William Wu - Cyborg

“Yes,” said Alpha.

“All right. On your way, you two.”

Jeff watched them just long enough to be satisfied that they were leaving together. He felt a sense of accomplishment on several grounds: Alpha now owed him a favor, and he had convinced Architectural Foreman 112 that he was a human for whom the Laws applied. If he proceeded carefully, he really might take over Robot City.

“Well, well, Jeffrey. So far, so good. Maybe your life has a purpose after all, know what I mean?”

The last building block he needed in order to create a powerful following was the support of the other humans. He didn’t dare visit them in person until he found out how they felt about him, but he could safely contact them from a distance. First, however, he had to get away from here.

“All right, Jeffrey. Back into the labyrinth again. They’ll never find you in your second home.”

As before, he used the tunnel system to shake the chase. This time he departed before any pursuit came into view. The tunnel system, unless it was shut down completely, remained the perfect escape. The individual booths kept him isolated and the tunnels had so many stops and branches that his chance of losing himself down there was very good. After another long ride, he came up again at a random spot and went to the edge of the nearest slidewalk.

As he waited for a humanoid robot to ride the slidewalk his way, he seriously considered the possibility that the robots running the city might actually shut down his tunnel system. It wouldn’t break the Laws. This crazy city might have other places he could sleep in peace, and it almost certainly would offer other ways of escaping pursuit. He just hadn’t had time to find out what they were yet.

“Hey, where is everybody? What’s going on?”

He glanced around, puzzled. Everywhere else in the city, humanoid robots had been more or less everywhere. He could see a few in the distance now, but none were coming past him.

“Ho, ho, Jeffrey ol’ boy. Time to get smart, maybe, eh? Something isn’t quite normal. No sense just standing out here to frost. Let’s just take a little trip, visit the tunnel again, see the sights.”

Now leery of a trap, he turned and fled back down the tunnel stop. Moments later, he was shooting through the underground system again in one of the booths, looking at the robots in other booths all around him. What if they were part of the trap? Maybe he was being escorted, herded, to wherever they wanted him to go.

“Calmly, calmly,” he said aloud in the booth. “Maybe they don’t know anything for sure. Maybe they’re trying to smoke you out. Look like everybody else, remember?” He started giggling to himself. “That’s it. Stay calm and look like all the others.”

He did so, secretly looking over the other robots traveling in the tunnels. None of them seemed to pay any attention to him.

“Shaken the pursuit again, have you?” he said out loud. “Very good, very good. This will work. This project will work. Now, let’s get on with it.”

Still, some time passed before he decided that he could safely return to the surface again. Then he picked another stop at random and reemerged into the sunlight. Now he was once more in an area of the city with a fair amount of humanoid traffic on the slidewalks, as he had been used to seeing. In the distance, the tall pyramid glinted in the sunlight, giving him a reference point.

He flagged down the first humanoid robot who came riding by, and identified himself as human. Like the last robot he had approached this way, Energy Pack Maintenance Foreman 3928 verified his claim with the central computer.

“I am satisfied that you are Jeffrey Leong, a human,” said E Pack Foreman 3928.

“Good. Then under the Second Law, you know-,-”

“As a positronic robot, I am familiar with the Laws of Robotics.”

“All right!” Jeff shouted. “Then get this! Don’t ever interrupt me again! You understand, you slag heap?”

“I understand,” the robot said blandly.

“You’d better. Come to think of it, that moniker of yours is too long. From now on, you answer to Can Head. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Energy Pack Maintenance Foreman 3928. I will also answer to Can Head.”

“Well…good enough, I guess.” Jeff laughed. “Now listen to this. I want to contact the two humans living here in Robot City. I’ve met them, and I think they’re the only ones here. You use your comlink or whatever it is to get a hold of them. That’s an order,” he added, leaning close and staring into Can Head’s eyeslit.

“I have just checked with the central computer. I can go through it to a computer console in their dwelling. However, I lack the capacity to transmit your voice directly.”

“Yeah? You aren’t lying to me, are you, Can Head?”

“I lack that capacity, as well.”

“Hmm-maybe. You should. Unless things aren’t as they seem around here. Nothing in this town is right, if you ask me. Only, how can I trust you to pass on what I say? What if you play around a little with the content? Or don’t report what they say back to me just like they say it? What about that?”

“I lack the capacity for deceit.”

“What do you need to transmit my voice directly? A microphone and some other equipment, I guess, huh?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go find some. You get it and arrange for me to contact them directly. Get going.”

Ariel sat at the console, trying to think up other subjects that might tell her something about Jeff or his whereabouts. Derec was out with the medical team, making plans to catch him. The search for Jeff had given Derec and Ariel a new focus for their attempt to get off the planet, and the fact that they had actually seen him made their chances seem more tangible. Her spirits were up again, even if Jeff’s spacecraft had been destroyed on impact.

She had just left the console to take a break when a voice came through the speaker.

“Hello! Hey, you! Answer me.”

She slid back into the seat, puzzled by the odd greeting. That wasn’t the kind of courtesy one received from robots. “Identify,” she answered cautiously.

“I don’t have to identify unless I feel like it. This is the robot that knocked you two down. The Laws don’t apply to me.” He paused. “You know what I’m talking about?”

“Jeff,” said Ariel excitedly. “Uh, hi. Where are you?”

Weird robot laughter buzzed through the speaker. “You can’t fool me that easy. Say, how did you know my name? What’s your name: You’re pretty, as I recall.”

“I’m Ariel.” She wanted to keep him talking and see if she could persuade him into coming in. If not, maybe he would slip up and say something that would give away his location. “Can I help you? What are you calling about?”

“If you know my name, you must have talked to those robot doctors, huh? So you know how I got this way.”

“Yes, and they told us you need to come in for your health. They didn’t finish the tests, and you don’t know how to take care of yourself yet. You left before they could explain.” She eyed the keyboard, wondering if she could have the central computer contact the medical team while she kept Jeff in conversation.

“Oh, sure; I have to come in for my own good, right? Frost, I’m not that stupid.”

“Jeff, what are you afraid of? They’re robots. They can’t do anything to harm you.” She started tapping the keys carefully, not wanting to make any noise he might hear.

“Don’t let them fool you, kid. If they’re so helpful, why don’t they transplant you? You’d like it this way. So would your friend. What’s his name, anyhow?”