William Wu - Perihelion

“And we never did figure out who the victim was, either,” said Ariel. She shivered. “He looked just like you. That still gives me the creeps, even now.”

Derec said nothing. When he had first entered Avery’s office he had come across some mysterious information about the dead man that he had never shared with Ariel. This was no time to launch into that topic.

Jeff looked at her in surprise. They had never told him that part of their story.

“Well, for the moment, forget it,” said Derec sharply. “One crisis at a time. The reason we arranged the Hamlet performance was also to accomplish something that the robots weren’t ready to handle.”

“I see what you’re getting at,” said Jeff. “That’s a weak point in the system. A utopia isn’t supposed to have crimes and these Avery robots can’t really handle them.”

“Exactly,” said Derec. “I think we have to commit a few crimes against humanoid robots. We aren’t bound by the Laws of Robotics and Mandelbrot isn’t around to interfere if a situation arose that involved the Laws.”

Jeff grinned wryly. “Okay…let’s become criminals. What’ll we do first, boss?”

Derec grinned himself, despite his discomfort. “We have to incapacitate a robot. “

“Murder one?” Ariel shook her head. “I don’t see how. Those heads of theirs are as hard as a ship’s hull. We could bonk them on the head and not even get their attention.”

All three of them giggled nervously. The tension was broken a little by the hope of taking aggressive action.

“We can’t unfasten their bodies, either,” said Jeff, still grinning. “No tools. Otherwise, we could just sneak up behind them, power up the tools, and leave a little junkpile behind.”

“We could go into business later with used parts,” said Ariel. “Discounted Avery robot parts, cheap.”

“All right, all right.” Derec shook his head. “We don’t actually need any physical violence. The first thing we have to do is get over to that other row, so we can look for one robot walking alone. Let’s crawl back over there.”

It was a very long crawl. Derec had to stop several times on the way to rest. Each time, he worried that the Hunters were going to catch up to them before they could accomplish anything.

Finally they reached the last few tall, leafy stalks before the break in the rows. The three of them huddled at the corner of the row, where Derec could lean forward and look up the slope. Jeff and Ariel sat on his other side, both of them looking around anxiously for Hunters coming from other directions.

“Nothing yet,” said Derec. “That gives me time to explain what I have in mind.”

“I hope more are coming this way,” said Ariel. “What if the bunch going to that assembly point is all there?”

“Good point,” said Derec. “Maybe we should follow them. Just keep a look-out behind us-”

“No good,” said Jeff. “These rows are absolutely straight. If the Hunters come along, they can look straight down the slope and spot us instantly even from the very opening of the pass.”

“We’d better stay here.” Ariel settled into a comfortable position. “Derec, tell us what you’re planning while we have a chance to talk it over.”

“You mentioned their Laws of Humanics.” Derec nodded at Ariel.

“I don’t remember the exact wording, but their provisional First Law of Humanics was to the effect that humans wouldn’t injure another human or let one come to harm through inaction.”

“They just rewrote the First Law of Robotics.” Jeff shrugged.

“The Second Law of Humanics might help us,” said Derec. “It says that humans must only give reasonable orders to a robot and not require anything that would distress it. Their Third Law of Humanics is the best one for us, though. It says that we must not harm a robot or let one come to harm through inaction, unless such harm is needed to help a human or allow a vital order to be carried out.”

“How do you want to use them?” Ariel asked.

“We need to violate the Third Law of Humanics and maybe the Second to prove that this isn’t a utopia even for robots.” Derec looked at them both. “You follow me?”

“So far,” said Jeff.

“How do we do that?” Ariel asked.

“Basically, we have to convince our victim that my physical condition is his fault. “

“All right.” Jeff nodded. “In other words, force it into shutting itself down because it thinks it has violated the First Law. That makes sense to me. We have a better chance of that than of wrestling it to the ground.”

“How?” Ariel demanded. “They aren’t exactly stupid. They’ll know if they’ve harmed you or not.”

“We’ll have to play-act a scene,” said Derec. “I haven’t really figured out the details. Maybe if it thinks it caused you two to attack me, or something like that.”

“I hear footsteps,” said Jeff.

Derec got down low and carefully looked around the nearest plant, up the slope. A lone humanoid robot was coming down the row. Derec gathered his feet under him and waited.

“What are we supposed to do?” Ariel whispered.

“We’ll all have to improvise,” he whispered back, gesturing with his hand. “Quiet.”

Just as the robot reached him, Derec threw himself forward to clutch at the robot’s legs.

“Stop!” Derec called hoarsely, looking up at the robot’s face. He didn’t have to fake his pain any, but he gave vent to it in his facial expression. “You hurt me.”

The robot stopped, looking down at him. “If I did so, it was inadvertent. I apologize.” The robot reached down to take Derec under its arms and lift him.

At the contact, Derec let out a scream and went limp. He slid out of the robot’s grasp to lie on the ground face up.

“You’ve killed him!” Ariel screamed, jumping up. “You murderer, you’ve killed him!”

Derec struggled not to smile at her vehemence. He lay with his eyes open, so he could follow what was happening.

“Looks that way,” said Jeff. “Maybe you ought to shut down, pal. You can’t go around violating the First Law like that.”

The robot was visibly quivering. “I did not harm him. Our contact was minimal and of very low impact. This is a misunderstanding. I will help him find care.”

“No! Don’t you touch him!” Ariel shouted, waving her arms wildly. “You’ll do it again.”

“Humans cannot die more than once,” said ‘;he robot. “Besides, he is not dead.”

“He’s in very bad shape,” said Jeff. “It’s your fault. Do you understand that?”

Derec started grimacing and writhing in pain, with relatively little play-acting required.

“I…could…not have harmed him,” the robot insisted. “My contact…with him…would not damage him.”

The robot’s hesitation revealed his doubt. Derec was encouraged. They just had to keep at it.

“And no reporting to the central computer,” Jeff said suddenly. “I almost forgot. You haven’t done that, have you?”

“No…I was…distracted.”

“Well, don’t. That’s an order. Second Law. Got it?” Jeff demanded, pointing a finger at him.

“Yes…”

“Don’t you think you ought to shut down?” Ariel said forcefully, her hands on her hips. “After doing this to him?”

“I am… not… convinced.”

“If you won’t shut down,” said Jeff, “then we’ll have beat him up ourselves. And that will definitely be your fault.”

“That…is illogical.”

“Are you going to shut down or not?” Ariel demanded.

“No…I will not…”

“Wait a minute,” Derec wheezed, trying to sound as injured as he could. “Do you admit that you are in doubt about this?”