Robert Sheckley
The Lifeboat Mutiny
"Tell me the truth. Did you ever see sweeter engines?" Joe, the Interstellar Junkman asked. "And look at those servos!"
"Hmm," Gregor said judiciously.
"That hull," Joe said softly. "I bet it's five hundred years old, and not a spot of corrosion on it." He patted the burnished side of the boat affectionately. What luck, the pat seemed to say, that this paragon among vessels should be here just when AAA Ace needs a lifeboat.
"She certainly does seem rather nice," Arnold said, with the studied air of a man who has fallen in love and is trying hard not to show it. "What do you think, Dick?"
Richard Gregor didn't answer. The boat was handsome, and she looked perfect for ocean survey work on Trident. But you had to be careful about Joe's merchandise.
"They just don't build 'em this way anymore," Joe sighed. "Look at the propulsion unit. Couldn't dent it with a triphammer. Note the capacity of the cooling system. Examine—"
"It looks good," Gregor said slowly. The AAA Ace Interplanetary Decontamination Service had dealt with Joe in the past, and had learned caution. Not that Joe was dishonest; far from it. The flotsam he collected from anywhere in the inhabited Universe worked. But the ancient machines often had their own ideas of how a job should be done. They tended to grow peevish when forced into another routine.
"I don't care if it's beautiful, fast, durable, or even comfortable," Gregor said definitely. "I just want to be absolutely sure it's safe."
Joe nodded. "That's the important thing, of course. Step inside."
They entered the cabin of the boat. Joe stepped up to the instrument panel, smiled mysteriously, and pressed a button.
Immediately Gregor heard a voice which seemed to originate in his head, saying, "I am Lifeboat 324-A. My purpose—"
"Telepathy?" Gregor interrupted.
"Direct sense recording," Joe said, smiling proudly. "No language barriers that way. I told you, they just don't build 'em this way anymore."
"I am Lifeboat 324-A," the boat esped again. "My primary purpose is to preserve those within me from peril, and to maintain them in good health. At present, I am only partially activated."
"Could anything be safer?" Joe cried. "This is no senseless hunk of metal. This boat will look after you. This boat cares!"
Gregor was impressed, even though the idea of an emotional boat was somehow distasteful. But then, paternalistic gadgets had always irritated him.
Arnold had no such feelings. "We'll take it!"
"You won't be sorry," Joe said, in the frank and open tones that had helped make him a millionaire several times over.
Gregor hoped not.
The next day, Lifeboat 324-A was loaded aboard their spaceship and they blasted off for Trident.
This planet, in the heart of the East Star Valley, had recently been bought by a real-estate speculator. He'd found her nearly perfect for colonization. Trident was the size of Mars, but with a far better climate. There was no indigenous native population to contend with, no poisonous plants, no germ-borne diseases. And, unlike so many worlds, Trident had no predatory animals. Indeed, she had no animals at all. Apart from one small island and a polar cap, the entire planet was covered with water.
There was no real shortage of land; you could wade across several of Trident's seas. The land just wasn't heaped high enough.
AAA Ace had been commissioned to correct this minor flaw.
After landing on Trident's single island, they launched the boat. The rest of the day was spent checking and loading the special survey equipment on board. Early the next morning, Gregor prepared sandwiches and filled a canteen with water. They were ready to begin work.
As soon as the mooring lines were cast off, Gregor joined Arnold in the cabin. With a small flourish, Arnold pressed the first button.
"I am Lifeboat 324-A," the boat esped. "My primary purpose is to preserve those within me from peril, and to maintain them in good health. At present, I am only partially activated. For full activation, press button two."
Gregor pressed the second button.
There was a muffled buzzing deep in the bowels of the boat. Nothing else happened.
"That's odd," Gregor said. He pressed the button again. The muffled buzz was repeated.
"Sounds like a short circuit," Arnold said.
Glancing out the forward porthole, Gregor saw the shoreline of the island slowly drifting away. He felt a touch of panic. There was so much water here, and so little land. To make matters worse, nothing on the instrument panel resembled a wheel or tiller, nothing looked like a throttle or clutch. How did you operate a partially activated lifeboat?
"She must control telepathically," Gregor said hopefully. In a stern voice he said, "Go ahead slowly."
The little boat forged ahead.
"Now right a little."
The boat responded perfectly to Gregor's clear, although unnautical command. The partners exchanged smiles.
"Straighten out," Gregor said, "and full speed ahead!"
The lifeboat charged forward into the shining, empty sea.
Arnold disappeared into the bilge with a flashlight and a circuit tester. The surveying was easy enough for Gregor to handle alone. The machines did all the work, tracing the major faults in the ocean bottom, locating the most promising volcanoes, running the flow and buildup charts. When the survey was complete, the next stage would be turned over to a subcontractor. He would wire the volcanoes, seed the faults, retreat to a safe distance and touch the whole thing off.
Then Trident would be, for a while, a spectacularly noisy place. And when things had quieted down, there would be enough dry land to satisfy even a real-estate speculator.
By mid-afternoon Gregor felt that they had done enough surveying for one day. He and Arnold ate their sandwiches and drank from the canteen. Later they took a short swim in Trident's clear green water.
"I think I've found the trouble," Arnold said. "The leads to the primary activators have been removed. And the power cable's been cut."
"Why would anyone do that?" Gregor asked.
Arnold shrugged. "Might have been part of the decommissioning. I'll have it right in a little while."
He crawled back into the bilge. Gregor turned in the direction of the island, steering telepathically and watching the green water foam merrily past the bow. At moments like this, contrary to all his previous experience, the Universe seemed a fine and friendly place.
In half an hour Arnold emerged, grease-stained but triumphant. "Try that button now," he said.
"But we're almost back."
"So what? Might as well have this thing working right."
Gregor nodded, and pushed the second button.
They could hear the faint click-click of circuits opening. Half a dozen small engines purred into life. A light flashed red, then winked off as the generators took up the load.
"That's more like it," Arnold said.
"I am Lifeboat 324-A," the boat stated telepathically. "I am now fully activated, and able to protect my occupants from danger. Have faith in me. My action-response tapes, both psychological and physical, have been prepared by the best scientific minds in all Drome."
"Gives you quite a feeling of confidence, doesn't it?" Arnold said.
"I suppose so," Gregor said. "But where is Drome?"
"Gentlemen," the lifeboat continued, "try to think of me, not as an unfeeling mechanism, but as your friend and comrade-in-arms. I understand how you feel. You have seen your ship go down, cruelly riddled by the implacable H'gen. You have—"
"What ship?" Gregor asked. "What's it talking about?"
"—crawled aboard me, dazed, gasping from the poisonous fumes of water, half-dead—"
"You mean that swim we took?" Arnold asked. "You've got it all wrong. We were just surveying—"