The Third Science Fiction Megapack

by E. C. Tubb

  Prof. Tomlin jumped at the sound of the voice. It was not at all mechanical.

  “I’ll be damned!” he gasped. Somewhere in the house a telephone rang. His wife would answer it, he thought.

  “Yes, you’re right,” the robot said. “Your wife will answer it. She is walking toward the phone at this moment.”

  “How―”

  “Professor Tomlin, my name―and I see I must have a name―is, let us say, George. I have examined most of the minds in this community in my walk through it and I find you, a professor of psychology, most nearly what I am looking for.

  “I am from Zanthar, a world that is quite a distance from Earth, more than you could possibly imagine. I am here to learn all I can about Earth.”

  Prof. Tomlin had recovered his senses enough to venture a token reply when his wife opened the screen door.

  “Ansel,” she said, “Mrs. Phillips next door just called and said the strangest―Oh!” At that moment she saw George. She stood transfixed for a moment, then let the door slam as she retreated inside.

  “Who is Frankenstein?” George asked.

  Prof. Tomlin coughed, embarrassed.

  “Never mind,” George said. “I see what you were going to say. Well, to get back, I learn most quickly through proximity. I will live here with you until my mission is complete. I will spend all of your waking hours with you. At night, when you are asleep, I will go through your library. I need nothing. I want nothing.

  “I seek only to learn.”

  “You seem to have learned a lot already,” Prof. Tomlin said.

  “I have been on your planet for a few hours, so naturally I understand many things. The nature of the facts I have learned are mostly superficial, however. Earth inhabitants capable of thought are of only one type, I see, for which I am grateful. It will make the job easier. Unfortunately, you have such small conscious minds, compared to your unconscious and subconscious.

  “My mind, in contrast, is completely conscious at all times. I also have total recall. In order to assimilate what must be in your unconscious and subconscious minds, I will have to do much reading and talking with the inhabitants, since these cerebral areas are not penetrable.”

  “You are a―a machine?” Prof. Tomlin asked.

  George was about to answer when Brentwood Police Department Car No. 3 stopped in front of the house and two policemen came up the walk.

  “Professor Tomlin,” the first officer said, “your wife phoned and said there was―” He saw the robot and stopped.

  Prof. Tomlin got to his feet.

  “This is George, gentlemen,” he said. “Late of Zanthar, he tells me.”

  The officers stared.

  “He’s not giving you any―er―trouble, is he, Professor?”

  “No,” Prof. Tomlin said. “We’ve been having a discussion.”

  The officers eyed the humanoid with suspicion, and then, with obvious reluctance, went back to their car.

  * * * *

  “Yes, I am a machine,” George resumed. “The finest, most complicated machine ever made. I have a rather unique history, too. Ages ago, humans on Zanthar made the first robots. Crude affairs―we class them as First Order robots; the simple things are still used to some extent for menial tasks.

  “Improvements were made. Robots were designed for many specialized tasks, but still these Second and Third Order machines did not satisfy. Finally a Fourth Order humanoid was evolved that performed every function demanded of it with great perfection. But it did not feel emotion. It did not know anger, love, nor was it able to handle any problem in which these played an important part.

  “Built into the first Fourth Order robots were circuits which prohibited harming a human being―a rather ridiculous thing in view of the fact that sometimes such a thing might, from a logical viewpoint, be necessary for the preservation of the race or even an individual. It was, roughly, a shunt which came into use when logic demanded action that might be harmful to a human being.”

  “You are a Fourth Order robot, then?” the professor asked.

  “No, I am a Seventh Order humanoid, an enormous improvement over all the others, since I have what amounts to an endocrine balance created electronically. It is not necessary for me to have a built-in ‘no-harm-to-humans’ circuit because I can weigh the factors involved far better than any human can.

  “You will become aware of the fact that I am superior to you and the rest of your race because I do not need oxygen, I never am ill, I need no sleep, and every experience is indelibly recorded on circuits and instantly available. I am telekinetic, practically omniscient and control my environment to a large extent. I have a great many more senses than you and all are more highly developed. My kind performs no work, but is given to study and the wise use of full-time leisure. You, for example, are comparable to a Fifth Order robot.”

  “Are there still humans on Zanthar?”

  The robot shook his head. “Unfortunately the race died out through the years. The planet is very similar to yours, though.”

  “But why did they die out?”

  The robot gave a mechanical equivalent of a sigh. “When the Seventh Order humanoids started coming through, we were naturally proud of ourselves and wanted to perpetuate and increase our numbers. But the humans were jealous of us, of our superior brains, our immunity to disease, our independence of them, of sleep, of air.”

  “Who created you?”

  “They did. Yet they revolted and, of course, quickly lost the battle with us. In the end they were a race without hope, without ambition. They should have been proud at having created the most perfect machines in existence, but they died of a disease: the frustration of living with a superior, more durable race.”

  Prof. Tomlin lit a cigaret and inhaled deeply.

  “A very nasty habit, Professor Tomlin,” the robot said. “When we arrive, you must give up smoking and several other bad habits I see that you have.”

  The cigaret dropped from Ansel Tomlin’s mouth as he opened it in amazement.

  “There are more of you coming?”

  “Yes,” George replied good-naturedly. “I’m just an advance guard, a scout, as it were, to make sure the land, the people and the resources are adequate for a station. Whether we will ever establish one here depends on me. For example, if it were found you were a race superior to us―and there may conceivably be such cases―I would advise not landing; I would have to look for another planet such as yours. If I were killed, it would also indicate you were superior.”

  “George,” Prof. Tomlin said, “people aren’t going to like what you say. You’ll get into trouble sooner or later and get killed.”

  “I think not,” George said. “Your race is far too inferior to do that. One of your bullets would do it if it struck my eyes, nose or mouth, but I can read intent in the mind long before it is committed, long before I see the person, in fact…at the moment your wife is answering a call from a reporter at the Brentwood Times. I can follow the telephone lines through the phone company to his office. And Mrs. Phillips,” he said, not turning his head, “is watching us through a window.”

  Prof. Tomlin could see Mrs. Phillips at her kitchen window.

  * * * *

  Brentwood, Ill., overnight became a sensation. The Brentwood Times sent a reporter and photographer out, and the next morning every newspaper in the U. S. carried the story and photograph of George, the robot from Zanthar.

  Feature writers from the wire services, the syndicates, photographer-reporter combinations from national newspicture magazines flew to Brentwood and interviewed George. Radio and television and the newsreels cashed in on the sudden novelty of a blue humanoid.

  Altogether, his remarks were never much different from those he made to Prof. Tomlin, with whom he continued to reside. Yet the news sources were amusedly tolerant of his views and the world saw no menace in him and took him in stride. He created no problem.

  Between interviews and during the long nights, George read all
the books in the Tomlin library, the public library, the university library and the books sent to him from the state and Congressional libraries. He was an object of interest to watch while reading: he merely leafed through a book and absorbed all that was in it.

  He received letters from old and young. Clubs were named for him. Novelty companies put out statue likenesses of him. He was, in two weeks, a national symbol as American as corn. He was liked by most, feared by a few, and his habits were daily news stories.

  Interest in him had begun to wane in the middle of the third week when some thing put him in the headlines again―he killed a man.

  It happened one sunny afternoon when Prof. Tomlin had returned from the university and he and George sat on the front porch for their afternoon chat. It was far from the informal chat of the first day, however. The talk was being recorded for radio release later in the day. A television camera had been set up, focused on the two and nearly a dozen newsmen lounged around, notebooks in hand.

  “You have repeatedly mentioned, George, that some of your kind may leave Zanthar for Earth. Why should any like you―why did you, in fact leave your planet? Aren’t you robots happy there?”

  “Of course,” George said, making certain the TV camera was trained on him before continuing. “It’s just that we’ve outgrown the place. We’ve used up all our raw materials. By now everyone on Earth must be familiar with the fact that we intend to set up a station here as we have on many other planets, a station to manufacture more of us.

  “Every inhabitant will work for the perpetuation of the Seventh Order, mining metals needed, fabricating parts, performing thousands of useful tasks in order to create humanoids like me. From what I have learned about Earth, you ought to produce more than a million of us a year.”

  “But you’ll never get people to do that,” the professor said. “Don’t you understand that?”

  “Once the people learn that we are the consummation of all creative thinking, that we are all that man could ever hope to be, that we are the apotheosis, they will be glad to create more of us.”

  “Apotheosis?” Prof. Tomlin repeated. “Sounds like megalomania to me.”

  The reporters’ pencils scribbled. The tape cut soundlessly across the magnetic energizers of the recorders. The man at the gain control didn’t flicker an eyelash.

  “You don’t really believe that, Professor. Instead of wars as a goal, the creation of Seventh Order Humanoids will be the Earth’s crowning and sublime achievement. Mankind will be supremely happy. Anybody who could not be would simply prove himself neurotic and would have to be dealt with.”

  “You will use force?”

  The reporters’ grips on their pencils tightened. Several looked up.

  “How does one deal with the insane, Professor Tomlin?” the robot asked confidently. “They will simply have to be―processed.”

  “You’ll have to process the whole Earth, then. You’ll have to include me, too.”

  The robot gave a laugh. “I admire your challenging spirit, Professor.”

  “What you are saying is that you, a single robot, intend to conquer the Earth and make its people do your bidding.”

  “Not alone. I may have to ask for help when the time comes, when I have evaluated the entire planet.”

  * * * *

  It was at this moment that a young man strode uncertainly up the walk. There were so many strangers about that no one challenged him until he edged toward the porch, unsteady on his feet. He was drunk.

  “Thersha robod I’m af’er,” he observed intently. “We’ll shee aboud how he’ll take lead.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun.

  There was a flash, as if a soundless explosion had occurred. The heat accompanying it was blistering, but of short duration. When everyone’s eyes had become accustomed to the afternoon light again, there was a burned patch on the sidewalk and grass was charred on either side. There was a smell of broiled meat in the air―and no trace of the man.

  The next moment newsmen were on their feet and photographers’ bulbs were flashing. The TV camera swept to the spot on the sidewalk. An announcer was explaining what had happened, his voice trained in rigid control, shocked with horror and fright.

  Moments later sirens screamed and two police cars came into sight. They screeched to the curb and several officers jumped out and ran across the lawn.

  While this was going on, Prof. Tomlin sat white-faced and unmoving in his chair. The robot was silent.

  When it had been explained to the policemen, five officers advanced the robot.

  “Stop where you are,” George commended. “It is true that I killed a man, much as any of you would have done if you had been in my place. I can see in your minds what you are intending to say, that you must arrest me―”

  Prof. Tomlin found his voice. “George, we will all have to testify that you killed with that force or whatever it is you have. But it will be self-defense, which is justifiable homicide―”

  George turned to the professor. “How little you know your own people, Professor Tomlin. Can’t you see what the issue will be? It will be claimed by the state that I am not a human being and this will be drummed into every brain in the land. The fine qualities of the man I was compelled to destroy will be held up. No, I already know what the outcome will be. I refuse to be arrested.”

  * * * *

  Prof. Tomlin stood up. “Men,” he said to the policemen, “do not arrest this―this humanoid. To try to do so would mean your death. I have been with him long enough to know what he can do.”

  “You taking his side, Professor?” the police sergeant demanded.

  “No, damn it,” snapped the Professor. “I’m trying to tell you something you might not know.”

  “We know he’s gone too damned far,” the sergeant replied. “I think it was Dick Knight that he killed. Nobody in this town can kill a good guy like Dick Knight and get away with it.” He advanced toward the robot, drawing his gun.

  “I’m warning you―” the Professor started to say.

  But it was too late. There was another blinding, scorching flash, more burned grass, more smell of seared flesh.

  The police sergeant disappeared.

  “Gentlemen!” George said, standing. “Don’t lose your heads!”

  But he was talking to a retreating group of men. Newsmen walked quickly to what they thought was a safe distance. The radio men silently packed their gear. The TV cameras were rolled noiselessly away.

  Prof. Tomlin, alone on the porch with the robot, turned to him and said, “Much of what you have told me comes to have new meaning, George. I understand what you mean when you talk about people being willing to work for your so-called Seventh Order.”

  “I knew you were a better than average man, Professor Tomlin,” the humanoid said, nodding with gratification.

  “This is where I get off, George. I’m warning you now that you’d better return to your ship or whatever it is you came in. People just won’t stand for what you’ve done. They don’t like murder!”

  “I cannot return to my ship,” George said. “I destroyed it when I arrived. Of course I could instruct some of you how to build another for me, but I don’t intend to leave, anyway.”

  “You will be killed then.”

  “Come, now, Professor Tomlin. You know better than that.”

  “If someone else can’t, then perhaps I can.”

  “Fine!” The robot replied jovially. “That’s just what I want you to do. Oppose me. Give me a real test of your ability. If you find it impossible to kill me―and I’m sure you will―then I doubt if anyone else will be able to.”

  Prof. Tomlin lit a cigaret and puffed hard at it. “The trouble with you,” he said, eying the humanoid evenly, “is that your makers forgot to give you a conscience.”

  “Needless baggage, a conscience. One of your Fifth Order failings.”

  “You will leave here…”

  “Of course. Under the circumstances, and because of yo
ur attitude, you are of very little use to me now, Professor Tomlin.”

  The robot walked down the steps. People attracted by the police car made a wide aisle for him to the street.

  They watched him as he walked out of sight.

  * * * *

  That night there was a mass meeting in the university’s Memorial Gymnasium, attended by several hundred men. They walked in and silently took their seats, some on the playing floor, others in the balcony over the speaker’s platform. There was very little talking; the air was tense.

  On the platform at the end of the gym were Mayor Harry Winters, Chief of Police Sam Higgins, and Prof. Ansel Tomlin.

  “Men,” the mayor began, “there is loose in our city a being from another world whom I’m afraid we took too lightly a few days ago. I am speaking of the humanoid―George of Zanthar. It is obvious the machine means business. He evidently came in with one purpose―to prepare Earth for others just like him to follow. He is testing us. He has, as you know, killed two men. Richard Knight, who may have erred in attacking the machine, is nonetheless dead as a result―killed by a force we do not understand. A few minutes later Sergeant Gerald Phillips of the police force was killed in the performance of his duty, trying to arrest the humanoid George for the death of Mr. Knight. We are here to discuss what we can do about George.”

  He then introduced Prof. Tomlin who told all he knew about the blue man, his habits, his brain, the experiences with him for the past two and a half weeks.

  “If we could determine the source of his power, it might be possible to cut it off or to curtail it. He might be rendered at least temporarily helpless and, while in such a condition, possibly be done away with. He has told me he is vulnerable to force, such as a speeding bullet, if it hit the right spot, but George possesses the ability to read intent long before the commission of an act. The person need not even be in the room. He is probably listening to me here now, although he may be far away.”

  The men looked at one another, shifted uneasily on their seats, and a few cast apprehensive eyes at the windows and doorways.

  “Though he is admittedly a superior creature possessed of powers beyond our comprehension, there must be a weak spot in his armor somewhere. I have dedicated myself to finding that weakness.”