Perihelion

Chapter 2. Memories And Chemfets

Derec moved quickly to her side and knelt down. “Ariel?” he said softly.

She was breathing in quick, shallow breaths and perspiring freely. Her eyes were closed.

“Mandelbrot?” Derec said quietly. “Have you got any idea what’s wrong with her?”

“No, Derec. My human medical knowledge is very limited.”

“Maybe iss jusst tirred,” Wolruf said softly. “Hass been verry sick. Needs resst.”

“I hope so,” said Derec. He felt a deep sense of panic. The ordeal she had undergone on Earth had been extremely draining, and their landing back here must have caused her more stress than he had realized. “Up till now, she was acting almost normal.”

Wolruf came to stand next to Derec. She looked at Ariel’s face. “Suggesst ‘u brring food.”

“Mandelbrot,” said Derec.

The robot brought over the container of Megallanic frettage and handed it to Derec. Eating utensils were attached to the side of the container. He simply held it, letting the aroma rise into the air near her.

Nothing happened.

“Maybe this isn’t what she needs. She isn’t responding at all.” He glanced at the others questioningly.

“Water?” Wolruf suggested.

“Must find the stranger,” Ariel muttered. Her eyes were still closed, but she tossed restlessly.

“What?” Derec asked gently. “What stranger?”

“Draw him to us. aotta be hungry by now.” She squirmed, the sweat on her face shining in the light of the room. “Have to make it better. Have to make him like it. Has to smell right.” She threw her head from side to side.

“Who?” Derec insisted. “Avery? We’ll find him. Do you mean Dr. Avery?” Then he realized that she might be dreaming about Jeff Leong, the marooned stranger who had been turned into a cyborg when they were here before. Derec and his companions had helped capture him when the transformation had adversely affected Leong’s mind, and had aided the robot in restoring him to human form. They had sent him off the planet in a craft one of them could have used.

“Iss not hearing ‘u,” said Wolruf. “Verry ssick.” Derec stood up and set the container of food on the desk, still watching her. She stopped talking, but her legs were moving slightly. He had seen people move like that when they were dreaming. “I guess we’ll have to let her sleep. Maybe that’s all she needs. I think I could use some rest, myself.

“That couch can be unfolded into a bed,” Derec observed. “Whatever is wrong with Ariel is in her mind and memory, not her body. She won’t be harmed if you will lift her for a moment.”

Mandelbrot bent down and gently lifted Ariel in his robot arms as though she was a baby. Derec fumbled for a moment with the couch, then succeeded in pulling on a single strap that unfolded it to full size. It was a simple, non-powered device that was popular among frequent travelers because it did not force the owner to match power sources or worry about complicated repairs

“All right,” said Derec.

Mandelbrot laid her down just as carefully as before. Derec sat down beside her to loosen her clothing. She was lying quietly now, as though she was sleeping.

“I am aware,” said Mandelbrot, “that a potential First Law conflict may be developing.”

“What is it?” Derec asked. This did not seem like the time to hassle over the Laws of Robotics.

“I recall from our presence here before that Robot City possesses a very high level of human medical skill and technology. The First Law may demand that I put Ariel in contact with the robot called Human Medical Research 1, lest I allow her to come to harm through my inaction.” He trained his photosensors squarely on Derec.

“But you can’t! We don’t dare, at least not right away!” Derec jumped up and paced behind the desk. “They’re almost certain to alert Dr. Avery, and then r II be harmed through your action. And so will she, probably. The guy has to be crazy.”

“I know,” Mandelbrot said ruefully. “I also feel a resonance from the First Law dilemma I faced in certain events before our recent return here. I welcome suggestions that will avoid this contradiction. “

Derec stared at him. “Suggestions? Hell, I don’t know.” He ran both hands through his hair and closed his eyes. “Look, I’m tired, too. Suppose you stay in an alert mode, monitoring the city computer, while the rest of us get some sleep.”

“As you wish,” said Mandelbrot. “I will also turn out the light when you are ready.”

Wolruf was already settling comfortably into one of the chairs. Derec sat softly next to Ariel, trying not to disturb her, and pulled off his boots. Moments later, he was stretched out in the sunlight, surrounded visually by the strange beauty of Robot City. He felt strangely naked without visible, opaque walls around him, despite the secrecy of this room and the efficiency of Mandelbrot, who was a match for any other robot they might encounter.

“Mandelbrot,” said Derec.

“Yes.”

“See if you can figure out how to turn off these viewscreens. That sunlight is bright, and we don’t exactly have curtains in here.”

“Yes, Derec.”

Derec was certain, the more he thought about it, that they would be safe here. One of the few certainties about the mad genius named Dr. Avery was that he was truly paranoid, and possibly becoming more so as time passed. He surely knew that Derec had been in this office once before, and he obviously knew that he had been in Avery’s laboratory. A true paranoid would not continue to use either one after his “opponent” had learned their locations.

His body was tired, more tired than it should have been. He hated to admit it to himself, but his time to find Dr. Avery was quickly growing shorter. Worst of all, he might reach the point where he could think clearly but would be unable to carry out any plans. As sleep approached, his mind went to his basic problem: the chemfets in his body.

Dr. Avery had captured him when they had been on Robot City before. At that time, however, Ariel’s illness had been entering a critical phase. Derec had escaped and fled from Robot City, hoping to find a cure for her disease. They had wound up on Earth. Only then had he realized what Dr. Avery had done to him in the laboratory while he had been a prisoner.

The chemfets were microscopic circuit boards with biosensors that interfaced his body. These tiny circuit boards were capable of preprogrammed growth and replication, and apparently Dr. Avery had programmed them. He had also planted a monitor in Derec’s brain that told him what they were and what was happening now: a tiny Robot City was growing inside his body.

Derec had no idea why Avery had done this to him, but the monitor had made one fact clear: the number of chemfets was growing, and some of them were joining together to grow larger. They were already interfering with his ability to coordinate his movements normally, and they were going to kill him from the inside-paralyze him, he suspected-if he didn’t get rid of them.

Only Dr. Avery could do that. Derec had no idea how he could convince the man to do so.

Derec woke up spontaneously, looking at a plain ceiling of light gray. For a moment, he was completely disoriented. Then, remembering he was back in Avery’s office, he sat up with a start of near-panic and looked around.

Ariel was sitting at the desk. She flinched in response to his movement and looked at him. Her expression was at first blank, then relaxed to a shy smile.

“Ariel! How are you feeling?” Derec smiled in embarrassment himself at his sudden awakening, and ran a hand through his hair to brush it out of his eyes.

“I feel all right. I just…get confused sometimes.” Her voice was apologetic.

Derec swung his feet over the edge of the bed and looked around. Mandelbrot had found a way to opaque the walls, which were the same light gray as the ceiling, and now stood motionless with his back to Derec. Wolruf was awake, sitting quietly in the chair where she had been when he had gone to sleep.

“How are you?” Ariel asked. “I’m able to get several decent dishes out of the chemical processor, by the way. My memory was a little weak, but I learned some of it from scratch. Wolruf and I have eaten. Some of it is waiting for you.”

“Thanks. I’m okay,” said Derec. He had benefited a great deal from the sleep. “A quick trip to the Personal and I’ll be fine.”

A moment later, he was standing in the cramped shower stall, letting steaming water massage his scalp with needle spray and run down his back. He stood with his head down, eyes closed. The heat made him feel better, telling him just how poorly he really felt. It was loosening kinks in his neck that he had never had before.

They were all refreshed as though it were morning, which it could not be. Their biological clocks would adjust soon enough.

He forced himself to leave the shower and dress again. If at all possible, he would disguise his ailments from his companions. Ariel and Wolruf were counting on his knowledge of Robot City to keep them safe and he would have to do that somehow until they located Dr. Avery. If Mandelbrot knew how fast the chemfets were interfering with his health, the robot just might have to turn him and Ariel over to the medical robots of Robot City under the First Law. That would play right into Dr. Avery’s hands.

He left the Personal and forced a cheerful smile.

“I’ve been reading up in the city computer,” said Ariel, nodding toward the terminal. “In particular, anything that we were involved in before.”

“Really? What have you found?”

“Did you know that our visits to the Key Center are recorded here? And this whole episode with Jeff Leong, the cyborg, when he was running amok?”

“Were there any reviews of Hamlet?” Derec grinned.

“Not that I noticed.” She seemed to miss the joke. “Oh, and of course the mystery of that wild, automatic shapechanging mode in the city, and how you stopped it.”

“I guess I hadn’t thought about being in the records much,” said Derec. “I’m not surprised, though.” He thought a moment, watching the cursor blink on the screen. “What is different from when we were here before is being able to get all the information you ask for. Have you been able to do that?”

“Yes…” She looked at him thoughtfully. ”I do remember, now…you had trouble getting your terminal to respond at times.”

Derec nodded. “There were blocks on other terminals, all right. This terminal had no blocks, like I said last night. Still, that just refers to the ones Avery deliberately installed in the rest of the system. The problem with the city computer before was that so much information had entered during the fast pace of the shapechanging mode. It was all in the computer somewhere, but the information wasn’t really organized anymore.”

“If you want to see what you can do here…” Ariel started to get up and move away from the desk.

“No, not yet.” Derec tasted a bit of leftover breakfast and nodded appreciatively. “Mandelbrot, have you found any blocks in the city computer yet?”

“No.” The robot’s voice was low in both pitch and volume.

Derec and Ariel both looked at him in surprise. Wolruf also studied his impassive face.

“Mandelbrot?” Derec said. “Come to think of it, you’ve been quiet since I woke up. What’s wrong?”

“I have been unable to resolve the First Law contradiction I described to you last night. I am only functional now because I do not have complete information on which to base my judgments.”

Ariel looked back and forth between them. “What contradiction? Was that after I…fainted?”

“Yes,” said Derec, ignoring a tightening in his stomach. “Go on, Mandelbrot. Can I give you instructions or explanations that will make a difference?”

“I do not see how. Ariel’s condition is a serious matter. The robots at the Human Medical Facility here demonstrated a potential that I must logically consider.”

“Dr. Avery is crazy. If he gets us in his power, that may threaten her life-all of ours.”

“It is possible, but so far his greatest interest has been in you. The possible harm to her from Dr. Avery is not greater than the clear harm that inaction may bring about.”

“Are you approaching some kind of conclusion about this?” Derec asked.

“Conclusion!” Ariel cried. “How can you just sit calmly and talk about conclusions? This isn’t a philosophy class! He’s talking about turning us in to the enemy!”