Part 5 (1/2)
Mandelbrot rode down the ramp of the tunnel stop and saw the little alien sitting calmly to one side of the loading area. She was in a slight shadow, out of the way of robots getting on and off the platform booths. When she saw him, she stood up impatiently.
Mandelbrot did not speak right away. Instead, he lifted her onto his back and stepped into one of the booths, where they would not be overheard by accident. The booth would not start until it had a destination, so he entered the one for the Compa.s.s Tower. They could change their minds later if necessary.
”Have you learned something?” he asked once the booth was on its way.
”Yess,” Wolruf hissed eagerly. ”Robots moving everywherr. Change city so that fewer robots arr needed at each place. Then they leave theirr dutiess.”
”The migration programming. Do you have any clues about what that means?”
”No.”
”I don't want to take the risk of asking the central computer myself or asking through the station terminal, for fear of attracting too much attention. We'll have to return to the office.”
”Good,” said Wolruf, with her caninoid grin. ”Getting hungry now, anyway.”
Derec was forcing himself to sit up at the terminal despite the painful stiffness in his back. He had been asking the central computer all kinds of questions, anything either he or Ariel could think of, shooting wildly in the dark. So far, they had not discovered anything that led them anywhere.
The blank screen shone patiently in his face. ”Any more ideas?” he asked her.
”What about those robots at the Key Center? If my memory serves-” She smiled at the irony. ”If it serves, they seemed to be chosen for their high quality. What are they doing now?”
”Good idea. Let's see.” Derec asked, ”What activities are underway at the Key Center?”
”NONE.”.
Derec straightened in surprise. ”Where is Keymo and the team of robots a.s.signed to him?”
”KEYMO IS AT THESE COORDINATES.” The central computer gave some numbers. ”NO TEAM IS CURRENTLY a.s.sIGNED TO HIM.”
”What is he doing?”
”HE IS FOLLOWING HIS MIGRATION PROGRAMMING.”.
”What are the other robots doing?”
”THEY ARE FOLLOWING THEIR MIGRATION PROGRAMMING.”.
”Where are they?”
The computer responded with a long list of coordinates. They represented a very wide range of locations. Most of them were on parts of the planet far from here at the heart of Robot City. These locations had not even existed as part of the city when Ariel and he had first arrived. Some coordinates, however, were listed more than once. Keymo's location was included.
”What pattern of significance do these coordinates represent?” Derec asked.
”THEY ARE PRECISELY 987.31 KILOMETERS APART. THE PATTERN COVERS ALL THE LAND SURFACE OF THE PLANET.”.
”Why?”
”THIS DISTANCE RESULTS IN EXACTLY THE NUMBER OF a.s.sEMBLY POINTS DESIRED.”.
Derec felt a surge of excitement. ”Desired by whom?”
”DESIRED BY THE PROGRAM.”.
”What is the purpose of the program?”
”ACCESS DENIED.”.
Derec slapped his hand on the desk. He was too weak to hit it very hard. ”So this terminal is blocked now, after all. We just didn't ask it the right questions before to turn up the blocks.”
Behind him, Ariel said nothing.
”I wonder. If Avery put some blocks on this terminal as a precaution before we got here...why didn't he put the standard blocks in? Why did he ignore most of the blocks the other terminals have but leave some of them?”
On the screen, the words ”ACCESS DENIED” taunted him silently. On the walls all around them, Robot City bustled in the s.h.i.+ning day. The room was silent.
”All right,” Derec said to himself. ”Maybe the block really isn't on this terminal. He's set himself up somewhere else, of course, and he's simply blocked whatever he's done at that terminal. That must be it. He hasn't thought to block this one. Makes sense, doesn't it?”
When Ariel didn't answer, he painfully looked back over his shoulder at her. ”Ariel?”
She was standing motionless with her eyes open. They seemed to be aimed at the floor just past the desk, but she was not blinking. When he put his hand in front of her, she did not react. He gently reached up to close her eyes with his fingertips. They remained closed.
”We can't wait,” he said quietly to himself as much as to her. ”We can't just sit here and try to think our way out of this. We don't have the time.”
He stood up and carefully put one arm around her shoulders. With gentle pressure, he was able to guide her to the couch. She walked stiffly and slowly, with her eyes still closed. He could not get her to sit until he sat down first and pulled her down into a sitting position next to him.
”Ariel?”
He could see her eyes moving beneath her closed lids. After the last few episodes he had seen like this, he didn't dare try to bring her out of it himself. He would probably just make her worse.
After a few minutes, he moved away from her a little bit and watched her. She was sitting straight, rather primly, with her head up. Maybe she was reliving a trip in the seat of a s.p.a.cecraft or something. She offered no clues.
Finally she inhaled sharply and blinked a couple of times.
”Ariel?”
She looked at him and then at one of the viewscreens.
”Ariel, are you...with me again?”
”I did it again, didn't I?” She reached for one of his hands.
”It was different this time. You weren't shouting or anything.” He held her hand and put his other arm around her.
”I was watching the play,” she said softly. ”It was real, wasn't it? You know the one I mean? I don't know what I'm doing. I can't even be sure where I am, or when I am.”
”Slow down,” he said patiently. ”One question at a time. You said the play. You mean Hamlet?”
She nodded. ”When we did it here.”