Watchman took Lilith’s hand. “We should go, now. We’ve done what we came to do here. We’ll return to Stockholm and join the others.”
Together they walked around the silent, motionless Krug and headed toward the transmat bank. Watchman switched one of the transmats on. The field was pure green, the right color; things must have returned to order at the transmat headquarters.
He reached out to set the coordinates. As he did so, he heard Krug’s anguished roar:
“Watchman!”
The android looked behind him. Krug stood a few meters from the transmat cubicle. His face was red and distorted with rage, jaws working, eyes narrowed, heavy creases running through the cheeks. His hands clawed the air. In a sudden furious lunge Krug seized Watchman’s arm and pulled him from the transmat.
Krug seemed to be searching for words. He found none. After a moment’s confrontation he lashed out, slapping Watchman’s face. It was a powerful blow, but Watchman made no attempt to return it. Krug hit him again, this time with clenched fist. Watchman backed toward the transmat.
Making a thick, strangled sound deep in his throat, Krug rushed forward. He caught Watchman by the shoulders and began to shake him frantically. Watchman was astounded by the ferocity of Krug’s movements. Krug kicked him; he spat; he dug his nails deep into Watchman’s flesh. Watchman tried to separate himself from Krug. Krug’s head battered itself in frenzy against Watchman’s chest. It would not be hard to hurl Krug aside, Watchman knew. But he could not do it.
He could not raise his hand to Krug.
In the fury of his onslaught Krug had pushed Watchman nearly to the edge of the transmat field. Watchman glanced uneasily over his shoulder. He had not set any coordinates; the field was open, a conduit to nowhere. If he or Krug happened to fall into it now—
“Thor!” Lilith called. “Look out!”
The green glow licked at him. Krug, a meter shorter than he was, continued to ram and thrust. It was time to bring the struggle to an end, Watchman knew. He put his hands on Krug’s thick arms and shifted his balance, preparing to hurl his attacker to the ground.
But this is Krug, he thought.
But this is Krug.
But this is Krug.
Now Krug let go. Puzzled, Watchman sucked his breath and attempted to brace himself. And now Krug came charging forward, shouting, screaming. Watchman accepted the thrust of Krug’s attack. Krug’s shoulder crashed into Watchman’s chest. Once again, the android found an event encapsulating itself in a moment outside time. He drifted backward as though freed of gravity, moving timelessly, with infinite slowness. The green transmat field surged up to engulf him. Dimly he heard Lilith’s scream; dimly he heard Krug’s cry of triumph. Gently, easily, serenely, Watchman tumbled into the green glow, making the sign of Krug-preserve-us as he disappeared.
37
Krug clings to the side of the transmat cubicle, panting, shivering. He has checked his momentum just in time; another step or two and he would have followed Thor Watchman into the field. He rests a moment. Then he steps back. He turns.
The tower lies in ruin. Thousand of androids stand like statues. The alpha woman Lilith Meson lies face down on the thawing tundra, sobbing. A dozen meters away Manuel kneels, a sorry figure, bloodstained, mudspattered, his clothing in rags, his eyes empty, his face slack.
Krug feels a great sense of peace. His spirit soars; he is free from all bondage. He walks toward Manuel.
“Up,” he says. “Get up.”
Manuel continues to kneel. Krug scoops him up, gripping his armpits, and holds him until he stands on his own strength.
Krug says, “You’re in charge, now. I leave you everything. Lead the resistance, Manuel. Take control. Work toward restoring order. You’re the top man. You’re Krug. Do you understand me, Manuel? As of this moment I abdicate.”
Manuel smiles. Manuel coughs. Manuel looks at the muddy ground.
“It’s all yours boy. I know you can manage. Things may look bleak today, but that’s only temporary. You’ve got an empire, now, Manuel. For you. For Clissa. For your children.”
Krug embraces his son. Then he goes to the transmats. He selects the coordinates for the vehicle-assembly center in Denver.
Thousands of androids are there, although no one seems to be working. They stare at Krug in paralyzed astonishment. He move swiftly through the place. “Where’s Alpha Fusion?” he demands. “Has anyone seen him?”
Romulus Fusion appears. He looks stunned by the sight of Krug. Krug gives him no chance to speak.
“Where’s the starship?” he asks at once.
“At the spacefield,” the alpha says, stumbling.
“Take me there.”
Romulus Fusion’s lips move hesitantly, as though he wants to tell Krug that there has been a revolution, that Krug is no longer the master, that his orders have ceased to carry weight. But Alpha Fusion says none of these things. He merely nods.
He conducts Krug to the starship. There it stands, as before, alone on the broad pad.
“Is it ready to go?” Krug asks.
“We would have given it the Earth-orbit flight-test three days from now, sir.”
“No time for testing, now. Immediate blastoff for interstellar voyage. We’ll run it on automatic. Crew of one. Tell the ground station to program the ship for its intended final destination, as discussed earlier. Maximum velocity.”
Romulus Fusion nods again. He moves as though in a dream. “I will convey your instructions,” he says.
“Good. Get things going fast.”
The alpha trots off the field. Krug enters the ship, closing and sealing the hatch behind him. The planetary nebula NGC 7293 in Aquarius sizzles in his mind, emitting brilliant pulsing light, poisonous light that clangs like a gong in the heavens. Krug is coming, he says to himself. Wait. Wait for me, you up there! Krug is coming to talk to you. Somehow. There’ll be a way.
Even if your sun gives off fire that bakes my bones when I’m ten light-years away. Krug is coming to talk to you.
He walks through the ship. Everything is in order.
He does not activate his screens for a last view of Earth; Krug has turned his back on Earth. He knows that if he looks out, he will see the fires that are blazing in every city tonight, and he does not want to see that; the only fire that concerns him now is that fiery ring in Aquarius. Earth is something he has bequeathed to Manuel.
Krug removes his clothing. Krug lies down in one of the freezer units of the life-suspension system. He is ready to depart. He does not know how long the voyage will last, nor if he will find anything at the end of it. But they have left him no choice. He gives himself over completely to his machines, to his starship.
Krug waits.
Will they obey him in this last command?
Krug waits.
The glass cover of the freezer unit suddenly slides into place, sealing him in. Krug smiles. Now he feels the coolant fluid trickling in; he hisses as it touches his flesh. It rises about him. Yes. Yes. The voyage will soon begin. Krug will go to the stars. Outside, the cities of Earth are ablaze. That other fire draws him, the gong in the heavens. Krug is coming! Krug is coming! The coolant fluid nearly covers his body, now. He is sinking into lethargy; his body suspends its throbbing, his fevered brain grows calm. He has never been so fully relaxed before. Phantoms dance through his mind: Clissa, Manuel, Thor, the tower, Manuel, the tower, Thor, Clissa. Then they are gone and he sees only the fiery ring of NGC 7293. That too begins to fade. He scarcely is breathing now. Sleep is taking him. He will not feel the blastoff. Five kilometers away, a handful of perversely faithful androids are talking to a computer; they are sending Krug to the stars. He waits. Now he sleeps. The cold fluid engulfs him completely. Krug is at peace. He departs from forever from Earth. He begins his journey at last.