by Various
Sethos leaned forward eagerly. "Did he say anything about--their activities?"
"Well, that's not too interesting to me, because it's always just one change after another outside. He did say there is a new earth-bridge between the continents. Doesn't it seem incredible that they should want to go to all that trouble? But then, that's a mechanoid for you. Always making things bigger. That's why I enjoy seeing Mr. First take up flowers. Maybe he sees things our way himself."
"I don't suppose you've ever been out there, have you?"
"Out there? You mean, where the mechanoids live? Why, now that you mention it, I believe I was, once. But a long time ago--I must have been still living with my elders. It's not very enjoyable. Too big to call home, after all." With a short laugh, Paton emptied his glass again.
Sethos frowned. The idea that the world was so large fascinated him. As his contemporaries and their ancestors for unknown generations, Sethos had passed from dreamy childhood directly into the dream of adult life. He could barely recall the days of education, when drugged smoke and liquor were withheld, and life consisted of a different fairy world. How he had loved the gay mechanoid nurses, with their tinkling arms and bright colors! But of their world, the vast reaches of the planet outside the tiny circle of men, he knew very little. One fact was plain to him: it was unthinkably huge.
Sudden music poured from the house, gay and fast.
"Ha! The dancers!" exclaimed Paton, seeing the rows of gyrating figures beyond a pink translucent wall. "You must excuse me. I promised Matya I would watch her dance tonight."
Paton hurried away, leaving Sethos to wander along the dimly lighted terrace. The party had lightened his senses as expected, yet his thoughts were heavy. He remembered the library, and the strange legends in the books. Legends of ancient cities of men, over all the earth, and of the prehistoric machines used by men to travel great distances. And always in the old legends men were very much like the industrious mechanoids--ever building, ever moving....
How he wished he might live in those days! He knew the pleasure of creating, for he had been acclaimed a genius in music before he was twenty, and his mastery of painting and architecture had won the admiration of all the human zone. Still, he was not satisfied, and often lay awake in the early hours of morning after a stirring party, dreaming of those long-gone days of empire, when he could have ridden with the ancients through the sky on their winged craft, see their cities rise toward the clouds, experience the exciting pace of that life. What remarkable ambitions they must have had!
* * * * *
As Sethos reached the end of the terrace, he was hailed by a garmenter named Brin, standing with a group of men around a light projector. The colors sprayed up about their faces, matching the gaudy orange of Brin's trousers and the blue of his little plumed hat.
"Greetings, Sethos! How are the crops up North? Still live with Ela?"
"They're fine, Brin. Live with Ela? No more than anyone else these days."
Brin chuckled. "A neat remark, Seth--I must remember it to your true love the next time I have reason to see her."
The men laughed appreciatively, the colors wheeling in rhythm across their grinning faces.
Suddenly three young women converged on the group, having spied Sethos from inside.
"Oh, Sethos!" one cried. "How wonderful you're here!"
"Are you still composing that magnificent diphonic music?" asked another breathlessly.
Grimly, he realized he was trapped again. Every party brought on something like this. How could he explain to these well-meaning girls that he was trying to forget the past, that it bored him, that his music was trite and his painting insipid? Still they would clamor for it.
"Excuse me," muttered Sethos, walking away. His ears rang with their adulation, but it always sickened him. Efforts he considered nothing at all were worshiped by the others. It was demoralizing.
Following the path around the corner, he descended from the noise of the house, opening his mouth and inhaling the cool night air as though to cleanse his lungs. He was growing extremely weary of the people at parties.
From here he could see the town laid out below, the four directions of it, and he tried to guess how many times he had walked each street one end to the other, then turned around and walked back, simply because no one ever considered going straight on.
At that moment a tall, lean man approached him. He was a stranger, with a bearing Sethos did not recognize.
"How do you do, Sethos," he said softly. "I understand you are the most accomplished of your group. May I ask a few questions?"
Someone from across town, obviously. He knew the type--they traveled between the cliques, learning of new trends and ideas to pirate. He had done it once himself.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any new goodies for your side of town. Why don't you go in and pester Brin? He's always easy to tap."
"You misjudge me. I'm not interested in stealing ideas."
"I know, I know. But I'm not for sale anyway."
Angered, Sethos turned and strode down the hill. The nerve of these apprentices, he thought. Some day they'll ask for autographed samples.
He stopped. A small autocar had caught his attention. On a wild impulse, he opened the door. "Good evening, little servant," he said gently.
The desire to move came on him more strongly now. Stooping, he got in, the seat cushions adjusting automatically to his posture, and a voice somewhere in the drive panel said, "Direction, please."
Yes--where to? He didn't know. But he had to get away.
"Straight ahead," he ordered, hoping the machine would make the best of it.
As he rode, he wondered desperately what was wrong with him. He was easily the most talented of men, yet he was unhappy. Perhaps it was because they all treated him so adoringly that he was tired of them. He saw nowhere that drive which was so strong in him, the urge to go on to bigger things. He had sought it in his friends many times before, but gave up when no one knew what he meant. Even as a child his elders said he should have been born a mechanoid. It was a jest that was deathly true.
Trees flashed by, but as Sethos watched, they slowed in their flight, and he realized the car was stopping.
"I'm sorry, this is zone," said the car. "I can go no further. Redirection, or shall I cruise at random?"
He started to affirm, but something stopped him.
Barely visible ahead were the first low, dark buildings of the mechanoid world.
"No," he answered. "I'm getting out here."
He left the car, walking forward rapidly until the headlights no longer lighted his path. The trees began to thin out, and his feet struck concrete. He knew he was beyond the general limits of human activity.
* * * * *
Fear came, now that he was in that land where men never walked. The buildings loomed around him, forbidding and dark. Further down the street the lights began, spaced at intervals on the walls.
"Your attention, please," said a voice at his shoulder. He recoiled, noticing for the first time a small yellow mechanoid rolling silently beside him. Its face screen watched him steadily.
"May I remind you that this is no longer the human zone? I can whistle an autocar for you, if you wish."
Sethos felt a twinge of terror as he said, "No, thank you," and continued to walk.
Now it will begin, he thought. They'll be on me every block. Turn back. No, don't give up now. What can I lose? They won't hurt me--it's just a matter of regulation. They can't do anything to me for disobedience.
Looking up, he saw stars between the clouds. For a moment he could imagine that perhaps, once upon a time, men must have longed to reach out in some way across the tremendous distance to the stars. It was a strange sensation, this longing for something obviously unattainable.
"Hello," said another voice. "Are you lost?"
Sethos glanced at the new figure that accompanied him. It was human in shape, but the fact that it skated on rollers betrayed its nature.
"I see. For exercise?"
"No--I mean, not exactly. Well, I wanted to see what things were like outside our zone."
"Our course."
He won't stop me, Sethos thought with determination.
"Are you someone I should know?" he asked.
"Tenth level," the mechanoid replied, whirring sedately along beside him. "I was notified five minutes ago by a circuit walker. He said he offered to radio for a vehicle, but you did not wish to return."
"That's right." Sethos was nervous now, but maintained his even step. They had gone three blocks together, and still he would not slow down.
"Tell me, Mr. Tenth," Sethos said, trying to appear calm, "do people--often walk as I'm doing?"
"No, not often." Mr. Tenth took a step across a small puddle, then resumed skating.
"What happens if I get tired of walking?"
"I can direct you to Mr. Third's office, if you won't mind. He handles such things."
"And suppose I keep going?"
"You'll be followed by an autocar that will pick you up whenever you get tired."
"I intend to keep going," Sethos said, his teeth clenched.
"Very well." The mechanoid rolled away.
* * * * *
Sethos was entering the heart of the city. As far as he could see, the streets led off into the distance, with the gleaming lights that lined the buildings on either side diminishing until they merged at a far vanishing point.
How far does it go? he wondered, overwhelmed. Maybe if I go far enough, I'll find another community like our own, with men living in it! What a discovery that would be!
The low hanging clouds threw back the city's glow as far as he could see.
In the streets there were now several mechanoids, and their number increased as he went. Some were prime mechanoids, and resembled humans, rolling along the slower traffic lanes. Others were specialized workers, with longer arms or a number of arms, or with a truck body instead of legs. In fact, he saw every gradation between prime mechanoid and service vehicle. A bizarre parade!
A strange little apparatus with three wheels stopped before Sethos. "Your attention, please," it said. "You are now one-half mile from zone. The time is eleven-twenty p.m."
It occurred to him to watch for more tenth level mechanoids, and he saw three immediately, moving with him several yards away. An autocar cruised patiently.
"You are heading due west, on Street 751 West, at a speed of three and eight tenths miles per hour."
He saw the mechanoid with three wheels again, clocking him helpfully.
"Go away," he said.
His breath came hard; he was not used to walking such a distance.
How long can I last? If I keep going, I'll get hungry, and there won't be any food. They don't serve food out here. I can go until I drop from exhaustion. Then they'll take me back ... ask me if I want therapy.
He would refuse, then try it again later. He would try it day after day, probably, maybe getting a little further each time, and each time the mechanoids would patiently bring him back. On and on ... until he requested therapy....
"You are now one mile from zone," said his clocker. "The time is eleven-twenty-eight p.m."
The lights burned on into the distance. His legs were beginning to ache, but still the urge to cross the city was intense.
Maybe I'll go till I come to the ocean, he thought, sucking his breath. He had seen pictures of the ocean, that featureless blue with its concrete wall stretching away for thousands of miles.
A mechanoid stood on a corner, pointing back. So that was the next trick! Helpful, hinting.... He saw another, showing the way home.
He grew angry. It'll be a battle of nerves. They'll get nicer and nicer to me, until I can't stand it any more.
He concentrated on the lights, watching them pass one by one. That helped.
"Please note your return route."
He wondered if they had missed him at the party.
"There is an autocar at your service."
They would be preparing to eat the midnight meal, now, he remembered. The foodmakers would emerge from the kitchens and steal the show in their performance of taste appeal, warm odors, rare dishes....
"You are heading due west, on Street 751 West, at a speed of three and six tenths miles per hour."
It seemed cold. The mechanoids did not have thermostat stations, for they did not need them. He shivered slightly.
"You are now two miles from zone. The time is eleven-forty-five p.m."
The lights. Watch the lights.
"Please submit any request for information here."
He was panting, and his legs felt weak.
"There is an autocar...."
It was useless. Shutting his eyes tight, he stopped.
"All right. Let's go."
* * * * *
"Good evening," said Mr. Third.
Sethos seated himself in a contour chair in the center of the softly lighted office. From behind a curving desk, the brain of a slender metal cylinder observed the young man before it, checked by radio with five Mr. Tenths in the space of three and one fifth seconds as to the incident's details. Then Mr. Third folded his plastic arms and studied the short brown hair and dark eyes, the lean face and straight nose. Human features always fascinated him.
"I'm the human coordinator, Sethos. You know why you're here, don't you?"
Sethos nodded.
"Everyone learns that sometime," Mr. Third remarked. "In a certain number of births there is a percentage who are of higher intelligence. These are the restless ones whom we cannot discourage developmentally as easily as the others. They usually have to request therapy to adjust. So your case is not new."
Sethos lit a cigarette. He knew the story, but coming from a third level prime mechanoid it was all the more impressive.
"All right, I'm inquisitive. Why must we have therapy? Why do we have to stay in our zone?"
Mr. Third paused. He recognized challenge in the young man before him, and tried to estimate his will power.
"Did you know that there was on the earth, long ago, lower forms of life called animals? And that man once specified these and contained them in cages, from which they were denied exit?"
"I have read of their place in our biological evolution, but of course they are before the time of records."
"Well, we know very little about this practice or its use, but it's similar to what we have here, I believe. We mechanoids are not concerned with history, having only one structural law which was built into us by your ancestors, and it cannot be superseded. We must preserve man in the state he existed when we were created. We cannot impede his activities--unless they peril his stability, which we maintain precisely, as you know. It is impossible, you see, for us to allow man to change or expand. We have fulfilled that obligation, and continue to fulfill it. There are no alternatives whatever."
"I can't see what they had in mind when they made you that way. It sounds insane."
"Don't ask why--that is no longer important. We cannot question what is fundamental to all our operations, the factor present in every formula we must work. Our mechanoid civilization is gigantic, by your standards, but it is flawless. Once set in motion, such a system is impenetrable. All individuals are their allotted part of the entirety, no more, no less. It is beautiful concept, you'll agree?"
"You must get terribly bored," Sethos said humorlessly.
"That word has no meaning for us. Now--do you request therapy?"
Sethos was startled. He had expected the question, and knew there was little point in refusing. Yet he hesitated. The desire to learn was strong.
Before he could reply, a door opened and another mechanoid rolled in.
"You didn't whistle, Mr. First," said Mr. Third to the newcomer. "Something on your mind?"
Sethos noted that they spoke aloud for his benefit. He inhaled reflectively of
his cigarette.
"A mutual friend of ours is here," said the first level prime.
"The one we've been expecting?" asked Mr. Third.
"That's right. I see you have a young fellow here--out walking?"
Sethos nodded, wondering what visitor they could have. Perhaps a mechanoid from another continent--but still such a mechanoid would be in perpetual contact anyway.
"Good--come along. It'll save the gentleman some time. He's looking for this sort of thing."
"Save him some time! He's in a hurry?" interrupted Sethos.
"For this man, time is very important," said Mr. First gravely.
"Where is he now?" asked Third.
"In my office, studying the vocabulary. Shall we go over?"
More curious than ever, Sethos followed the mechanoids down the corridor to a slide. Holding the rail, he felt the car surge through its shaft at a tremendous speed.
* * * * *
They emerged into the first level office. Two other first level mechanoids sat reading formulated material, while near the center stood a tall man, his eyes on a page of printed matter in his hands. He had no hair, and wore only a simple gray cloak over a white, loose-fitting one-piece suit. Sethos regarded his graceful appearance and sophisticated demeanor.
"Hello," he said, looking up. "I am Hol."
Sethos nodded cautiously. "My name is Sethos."
For a moment, Hol looked at the two Mr. Firsts reading, then at the one standing. There seemed to be some sort of communication between them. Then he spoke again.
"Are you discontented with your culture?"
"Of course. I don't believe man's curiosity should be restricted."
"I see. What do you propose in this case?"
Sethos was perplexed. He had not dreamed of a possible solution. But perhaps there was one!
"I don't know. If mechanoid control could be removed, I think humans would expand over all the planet. Then they could progress by themselves."
"Do you think they can?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think humans can progress further--without mechanoids?"