by Isaac Asimov
“I’ll take the fruit punch to drink, though.”
“Yeah—me, too.”
A moment later, they each sat down with a dark brown, warm, rectangular shape. Each bar had a combination of proteins, carbohydrates, and cellulose that would fill them up. The taste was more bland than bad. The chemical processor could also produce more complex meals, which were equally or more nutritious but also equally bland to the taste. It was no match even for the autogalleys on ships.
Derec washed down a mouthful of food with simulated fruit punch. At least the citric acid gave it a strong tang. “If I get the time, I can try ordering the computer to give me some improvements to try on the processor. The trouble is, I don’t know what chemicals have to be added to make it taste better...and I doubt that the central computer knows, either. Robots have sensory capabilities for analytical purposes, but they don’t care about human gourmet preferences.”
“If we can get the Key today, we’ll be gone, anyway. Let’s work on that premise. How are we going to talk Keymo out of the Key?”
“When you put it that way, it sounds a little preposterous, I must admit. Well...do you have any ideas?”
He was hoping to divert her from his own lack of plans.
“Our only chance is to force him to surrender the Key under some interpretation of the Laws. So we’ll have to pose an argument to him, like....” She shrugged, unable to suggest anything.
“If the food were any worse, we could tell him we have to get off the planet or suffer harm.” Derec laughed.
“The trouble is, it’s not that bad.”
“We can probably figure that the Second Law by itself won’t help us. Like I said about getting information from the central computer, any request from us will almost certainly be overridden by prior programming orders under the Second Law. Whoever created Robot City got his instructions in first.”
Katherine looked down at her glass, and picked it up even though it was empty. Suddenly she got up and went to the processor to fill it. Then she just stood there looking at the glass.
Derec had no idea why her manner had just turned chilly. He reflected that it figured, somehow; just as he became comfortable enough to joke around a little, she started to withdraw from him again. He watched her without speaking.
Katherine turned and walked into her room.
Derec, feeling snubbed, did not try to approach her. Instead, he got up and carried their plates and glasses to the washer. After turning it on, he straightened up a little and wiped the inside of the chemical processor’s delivery receptacle. He could not tell what she was doing.
Once again, Derec felt trapped by his own circumstances. Some time ago, he had awakened in a lifepod from a larger spacecraft with no memory of his name or his earlier life. Even the name “Derec” had been adopted only so that he could call himself something. He had had a number of crazy adventures since that time, but none of them had brought his memory back.
He had met Katherine along the way, and they had formed a partnership of necessity. After all, even now they were the only humans of the planet, and shared a desire to get off Robot City. He still found her difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, if they were going to get off Robot City, they would have to get the Key to Perihelion. Derec took a deep breath.
“Katherine?”
“Yes.” Her voice was low and listless.
“Are you, urn, feeling okay?”
“Yes!” She spoke sharply, almost too insistently.
“I suppose we ought to go visit Keymo, wherever he is. You still want to go, don’t you?”
“Of course I want to go,” she snapped, coming to the doorway. “Why wouldn’t I want to go?”
“I don’t know!” Derec threw up his arms. “Sometimes you’re as big a mystery to me as the origin of Robot City.”
Katherine pushed past him and turned. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Are we going now or what? You were in such a big hurry.”
“Sure! Sure, we’re going. I’m in a big hurry to get off this planet, and I thought you were, too. Come on, let’s go!”
“All right!”
Seething with anger, Derec stalked out of their quarters, aware that she was right behind him.
Chapter 2
THROUGH THE CHUTE
OUTSIDE, THE GREAT pyramidal Compass Tower glittered in the sunlight. It was taller by half than any other structure in the city, and stood as a familiar landmark. Below it, the skyline was a varied line of spires, domes, cubes, and towers.
Derec and Katherine rode the slidewalk in silence. He had an idea of where to find Keymo, since the ongoing shapechanging of the city had been discontinued—although the robots still renovated and built constantly. One of the many benefits of ending the shapechanging was that the robots had been building a coherent system of slidewalks for pedestrian traffic. Still, finding one’s way around Robot City remained a challenge.
His anger was cooling quickly. In the distance ahead, he could see a large dome on the horizon, a brilliant, shining bronze in color. It was near the site of Keymo’s operation, and Derec guessed it was the Key Center itself.
“I noticed a similar dome here once,” she said, also gazing at it. “Any idea what it is?”
“Not exactly, no.”
“What does that mean?”
He glanced at her warily, thinking he had detected an edge in her voice, but she was still looking up at the building. He raised his gaze again, still walking. “Well, actually...what I mean is, sometimes the robots have to house a certain class of facilities that can’t be fit into normal industrial bays or doors. I haven’t looked closely at any of these domes, but I think they’re used for stuff like that.”
“I don’t see any doors, now that you mention it. I suppose they’re on the other side. The Key is small enough to carry, though. I don’t see why they would need a gigantic dome for it.”
“Maybe that’s not the place.” Derec shrugged. “Maybe the Key Center is in a mud hut next door.”
“Very funny. If that particular dome is new, I’m betting it was set up for the Key.”
“I’m not arguing. But we have to get off the slidewalk. It’s being fixed up or something just ahead. There isn’t a functioning one to take us from here to there.”
“I hope you don’t expect me to walk that far!” She stepped off the slidewalk with him.
A small function robot, the class without the positronic brains, skittered out of her way. It was a small scrap collector, gathering debris as it moved on a cushion of short, nimble legs around a construction site.
It was heading for a sewer chute in which to deposit its load.
A humanoid robot, of the foreman class in the city, approached them. The sunlight shone on the distinctive, helmeted head and blue skin.
“Identify yourself,” Katherine ordered.
“I am Construction Foreman 391.” The robot’s eyes, deep in the darkness of its horizontal eyeslit, focused on her.
“What is the most convenient way for us to reach—Derec, tell it where.”
He noted that she had spoken to him in the same imperious tone she used with the robots. “We’re going to that dome, or somewhere close to it. It’s about 6.4 kilometers.”
“Frost!” She turned on him. “You weren’t going to walk that far, were you?”
“Of course not.”
“Perhaps the vacuum chute would be safe for humans,” said Foreman 391. “You must ask a chute foreman. May the maintenance robot resume its duties?”
“Oh—of course.” Katherine glanced down at the scrap collector, which she had inadvertently trapped against the sewer chute. It whirred patiently at her feet until she moved out of the way. Then it headed back into the construction site.
“A vacuum chute?” Derec asked. “I don’t remember anything about a vacuum chute before. That’s pretty archaic technology, too.”
“Yes. It is being used because a new facility in Robot City is producing
a strong partial vacuum as a side effect, Utilizing this side effect constitutes an efficient use of energy.”
“Say, you’re rather proud of that, aren’t you?” Derec grinned with amusement. “You must have worked on the vacuum chutes, huh?”
“This is not pride. It is recognition that certain principles of efficiency have been successfully executed.
Yes, all the construction foremen at my level had to be consulted when the chute system was routed through the city.”
“Forget the frosted chutes,” Katherine said irritably. “What about that big bronze dome?”
“What about it?”
“Well, you’re a construction foreman. You must know what it’s for.”
“Yes.”
“Would you tell us, please?”
Derec hid a smile at her frustration. At times she had handled robots very well, but today did not seem to be her day. In fact, both of them occasionally reached the point where they were infuriated by the literal interpretations that the robots made of human speech.
“These designs are used to house extremely large or oddly shaped facilities of all kinds. The—”
“Excuse me,” said Derec. “But would an extremely important facility, one that had special priority, be in one of those domes, also?”
“I have no role in decision-making of that kind.”
“But from your experience in Robot City, do you think it might be likely?”
“The materials used in the construction of the dome do not offer any special advantage, based on the premise you have given.”
Derec sighed. “Okay. What is this stuff, anyhow?”
“Are you referring to the construction material?”
“Yes.” Derec gritted his teeth, and caught Katherine suppressing a smile this time.
“The external shell is the only significant distinction of material these domes possess. It is comprised of a material called dianite. Dianite is a specialized form of the modular material from which all of Robot City is constructed. This substance has a number of unusual qualities. In its solid form it is extremely hard, yet very light in weight and with high tensile strength. However, its most unusual property is that—”
“Okay, okay, thank you. Is there a method of normal transportation that will take us there? From here?”
“Normally, this slidewalk would take you there. While it is under modification, no normal transportation is available that will do this.”
“What about those chutes?” Katherine asked.
“Allow me to consult the central computer. Yes, one of them is on a direct line from here to a stop near your destination. You understand that a chute foreman must be consulted for matters of safety?”
“Right,” said Derec. “Where do we find one?”
“The nearest chute stop is two blocks forward and one block left. I must resume my duties.”
“Come on!” Katherine took off at a run.
They ran along the motionless slidewalk as long as they could, then jumped off and ran along its shoulder. Here and there, they had to skip around functioning robots going about their business, and past a couple of foremen, as well. In moments, they had turned left at the corner and had come skidding up to a small loading dock. A foreman robot was standing on the dock, watching a small function robot use an armlike crane to lift a container.
The function robot was hoisting molded containers from a long, transparent tube that lay horizontally alongside the dock.
“We need that,” Katherine said briskly. “How does it work?”
“It is pulled through the chute by a powerful vacuum,” said the foreman. “What is your need for it?”
“Identify yourself.”
“I am Chute Foreman 34.” The robot looked back and forth between them. “I have never had direct contact with humans before.”
Katherine threw her arms up in a gesture of impatience that Derec knew all too well. He was glad not to be the cause of it this time.
“Yes, we’re humans. Congratulations, genius. Now—”
Derec rushed to get in front of her, surprised at her sudden aggressiveness. “We’re going to that dome.
A construction foreman suggested we inquire as to whether a vacuum chute would be safe for us to travel in.”
Chute Foreman 34 glanced down at the tube. From here, Derec could see that it was resting in a siding away from the vacuum chute itself.
“Yes, this tube is safe for cargo more fragile than humans. It has ventilation and padding. However, it may not be comfortable.”
“How uncomfort—” Derec started.
“Frost that; we’ll take it.” Katherine pushed Derec aside and climbed down into the open tube.
Derec followed her and found that, while the slick cushion was padded well enough, they had to recline along the length of the transparent tube for the door to slide shut. He found himself lying against her, and moved over self-consciously.
“I will send you to the stop nearest the dome,” said the robot, just before it secured the door.
“I hope it has more experience with these chutes than it has with humans,” said Katherine.
Derec wiggled a little to get more comfortable, his gaze aimed upward at the sky. He began to speak, but the jolting start of the tube interrupted the effort. With a great rushing of air, it accelerated quickly and shot into a black chute.
Air was swirling within the tube. Apparently, the ventilation consisted of carefully shaped openings in the back of the tube, which pulled some air into the tube as it was drawn along. He was trying to figure out how that could work when suddenly the chute curved upward. All at once, he felt himself sliding head first, on his back, toward the rear of the tube. Laughing, he and Katherine clutched at each other and tried vainly to brace themselves against the smooth sides of the tube.
Light flooded the tube, nearly blinding Derec. When he could focus his eyes, he and Katherine both shouted and grabbed at each other again. The chute was now as transparent as the tube, and they were shooting along high above the ground. Just ahead, the chute wound between two large buildings. Though Derec knew better, he felt his whole body tighten reflexively with the fear that they were about to smash into one of the walls. I
Katherine apparently felt the same, inhaling sharply just as they plunged into the gap between the buildings. The sides of the buildings were a blur all around them. The chute then swerved upward again, keeping them both pinned against the rear of the tube, braced with their arms held above their heads.
The buildings first fell away on her side, then on his. He felt his stomach seem to drop as he watched rooftops recede below him. Traveling in enclosed spacecraft was one thing, but actually watching the ground fall from him triggered all the instinctive fears of height that his ancient ancestors had acquired by falling out of trees. Beside him, Katherine was giggling nervously.
The chute leveled off, and Derec let out a cautious breath.
She turned to face him, just inches away. “Pretty wild, huh?”
He grinned, but didn’t trust himself to speak.
Now that they were speeding along a level section of the chute, he was able to relax a little. When he took a tentative look off to the side, he found that most of the city was now below them, but a few of the tallest towers and obelisks could still throw a shadow over the chute at the right hour. He guessed that the erratic route of the chute was due to the recent discontinuation of the automatic shapechanging in the city. New developments were more likely to be built around existing structures now.
The city was strikingly pretty from this height, and it stretched as far as he could see from his cramped position. Suddenly, the tube plunged steeply downward, and Derec gasped as he found himself staring almost straight down at a drop of several hundred meters. He felt himself sliding toward the front of the tube and clawed futilely for a handhold.
Katherine was also flailing about, and they wound up throwing their arms around each other. The speed of the tube was such, howev
er, that they did not actually fall to the front of the tube. It was accelerating, and Derec felt his ears pop from the sudden change in altitude. He hadn’t even noticed the pressure change on their startling ascent.
Finally, the tube leveled off again, smoothly, and then gently rose again just enough to decelerate and come to an easy stop. Derec lay where he was for a moment, looking at Katherine. She smiled and looked away as they untangled themselves.
The tube door opened and another foreman looked down at them. “Unusual cargo,” the robot said.
“You are unharmed?”
Derec and Katherine laughed as they climbed out, nodding in reassurance. He noticed that she had lost her hard edge somewhere on the breathtaking ride.
“There it is,” said Katherine.
The dome rose up right in front of them, the great bronze surface nearly blinding them in the bright sunlight. The dianite had a very fine, pebbled texture, which saved them from an even worse glare. High above them, the curve of the dome carried the top out of sight.
“I don’t see a door anywhere,” said Derec.
They started walking around the base of the dome, looking allover its nearly smooth, unbroken surface.
It was even higher than Derec had guessed from a distance. It had no visible seams or openings of any kind.
When the tunnel stop came into view again, they knew they had walked all the way around the base of the dome. Derec stopped, still looking up for any hint of how to enter. He supposed an opening was possible at the top, but placing it there seemed out of character for Robot City.
Katherine brushed her fingertips along the dianite. “It’s pretty.”
“Yeah.” Derec rapped on the hard surface experimentally. “I suppose we could stand out here and shout, but I doubt anyone inside would hear us.”
Katherine faced the dome and backed away, searching the even curve again.
He had taken just a few steps to follow her when he heard a muted ripping sound behind him. When he looked back, he saw the dianite opening in a jagged line where they had been standing, as though invisible hands were tearing it. As they watched, the blue-skinned form of a humanoid robot stepped out.