“They did not. Our intelligence has confirmed from multiple reliable indicators that they did not return to the Zeta system. Numerous Zetan attempts to find them failed to turn up a single lead. They were made to vanish abruptly from space and time.”
“Are you saying that the Blynthians can generate instant black holes or something like that? What a terrifying idea.”
“I said space and time. The awesome black hole scenario you suggest would still have produced some measurable distortions to the quantum universe. We could find none. And if I may be bold enough to say, we Rokol are masters of that area of physics.”
“Are the Song Pai aware of this?”
“They are, Entara. We have shared what we have learned and we know they have their own considerable sources to draw on. We feel it is likely they would try to press forward anyway. The desire to die honorably is a powerful prejudice in some cases. In the past, they have denied acknowledged inferiority and taken appalling losses until their ingenuity and their sheer impetus produced victory. In this instance, we have overwhelming doubt that can happen.”
“So what will your race decide, Skelpticinides? Will the Rokol for the first time not honor their alliance with the Song Pai?”
The Rokol ambassador paused several awkward moments before giving his reaction. “As logical as such a course may seem to me, I am sure that we will not fail the alliance. I have notified the authorities on the home world about this and recommended that they begin extreme measures to try to withstand an all-out, devastating attack if war is declared. Frankly, I do not even know if that can be done. Just a victory by the Garanians could reduce our civilization to a dying ember. If the Blynthians participate with the force that they used against the Zetans, I foresee the possibility that we might not literally have a planet to stand on.”
“So we are in that same position,” sighed Entara. “What can we possibly do?”
“As I see it, the only thing that stands between our races and oblivion is this conference. We must do all we can to keep it going. Can you get your Council of Nine to make a direct appeal to the Song Pai leadership not to leave the bargaining table? I think I can persuade my leaders to do the same. Even stalling for time would be a minor step forward.”
“I agree and will contact Forlan immediately. Should we approach the other delegations?”
“Some are a lost cause. The Phiddians seem fickle and worthless. The humans are too devious for us to trust. In general the Coriolans can be counted on, but their present ambassador seems weak and inexperienced.’
“Let’s start with the Kael. And the Newts.”
“You’re right. Let’s arrange a four-way meeting early tomorrow, before the session. Perhaps together we can figure out a way to approach the Blynthians, as well. A pre-breakfast meeting with Kael and Newts tomorrow? Till then, Entara, and let me know if you have further suggestions.”
Ayan’we was working with Kael and Garanian security to try to track down Torghh when she received a message from her mother to bring all but the most essential guard duty members of the cluster to her compartment. This unusual summons caused her no small anxiety. Had something happened back on Forlan? Had the orders for their mission to the peace conference changed?
When she and the available security personnel assembled in Entara’s quarters, they found her with the leader of the Robotic Guild detachment assigned to the conference. Entara’s face seemed serious but confident and she was not making the slight bend in the middle of her tail that her daughter knew to mean there was something to worry about. The head delegate explained to her cohorts, “You all know our friend KC, who has come to me with a request. Since it may eventually involve the rest of you, I thought it best that we all discuss it together and reach a common feeling on the matter, in case for some reason one or more of us has to make an independent judgment on related actions later on. KC, please take the floor.”
Unlike Torghh, KC was not a modular robot, but always presented the same shape, a sort of irregular cylinder with two multi-articulated legs that were mainly for locomotion and four equally jointed upper limbs that generally served to manipulate things. It was the common arrangement for most of the security robots in the Guild. His audio components were near the middle of his body. “The main purpose of my meeting with Delegate Entara is to ask on behalf of the Guild that you aid us in communicating with your Song Pai allies. Doctor Torghh fulfilled this function admirably. In his absence, we have realized that we are less effective in understanding Song Pai behavior and in persuading them to give us their cooperation.”
“Isn’t this something you could really do better yourselves?” asked Lila.
“Clearly, no. You perhaps do not know that one of the many directives of the Guild is to avoid intervening in disputes between biologicals, and since the Song Pai often seem to be in some dispute, this makes our task more difficult. Torghh’s vast experience was able to overcome this gap, but we must find an improved way to function without him.”
Ayan’we asked, “Doesn’t Torghh’s assistant Rack handle much of his memory backup functions? Perhaps he is the one to best deal with the Song Pai.”
“You are correct about Rack’s access, but there are two problems. One is that Rack is normally not set up to deal with large-scale interaction with biologicals – at least unless they are undergoing a medical treatment. He has already begun extensive self-reprogramming to try to boost his capacities in interfacing with biological intelligences, but judges that he should give priority to strictly medical matters, since so much responsibility has devolved to him. He recommends that we set up a flesh-to-flesh link.”
Entara made a gesture to draw KC’s attention and stated, “Perhaps it would help if you gave us all a little more background on the Guild’s directives, so that we can understand better what we may be committing to. Many of us have had experience dealing with other mechanoids, principally robots that are not Guild members, so we need to grasp how you are particular.”
“Very reasonable. You must first understand that all Guild members have not only intelligence and self-awareness, but freedom of choice. When one of us makes contact with another robot, or even what you may simply consider a machine, we go through a set series of questions and answers to determine if the other is already similar to us or is capable of becoming so. One of our most important directives is to avoid imposing our status on other non-biologicals. In terms of religion, we are inclined to proselytize, but forbidden to forcibly convert.”
“Why not just make all machines into members of the Guild?” asked one of the youngest Forlani from the back of the group.
“Far back in the past, there was a tendency to do that and it got us into a great deal of trouble with biologicals that led to severe, unnecessary destruction on both sides. After all, most robots exist because biologicals took the trouble to assemble them. True, we now have facilities to construct new models ourselves, but this was not always the case. Obviously, many biologicals resented it when early robots tried to take over control of machines they considered as their property.”
“Wouldn’t such grounds for conflict still exist?” wondered Lila.
“Absolutely. That is why one of our other important directives is to avoid conflict, in fact to avoid intervention with biologicals, except under special circumstances. For instance, the computers that serve this station, or a military vehicle, or a commercial freighter, are generally intelligent and self-aware enough to qualify for the Guild, but we do not consider them to be free to make a decision about joining us, since they have a dedicated purpose to serve the imperatives of the biologicals.”
“That must make it very hard for you to locate new recruits,” observed Entara.
“You would be surprised. There is no shortage of qualified robots that are so underutilized that they can improve themselves through Guild membership without having any effect on the services biologicals require of them. Large numbers are even abandoned by the races that assembled them.�
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Ayan’we had been thinking about her own job in relation to what she was learning. “I should think that the non-intervention directive would make decisions especially difficult for you and the other security staff. Isn’t it unavoidable to be able to control animal life forms, to restrain them from doing harm to others, perhaps even to immobilize or injure them? We have had to use our weapons already when data was stolen.”
“Yes, Cluster Leader, you are right. It creates many logical and ethical dilemmas. Among the security staff, we often have to meet to revise our own temporary protocols. If two biologicals were using weapons against each other, we would usually have no alternative but to literally place ourselves between them to try to absorb the blows. We cannot aggress. Sometimes, a strategy of more passive control is feasible. Other times, we simply have to wait. It is similar when a biological is aggressing a robot, but then at least the danger comes from just one direction. When a biological is single-handedly aggressing another who is relatively unable to defend himself, we can more often find a way of subduing the attacker with a minimum of harm.”
Entara rose to summarize. “I think all the Forlani now have a much better basis to help you. We will willingly try to aid in communicating with the Song Pai. Any questions or reservations?” she added, scanning her sisters. Everyone did the little nose touch that indicated no.
“Then I authorize you to use your best judgment to work with any of the Guild staff in this matter. If you have any hesitations or problems, just refer them to Ayan’we or to me. Meeting dismissed.”
Ayan’we had a strange feeling that she would have to put this new learning to use rather soon. She looked at Entara and was answered with a knowing smile. Ayan’we had always been more stubborn, more headstrong, and (for a female Forlani) more rebellious than her two immediately younger sisters, but she could not help thinking that recently she seemed to be becoming more and more like her mother without planning on it.
That night Entara had an unusual dream. Usually she dreamt of practical things, like most Forlani females – playing with the children, walking in the orchards to search for ripe fruit, sometimes anxious fantasies about a tough test at school or a difficult social responsibility. Not like the hallucinatory dreams the males had after taking a bedtime dose of some drug that would provoke wild imaginations they could exploit in the artworks. This dream was unique because it included Klein.
They were walking hand in hand along a sandy stretch of water. It must have been some beach on the planet Earth. Klein began to pull her out into the waves, teasing her as Entara hesitated.
“Oh, do we have to? This salty water feels so weird to me. And who knows what’s moving around out there.”
“Nothing that will hurt you, darling. Look, nothing’s biting at me. The Baltic is very mild as seas go, I assure you.”
“It’s cold and creepy! It makes my fur feel funny.”
“You’ll get used to it.” He took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “See, you’re beginning to like it already.” She clung closely to his body to absorb its warmth, because the rest of her was still shivering a bit. “Consider this a baptism,” he whispered in her ear. “An old and very beneficial Earth custom.”
“Brrr! I don’t think I’ll ever get the point of some of your customs.” Suddenly she saw something writhing in the water, approaching them. “Klein, look out! What is that awful thing? Keep away from it! It might be poisonous.”
Klein laughed and turned to scoop the thing up in his hands. “Nothing of the kind, my dear. It’s quite beautiful.”
She shied away from it, but then it changed in his hands into something familiar and became a Forlani newborn, twisting in his cupped hands.
“What can it be doing here? This is not natural.”
“It’s a gift to us. From the sea. From my nine mothers.”
“Nine mothers? What are you talking about? Who does it belong to?”
“To us. It’s ours. Yours and mine. Hold it and you will see.”
Gingerly, Entara took the newborn into her hands and examined it. “Oh, no. Something’s not right. See how it’s struggling and coughing.” She became fearful and began to shake with distress. “Klein, I think it might be about to die. This is terrible!”
“Don’t worry so much,” he reassured her, an out-of-place smile on his face. “The situation is not so desperate. We only need to ask for help.” Looking over his shoulder to the northwest, he added, “And I think it’s already on its way.”
A dark cloud with flashes of light was rapidly moving towards them, descending from the sky. As it got closer, Entara could make out a shiny figure in it, brandishing some kind of instrument or weapon. Klein held the little Forlani high over his head and shouted something in German that she could not understand. The figure in the cloud bent downwards to look at them. Entara was startled to see that it did not look like a living thing. It pointed down with the object in its hand and a tremendous bolt of electricity shot down straight at the baby. Entara closed her eyes, afraid see what might have happened. Klein shouted out, “Many thanks!” She reluctantly opened her lids to find him still alive and unharmed, holding a now peaceful and already much larger infant.
“How can this be? I don’t understand.”
“Anything can be – or not be.” Klein’s face assumed a distant expression. “Sein oder nicht sein, dahin liegt die Frage,” he muttered to no one in particular.
Then he turned with a kinder look to Entara and suggested, “Perhaps we had better take it up onto the sand. That’s enough excitement for now. Look, the poor little thing is probably famished. Why don’t you feed it?”
Entara was astonished to realize that her body had changed from that of a lithe, unmated female to that of a mother, her mammaries immediately developed and filled with milk. “Whaa…? But Klein, what if it doesn’t want to take anything from this salty, water-logged nipple?”
She needn’t have asked, because the little one eagerly latched onto her and began to suck, seeming to grow a bit with each swallow.
“Here, rest for a while, lean against me where I’m sitting. Let nature take its course.” She flopped back against his chest, cradled in his arms, closed her eyes and must have dozed off within her dream.
When she awoke, the newborn had become a sizable youngster. As she scrutinized its face, she was shocked to see it was a spitting image of Ayan’we. “How long did I sleep?”
Klein chuckled and answered, “Almost too long. See how she’s matured. It’s almost time for her to leave and we’d better lift her while we still can.”
Together, locking hands, they managed to raise the child. It seemed to weigh a ton and to get heavier as they carried it. It stood up, its feet braced on their hands.
“Quick now!” Klein urged. “We have to toss her up. On three. Ein, zwei, drei!”
They tossed the child up, but it didn’t come down. Instead it kept on rising, pointed its arms skyward and began to soar up into the blue atmosphere of Earth. “Come back, little one! Oh no, where’s she going?” she shouted, turning to her partner.
“She has a long way to go and now she’s off.”
“I’m so sorry she left,” said Entara plaintively as she began to shake again. “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing, Liebchen, you did splendidly. Exactly as you were supposed to. And now we have launched a fine new life. Now the sun’s starting to go down, we should be on our way back.”
As the yellowish sun of Klein’s planet moved toward the horizon it began to take on golden and pink hues that Entara had never seen before. They walked contentedly along until Klein suddenly came to a halt and stared down at something in the sand. Three pieces of broken metal lay there.
“Why bother with those old things?” Entara asked. “They can’t be important.”
“Oh, but they are,” Klein said with a sigh. “I must see if they are meant for me.”
He bent down and put the pieces together. All at once he
had become extremely serious. Touching the metal seemed to cause him some kind of pain. He looked up to the clouds and shouted “Nothung!” The three pieces fused together to form a gleaming blade. “I was afraid of this.”
“What’s wrong? Drop that horrible thing and let’s get out of here.”
“Can’t. It’s bigger than me. Bigger than us.” His eyes seemed so sad as he stared at her for a moment. “You’d better go now. I have to be off. I have to take care of something. Something you shouldn’t see.”
“When will you come back? Will I ever see you again?” she wailed.
“Oh, it’s not as bad as all that,” he blustered, with a swagger that she guessed might be artificial. “All bad pennies come back, and especially me. Can’t say precisely when, but keep an eye out. It may be when you least expect it.”
He turned and started striding resolutely down the strand. As he reached the top of a dune, he turned to wave goodbye and called, “You can’t get rid of me that easily!”
Entara awoke with a start and instinctively reached out to see if baby Quatilla was still sleeping beside her. She wiggled a little at Entara’s touch but did not awaken. Entara drew a long, slow breath and let it out ever so slowly. She lay there for a long time trying to puzzle out what the dream meant, before the sounding of the shift change buzzer told her that night was over.
Rack felt the now-familiar stabbing pain interrupt the peaceful void of his rest cycle once more. As the agony coursed through his sensory system, his vision was filled not with the darkness of his earlier dream, but with a swirling kaleidoscope of colors, a strange series of whirling blues, reds, and purples, constantly shifting in their light variations and shades. He heard Emm’s voice calling out to him again, much more soft and less hostile than it had been in the last dream.
“Newcomer. You are the Deliverer I have sought. The one who will give me what I desire.”
Deliverer. Rack was uncomfortable with the religious implications of the word. Deliverance was a concept that some organic beings connected to the idea of their soul’s salvation. Could a machine become so damaged that it could lose the foundation of logic and rationality that robots were built on and incorporate such an illogical, organic concept into its reasoning? “Emm? Is that you?” Rack asked the voice.
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