Alfred van Vogt - The Players of Null-A

Even the almost human robot weapons which Lavoisseur had turned over to the Venusians had only twenty-nine main sections.

Intent now, Gosseyn studied the artificial brain. On that closer examination, several of the wires seemed burned out. The discovery alerted him, and in quick succession he saw several other damaged segments. How so well-built and protected an instrument could have been damaged was not easy to understand, but the end result was unmistakable.

It would take an immense amount of skill to repair the machinery and awaken the Sleeping God.

It would probably not be his job. He was in the front line, and not in the technical department. It was time he went back to the battleship.

He similarized himself, and arrived on the Venus to hear the alarm bells ringing.

Elliott explained that the battle was over. ‘When our robots acted, I don't think they even knew what hit them. We captured the entire personnel.'

It was a very satisfying victory, for more reasons than one. The captured battleship was the one Enro had sent more than a month before to replace the Y-381907. It had come to start a new flow of Predictors to the fleet of the Greatest Empire. It would take time for another ship to replace it That was one result.

The second result, it seemed to Gosseyn, was the more important when properly considered. The Venus was free to follow him to Gorgzid.

No Null-A had any explanation to offer for the mystery of Eldred Crang. Elliott said: 'We can only assume that he did not know about the Predictors, and therefore made no statements on a concrete predictable level. Your discovery seems to indicate that Crang is more aware of what is going on than we suspected.'

A short time later Gosseyn was given another matrix, and Elliott told him, 'We'll leave at once, and we'll see you in about three days.'

Gosseyn nodded. He intended to explore the Temple of the Sleeping God in more detail. 'I want to see if the atomic drive is still in working order. Maybe I can take the whole temple out to space.' He grinned. ‘They might take that as an omen that the god disapproves of their aggression.'

He finished more seriously. 'Except for that, I'll lie pretty low until you people arrive.'

Before leaving the ship, he sought out Dr. Kair. The psychiatrist motioned him to a chair, but Gosseyn rejected the offer. He stood frowning, then said:

‘Doctor, there’s something at the end of this trail we’re following that’s going to be different from anything we expected. I've had some hazy pictures—-' He paused, then:

'Twice, now, my mind has been similarized into the body of Prince Ashargin. On the surface it looks as if someone was helpfully giving me a look at the larger scene of events, and I'm almost willing to accept that as the motive.'

'But why through Ashargin's eyes? Why is he necessary?'

'You see, it comes down to this: If it's possible to put my mind into other people's bodies, why wasn't it put into the body of Enro? With Enro under my control, I think I could end the war like that.'

He snapped his fingers.

'The logic of that seems so inescapable that I can only conclude we are looking at the picture from the wrong angle. There must be another answer, possibly an answer bigger than the war itself.'

He stood frowning, then held out his hand. Dr. Kair shook it silently. Gosseyn stepped away, and, still holding on to the matrix, similarized himself to the little storeroom in the Temple of the Sleeping God on Gorgzid.

Even as he came out of the blackness, he realized with a thalamic sense of frustration that he was going to wake up in the body of the Prince Ashargin—for the third time in as many months.

For the sake of sanity, remember: First is the event, the initial stimulus; second is the nervous impact of the event, via the senses; third is the emotional reaction based on the past experience of the individual; fourth comes the verbal reaction. Most individuals identify the first and fourth steps, and are not aware that the second and third exist.

'It's dinner time,' said Nirene.

Gosseyn-Ashargin climbed to his feet, and they walked in silence along the corridor. Her face was thoughtful, and when she tucked her fingers lightly under his arm, it looked like an automatic gesture. But the very unconscious nature of it emphasized for Gosseyn what he had already realized from Ashargin's memory, that this marriage had indeed developed into an affectionate relationship.

'I'm not so sure,' said Nirene, 'that the privilege of being at the royal dinner table is one that I enjoy. I can't decide whether I've been promoted or not.'

Gosseyn-Ashargin did not reply. He was thinking of the body of Gilbert Gosseyn lying in the storeroom in the Temple of the Sleeping God. At any moment, Secoh might walk in and find it.

Beside that fact, the private life of the Prince and Princess Ashargin faded into insignificance.

Neither Enro nor Secoh were present for dinner, which did not make Gosseyn feel any better He had a vision of the Lord Guardian deciding to spend this night of nights at the Temple. There was no question of what he himself must do, but the details occupied his attention for most of the meal. So it was with a sense of something wrong that he looked up suddenly and saw that the two women were very pale. Patricia was saying:

'. . . I didn't think I'd feel this way, but the possibility of a complete League victory makes me almost as uneasy as I used to be when I thought of my brother winning unconditionally.'

Nirene said: 'The terrible thing about being pulled into a war against your will is that, no matter how little you had to do with it, you discover finally that your own fate is bound up with the fortunes of your side.'

Briefly, Gosseyn was drawn aside from his urgent private purposes. He knew what they were thinking, and there must have been a real reverse to shock them so violently. Defeat would be a personal disaster for everyone in the Greatest Empire. There would be humiliation, armies of occupation, a ruthless search for war criminals, vengefulness that would show little or no comprehension of the possible effects on the nervous systems of both victors and vanquished.

He parted his lips to speak, and then closed them again, struck by a sudden thought. If the situation was really serious, then this might be the explanation for the dictator's absence from dinner.

Before he could say anything, he had confirmation. Patricia said:

'Enro's with the fleet. They lost four divisions without a trace, and the battle of the Sixth Decant is stopped while they plan counter measures.'

'And where is Secoh?' Gosseyn asked.

Nobody knew, but Crang gave him a sharp questioning look. All he said, however, was: 'It's important, of course, that there be no complete victory. Unconditional surrender is an illusion.'

Gosseyn did not hesitate. They might as well know the facts. Briefly, succinctly, without giving his source of information, or describing the robotic weapons and their effect, he told them what the possible result would be in the war.

He finished: ‘The sooner Enro realizes that he's got a long war of attrition on his hands, and makes or accepts overtures of peace, the more quickly he'll insure that no accidents of fate brings about complete ruin.'

He stood up. 'If Enro comes back before I do, tell him I want to see him.'

He excused himself, and walked rapidly out of the room.

Arriving in the outer corridor, he headed for the roof.. Several planes were parked near the stairway from which he emerged. As he seated himself in the front seat of the nearest one, the plane's electronic brain spoke to him through a loudspeaker.