[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

on, "and even though the wish is expressed while your mind is incapable of working logically, we must do
everything possible to try to fulfill it. At the moment, this, was the best we could do."
Ross stood the picture against the bust of Beethoven and looked at it for a long time. Finally, he
turned to Sister and said, "I want to go to sleep."
They both knew that he wasn't talking about bed.
15
While he slept his world of grass absorbed carbon and C02 from the soil and air, synthesizing oxygen.
Over the centuries the oxygen content of the atmosphere increased, doubled. "It was inevitable that a
long dry spell would occur, broken by a sudden thunderstorm. A flash of lightning stabbed earthward,
igniting the grass, which now grew in spines twenty feet high. Within minutes there raged a conflagration
covering several acres, which hurled towering fountains of sparks into the sky and spread with the speed
of the wind. For in that oxygen-rich air even the damp material caught and the sparks never went out. A
tidal wave of fire swept across the continental land masses, slowed but never stopped by rainstorms,
adverse winds or mountain ranges. A few islands in mid-Pacific escaped, but all the others caught the
airborne contagion and became their own funeral pyre.
Ross awoke to a scene which made him think that Time had gone full circle: sooty ground, smoke and
a baleful, red-ringed sun. Before he could say anything Sister explained what had happened, then went
on to assure him that the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere had restored the oxygen content
to normal and that the combustion products currently fouling the air would, as they had done once
before, disappear with time. Her reason for awakening him was to report on the progress of the sea
grass.
Violent tides pulled up by the approaching moon, she began, had forced the grass to seek the more
sheltered environment of the ocean bed. Here extreme pressure, darkness and a gradually rising
temperature had brought about a significant mutation. In order to keep alive in those conditions the plants
had to absorb large quantities of necessary minerals from the sea bed, and at the same time, because they
had to retain their defensive mobility, their roots had to be shallow. The result was that they had to keep
on the move.
Recently these mobile plants had begun to band together. There were now several hundred colonies
of them crawling like vast, moving carpets across the ocean floor, grazing for minerals and the
non-mobile strains of their own species.
"Leave them for a couple of million years," said Ross, sighing, "and see what happens." He turned to
go below again. He agreed that it was a most significant mutation, the most promising yet, but his
capacity for hope had gone.
Sister moved quickly in front of him. She said, "I would prefer you to remain awake, sir."
The wording and accompanying action made it seem more an order than a request. Ross felt anger
stir within him, then die again. He said, "Why?"
"For psychological reasons, sir," the robot replied, respectfully enough. "You should remain awake
for one month at least, so that you can appreciate and understand what has happened during the
preceding period of suspended animation. Major changes are occurring and you are giving yourself no
time to adjust to them. You must interest yourself in things again. We& we fear for your sanity, sir."
Ross was silent. In the present circumstances, he thought, sanity was a distinct disadvantage.
"We could hold another review, sir," Sister went on. "There are not as many robots available as there
were last time, but then the visibility is not so good, either. We were thinking that we might stage a mock
battle for you. The casualties would have to be pretended, of course, because we may not willfully
damage or destroy ourselves unless in the defense of a human being, but we have absorbed many books
on the subject of war and are confident that we could put on a show which would amuse you, sir." Ross
shook his head.
"There are ways in which you could assist us& " began Sister, and then for the first time in countless
thousands of years she began to tick! "How?" said Ross, interested at last. Outside a sudden rain squall
left the ground steaming and the sky reasonably clear. Above the sea a vast, fuzzy crescent shone through
the smoke haze. The sun was a formless white glare on the western horizon, so this must be the moon.
Ross felt a tiny surge of hope at the sight, but it was the sad, negative sort of hope, the hope of escape.
He had missed Sister's opening remarks, and brought his mind back to present time to hear her
saying, "& your instructions give us very little to occupy our time, and even a robot can become bored
when forced simply to observe minute changes which require thousands of years to become manifest.
For this reason we have, with the enormous store of data at our disposal, sought methods of reevaluating
and extending our knowledge of the sciences. With the physical sciences we have made considerable
progress& "
She began to tick again in the way which used to be indicative of a major dilemma. This was
something about which she must feel very strongly.
"& But in the social and related sciences we have encountered problems on which we need human
guidance," she finished with a rush. "Such as?" said Ross.
"An example," said Sister. "Is it allowable to force human beings into an advanced state of civilization
rapidly, by means of periodic wars, supposing that there are very good, but not vital, reasons for wanting
their advance to be rapid?"
You have been getting in deep water, Ross thought, surprised and more than a little awed. Aloud,
he said, "Speaking from experience, I'd say that it is not allowable under any circumstances. Your
hypothetical human beings should advance slowly and naturally, so that physical knowledge should not
outstrip the psychological, if they are to survive to enjoy their advances& " He stopped, a growing
suspicion beginning to form in his mind; then he added, "I know this is a hypothetical problem, but are the
robots by any chance planning on fighting a war among themselves to increase their  "
"No, sir," said Sister.
But the suspicion would not leave him. He was remembering a discussion he had had with Sister a
long time ago, about kindness, and lying, and puns. Certainly she had never made anything remotely [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]