known so archaic an analogy, he might have compared himself to a rider on a runaway horse. It had taken him to many strange places, and might do so again, but in its wild galloping it had shown him its powers and taught him where he really wished to go.
Alvin’s reverie was rudely interrupted by the chimes of the wall screen. The timbre of the sound told him at once that this was no incoming call, but that someone had arrived to see him. He gave the admission signal, and a moment later was facing Jeserac.
His tutor looked grave, but not unfriendly.
«I have been asked to take you to the Council, Alvin,» he said. «It is waiting to hear you.» Then Jeserac saw the robot and examined it curiously. «So this is the companion you have brought back from your travels. I think it had better come with us.»
This suited Alvin very well. The robot had already extricated him from one dangerous situation, and he might have to call upon it again. He wondered what the machine had thought about the adventures and vicissitudes in which he had involved it, and wished for– the thousandth time that he could understand what was going on inside its closely shuttered mind. Alvin had the impression that for the moment it had decided to watch, analyze, and draw its own conclusion, doing nothing of its own volition until it had judged the time was ripe. Then, perhaps quite suddenly, it might decide to act; and what it chose to do might not suit Alvin’s plans. The only ally he possessed was bound to him by the most tenuous ties of self interest and might desert him at any moment.