The Cyberiad

TRURL’S MACHINE

Once upon a time Trurl the constructor built an eight-story thinking machine. When it was finished, he gave it a coat of white paint, trimmed the edges in lavender, stepped back, squinted, then added a little curlicue on the front and, where one might imagine the forehead to be, a few pale orange polkadots. Extremely pleased with himself, he whistled an air and, as is always done on such occasions, asked it the ritual question of how much is two plus two.

The machine stirred. Its tubes began to glow, its coils warmed up, current coursed through all its circuits like a waterfall, transformers hummed and throbbed, there was a clanging, and a chugging, and such an ungodly racket that Trurl began to think of adding a special mentation muffler. Meanwhile the machine labored on, as if it had been given the most difficult problem in the Universe to solve; the ground shook, the sand slid underfoot from the vibration, valves popped like champagne corks, the relays nearly gave way under the strain. At last, when Trurl had grown extremely impatient, the machine ground to a halt and said in a voice like thunder: SEVEN!

“Nonsense, my dear,” said Trurl. “The answer’s four. Now be a good machine and adjust yourself! What’s two and two?”

“SEVEN!” snapped the machine. Trurl sighed and put his coveralls back on, rolled up his sleeves, opened the bottom trapdoor and crawled in. For the longest time he hammered away inside, tightened, soldered, ran clattering up and down the metal stairs, now on the sixth floor, now on the eighth, then pounded back down to the bottom and threw a switch, but something sizzled in the middle, and the spark plugs grew blue whiskers. After two hours of this he came out, covered with soot but satisfied, put all his tools away, took off his coveralls, wiped his face and hands. As he was leaving, he turned and asked, just so there would be no doubt about it:

“And now what’s two and two?”

“SEVEN!” replied the machine.

Trurl uttered a terrible oath, but there was no help for it—again he had to poke around inside the machine, disconnecting, correcting, checking, resetting, and when he learned for the third time that two and two was seven, he collapsed in despair at the foot of the machine, and sat there until Klapaucius found him. Klapaucius inquired what was wrong, for Trurl looked as if he had just returned from a funeral. Trurl explained the problem. Klapaucius crawled into the machine himself a couple of times, tried to fix this and that, then asked it for the sum of one plus two, which turned out to be six. One plus one, according to the machine, equaled zero. Klapaucius scratched his head, cleared his throat and said:

“My friend, you’ll just have to face it. That isn’t the machine you wished to make. However, there’s a good side to everything, including this.”

“What good side?” muttered Trurl, and kicked the base on which he was sitting.

“Stop that,” said the machine.

“H’m, it’s sensitive too. But where was I? Oh yes… there’s no question but that we have here a stupid machine, and not merely stupid in the usual, normal way, oh no! This is, as far as I can determine—and you know I am something of an expert—this is the stupidest thinking machine in the entire world, and that’s nothing to sneeze at! To construct deliberately such a machine would be far from easy; in fact, I would say that no one could manage it. For the thing is not only stupid, but stubborn as a mule, that is, it has a personality common to idiots, for idiots are uncommonly stubborn.”

“What earthly use do I have for such a machine?!” said Trurl, and kicked it again.

“I’m warning you, you better stop!” said the machine.

“A warning, if you please,” observed Klapaucius dryly. “Not only is it sensitive, dense and stubborn, but quick to take offense, and believe me, with such an abundance of qualities there are all sorts of things you might do!”

“What, for example?” asked Trurl.

“Well, it’s hard to say offhand. You might put it on exhibit and charge admission; people would flock to see the stupidest thinking machine that ever was—what does it have, eight stories? Really, could anyone imagine a bigger dunce? And the exhibition would not only cover your costs, but—”

“Enough, I’m not holding any exhibition!” Trurl said, stood up and, unable to restrain himself, kicked the machine once more.

“This is your third warning,” said the machine.

“What?” cried Trurl, infuriated by its imperious manner. “You… you…” And he kicked it several times, shouting: “You’re only good for kicking, you know that?”

“You have insulted me for the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth times,” said the machine. “Therefore I refuse to answer all further questions of a mathematical nature.”

“It refuses! Do you hear that?” fumed Trurl, thoroughly exasperated. “After six comes eight—did you notice, Klapaucius?—not seven, but eight! And that’s the kind of mathematics Her Highness refuses to perform! Take that! And that! And that! Or perhaps you’d like some more?”

The machine shuddered, shook, and without another word started to lift itself from its foundations. They were very deep, and the girders began to bend, but at last it scrambled out, leaving behind broken concrete blocks with steel spokes protruding—and it bore down on Trurl and Klapaucius like a moving fortress. Trurl was so dumb-founded that he didn’t even try to hide from the machine, which to all appearances intended to crush him to a pulp. But Klapaucius grabbed his arm and yanked him away, and the two of them took to their heels. When finally they looked back, they saw the machine swaying like a high tower, advancing slowly, at every step sinking to its second floor, but stubbornly, doggedly pulling itself out of the sand and heading straight for them.

“Whoever heard of such a thing?” Trurl gasped in amazement. “Why, this is mutiny! What do we do now?”

“Wait and watch,” replied the prudent Klapaucius. “We may learn something.”

But there was nothing to be learned just then. The machine had reached firmer ground and was picking up speed. Inside, it whistled, hissed and sputtered.

“Any minute now the signal box will knock loose,” said Trurl under his breath. “That’ll jam the program and stop it…”

“No,” said Klapaucius, “this is a special case. The thing is so stupid, that even if the whole transmission goes, it won’t matter. But—look out!!”

The machine was gathering momentum, clearly bent on running them down, so they fled just as fast as they could, the fearful rhythm of crunching steps in their ears. They ran and ran—what else could they do? They tried to make it back to their native district, but the machine outflanked them, cut them off, forced them deeper and deeper into a wild, uninhabited region. Mountains, dismal and craggy, slowly rose out of the mist. Trurl, panting heavily, shouted to Klapaucius:

“Listen! Let’s turn into some narrow canyon… where it won’t be able to follow us… the cursed thing… what do you say?”

“No… better go straight,” wheezed Klapaucius. “There’s a town up ahead… can’t remember the name… anyway, we can find—oof!—find shelter there…”

So they ran straight and soon saw houses before them. The streets were practically deserted at this time of day, and the constructors had gone a good distance without meeting a living soul, when suddenly an awful crash, like an avalanche at the edge of the town, indicated that the machine was coming after them.

Trurl looked back and groaned.

“Good heavens! It’s tearing down the houses, Klapaucius!!” For the machine, in stubborn pursuit, was plowing through the walls of the buildings like a mountain of steel, and in its wake lay piles of rubble and white clouds of plaster dust. There were dreadful screams, confusion in the streets, and Trurl and Klapaucius, their hearts in their mouths, ran on till they came to a large town hall, darted inside and raced down endless stairs to a deep cellar.

“It won’t get us in here, even if it brings the whole building down on our heads!” panted Klapaucius. “But really, the devil himself had me pay you a visit today.… I was curious to see how your work was going—well, I certainly found out…”

“Quiet,” interrupted Trurl. “Someone’s coming…”

And indeed, the cellar door opened up and the mayor entered, accompanied by several aldermen. Trurl was too embarrassed to explain how this strange and calamitous situation had come about; Klapaucius had to do it. The mayor listened in silence. Suddenly the walls trembled, the ground heaved, and the sound of cracking stone reached them in the cellar.

“It’s here?!” cried Trurl.

“Yes,” said the mayor. “And it demands that we give you up, otherwise it says it will level the entire town…”

Just then they heard, far overhead, words that honked as if from a muffled horn:

“Trul’s here… I smell Trurl…”

“But surely you won’t give us up?” asked in a quavering voice the object of the machine’s obstinate fury.

“The one of you who calls himself Trurl must leave. The other may remain, since surrendering him does not constitute part of the conditions…”

“Have mercy!”

“We are helpless,” said the mayor. “And were you to stay here, Trurl, you would have to answer for all the damage done to this town and its inhabitants, since it was because of you that the machine destroyed sixteen homes and buried beneath their ruins many of our finest citizens. Only the fact that you yourself stand in imminent peril permits me to let you leave unpunished. Go then, and nevermore return.”

Trurl looked at the aldermen and, seeing his sentence written on their stern faces, slowly turned and made for the door.

“Wait! I’ll go with you!” cried Klapaucius impulsively.

“You?” said Trurl, a faint hope in his voice. “But no…” he added after a moment. “Why should you have to perish too?…”

“Nonsense!” rejoined Klapaucius with great energy. “What, us perish at the hands of that iron imbecile? Never! It takes more than that, my friend, to wipe two of the most famous constructors off the face of the globe! Come, Trurl! Chin up!”

Encouraged by these words, Trurl ran up the stairs after Klapaucius. There was not a soul outside in the square. Amid clouds of dust and the gaunt skeletons of demolished homes, stood the machine, higher than the town hall tower itself, puffing steam, covered with the blood of powdered brick and smeared with chalk.

“Careful!” whispered Klapaucius. “It doesn’t see us. Let’s take that first street on the left, then turn right, then straight for those mountains. There we can take refuge and think of how to make the thing give up once and for all its insane… Now!” he yelled, for the machine had just spotted them and was charging, making the pavement buckle.

Breathless, they ran from the town and galloped along for a mile or so, hearing behind them the thunderous stride of the colossus that followed relentlessly.

“I know that ravine!” Klapaucius suddenly cried. “That’s the bed of a dried-out stream and it leads to cliffs and caves —faster, faster, the thing’ll have to stop soon!…”

So they raced uphill, stumbling and waving their arms to keep their balance, but the machine still gained on them. Scrambling up over the gravel of the dried-out riverbed, they reached a crevice in the perpendicular rock and, seeing high above them the murky mouth of a cave, began to climb frantically toward it, no longer caring about the loose stones that flew from under their feet. The opening in the rock breathed chill and darkness. As quickly as they could, they leaped inside, ran a few extra steps, then stopped.

“Well, here at least we’re safe,” said Trurl, calm once again. “I’ll just take a look, to see where it got stuck…”

“Be careful,” cautioned Klapaucius. Trurl inched his way to the edge of the cave, leaned out, and immediately jumped back in fright.

“It’s coming up the mountain!!” he cried.

“Don’t worry, it’ll never be able to get in here,” said Klapaucius, not altogether convinced. “But what’s that? Is it getting dark? Oh no!”

At that moment a great shadow blotted out the bit of sky visible through the mouth of the cave, and in its place appeared a smooth steel wall with rows of rivets. It was the machine slowly closing with the rock, thereby sealing up the cave as if with a mighty metal lid.

“We’re trapped…” whispered Trurl, his voice breaking off when the darkness became absolute.

“That was idiotic on our part!” Klapaucius exclaimed, furious. “To jump into a cave that it could barricade! How could we have done such a thing?”

“What do you think it’s waiting for now?” asked Trurl after a long pause.

“For us to give up—that doesn’t take any great brains.”

Again there was silence. Trurl tiptoed in the darkness, hands outstretched, in the direction of the opening, running his fingers along the stone until he touched the smooth steel, which was warm, as if heated from within…

“I feel Trurl…” boomed the iron voice. Trurl hastily retreated, took a seat alongside his friend, and for some time they sat there, motionless. At last Klapaucius whispered:

“There’s no sense our just sitting here. I’ll try to reason with it…”

“That’s hopeless,” said Trurl. “But go ahead. Perhaps it will at least let you go free…”

“Now, now, none of that!” said Klapaucius, patting him on the back. And he groped his way toward the mouth of the cave and called: “Hello out there, can you hear us?”

“Yes,” said the machine.

“Listen, we’d like to apologize. You see… well, there was a little misunderstanding, true, but it was nothing, really. Trurl had no intention of…”

“I’ll pulverize Trurl!” said the machine. “But first, he’ll tell me how much two and two makes.”

“Of course he will, of course he will, and you’ll be happy with his answer, and make it up with him for sure, isn’t that right, Trurl?” said the mediator soothingly.

“Yes, of course…” mumbled Trurl.

“Really?” said the machine. “Then how much is two and two?”

“Fo… that is, seven…” said Trurl in an even lower voice.

“Ha! Not four, but seven, eh?” crowed the machine. “There, I told you so!”

“Seven, yes, seven, we always knew it was seven!” Klapaucius eagerly agreed. “Now will you, uh, let us go?” he added cautiously.

“No. Let Trurl say how sorry he is and tell me how much is two times two…”

“And you’ll let us go, if I do?” asked Trurl.

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. I’m not making any deals. What’s two times two?”

“But you probably will let us go, won’t you?” said Trurl, while Klapaucius pulled on his arm and hissed in his ear: “The thing’s an imbecile, don’t argue with it, for heaven’s sake!”

“I won’t let you go, if I don’t want to,” said the machine. “You just tell me how much two times two is…”

Suddenly Trurl fell into a rage.

“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you all right!” he screamed. “Two and two is four and two times two is four, even if you stand on your head, pound these mountains all to dust, drink the ocean dry and swallow the sky—do you hear? Two and two is four!!”

“Trurl! What are you saying? Have you taken leave of your senses? Two and two is seven, nice machine! Seven, seven!!” howled Klapaucius, trying to drown out his friend.

“No! It’s four! Four and only four, four from the beginning to the end of time—FOUR!!” bellowed Trurl, growing hoarse.

The rock beneath their feet was seized with a feverish tremor.

The machine moved away from the cave, letting in a little pale light, and gave a piercing scream:

“That’s not true! It’s seven! Say it’s seven or I’ll hit you!”

“Never!” roared Trurl, as if he no longer cared what happened, and pebbles and dirt rained down on their heads, for the machine had begun to ram its eight-story hulk again and again into the wall of stone, hurling itself against the mountainside until huge boulders broke away and went tumbling down into the valley.

Thunder and sulfurous fumes filled the cave, and sparks flew from the blows of steel on rock, yet through all this pandemonium one could still make out, now and then, the ragged voice of Trurl bawling:

“Two and two is four! Two and two is four!!” Klapaucius attempted to shut his friend’s mouth by force, but, violently thrown off, he gave up, sat and covered his head with his arms. Not for a moment did the machine’s mad efforts flag, and it seemed that any minute now the ceiling would collapse, crush the prisoners and bury them forever. But when they had lost all hope, and the air was thick with acrid smoke and choking dust, there was suddenly a horrible scraping, and a sound like a slow explosion, louder than all the maniacal banging and battering, and the air whooshed, and the black wall that blocked the cave was whisked away, as if by a hurricane, and monstrous chunks of rock came crashing down after it. The echoes of that avalanche still rumbled and reverberated in the valley below when the two friends peered out of their cave. They saw the machine. It lay smashed and flattened, nearly broken in half by an enormous boulder that had landed in the middle of its eight floors. With the greatest care they picked their way down through the smoking rubble. In order to reach the riverbed, it was necessary to pass the remains of the machine, which resembled the wreck of some mighty vessel thrown up upon a beach. Without a word, the two stopped together in the shadow of its twisted hull. The machine still quivered slightly, and one could hear something turning, creaking feebly, within.

“Yes, this is the bad end you’ve come to, and two and two is—as it always was—” began Trurl, but just then the machine made a faint, barely audible croaking noise and said, for the last time, “SEVEN.”

Then something snapped inside, a few stones dribbled down from overhead, and now before them lay nothing but a lifeless mass of scrap. The two constructors exchanged a look and silently, without any further comment or conversation, walked back the way they came.