The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories Part 6

"That might happen if they thought I killed you, but they won't. It will be an accident." With his left elbow, Demerest broke the plastic that covered the manual controls.

"I know units of this sort," he said. "I know exactly how it works. Logically, breaking that plastic should set up a warning flash--after all, it might be broken by accident--and then someone would be here to investigate, or, better yet, the controls should lock until deliberately released to make sure the break w~ not merely accidental."

He paused, then said, "But I'm sure no one will come; that no warning has taken place. Your manual system is not failsafe because in your heart you were sure it would never be used."

"What do you plan to do?" said Bergen.

He was tense and Demerest watched his knees carefully, and said, "If you try to jump toward me, I'll shoot at once, and then keep right on with what I'm doing."

"I think maybe you're giving me nothing to lose."

"You'll lose time. Let me go right on without interference and you'll have some minutes to keep on talking. You may even be able to talk me out of it. There's my proposal. Don't interfere with me and I will give you your chance to argue."

"But what do you plan to do?"

"This," said Demerest. He did not have to look. His left hand snaked out and closed a contact. "The fusion unit will now pump heat into the air lock and the steam will empty it. It will take a few minutes. When it's done, I'm sure one of those little red-gla.s.s b.u.t.tons will light."

"Are you going to--"

Demerest said, "Why do you ask? You know that I must be intending, having gone this far, to Rood Ocean-Deep?"

"But why? d.a.m.n it, why?"

"Because it will be marked down as an accident. Because your safety record will be spoiled. Because it will be a complete catastrophe and will wipe you out. And PPC will then turn from you, and the glamor of Ocean-Deep will be gone. We We will get the funds; will get the funds; we we will continue. If I could bring that to pa.s.s in some other way, I would, but the needs of Luna City are the needs of mankind and those are paramount." will continue. If I could bring that to pa.s.s in some other way, I would, but the needs of Luna City are the needs of mankind and those are paramount."

"You will die, too," Annette managed to say.

"Of course. Once I am forced to do something like this, would I want want to live? I'm not a murderer." to live? I'm not a murderer."

"But you will be. If you flood this unit, you will flood all of Ocean-Deep and kill everyone in it--and doom those who are out in their subs to slower death. Fifty men and women --an unborn child--"

"That is not my fault," said Demerest, in clear pain. "I did not expect to find a pregnant woman here, but now that I have, I can't stop because of that."

"But you must stop," said Bergen. "Your plan won't work unless what happens can be shown to be an accident. They'll find you with a beam emitter in your hand and with the manual controls clearly tampered with. Do you think they won't deduce the truth from that?"

Demerest was feeling very tired. "Mr. Bergen, you sound desperate. Listen-When the outer door opens, water under a thousand atmospheres of pressure will enter. It will be a ma.s.sive battering ram that will destroy and mangle everything in its path. The walls of the Ocean-Deep units will remain but everything inside will be twisted beyond recognition. Human beings will be mangled into shredded tissue and splintered bone and death will be instantaneous and unfelt. Even if I were to burn you to death with the laser there would be nothing left to show it had been done, so I won't hesitate, you see. This manual unit will be smashed anyway; anything I can do will be erased by the water ."

"But the beam emitter, the laser gun. Even damaged, it will be recognizable," said Annette.

"We use such things on the Moon, Mrs. Bergen. It is a common tool; it is the optical a.n.a.logue of a jackknife. I could kill you with a jackknife, you know, but one would not deduce that a man carrying a jackknife, or even holding one with the blade open, was necessarily planning murder. He might be whittling. Besides, a Moon-made laser is not a projectile gun. It doesn't have to withstand .an internal explosion. It is made of thin metal, mechanically weak. After it is smashed by the waterclap I doubt that it will make much sense as an object."

Demerest did not have to think to make these statements. He had worked them out within himself through months of self-debate back on the Moon.

"In fact," he went on, "how will the investigators ever know what happened in here? They will send 'scaphes down to inspect what is left of Ocean-Deep, but how can they get inside without first pumping the water out? They will, in effect, have to build a new Ocean-Deep and that would take--how long? Perhaps, given public reluctance to waste money, they might never do it at all and content themselves with dropping a laurel wreath on the dead walls of the dead Ocean-Deep."

Bergen said, "The men on Luna City will know what you have done. Surely one of them will have a conscience. The truth will be known."

"One truth," said Demerest, "is that I am not a fool. No one on Luna City knows what I planned to do or will suspect what I have done. They sent me down here to negotiate cooperation on the matter of financial grants. I was to argue and nothing more. There's not even a laser-beam emitter missing up there. I put this one together myself out of sc.r.a.pped parts. ...And it works. I've tested it."

Annette said slowly, "You haven't thought it through. Do you know what you're doing?"

"I've thought it through. I know what I'm doing. ...And I know also that you are both conscious of the lit signal. I'm aware of it. The air lock is empty and time's up, I'm afraid."

Rapidly, holding his beam emitter tensely high, he closed another contact. A circular part of the unit wall cracked into a thin crescent and rolled smoothly away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Demerest saw the gaping darkness, but he did not look. A dankly salt vapor issued from it; a queer odor of dead steam. He even imagined he could: hear the flopping sound of the gathered water at the bottom of the lock.

Demerest said, "In a rational manual unit, the outer door ought to be frozen shut now. With the inner door open, nothing ought to make the outer door open. I suspect, though, that the manuals were put together too quickly at first for that precaution to have been taken, and it was replaced too quickly for that precaution to have been added. And if I need further evidence of that, you wouldn't be sitting there so tensely if you knew the outer door wouldn't open. I need touch one more contact and the waterclap will come. We will feel nothing. "

Annette said, "Don't push it just yet. I have one more thing to say. You said we would have time to persuade you."

"While the water was being pushed out."

"Just let me say this. A minute. A minute. minute. I said you didn't know what you were doing. You don't. You're destroying the s.p.a.ce program, the I said you didn't know what you were doing. You don't. You're destroying the s.p.a.ce program, the s.p.a.ce s.p.a.ce program. There's more to s.p.a.ce than program. There's more to s.p.a.ce than s.p.a.ce." s.p.a.ce." Her voice had grown shrill. Her voice had grown shrill.

Demerest frowned. "What are you talking about? Make sense, or I'll end it all. I'm tired. I'm frightened. I want it over."

Annette said, "You're not in the inner councils of the PPC. Neither is my husband. But I am. Do you think because I am a woman that I'm secondary here? I'm not. You, Mr. Demerest, have your eyes fixed on Luna City only. My husband has his fixed on Ocean-Deep. Neither of you know anything. anything.

"Where do you expect to go, Mr. Demerest, if you had all the money you wanted? Mars? The asteroids? The satellites of the gas giants? These are all small worlds; all dry surfaces under a blank sky. It may be generations before we are ready to try for the stars and till then we'd have only pygmy real estate. Is that your ambition?

"My husband's ambition is no better. He dreams of pushing man's habitat over the ocean Boor, a surface not much larger in the last a.n.a.lysis than the surface of the Moon and the other pygmy worlds. We of the PPC, on the other hand, want more than either of you, and if you push that b.u.t.ton, Mr. Demerest, the greatest dream mankind has ever had will come to nothing."

Demerest found himself interested despite himself, but he said, "You're just babbling." It was possible, he knew, that somehow they had warned others in Ocean-Deep, that any moment someone would come to interrupt, someone would try to shoot him down. He was, however, staring at the only opening, and he had only to close one contact, without even looking, in a second's movement.

Annette said, "I'm not babbling. You know it took more than rocket ships to colonize the Moon. To make a successful colony possible, men had .to be altered genetically and adjusted to low gravity. You are a product of such genetic engineering."

"Well ?"

"And might not genetic engineering also help men to greater gravitational pull? What is the largest planet of the Solar System, Mr. Demerest?"

"Jupi--"

"Yes, Jupiter. Eleven times the diameter of the Earth; forty times the diameter of the Moon. A surface a hundred and twenty times that of the Earth in area; sixteen hundred times that of the Moon. Conditions so different from anything we can encounter anywhere on the worlds the size of Earth or less that any scientist of any persuasion would give half his life for a chance to observe at close range."

"But Jupiter is an impossible target."

"Indeed?" said Annette, and even managed a faint smile. "As impossible as flying? Why is it impossible? Genetic engineering could design men with stronger and denser bones, stronger and more compact muscles. The same principles that enclose Luna City against the vacuum and Ocean-Deep against the sea can also enclose the future Jupiter-Deep against its ammoniated surroundings."

"The gravitational field--"

"Can be negotiated by nuclear-powered ships that are now on the drawing board. You don't know that but I do."

"We're not even sure about the depth of the atmosphere. The pressures--"

"The pressures! The pressures! pressures! Mr. Demerest, look about you. Why do you suppose Ocean-Deep was Mr. Demerest, look about you. Why do you suppose Ocean-Deep was really really built? To exploit the ocean? The settlements on the continental shelf are doing that quite adequately. To gain knowledge of the deep-sea bottom? We could do that by 'scaphe easily and we could then have spared the hundred billion dollars invested in Ocean-Deep so far. built? To exploit the ocean? The settlements on the continental shelf are doing that quite adequately. To gain knowledge of the deep-sea bottom? We could do that by 'scaphe easily and we could then have spared the hundred billion dollars invested in Ocean-Deep so far.

"Don't you see, Mr. Demerest, that Ocean-Deep must mean something more than that? The purpose' of Ocean-Deep is to devise the ultimate vessels and mechanisms that will suffice to explore and colonize Jupiter. Jupiter. Look about you and see the beginnings of a Jovian environment; the closest approach we can come to it on Earth. It is only a faint image of mighty Jupiter, but it's a beginning. Look about you and see the beginnings of a Jovian environment; the closest approach we can come to it on Earth. It is only a faint image of mighty Jupiter, but it's a beginning.

"Destroy this, Mr. Demerest, and you destroy any hope for Jupiter. On the other hand, let us live and we will, together, penetrate and settle the brightest jewel of the Solar System. And long before we can reach the limits of Jupiter, we will be ready for the stars, for the Earth-type planets circling them, and and the Jupiter-type planets, too. Luna City won't be abandoned because the Jupiter-type planets, too. Luna City won't be abandoned because both both are necessary for this ultimate aim." are necessary for this ultimate aim."

For the moment, Demerest had altogether forgotten about that last b.u.t.ton. He said, "n.o.body on Luna City has heard of this."

"You haven't. There are those on Luna City who know. If you had told them of your plan of destruction, they would have stopped you. Naturally, we can't make this common knowledge and only a few people anywhere can know. The public supports only with difficulty the planetary projects now in progress. If the PPC is parsimonious it is because public opinion limits its generosity. What do you suppose public opinion would say if they thought we were aiming toward Jupiter? What a super-boondoggle that would be in their eyes. But we continue and what money we can save and make use of we place in the various facets of Project Big World." haven't. There are those on Luna City who know. If you had told them of your plan of destruction, they would have stopped you. Naturally, we can't make this common knowledge and only a few people anywhere can know. The public supports only with difficulty the planetary projects now in progress. If the PPC is parsimonious it is because public opinion limits its generosity. What do you suppose public opinion would say if they thought we were aiming toward Jupiter? What a super-boondoggle that would be in their eyes. But we continue and what money we can save and make use of we place in the various facets of Project Big World."

"Project Big World?"

"Yes," said Annette. "You know now and I have committed a serious security breach. But it doesn't matter, does it? Since we're all dead and since the project is, too."

"Wait. now, Mrs. Bergeh."

"If you change your mind now, don't think you can ever talk about Project Big World. That would end the project just as effectively as destruction here would. And it would end both your career and mine. It might end Luna City and Ocean-Deep, too--so now that you know, maybe it makes no difference anyway. You might just as well push that b.u.t.ton."

"I said wait--" Demerest's brow was furrowed and his eyes burned with anguish. "I don't know--"

Bergen gathered for the sudden jump as Demerest's tense alertness wavered into uncertain introspection, but Annette grasped her husband's sleeve.

A timeless interval that might have been ten seconds long followed and then Demerest held out his laser. "Take it," he said. "I'll consider myself under arrest."

"You can't be arrested," said Annette, "without the whole story coming out." She took the laser and gave it to Bergen. "It will be enough that you return to Luna City and keep silent. Till then we will keep you .under guard."

Bergen was at the manual controls. The inner door slid shut and after that there was the thunderous waterclap of the water returning into the lock.

Husband and wife were alone again. They had not dared say a word until Demerest was safely put to sleep under the watchful eyes of two men detailed for the purpose. The unexpected waterclap had roused everybody and a sharply bowdlerized account of the incident had been given out.

The manual controls were now locked off and Bergen said, "From this point on, the manuals :will have to be adjusted to fail-safe. And visitors will have to be searched."

"Oh, John," said Annette. "I think people are insane. There we were, facing death for us and for Ocean-Deep; just the end of everything. And I kept thinking-1 must keep calm; I mustn't have a miscarriage."

"You kept calm all right. You were magnificent. I mean, Project Big World! I never conceived of such a thing, but by -by--Jove, it's an attractive thought. It's wonderful." it's an attractive thought. It's wonderful."

"I'm sorry I had to say all that, John. It was all a fake, of course. I made it up, Demerest wanted me to make something up really. He wasn't a killer or destroyer; he was, according to his own overheated lights, a patriot, and I suppose he was telling himself he must destroy in order to save -a common enough view among the small-minded. But he said said he would give us time to talk him out of it and I think he was praying we would manage to do so. He wanted us to think of something that would give him the excuse to save in order to save, and I gave it to him. I'm sorry I had to fool you, John." he would give us time to talk him out of it and I think he was praying we would manage to do so. He wanted us to think of something that would give him the excuse to save in order to save, and I gave it to him. I'm sorry I had to fool you, John."

"You didn't fool me."

"I didn't?"

"How could you? I knew you weren't a member of PPC."

"What made you so sure of that? Because I'm a woman?"

"Not at all. Because I'm I'm a member, Annette, and a member, Annette, and that's that's confidential. And, if you don't mind, I will begin a move to initiate exactly what you suggested-Project Big World." confidential. And, if you don't mind, I will begin a move to initiate exactly what you suggested-Project Big World."

"Well!" Annette considered that and, slowly, smiled. "Well! That's not bad. Women do have their uses."

"Something," said Bergen, smiling also, "I have never denied."

Ed Ferman of F F & & SF SF and Barry Malzberg, one of the brightest of the new generation of science fiction writers, had it in mind in early 1973 to prepare an anthology in which a number of different science fiction themes were carried to their ultimate conclusion. For each story they tapped some writer who was a.s.sociated with a particular theme, and for a story on the subject of robotics, they wanted me, naturally. and Barry Malzberg, one of the brightest of the new generation of science fiction writers, had it in mind in early 1973 to prepare an anthology in which a number of different science fiction themes were carried to their ultimate conclusion. For each story they tapped some writer who was a.s.sociated with a particular theme, and for a story on the subject of robotics, they wanted me, naturally.

I tried to beg off with my usual excuses concerning the state of my schedule, but they said if I didn't do it there would be no story on robotics at all, because they wouldn't ask anyone else. That shamed me into agreeing to do it.

I then had to think up a way of reaching an ultimate conclusion. There had always been one aspect of the robot theme I had never had the courage to write, although the late John Campbell and I had sometimes discussed it.

In the first two Laws of Robotics, you see, the expression "human being" is used, and the a.s.sumption is that a robot can recognize a human being when he sees one. But what is a human being? Or, as the Psalmist asks of G.o.d, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?"

Surely, if there's any doubt as to the definition of man, the Laws of Robotics don't necessarily hold. So I wrote THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM, and Ed and Barry were very happy with it-and so was I. It not only appeared in the anthology, which was ent.i.tled Final Stage, Final Stage, but was also published in the May 1974 issue of but was also published in the May 1974 issue of F F & & SF. SF.

That Thou Art Mindful of Him

The Three Laws of of Robotics: Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Keith Harriman, who had for twelve years now been Director of Research at United States Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation, found that he was not at all certain whether he was doing right. The tip of his tongue pa.s.sed over his plump but rather pale lips and it seemed to him that the holographic image of the great Susan Calvin, which stared unsmilingly down upon him, had never looked so grim before.

Usually he blanked out that image of the greatest roboticist in history because she unnerved him. (He tried thinking of the image as "it" but never quite succeeded.) This time he didn't quite dare to and her long-dead gaze bored into the side of his face.

It was a dreadful and demeaning step he would have to take. Opposite him was George Ten, calm and unaffected either by Harriman's patent uneasiness or by the image of the patron saint of robotics glowing in its niche above.

Harriman said, "We haven't had a chance to talk this out, really, George. You haven't been with us that long and I haven't had a good chance to be alone with you. But now I would like to discuss the matter in some detail."

"I am perfectly willing to do that, " said George. "In my stay at U. S. Robots, I have gathered the crisis has something to do with the Three Laws."

"Yes. You know the Three Laws, of course."

"I do."

"Yes, I'm sure you do. But let us dig even deeper and consider the truly basic problem. In two centuries of, if I may say so, considerable success, U. S. Robots has never managed to persuade human beings to accept robots. We have placed robots only where work is required that human beings cannot do, or in environments that human beings find unacceptably dangerous. Robots have worked mainly in s.p.a.ce and that has limited what we have been able to do."

"Surely," said George Ten, "that represents a broad limit, and one within which U. S. Robots can prosper."

"No, for two reasons. In the first place, the boundaries set for us inevitably contract. As the Moon colony, for instance, grows more sophisticated, its demand for robots decreases and we expect that, within the next few years, robots will be banned on the Moon. This will be repeated on every world colonized by mankind. Secondly, true prosperity is impossible without robots on Earth. We at U. S. Robots firmly believe that human beings need robots and must learn to live with their mechanical a.n.a.logues if progress is to be maintained."

"Do they not? Mr. Harriman, you have on your desk a computer input which, I understand, is connected with the organization's Multivac. A computer is a kind of sessile robot; a robot brain not attached to a body--"

"True, but that also is limited. The computers used by mankind have been steadily specialized in order to avoid too humanlike an intelligence. A century ago we were well on the way to artificial intelligence of the most unlimited type through the use of great computers we called Machines. Those Machines limited their action of their own accord. Once they had solved the ecological problems that had threatened human society, they phased themselves out. Their own continued existence would, they reasoned, have placed them in the role of a crutch to mankind and, since they felt this would harm human beings, they condemned themselves by the First Law."

"And were they not correct to do so?"

"In my opinion, no. By their action, they reinforced mankind's Frankenstein complex; its gut fears that any artificial man they created would turn upon its creator. Men fear that robots may replace human beings."

"Do you not fear that yourself?"