by Bruce Bethke
Derec had time to scream once before his brain was overwhelmed by the searing blast of pain.
When the light ebbed and he could see again, he was lying on the pavement. His father and Wolruf were bending over him, looks of deep concern on their faces, their mouths moving in words he could not hear. And he couldn’t answer. Instead, he felt curiously distant, as if there were something invisible and gauzy between him and the others. Another face was forming, like an afterimage on his retinas: a picture of a head, large and hairless, with two black, glittering eyes set in bulging turrets of wrinkled skin. The grim, lipless mouth opened. Even via hyperwave, the voice was high and reedy.
Hello, Derrec. 1 trrust 1 now have your full attention?
“Aranimas?” Derec gasped.
Verry good. Now forr my second question. Do you know what plutonium is?
Obliquely, as if in his peripheral vision, Derec felt Eve and SilverSides come back to life and tap into the transmission. Behind them, every robot in the city slowly began to revive and join in.
Radioactive metal,Derec answered via commlink. Very poisonous. Explosively fissionable in large quantities.
Excellent,Aranimas answered. Now forr my thirrd question. Do you know what will happen when 1 dump five tons of plutonium rreactorr waste on yourr city?
Derec was suddenly terrified and fully awake. “You can’t!” he screamed on both voice and commlink. “You’ll kill every living thing for a hundred kilometers around!”
Leaving the rrobots unharrmed,Aranimas noted. Goodbye, Derrec. Like a light going out, his image vanished.
Derec leapt to his feet. “Wait, Aranimas! We can make a deal!” The only answer was silence. Derec leaned over the edge of the balcony and caught SilverSides’ attention… SilverSides! Did you monitor that transmission?” The silver robot’s grim expression told him everything he needed to know.
Pulling himself back from the edge, Derec turned to Avery and Wolruf, who were still staring at him with confused looks on their faces. “Dad, can we put the civil war on hold for a while? We’ve got a real problem. ”
Chapter 24. The Weapons Shop
Derec gave Avery and Wolruf a full update on the situation as they traveled to the Compass Tower. For a few minutes Avery held out the hope that Aranimas was bluffing, but Wolruf only shook her head.
“ ‘E never lied an’ e’ never laughed,” she said. “Don’ think ‘e’s got it in ‘im to bluff. “
Eve caught up with them just before they entered the tower. “I still can’t locate Lucius,” Eve reported. “I did manage to raise Mandelbrot, though. He said that half a dozen younglings broke off from the mob and tried to seize the ship, but someone named BlackMane kicked the stuffings out of them. The ship is secure and Ariel is unhurt. ”
Avery raised an eyebrow and looked at Derec. “Then we still have a back door. ”
Derec looked disgusted. “It’s our fault that Aranimas is here. I won’t leave the kin to pay for our mistake. ”
Avery nodded. “Right decision. I was just testing. ”
Derec’s face flushed red to the roots of his blond hair. “Will you kindly knock it off with this testing crap? Every time I turn around you’re testing, testing, testing! I am sick to death of being tested!”
“Sorry. ” Avery shrugged. “It’s a character flaw. ”
SilverSides caught up with the four of them as they started up the slidewalk to Central Hall. “Well, I’ve persuaded the mob to disperse,” she announced cheerfully as she bounded onto the slidewalk behind them.
“How’d you manage that little feat?” Derec asked.
SilverSides hung her head and looked at Derec with big puppy-dog eyes. “Er, actually I, uh, told them that the spirit of the FirstBeast was coming down from the sky, and that you two were only his representatives, not worth fighting. They’ve gone back to their dens to fetch their best weapons and prepare for a glorious battle. ”
“All right,” Avery said. “One crisis at a time. Derec, have the city supervisors managed to find Aranimas’s ship yet?”
Derec activated his commlink for the barest moment. “Yes. They’re setting up a giant viewscreen in the atrium. Speaking of which-” He turned to SilverSides. “Uh, SilverSides? As you might remember, the Central Hall security robots are specifically programmed to seek out and destroy you in this form. ”
“Oh. Right. ” With a shrug and a shudder, the robot invoked its shape-changing abilities. By the time they reached the top of the slidewalk, Adam was back as a silver copy of Derec.
Gamma 6 greeted them as they came off the slidewalk and escorted them past the security robots and into Central Hall. Alpha and Beta were in the atrium, supervising the last details of setting up the giant screen. As they crossed the cold terrazzo floor of the cavernous room, Adam sped up a bit to catch up with Avery.
“Friend Avery,” Adam said softly, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice. “I just wanted to assure you that I no longer feel confrontational. My earlier behavior was a side-effect of the SilverSides imprint, and I now realize that my thinking was in serious error. It will not happen again. ”
“Friend Adam,” Avery replied, every bit as softly, “that was your last mistake. I’m still packing the laser. Screw up again and you’re slag. ”
“I understand. ”
A few moments later they entered the atrium and came to a halt before Central’s main I/O console. The hall lights dimmed slightly, and the giant viewscreen flared to life.
“We have located the Erani ship,” Beta said. The viewscreen took a dizzying swing through the local starfield and came to rest on a misshapen yellowish blob. Magnification jumped, and the by-now-familiar profile of Aranimas’s ship appeared. “In accordance with your request, we have scanned the ship for radioactive emissions. This area,” Beta used a red laser pointer to pick out one battered hull on the underside of the ship, “appears to contain a significant amount of plutonium, as well as other dangerously radioactive materials. ”
“That’s an ancient Terran dump ship,” Avery whispered. “They used to load them up with nuclear waste and fire them into their sun. Where the blazes did he find one of those?”
“From the angle of approach and the condition of the hull,” Beta went on, “we have concluded that the dump ship is not capable of powered flight. ” The starfield disappeared to be replaced by a colorful graphic showing the planet’s surface and two diverging flight paths. Cartoon spacecraft moved as Beta spoke. “ Analysis indicates that the Erani intend to dive in at a steep angle, jettison the dump ship, and then use their planetary drives to veer off into a cometary orbit. The dump ship will make a simple unguided ballistic entry and strike the planet’s surface, creating a dead zone approximately one hundred kilometers in diameter. ”
“So much for evacuating the city on foot,” Adam noted.
Derec took a step forward and looked closely at the dump ship’s flight path. “Won’t it burn up in the atmosphere?”
“Owing to the steep angle of entry,” Beta said, “we compute that more than 70 percent of the ship’s mass will reach the planet’s surface intact. If the ship burns faster than we project, it will only increase the dispersion of the nuclear material and the size of the dead zone. ”
A different thought was nagging at Avery. “Unguided ballistic entry? What are the odds of a complete miss?”
“Negligible. We compute that this method of attack has a potential targeting error of as much as ten kilometers, which still puts the city well within the dead zone. This calculation, of course, is based on the assumption that the dump ship is released at the optimum time. ”
“Which is?”
“ At the veer-off point, exactly twenty-three minutes and fifteen seconds from now. ”
Avery nodded. “I see. And if the ship is released early, the margin of error increases?”
“At an exponential rate,” agreed Beta.
“Then we can assume that they’ll stay on course until they drop. ” Avery
turned to the group and rubbed his hands together. “Okay, gang, that’s it in a nutshell. We have twenty-three minutes to find a way to either evacuate the city, speed up the planet’s rotation, or force Aranimas to delay the drop. ”
Derec wrinkled his nose. “Huh?”
“Deflection shootin’,” Wolruf said. “Why d’ya think ‘ur seein’ ‘is ship in profile? ‘E’s aimin’ for where ‘e expects us t’ be in a ‘alf an ‘our. ”
“Right,” Avery agreed. “ And if we can force Aranimas to delay the drop by even a few seconds-”
“-He’ll have to veer off, and the planet’s rotation will carry us past his aiming point,” Derec completed. “The ship will strike somewhere off to the east. ”
Beta spoke up. “I feel obliged to point out that the result will still be an ecological disaster. ”
“Perhaps,” Adam said. “However, the bulk of the population from the eastern lakes country is now gathered in this city. Far more kin will survive if the ship strikes elsewhere. ”
“The greatest good for the greatest number,” Beta said, nodding. “This conforms to our programming. ”
“I’m glad you approve,” Avery said, as he pushed himself between the two robots. “Now if you don’t mind, we now have twenty-two minutes to come up with a brilliant idea. ”
The group fell silent as each of them lost him- or herself in private thoughts. Adam’s face began to reform, and he took on a somewhat canine aspect. Eve began to grow wing webbing between her arms and her body. Wolruf absent-mindedly scratched her ears.
Derec scowled at his shoes and chewed on a thumbnail. “A pity these robots never built a Key Center,” he said at last. “If we had enough keys, we could just teleport the whole population out of danger. ”
Beta’s eyes flared brighter. “We may not have built a mass-production center, but we did build a small prototyping facility. How many keys would be sufficient?”
Derec looked at Adam. “About five hundred,” the robot said.
Beta’s eyes dimmed. “We have six. ”
Derec looked at his shoes again, then raised a finger. “Okay, next idea: How about if we use those keys to teleport six robots onto Aranimas’s ship, with instructions to find and sabotage the drop controls?”
Avery answered with a sneer more eloquent than words. “These robots? They’re more likely to decide that the Erani are human and start following their orders. ”
Derec fell silent and retreated into his dark scowl.
Long moments dragged past, and then Wolruf looked up. “ ‘Ere’s an idea. Aranimas doesn’t ‘ave any automatics; all ‘is controls are manual. ‘Ow ‘bout we strap a key t’ one of those giant lizards and teleport it onto ‘is bridge? That ought t’ keep ‘im busy. ”
Avery shook his head. “Wouldn’t work. Takes two key presses to teleport; one to get to Perihelion and another to leave Perihelion and get to wherever you’re going. ” Avery paused, and his eyes widened. “But say, here’s an idea-Beta, is it absolutely necessary for someone’s finger to be pressing the teleport button?”
“If you wish to teleport, you must be in physical contact with the key. ”
“No, I mean, if you wanted to send the key on ahead without you. ”
Beta’s eyes flickered as he considered the problem. “A switch is a switch, “ he announced at last. “It should be possible to build a timer that would allow you to activate the key and then release it. ”
“How long?”
Beta swiveled his head to consider Avery. “I would expect that the length of the time delay-”
“No, no. I mean, how long to put a ten-second timer on one of your existing keys?”
Beta’s eyes dimmed as he conferred with the other supervisors. “We have never manufactured such a device before. Assuming no unforeseen difficulties, we estimate approximately twelve minutes. ”
“Good, get started. ” Avery turned to Wolruf. “You say the release controls are probably on the bridge?”
Wolruf looked up at Avery through her furry eyebrows. “‘U don’ know Aranimas. Th’ frosted Personal controls were on th’ bridge. ”
Avery nodded. “Perfect. Beta?” He turned to the robot. “I want two keys: a normal key programmed for this room, and a ten-second time-delay key programmed for the bridge of the Erani ship. Also, I need a timed analog heater that will reach 300 degrees Celsius in fifteen seconds. ”
“May I ask what for?”
“To protect the native humans from certain harm. This is a critical First Law priority; I need these items within fifteen minutes. Do you understand?”
The robot bowed slightly. “Absolutely, Creator Avery. ’, His eyes dimmed as he relayed the commands. “The work has already begun. ”
“Excellent. ” Avery turned to Derec and smiled gently. “And now, son, as long as we have a few minutes, what say we go find an automat and grab a bite to eat?”
Derec’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“Trust me, Derec,” Avery said, as he smiled through clenched teeth and winked like a groundcar’s turn signal, “we want to find an automat. ”
Slowly Derec caught on. “Oh, yeah, right. ” Arm in arm, whistling benignly, Derec and Avery strolled out of Central Hall.
A little later Derec and Avery were out in a darkened side street, standing before an open-air automat. As per Avery’s instructions, Derec was keeping watch for robots, while Avery kneeled before the manual control panel and frantically punched in a new set of instructions.
“Why the cloak and dagger bit?” Derec whispered between sidelong glances. “Why couldn’t we just send a robot to fetch this?”
“For the same reason that I told Beta to build a timed analog heater instead of a fuse,” Avery whispered back. “I don’t trust the city robots’ definition of human. They might decide that this violates the First Law. ” The automat barked gently, and the serving door slid open to reveal Avery’s creation.
“Five pounds of caramel?” Derec asked, his nose wrinkling.
Gently, delicately, Avery slid the sticky block out of the automat and flipped it lightly from hand to hand, trying to avoid burning his fingers. “Ah, it may look like candy,” he whispered, a smile playing on his face, “but it’s actually a sixty-forty mix of white sugar and common saltpeter! “
“So?”
“Derec, Derec. ” Avery stood up and shook his head. “Son, let me give you another little clue about your past. It’s a good thing that you’re a robotics genius, because you flunked Basic Chem twice. This little brick here,” the block had cooled enough for him to hold it in one hand, “is about the worst caramel you’ll ever taste, but it’s also a pretty effective substitute for black gunpowder. ”
Derec looked more closely at the brick and sniffed again. “Then why the hazelnuts?”
“Shrapnel. ” Avery took one last look at the brick and then slipped it into his jacket pocket. “How are the keys coming along?”
Closing his eyes, Derec activated his commlink. “They’re programming the final set of coordinates now. The keys will be ready by the time we get back to Central Hall. ”
“Did they remember the baling wire?”
“Yes. ”
“Good. ” Avery took one last look up and down the street, then started back toward the Compass Tower. “Come on, son. We’re almost out of time. ”
Chapter 25. Detonation
Adam took a step forward and raised his voice. “Friend Avery, I must protest. The First Law demands that I prevent you from placing yourself in such great danger!”
Avery checked again to make sure that the bomb was wired tightly to the time-delayed key and turned to the robot. “You know the situation. In a few minutes this building is going to be ground zero of a hundred-kilometer dead zone. There’s no other option. ”
“But the risk to yourself-”
“Who else could go?” Avery slipped the second key into his jacket pocket, then turned his attention to the fuse. “Derec is human. Wolruf is-” Avery gr
imaced and spat it out, “-human. And we can’t send a robot; too much risk of a First Law lockup at the crucial moment. ”
Adam’s eyes dimmed, and he swallowed hard. “I will go. ”
Avery shuddered, and his eyes went wide. “Adam, this is a bomb. ” He shook the lump of caramel in Adam’s face. “ All I’m hoping for is that it will distract Aranimas long enough for him to miss the drop window, but it may very well injure someone on his ship. Are you telling me that the Zeroth Law allows a robot to kill one human to save many?”
Adam froze, and his eyes dimmed as he diverted all internal power to resolving this First Law dilemma. Avery connected the last two wires on the detonator, then dipped into his jacket pocket and handed the welding laser to Derec.
“If the answer he comes up with is yes,” Avery said, jerking his head at Adam, “melt his brain. ” In quick succession, he pressed the corners of the time-delay key. The teleport button popped up. With a firm, decisive move of his thumb, he pressed it down. “Wish me luck, son. ”
No sooner had he said this than Beta recovered from the First Law shock he’d gone into on hearing the word kill. “Creator Avery? That device is a weapon?” Beta lunged for the bomb.
Avery vanished into thin air.
Perihelion:the point in the universe nearest all other points in the universe. A cold, drifting, formless void; a space outside of space.
“But not outside of time,” Avery said to himself. He looked at his watch. “Ninety seconds to drop. I wonder how things are going back in the universe?” He checked the detonator wiring again. It seemed to have survived the first jump in working order.
Eighty seconds. Trusting the bomb to take care of itself for a minute, he let himself float back and take in the view of Perihelion.