operateindependent of any central control, you know. They come back once a weekfor a repair checkup. We'll have to turn them off then, one by one."
"Well, let's get to it. Monroe over on the Coast has shut down about aquarter of his birds."
"I think I can dope out a restricting circuit," Macintyre said.
"Fine," Gelsen replied bitterly. "You make me very happy."
* * * * *
The watchbirds were learning rapidly, expanding and adding to theirknowledge. Loosely defined abstractions were extended, acted upon andre-extended.
To stop murder ...
Metal and electrons reason well, but not in a human fashion.
_A_ living organism? _Any_ living organism!
The watchbirds set themselves the task of protecting all living things.
The fly buzzed around the room, lighting on a table top, pausing amoment, then darting to a window sill.
The old man stalked it, a rolled newspaper in his hand.
Murderer!
The watchbirds swept down and saved the fly in the nick of time.
The old man writhed on the floor a minute and then was silent. He hadbeen given only a mild shock, but it had been enough for his fluttery,cranky heart.
His victim had been saved, though, and this was the important thing.Save the victim and give the aggressor his just desserts.
* * * * *
Gelsen demanded angrily, "Why aren't they being turned off?"
The assistant control engineer gestured. In a corner of the repair roomlay the senior control engineer. He was just regaining consciousness.
"He tried to turn one of them off," the assistant engineer said. Bothhis hands were knotted together. He was making a visible effort not toshake.
"That's ridiculous. They haven't got any sense of self-preservation."
"Then turn them off yourself. Besides, I don't think any more are goingto come."
What could have happened? Gelsen began to piece it together. Thewatchbirds still hadn't decided on the limits of a living organism. Whensome of them were turned off in the Monroe plant, the rest must havecorrelated the data.
So they had been forced to assume that they were living organisms, aswell.
No one had ever told them otherwise. Certainly they carried on most ofthe functions of living organisms.
Then the old fears hit him. Gelsen trembled and hurried out of therepair room. He wanted to find Macintyre in a hurry.
* * * * *
The nurse handed the surgeon the sponge.
"Scalpel."
She placed it in his hand. He started to make the first incision. Andthen he was aware of a disturbance.
"Who let that thing in?"
"I don't know," the nurse said, her voice muffled by the mask.
"Get it out of here."
The nurse waved her arms at the bright winged thing, but it flutteredover her head.
The surgeon proceeded with the incision--as long as he was able.
The watchbird drove him away and stood guard.
"Telephone the watchbird company!" the surgeon ordered. "Get them toturn the thing off."
The watchbird was preventing violence to a living organism.
The surgeon stood by helplessly while his patient died.
* * * * *
Fluttering high above the network of highways, the watchbird watched andwaited. It had been constantly working for weeks now, without rest orrepair. Rest and repair were impossible, because the watchbird couldn'tallow itself--a living organism--to be murdered. And that was whathappened when watchbirds returned to the factory.
There was a built-in order to return, after the lapse of a certain timeperiod. But the watchbird had a stronger order to obey--preservation oflife, including its own.
The definitions of murder were almost infinitely extended now,impossible to cope with. But the watchbird didn't consider that. Itresponded to its stimuli, whenever they came and whatever their source.
There was a new definition of living organism in its memory files. Ithad come as a result of the watchbird discovery that watchbirds wereliving organisms. And it had enormous ramifications.
The stimuli came! For the hundredth time that day, the bird wheeled andbanked, dropping swiftly down to stop murder.
Jackson yawned and pulled his car to a shoulder of the road. He didn'tnotice the glittering dot in the sky. There was no reason for him to.Jackson wasn't contemplating murder, by any human definition.
This was a good spot for a nap, he decided. He had been driving forseven straight hours and his eyes were starting to fog. He reached outto turn off the ignition key--
And was knocked back against the side of the car.
"What in hell's wrong with you?" he asked indignantly. "All I want to dois--" He reached for the key again, and again he was smacked back.
Jackson knew better than to try a third time. He had been listening tothe radio and he knew what the watchbirds did to stubborn violators.
"You mechanical jerk," he said to the waiting metal bird. "A car's notalive. I'm not trying to kill it."
But the watchbird only knew that a certain operation resulted instopping an organism. The car was certainly a functioning organism.Wasn't it of metal, as were the watchbirds? Didn't it run?
* * * * *
Macintyre said, "Without repairs they'll run down." He shoved a pile ofspecification sheets out of his way.
"How soon?" Gelsen asked.
"Six months to a year. Say a year, barring accidents."
"A year," Gelsen said. "In the meantime, everything is stopping dead. Doyou know the latest?"
"What?"
"The watchbirds have decided that the Earth is a living organism. Theywon't allow farmers to break ground for plowing. And, of course,everything else is a living organism--rabbits, beetles, flies, wolves,mosquitoes, lions, crocodiles, crows, and smaller forms of life such asbacteria."
"I know," Macintyre said.
"And you tell me they'll wear out in six months or a year. What happens_now_? What are we going to eat in six months?"
The engineer rubbed his chin. "We'll have to do something quick andfast. Ecological balance is gone to hell."
"Fast isn't the word. Instantaneously would be better." Gelsen lightedhis thirty-fifth cigarette for the day. "At least I have the bittersatisfaction of saying, 'I told you so.' Although I'm just asresponsible as the rest of the machine-worshipping fools."
Macintyre wasn't listening. He was thinking about watchbirds. "Like therabbit plague in Australia."
"The death rate is mounting," Gelsen said. "Famine. Floods. Can't cutdown trees. Doctors can't--what was that you said about Australia?"
"The rabbits," Macintyre repeated. "Hardly any left in Australia now."
"Why? How was it done?"
"Oh, found some kind of germ that attacked only rabbits. I think it waspropagated by mosquitos--"
"Work on that," Gelsen said. "You might have something. I want you toget on the telephone, ask for an emergency hookup with the engineers ofthe other companies. Hurry it up. Together you may be able to dope outsomething."
"Right," Macintyre said. He grabbed a handful of blank paper and hurriedto the telephone.
* * * * *
"What did I tell you?" Officer Celtrics said. He grinned at the captain."Didn't I tell you scientists were nuts?"
"I didn't say you were wrong, did I?" the captain asked.
"No, but you weren't _sure_."
"Well, I'm sure now. You'd better get going. There's plenty of work foryou."
"I know." Celtrics drew his revolver from its holster, checked it andput it back. "Are all the boys back, Captain?"
"All?" the captain laughed humorlessly. "Homicide has increased by fiftyper cent. There's more murder now than there's ever been."
"Sure," Celtrics said. "Th
e watchbirds are too busy guarding cars andslugging spiders." He started toward the door, then turned for a partingshot.
"Take my word, Captain. Machines are _stupid_."
The captain nodded.
* * * * *
Thousands of watchbirds, trying to stop countless millions of murders--ahopeless task. But the watchbirds didn't hope. Without consciousness,they experienced no sense of accomplishment, no fear of failure.Patiently they went about their jobs, obeying each stimulus as it came.
They couldn't be everywhere at the same time, but it wasn't necessary tobe. People learned quickly what the watchbirds didn't like and refrainedfrom doing it. It
Watchbird Page 4