Perihelion

Chapter 10. The Minneapolis

He awoke again, much later, as strong arms slid under him and lifted him. “What’s happening?” His throat was rough and dry. He cleared it, opening his eyes.

Mandelbrot was carrying him to the back of the truck.

“Time to go, huh?” Derec smiled weakly as he settled onto the truck bed.

“We’re all here,” said Ariel, next to him. “Mandelbrot’s in charge so far. Ready?”

“Sure. Where are we going?”

“We’re going after my supplies,” said Jeff.

“What?” Derec struggled to sit up, looking at them in surprise. “That’s a perfect trap. What’s the plan?”

“We don’t have one yet,” said Ariel. “Mandelbrot couldn’t get any information about the ship through the central computer without giving himself away, so we don’t know what kind of security it has around it or anything.”

“I don’t like this at all,” said Derec. He turned to Mandelbrot, who was pushing the button on the wall to open the door. “Mandelbrot, this sounds like walking into a trap to me. Have you considered that?”

“Yes.” Mandelbrot hurried back to the cab of the truck as the door began to open into a Robot City twilight.

“You have? Then why are we doing this?”

“The plan is flexible. All I intend to do now is take an evasive route back to the landing site for observation. We will not take unnecessary risks.”

“Well…okay.” Derec sat back against the wall of the truck. If he could just feel better, he could be more persuasive. Or help make plans. It was just so hard to concentrate.

The truck rolled out onto the empty street. The robot population seemed to be getting thinner all the time. That was good for his purposes, Derec thought, but the mysteries remained. What was the purpose of the robot assembly points…and where was Dr. Avery?

Robot City had street lights, but they were not as bright or as frequent as in other cities. The robots’ superior vision made more light unnecessary. The entire planet was a city of technological marvels and striking robotic capabilities.

“What did Avery get from your father?” Derec asked suddenly. “He’s called Professor Leong? What have we seen in this city that Professor Leong provided?”

“I haven’t seen anything like that,” said Jeff. “He was talking about culture. I’ve seen science, technology, and architecture taken to new heights, but that’s all.”

“The play,” said Ariel. “We had the robots do Hamlet here after you left. That is, Derec chose it but the robots were ready for it. Some of them were involved with robot creativity.”

“The arts,” said Derec. “Of course. And maybe a system of ethics beyond the Laws of Robotics-”

“The Laws of Humanics they used to talk about,” Ariel said excitedly. “Some of this crazy stuff is starting to make sense now.”

“Instead of being just oddities.” Derec nodded. “Robots are too logical to leave a lot of loose ends.”

“Rrobot creativity,” said Wolruf. “Came at ssame time Dr. Averry returrned to Robot City.”

“That’s right,” said Ariel. “And now, after he’s apparently reprogrammed all the robots, there’s no sign of it.”

“The creative impulse caused too much trouble,” said Derec. “But originally, he programmed some artistic abilities into his robots. Jeff, does this fit what you remember?”

“That’s along the right line, yeah. And I remember now that he had one interest in particular.”

“Really? What was it?”

“Cultures that could endure.”

“Endure,” said Derec. “You mean like republics and empires and so on? Dynasties and stuff like that?”

Jeff shook his head in the darkening light as the truck slowed for an intersection, then speeded up again. “Cultures. They generally outlast politics. They evolve in response to politics and economics and technology, but they have lives of their own. My father called them the sum of all the disciplines.”

The truck came to a halt, drawing their attention. Derec looked out and saw that they had stopped on an overpass. The bright twinkling lights of Robot City stretched in all directions, implying the shapes of buildings and streets by their patterns in swooping curves and mighty blocks and spiraling towers and a fully reliable grid on the ground.

“Down there,” said Jeff. “That’s the boulevard I landed on, running parallel with this one. See between those buildings there?”

“I see it,” said Ariel. “Just barely.”

“I dare not take the truck any closer,” said Mandelbrot, standing in the open cab to face them. “I can approach it on foot and survey the security measures.”

“Hold it,” said Derec. “If they left it just sitting there, it has to be a trap. Mandelbrot, that means they’re ready for you, too, in some way. They wouldn’t leave bait like that just waiting to be flown away.”

“Too bad we can’t move it,” said Jeff.

“Wait a minute,” said Ariel. “Maybe Mandelbrot can communicate with its computer.”

“I doubt they left the ship operational,” said Derec. “That doesn’t make sense, either.”

“Unless they’re overconfident of their security measures,” said Jeff. “Mandelbrot, if you want to try, it’s a ten-passenger Hayashi-Smith named Minneapolis. It’s non-positronic but it’s smart enough to handle the flight instructions I give it, which are pretty general. That’s about all I know about it.”

“I am currently trying standard frequencies,” said Mandelbrot. “The customary range is small. No response.”

“Good,” said Derec.

“What?”Ariel demanded.

“Maybe we have a chance after all.”

“What do you mean?” Jeff asked.

“If we’re lucky, the only way they disabled the ship was to disconnect the computer. Mandelbrot, your comlink can send out the same impulses it did.”

“I might be able to start the ship,” said Mandelbrot, “but I can’t fly it from here. The boulevard is too narrow and I’m not familiar with the ship itself. “

“I can’t ‘elp ‘u, eitherr,” said Wolruf apologetically. “Can navigate, but giving orrders to Mandelbrot takess too long for shuttle takeoff. And ‘ave no line of sight from herr, eitherr.”

“We don’t have to fly it,” said Derec. “The boulevard goes straight. All we have to do is get it away from their security long enough to get inside and grab the supplies.”

“The robots would know that,” said Jeff. “Don’t you think they must have accounted for that somehow?”

“Maybe,” said Derec. “But remember how logical this place is. The Hunters don’t have much experience with devious thinking.”

“They were programmed by a paranoid,” Ariel pointed out.

“It’s worth a shot,” said Derec.

“I believe I can make it go straight,” said Mandelbrot. “I suggest, however, that we first take the truck to the rendezvous site so that we are waiting when it arrives. It will not take the Hunters long to catch up with it.”

Derec’s heart was pounding with excitement, and the adrenaline seemed to be loosening up his muscles. He grinned. “Let’s go!”

Mandelbrot drove the truck a much longer time than Derec had expected, but the distance he covered made sense. The fifteen kilometers the ship would travel down the boulevard to reach them was virtually nothing to it, even in its shuttle mode. Mandelbrot pulled the truck into a side street and brought it close to the intersection with the boulevard. Then he stopped the truck and sat motionless.

“I guess he’s concentrating,” said Ariel.

“They ought to rename this street Minneapolis Boulevard,” said Jeff, grinning. “If this works, anyhow.”

Derec was tingling with excitement. “Wolruf, when you and Mandelbrot are both inside, you can fly this thing, right?”

“Rright.“ A slash of street light cut across her face as she gave a nod and a caninoid grin.

“Here it comes,” said Jeff.

A high, even whine was coming toward them in the distance, growing louder as Derec listened. They sat motionless, unable to see around the corner of the nearest building. Only Mandelbrot was visible, and Derec watched his dark, motionless profile as the sound grew louder.

Soon the sound was almost deafening. The ship pulled into view in the intersection, seeming to loom over them in the garish light and deep shadows, both huge and wonderful. Then it stopped.

Mandelbrot stood up and turned to help Derec out of the truck. The others took it as a signal to climb out themselves and run for the waiting ship.

Mandelbrot picked up Derec under one arm to save time by carrying him. At the robot’s command, the door opened ahead of them and the ladder slid to the ground. Derec looked down the boulevard as Mandelbrot ran with him.

A crowd of robots was rushing toward them in the far distance. Hunters were running along the moving slidewalks. Function robots of various sizes and shapes were rolling and driving down the boulevard. They constituted the surprise element of the trap, now neutralized by the stealing of the bait.

The function robots did not have positronic brains to think with, but they could follow orders from the Hunters to move in paths that would block or even ram the ship and the truck. The fastest of them were coming on rapidly.

Mandelbrot set Derec down on the highest rung of the ladder that he could reach. Derec’s foot slipped on the ladder. As he clung to the ladder with another nervous glance at the oncoming rush, he felt Mandelbrot take him under his arms and lift him. Mandelbrot climbed the ladder, holding Derec up until he could deposit him inside the ship. Jeff and Ariel pulled him to one side as the robot entered last.

Wolruf was already in the navigator’s seat looking at the override controls. The ladder retracted and the door closed as Mandelbrot took the pilot’s seat.

“Straight on down boulevarrd,” said Wolruf. “Space is enough forr takeoff. “

Mandelbrot was reaching for the manual controls. “These will be safer than risking comlink control. Everyone, please strap in.”

“We’re all strapped into seats,” said Jeff. “I’m sure glad you can do this. All I can do is tell the computer what I want.”

Just as the ship began to move forward, a heavy thump struck the rear of the ship. The impact was faint but clearly noticeable.

“Damage insignificant,” said Wolruf.

The ship was picking up speed. Another crash against the rear of the ship swayed it crookedly for a moment before Mandelbrot brought it back into line. A horrible screeching sound raked along the left side.

“They can’t do much,” said Derec. “The First Law won’t let the Hunters order anything that might cause a crash. They must know by now they can’t stop the ship without knocking us out of control.”

“Hope you’re right,” Jeff said grimly, as another thump shook the rear of the ship.

That was the last one, however. The ship had left the last of the function robots behind and was angling steeply into the air.