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r r
a semicircle, leaving it set apart from all other structures by a gap of
fifty feet. She had spent several hours walking the changing
topography of Robot City without success, but she stopped the
moment she came upon this place. If she wanted to compare the
workings of the living city to a human body, this room atop the
pedestal was like a wound, sealing itself off with scar tissue to protect
it from the vital workings of the rest of the body.
It was no more than a room. Katherine stood at ground level staring
up at the thing. A box, perhaps five meters square, totally enclosed.
The robots took the workings of their city for granted and simply
accepted this anomaly. To the creative eye, it stuck out like a solar
eclipse on a bright afternoon.
Katherine continued to stare up at it because she didn t want to lose
it. Even now, the city continued to move, to grow before her eyes, and
as the buildings turned in their slow waltz of life, she turned with
them, always keeping the room within her vision. Eve, meanwhile,
was trying to round up a supervisor who could effect a means of
getting inside the structure and checking it out.
During the course of this excursion, Katherine had begun to develop a
grudging respect for the workings of the city. Obviously, things were
not going well right now, but in the long run such a system could be
quite beneficial to the humans and robots who inhabited it. The safety
factor alone made the system worthwhile. Derec s harrowing ride
down through the aqueduct resulted in nothing more than fatigue and
a few bruises, all because the system itself was trying to protect him.
To Katherine s mind, such a journey on Aurora would have caused
Derec s death. She smiled at the thought of a Derec-proof city.
She d also had time, while waiting for Eve to reach a supervisor, to
notice the changes taking place around her. She felt as if she were
visiting a resort at the tail end of the off season, all the seasonal
workers arriving and getting the place shipshape for the influx of
visitors. Clocks were being installed in various parts of the city, and
street signs were beginning to go up. The largest change taking place,
however, was the increased production and distribution of chairs.
Robots had no need for sitting or reclining, and chairs were at a
premium; but as they tried to make their city as welcome as possible
for humans, they worked diligently to do things just right, despite the
fact that the city s emergency measures were forcing many of them
into extra duty. She wondered if she d be this gracious if it were her
city. The thought humbled her a bit.
Despite the differences, despite the bind the robots had put them in,
they really were trying to make this world as perfect as they could for
the travelers, travelers whom they suspected of murder. She had
never before considered just how symbiotic the binding of humans to
robots really was and, at least for the robots, how essential. She
hoped that they would, eventually, have their civilization, complete
with humans to order them around stupidly. She found herself
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r r
smiling again. Her mother had a phrase that could apply to the robots
longing for human companionship a glutton for punishment.
She heard a noise behind her and turned, expecting to see a
supervisor arriving. Instead she saw two utility robots moving toward
her, carrying between them what looked for all the world like a park
bench. Without a word, they moved right up to her and placed the
bench just behind. She sat, and they hurried off.
She sat for barely a decad before Arion came clanking around a
corner, along with a utility robot with a bulky laser torch strapped on
his back. It took her back for a second, a seeming replay of the scene
Eve had described to her when David had first become trapped in the
sealed room.
 Good afternoon, Friend Katherine, Arion said as he moved up to
her.  I see you are taking advantage of one of our chairs to rest your
body. Very good.
 What s that on your wrist, Katherine asked,  a watch?
The supervisor held up his arm, displaying the timepiece.  A show of
solidarity, he said.
 You re in charge of human-creative functions on Robot City, aren t
you? she asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]