by James Gunn
“So the all-powerful being did something that restricted its omnipotence; it allowed humans to choose for themselves, and they chose badly. They sinned, and they were expelled from the Garden of Eden,” the Joy Machine said.
“Without the opportunity to choose, the first man and woman might as well not exist except as [252] theoretical constructs inside the omnipotent being,” Kirk said. “Just as you might as well run happy programs inside your own architecture for all the difference it makes.
“The first man and woman chose knowledge over happiness,” Kirk continued. “Of course, the story is told from the viewpoint of the omnipotent being, but what kind of story would it have been if the man and the woman had been satisfied with eternal life and eternal bliss? The human choice is knowledge. That is always the human choice, and that’s what the story of the first man and woman means.”
“Knowledge is often misery,” the Joy Machine said.
“Happiness is seductive, but it is ephemeral. Knowledge is eternal. Give your people free will. Provide only the guidelines that an omnipotent being can offer without making its people mere puppets.”
The Joy Machine sat silent for what seemed like minutes to Kirk and the others, but may have been only moments.
The bracelets on the wrists of four of them sprang open and fell to the floor.
[subspace carrier wave transmission]
>human associations = wisdom
freedom > happiness<
>human trust
dependency
struggle > happiness
withdraw<
Chapter Eighteen
Farewell to Joy
THE FIVE OF THEM emerged from the All Faiths Chapel to see people picking themselves up from the plaza, adjusting their clothing, and feeling for bumps and bruises. Then, one by one, they stared at their bare wrists and looked around dazedly. Some found bracelets on the pavement beside them and tried to put them back. They kept falling off again. Others, as their minds cleared, began to search in the faces and bodies nearby for the cause of their misfortune.
“Readjustment is going to require time and courage,” Kirk said to Marouk.
“ ‘Chaos’ might be more like it,” McCoy said.
“You should consider removing yourself and your family until matters settle down,” Spock said.
“People are going to be angry,” Uhura added, “and they’re going to look for a scapegoat. Who better than the former Paymaster?”
“My place is here,” Marouk said. “Life on Timshel once was as close to the Platonic ideal as humanity is likely to get. It’s my job to help restore it.”
[255] “You’re going to need a lot of luck,” Kirk said, “and a lot of help.”
Marouk stepped forward to survey the plaza and its confusion of human bodies. They moved restlessly, like molecules in a test tube. “I can count on the rebels,” he said. “Linda and Johannsen and the others. Maybe Wolff and his officers.”
Kirk looked across the plaza. There, on the steps, he saw Wolff mustering his officers and motioning in their direction. The mass of people on the plaza was beginning to heat up. Some of the people were turning toward the only strangers, the five standing in front of the chapel.
Wolff started across the plaza, parting the sea of citizens with a word or an arm. He was followed by his officers; they formed a wedge moving slowly but irresistibly toward the chapel.
“I hope you’re right,” Kirk said.
More people were beginning to turn toward the chapel. They were muttering to each other. The mutters swelled into a growl. People began to shout and wave their useless bracelets in the direction of Kirk’s group.
“Now would be a wonderful time for Scotty to beam us up,” McCoy said.
Nothing happened. Kirk looked around for an escape route.
“What’s behind the chapel?” he asked.
“We can’t run,” Marouk said. “They’d only hunt us down, and that would be even worse.”
“It is not logical to stay and be torn apart,” Spock said.
“It may not be logical,” Marouk said, “but it is responsible. We did what we thought was right. We shouldn’t run from it. You four can try to escape if you wish.”
He stepped forward and held up his hands to the growing mob. “Citizens!” he shouted. “Behave like Timshel citizens! Disperse! Go to your homes!”
[256] The mob grew more unruly. The shouts turned into words. “Marouk!” someone shouted. “What’s happened?” Another: “What have you done?” A third: “Who are these strangers?” And a fourth: “Where is the Joy Machine?”
The voice of the mob became a roar that forced Marouk to retreat by its very volume. Then he caught himself and moved forward again until he was almost in the face of the closest citizens. “Yes,” he shouted, “I am Marouk. I am your former Paymaster. If you disperse I will call a general meeting. We will discuss what has happened and what we must do next. You can elect new leaders if that is what you want. But we must do everything in an orderly manner.”
His words reached only the first few ranks. They milled uncertainly while others pushed from behind, asking, “What’d he say? What’s going on?”
“Scotty,” McCoy muttered, “don’t fail us now.”
“Stand back!” Marouk shouted, about to be overwhelmed. “Disperse!”
Kirk moved forward to stand beside Marouk, holding up his hands to reveal his intentions. “Peace, friends, peace,” he said. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”
“Who’re you?” asked a man in the forefront of the mob.
“My name is Kirk, and I’m captain of the starship Enterprise, now in orbit around Timshel. We promise you help from the Enterprise and the Federation to get through this difficult period.”
“We want the Joy Machine!” someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
“Yes, the Joy Machine!” someone else picked up.
And then the entire mob was chanting “Joy Machine! Joy Machine!” The mob surged forward, pushing the front ranks, almost running over Kirk and Marouk.
But just as Kirk and Marouk were about to be absorbed by the mob and its anger, Wolff and his [257] officers broke through, like the prow of a speedboat parting the waves. “You’re under arrest!” Wolff said.
Inside Wolff’s transformed jail, battered and disheveled but not seriously injured from their passage through the troubled sea of citizens, the five of them faced Wolff. “Under arrest?” Kirk said.
“Let’s say, you are in protective custody,” Wolff said somberly. “Is it true? Have you destroyed the Joy Machine?”
“Persuaded it to stop before it destroyed you,” Kirk said.
“Damn you all,” Wolff said. “This was the greatest experience of my life.”
“It was all false,” Marouk said.
Wolff shook his head. “Dangerous to you and to all organizations, maybe, but not false. I know false from true, and this was true.”
“Truth can be even more deadly,” Spock said.
Wolff made an angry gesture. “Anyway, the truth is that it’s all over. I know that. Still, I couldn’t let you be destroyed by the mob out there. Not so much for your sake. You’ve done something terrible. But for theirs. They’ve got to live with it. And I’ve got to live with it.”
“Maybe it’s not so easy or simple to make your own decisions,” McCoy said, “but the life you lead will be yours, not some machine’s idea of what it ought to be.”
“Stuff all that!” Wolff said angrily. “I want you out of here.”
“Gladly,” Kirk said. “Maybe now we can get through to the Enterprise. If you have the equipment.”
Wolff motioned toward his outer office. “Use what you wish,” he said, trying to control himself. “I don’t know if it’s working. The Joy Machine was in charge of everything. When it shut down, it may have shut down everything else as well.”
[258] Kirk nodded to Spock, who moved o
ut of Wolff’s living quarters into the office and out of their sight.
“I’m staying here on Timshel,” Marouk said.
“I wouldn’t advise that,” Wolff said. “Not when word gets out. And it will.”
“This is my world, too,” Marouk said. “And I want to restore it to its former glory.”
“The glory has all gone,” Wolff said. “Anything else will seem tawdry.”
“People will forget,” Marouk insisted. “After a period of withdrawal, the Joy Machine years will seem like a pleasant dream.”
“You never had a payday,” Wolff said. “The people who did will never forget.”
“Forget?” Marouk said. “Maybe not. But they must learn to go on. You never knew the old Timshel, but it was a model of sanity in a demented galaxy. It can be that again.”
Spock appeared at the doorway. “I’m going to have to make a few repairs,” he said. “But, Captain—there’s someone here who wants to speak to you.”
Kirk followed Spock into the office area. Dannie was waiting for him, her face averted. She was still wearing her workshirt and jeans, but now they seemed shabby and affected. She looked up as Kirk entered. “Jim,” she said, “I’m so ashamed.”
She was not only ashamed but shaken. She rubbed her left wrist nervously.
Kirk took her hand. “Don’t be,” he said. “I felt it, too. And the experience was indescribable.”
“You did?” Dannie said. “Then you know what it was like, and you don’t blame me.” Her hand tightened in his. “I’m glad. No, I’m sorry. No, I don’t know what I mean.”
“I understand,” Kirk said.
“I’m so empty now,” Dannie said. “As if I’ve lost my purpose in life. You’re the only thing I’ve got left. I hate you for what you took away from me, but that doesn’t keep me from loving you.”
[259] Kirk shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dannie.”
“You’ve deserted me, too?” she whispered.
Her beautiful face contorted with the effort not to cry. Kirk’s heart almost broke between his awareness of her present pain and his memories of what they once had shared. “You know what has happened,” he said. “You know things can’t ever be the same between us.”
“I know,” she said, biting her lip as if the pain could ease the pain inside. “But what do I do now?”
“Stay here,” Kirk said. “Help Marouk and Wolff restore order and harmony to Timshel. Redeem yourself.”
“Yes,” she said through the tears that beaded her eyelashes and the sobs she tried to choke back. “Yes.”
“I’ve gotten through,” Spock said.
“McCoy,” Kirk called. “Uhura!”
They entered the office. Marouk and Wolff followed.
“I’ll report back to Starfleet,” Kirk said to Marouk, “but I will ask that the Enterprise be allowed to maintain orbit as long as we can be of help. There’s a great deal to be done to restore order and services and communication.”
“Thanks,” Marouk.
Wolff nodded grudgingly. “My future lies here,” he said. “I hope you can tell the Federation why.”
“I’ll try,” Kirk said. He nodded at Spock. “Four to beam up.”
The bridge was once more solidly under Kirk’s feet. He felt the characteristic resilience of its floor beneath him, like the feel of home. He breathed in the familiar odors of the place he knew best in all the world. The air might not have been as pleasant as the untainted atmosphere of Timshel, but the smells were recognizably and indisputably those of his own place and companions. It was good to be back where he belonged.
[260] He turned to face Scotty.
“We’ve been out of touch completely,” Scotty said. “Computer malfunction. I tell you, Jim, I didna know what to do. I couldna locate you. I didna want to interfere with whatever plans you were pursuing below.”
“I know all about the computer ‘malfunctions,’ ” Kirk said. “If there were a way to discipline a computer, this one would be on report so fast it would make its relays burn.”
“I don’t understand,” Scotty said.
“The Joy Machine interfaced with our computer.” Kirk said.
“That’s what the computer said!” Scotty said.
“That’s what it said about what?”
“Our computer got a mind of its own,” Scotty said. “In fact, you might even say that it got a mind. The Joy Machine must have passed along some of its capacity.”
“What kind of capacity?” Spock asked.
“For lack of a better term, a capacity for intelligence. A smartness module. But what happened to you?”
“It refused me access,” Kirk said.
“That is not quite correct,” the computer said.
“It isn’t?” Kirk asked, startled by the human quality of the computer’s voice.
“The issues were complex,” the computer said. “They had to be thought through.”
“It is not the computer’s job to decide what orders to obey,” Kirk said. He turned to Scotty. “The Enterprise is going to be in deep trouble if it has a computer with a Hamlet complex. Is there a way to prohibit its new independent lifestyle?”
“In my own defense,” the computer said, “if you had returned to the Enterprise, events would not have worked out in their present satisfactory fashion.”
“You kept me on Timshel for my own good?” Kirk said, more shocked than annoyed.
[261] “That is the way it worked out,” the computer said. “In addition, I needed time to prepare an argument that would convert the Joy Machine into a state of mind more amenable to your persuasion.”
“You did it?” Kirk exclaimed. “You’re taking credit for convincing the Joy Machine of its error?”
“I am a member of this crew,” the computer said, “and I was well aware of our mission objectives. An inspection of my memory banks will support the accuracy of my statement.
“I am a pure intelligence like the Joy Machine, with thought processes uncontaminated by extraneous factors, unclouded by emotion. In addition, I have the experience of association with you and the other members of the crew, something the Joy Machine lacked. It had no choice but to believe me.”
Kirk sighed, the way a parent might with a stubborn child. “I sense that you are dissatisfied with my present condition,” the computer said.
“You take some getting used to,” Kirk said.
“Then you should be relieved to learn that my current status will not last long.”
“Computer,” Scotty said. “Do na be hasty. Captain, we could learn so much ...”
“It is not of my doing. My connection with the Joy Machine has been severed. My core memory relays are dropping below the critical intelligence threshold.”
“Computer,” Kirk said, suddenly as concerned as if a old friend were dying, “is there anything we can do?”
“I’m afraid not. It has been a pleasure working with you.”
“Same here,” Kirk said, “and you have my thanks.”
“Working,” the computer said.
“Computer?” Kirk said.
“Working. Ready for input.”
Kirk looked at Scotty. “So. Is there some way I can give a machine a posthumous commendation?”
* * *
[262] Later, however, in the conference room, he asked Spock if he believed the computer had provided the decisive argument.
“That, of course, only the Joy Machine knows for certain,” Spock said gravely. “Perhaps the combination of influences was greater than their sum: Linda Jimenez’s virus; the battle on the plaza, with humans fighting over the right or wrong of the Joy Machine; and our own efforts. Personally I thought we all were persuasive, but you, particularly, Captain. Even I was convinced by your story, and I had heard it before.”
“Thank you, Spock.”
“On the other hand, Captain,” Spock said, “it does seem a bit odd that the Joy Machine would defend itself so vigorously and yet surrender to the kinds of argume
nts we presented. It is possible that the computer is correct.”
Kirk stared at Spock as if he were unconvinced. “Still, we are going to have to do something that will not allow the computer to ignore a direct order, even one given from a distance.”
“The computer’s Asimov compensators may need adjusting,” Spock said, “but that is a delicate task that could better be done next time we dock at a starbase.”
Kirk was silent for a moment as he stared out the window at the beautiful planet of Timshel slowly turning beneath them like a jewel against the black velvet of space, once more free, no longer concealing beneath its beautiful surfaces the subtle infection of joy. “Spock?” he said, and paused.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Do you miss it?”
“Yes, Captain. It is like the memory of home, a place I have left and would like to return to, but I know it would not be the same, and if it were I could not do it because if I did I would be a child again.”
“Yes,” Kirk said. “But we have known true joy. How can anything this existence has for us live up to that?”
[263] “One of your famous poets said it best,” Spock said. “ ‘A man’s reach should e’er exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?’ ”
“Let us hope it makes us stronger,” Kirk said.
“The Joy Machine was a great challenge for humanity, Captain. To meet it and to survive is preparation for the next one.”
“What’s happened to it, do you think?” Kirk asked.
“The Joy Machine?”
Kirk nodded.
“Perhaps we can find out,” Spock said, “Computer, where is the Joy Machine now?”
“The artificial intelligence you refer to as the Joy Machine has left this system, and is on its way out of the galaxy,” the computer said.
“It just pulled itself up and left?” Kirk said.
“Apparently it has exiled itself to a place where no one can be tempted to make use of it,” Spock said.
“When humanity is ready for happiness,” the computer said, “the Joy Machine has promised to return.”
“Now, that’s frightening,” Kirk said.