William Wu - Cyborg

“Well, well, well,” he said aloud. “A conspiracy. A takeover. So I do have something to accomplish here, after all.”

He had been carefully watching the robots traveling around him, and knew that the ones pursuing him had all left the tunnel system by now. To increase his distance from them, he rode a little longer, then stopped at a siding chosen at random. Now that he was out of their sight, he didn’t think they could pick him out again.

Once back on the surface, he got on the slidewalk to ride until he got his bearings. With safety as close as any tunnel stop, he was free to roam. At the same time, he wanted to communicate with his human colleagues if he could do so without having robots jump allover him.

When he had picked out a few landmarks, principally a huge, shining dome and a strange, many-sided pyramid, he worked his way back toward the human residence. All the while, he looked about carefully for any sign that robots were conducting a search. He didn’t see any evidence of a continuing search in the area, but he had to be careful.

He was in the neighborhood, now, but still kept riding the slidewalk around in a series of jagged circuits, looking for a trap. His human colleagues, as he thought of them, were not in sight. The robot traffic here was light, and seemed to be safe enough.

He started to look in the other direction, when a familiar shape caught his eye. When he glanced back, he saw that same robot pushing the wheeled handcart again. On impulse, he leaped off the slidewalk and walked briskly up behind the robot.

“Are you following me?” he demanded.

The robot stopped and turned around. “Are you addressing me?”

“Yes. Identify yourself.”

“I am Alpha.”

Jeff hesitated. “ Alpha? That’s all?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t sound like the other names in this place. Why are you different?”

“I am not a native construct of this planet. Please identify yourself.”

“I’m Jeff. If you’re a stranger here, then we have something in common. I thought you were following me around.”

“Not at all. Our proximity must be a coincidence. However, you may be able to aid me.”

“Are you willing to join up with me? The two of us, we don’t have any particular place in this society. I’m…gathering friends, you might say. Followers.”

“I have no objection to this.”

“Fair enough. What can I do for you?”

Alpha pulled a cloth from the wheeled cart. A small, furry creature lay inside, its eyes closed and its pointed ears limp and flat. Clumps of brown and gold fur had been falling out, revealing leathery skin under it. “This is an intelligent non-human named Wolruf. She is starving. I came to this planet with her. However, food for her has been scarce. Can you find some?”

“I’m not sure,” said Jeff, looking at the little alien doubtfully. She had a caninoid body. “You ask anybody else? Any of these robots who live here?”

“Yes. However, since I have determined that she is nonhuman, the Laws do not apply and they are not required to help save her. The robots I have questioned here do not know where to find food for her, and have no greater ability to locate any than I. So the responsibility remains mine.”

“I think you’ve met up with the right pers-individual.”

“Can you help? We explored near a lake that I believe to be a reservoir and found a few plants that helped keep her alive, but that is all. I surmise that she requires a concentration of proteins they did not provide.”

“It so happens that I smelled some food-human food, that is-in this very neighborhood. In a town like this, it must have been prepared in some kind of autogalley, like they have on shipboard. That would mean it could be altered to prepare other kinds of chemical food.”

“I smelled it also,” said Alpha. “This is what brought me to this area. However, the winds come and go. I lost the scent for a short time, and when I recovered it, an altercation of some kind was taking place among robots. Since I have chosen to make Wolruf’s safety a priority, I was forced to leave the immediate vicinity. “

“I see.” Jeff chose not offer any additional information about that particular altercation.

“And since that time, I have not been able to locate any odors of the same type.”

“Ah. Well.” Jeff paused, not sure how to proceed. He wanted to get this little doggie-thing some food, to win over his new friend. On the other hand, he did not want to be identified again. To stall for time, and to satisfy his curiosity, he nodded at the cart. “Where’d you get that contraption?”

“I constructed it from scrap materials on the edge of the city, where new urbanization is taking place.”

“Very clever. Well. Hmm.” This little cart impressed him. It was so simple. A robot who could do this kind of thin$ on his own resources, and who had no ties to Robot City, was definitely an asset.

Jeff decided that he could not risk returning to the human residence. Nor did he want to turn over his new friend to other humans, who could give orders contradictory to his own, and perhaps even turn Alpha against him. He couldn’t trust anybody. Yet he had to find a solution.

Another humanoid robot was walking toward them. Jeff chose, on the spot, to take a different kind of risk, one that would allow him to make a run for cover if necessary.

“Halt and identify yourself,” he said to the approaching robot.

“For what purpose?” The robot halted, however.

“I have instructions for you.”

“I am Architectural Foreman 112. Identify yourself.”

“My name is Jeff.” He sighed, and then fixed his gaze carefully on Architectural Foreman 112. “I am human.”

Beside him, Alpha looked up with new attention.

“Perhaps you are malfunctioning. Your comlink might be more efficient. I thought you said that you are human,” said Foreman 112.

“I am. My human brain was surgically transplanted into a robot body. However, the Laws of Robotics apply to me as a human. You must obey my instructions. Understand?”

Foreman 112 studied him. “I understand. I have just contacted the central computer, and have been informed that this transplant took place into a body of your type and that you have been reported in this neighborhood very recently.”

“Good. Now-”

“You are also the object of a search. The Human Experimental Medical Team urgently requests your presence and cooperation.”

“Now, you just forget about that. They don’t have any right to capture me. I haven’t done anything wrong.” He eyed the robot suspiciously. “Did you tell them where I am?”

“I have reported your location here at the request of the central computer.”

“Shut up and listen to my orders! Now, look inside this thing. This cart holds a little creature that is dying of starvation. Its friend here is named Alpha. I’m instructing you to build, or arrange the building, of an autogalley that can feed this, this-”

“Her name is Wolruf,” Alpha repeated. “She is an intelligent non-human.”

“Yeah, right.”

Foreman 112 looked at Wolruf. “Would the location of an existing chemical processor be acceptable? One is in storage. This would provide nutrition much faster.”

‘That one’s okay,” Jeff said carefully. “But only that one. Understand? Nobody else’s. Got it?”

“It is the only one I have knowledge of,” said Architectural Foreman 112. “It should suffice in this emergency.”

“Good. Okay. You take Alpha and Wolruf to wherever it is. Alpha, can you explain what kind of food she needs?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Uh-I have to get out of here at the moment, since this traitor has reported my location.” He glared at Architectural Foreman 112. “I want to talk to you again, Alpha, but…” He couldn’t tell Alpha where to meet him in front of this other robot, who would report him again. “Never mind where. I’ll worry about that later. I’ll give you this order: if I try to meet with you in secret someplace, you cooperate. Got it?”