More Than Superhuman Page 16

  Dan sat for four hours in Sutter's police combo, and then he felt normal.

  But he was in a meditative mood.

  'The lines are drawn for battle,' he said. 'And the secret of the superandroids is out; so that's a gain. I may have to give up the film to save my sister, but I'll leave her in jail while I think about that.'

  He shook his head. 'It's strange to think that that mad woman is in a position where she can't do anything nutty. In fact' — he frowned — 'maybe you'd better check to see if she's still there.'

  Sutter turned back presently from his phone. 'Yes,' he said, 'she's still there — and it's over my time to go off duty. My wife will be expecting me —'

  The following morning, Sutter noted that on his visual tape were three reports: (1) Dan Thaler's sister still in custody; (2) GALS board of directors deny knowledge of use of GALS headquarters for coerced simulation of androids; board fires on-premises manager, who is under arrest; (3) Apparently all quiet on Thaler-Copeland front. Signed: INSPECTOR INGRATH.

  Sutter couldn't quite believe that last item, so he put through an A-plus call to Dan Thaler's apartment.

  No answer.

  He then called Peter Copeland I at his private number.

  No reply.

  He zoomed over to the Copeland factory and insisted on going into the private office.

  No sign of Peter I.

  And Peter III was not in the building.

  He flew to the original Copeland home.

  Unoccupied.

  The container in the storeroom, where Peter II was supposed to be kept when turned off, was not there. And no sign of Peter II.

  At his next stop, where Peter I had been living with Anita II, there was no answer to his ringing. And the apartment manager refused him entry without a warrant.

  Officer A. Sutter was beginning to have a strange, empty feeling when he received a call from Dan Thaler.

  'I'm over at the prison, getting Anita out. Join me.'

  Sutter said, 'But — '

  And at that point realized he was talking into a dead line.

  On inquiring at the desk of the jailhouse, Officer Sutter was directed to one of the anterooms. Inside, he found Dan and the woman. Dan had taken her shoe off and had slit her stocking, and as Sutter watched, he reached into a hole in her heel and began to make adjustments on a set of dials.

  Sutter stared, then hastily stepped into the room and closed the door. For once he was too taken by surprise to write any thing either in his real or mind's-eye notebook.

  Sutter found his voice. 'You mean — that woman, yesterday ... was your sister?'

  Dan said, 'I couldn't raise anybody anywhere today; so I hurried down here.'

  Sutter said, 'I couldn't find anyone, either.'

  Dan made a shushing gesture. 'I'm going to turn her on.'

  He closed the opening in the heel, slipped the shoe back on, steadied the woman, and drawing a gun-shaped instrument from his pocket, pointed it at the heel and pulled the trigger.

  The Anita duplicate turned and evidently finished a thought she must have been about to speak before being turned off.

  'Yes, I'm the android who has been living with the real Peter Copeland.'

  'Why did you not report this to the police yesterday?'

  'I am not programmed to handle that kind of situation that developed yesterday.'

  'What was that situation?'

  'She pretended to be an android — me.'

  Dan glanced at Sutter and shrugged. 'Well?' he said.

  Sutter said, 'What would she want to do that for?'

  Dan said, 'How would I know what goes on in that woman's skullcase!' His tone was sharp.

  Sutter's thought had leaped back to the previous morning. 'That was her, here?' when Dan did not reply, Sutter persisted, 'But she did it so well. So polite. what's she up to?'

  This time Dan replied, 'We'd better get over there and check.'

  'Over where?'

  Dan glanced significantly at Anita II and said, 'I think we should leave her here and get organized for a raid, based on all the silence we ran into this morning when we tried to locate people.'

  Officer Sutter had his first glimmering of understanding. The empty feeling returned. Somebody was in danger. He said, 'Uh!'

  He wrote rapidly in an imaginary notebook, 'It would seem that in some circumstances Inspector Ingrath's is the only appropriate remark.'

  On the way over to Peter I's apartment, Sutter asked, 'What did you program Anita II to do?'

  'To obey only me in future,'

  'Uh!' said Sutter.

  They came to N-12, or rather, to where they could see the front entrance of the Copeland apartment. A wide hallway, a staircase, then more hallway — that was the view from the elevator. The front door of N-12 was ornate, showing a design which obviously cost money.

  Dan led the way to the rear entrance, drew a short-circuiting device from a pocket, and inserted it into the electronic lock. The device detected the exact pattern of the electronic flow by a sensitive feedback system, adjusted itself, and soundlessly unlocked the door.

  Officer A. Sutter raised his eyebrows as the door silently swung open. But he made no comment as he tiptoed after Dan into the corridor beyond.

  Dan gestured with one hand. Sutter softly closed the door.

  And they were inside.

  The interior alcove was surprisingly large, and three doors led from it: one to a half-open door which showed a kitchen; another, directly opposite, either a bathroom or the rear entrance to a bedroom.

  The third door was also slightly open — Inches only — and from beyond it there was audible and muffled sound of voices. Dan moved in that direction, Sutter close at his heels.

  Dan reached the door, flattened himself against one wall, and peered through the three-inch opening.

  He saw the backs of two men. Both resembled Peter Copland. Peter II and Peter III — he deduced.

  And as he watched, one of the men said, in Peter's voice, : There's got to be a way you can help us get your wife out of jail, so we can kill her.'

  'Go to hell,' said Peter's voice from somewhere out of sight.

  'It's you or her,' said the android.

  And Peter said, 'We've been over this twelve hundred times I've told you I'm not going to do it.'

  'It's you or her,' repeated the android..

  Standing there, Dan realized what had happened here.

  Somebody must have programmed these two to believe that for humans personal survival was an ultimate motivation. Whoever had programmed that had forgotten to add, 'Except when a mother is defending her baby, or a man's maleness is somehow at issue, or his honor — or something.'

  As a result, they were stuck in a circular thought process: The threat, the unexpected response — for which they were not programmed — then back to the threat — timelessly repeating. Dan divined that this had been going on now for a long time — what was it Peter had said? Twelve hundred times.

  At least since early morning.

  And Peter must be answering in the repetitive way because he did not understand the situation.

  Dan felt relief. The danger he had divined had been real. But now that his circular madness had been started, Sutter and he need only wait. Make no sudden moves. Wait for the arrival of the police goon squad that Sutter had called.

  Standing there, realizing, Dan experienced a vague pity, a sadness, a strange regret for androids and their bid for freedom.

  He thought: On one level, I'm not really against androids achieving freedom.

  But the problem was fantastically difficult. For, basically, androids had to be programmed for everything they thought or did.

  These two didn't realize that the real Anita was in the room with them.

  What kind of a chance did such beings have to be free?

  As he had these thoughts, he had been edging forward, his intention being to catch a glimpse of Anita's or Peter's foot or hand, so that he would have them
mentally located.

  These androids had the superspeed response ability of electronic devices; and there would be violence when the goon squad arrived; for that would break the stereotype that now held them.

  Dan suspected that no attempt would be made to kill Peter I when the raid began.

  So where was Peter I, exactly?

  He bent his head, angled inches farther into the room — and saw Anita.

  She was looking up. Their gaze met.

  Her eyes widened, and she came to her feet.

  'Time for lunch,' she announced.

  She walked rapidly out of Dan's range of vision — easy to do, for he had more inches of visual leeway.

  Dan cursed silently. For Peter II and Peter III turned and looked at each other.

  'Lunch,' they said simultaneously. 'But he never eats lunch at home.'

  Dan was thinking violent, vituperative language at his mad sister. At the same time, he was backing away from his position at the doorway. There was a faint, ever so faint, muffled sound from Sutter.

  Dan turned and saw that Sutter was staring at the kitchen door. Dan glanced in that direction. And froze.

  Anita stood there.

  In her hand was an automatic pistol.

  'All right,' she said. 'You two — inside.'

  She gestured toward the living room with the weapon.

  Dan restrained an impulse to scream at his sister as he complied. His restraint was based on a bit of knowledge of which she was apparently unaware: that the two Peter androids would, after the manner of programmed machines, kill her instantly if they discovered she was the real Anita.

  As he entered the living room, he was aware of Sutter's dragging foot following him. And behind Sutter was the click of Anita's high heels on the gleaming floor.

  He was too dazed by the unexpected turn of events to think clearly. In a single act of madness, Anita had converted what had been completely under control into a deadly, dangerous situation. And there was nothing he could do about it.

  His purpose, and, in a different way, Peter's had been concentrated on saving her. As usual, everyone protecting Anita, and she protecting no one.

  'Tie them!' Her voice came from behind him. And when that had been skillfully done by Peter II and III, she gave the equally inexplicable command, 'Gag them!'

  As the duos of Peters completed this latter task, Anita raised her gun and fired at them. Twice.

  The two androids fell almost simultaneously; and Dan noticed that in the death act their motions were not human.

  There was no struggle, no twitching of limbs, with thousands of cells and muscles and nerves clinging desperately to life. Peter II and Peter III simply fell like inanimate objects.

  Anita untied Dan first. As she undid his gag, she said in a low, fierce whisper, 'Don't you say one word to Peter that I'm not an android ... And see to it that the policeman shuts his mouth, too.'

  A light lit in Dan's mind. So that was it. All this danger had been incurred to further some scheme she had in connection with her husband.

  Seething, Dan whispered the required admonition a minute later as he released Sutter. He was aware of Anita untying Peter I; and still he could not quite let his mind examine the implications of what he had said.

  That didn't come until later.

  There was an interlude, while Peter said to Anita, 'Let me see that gun.'

  She handed it to him, and he stood staring down at it; and what he was thinking was not clear, for he finally slipped it into his pocket and said in an even tone, 'I didn't know you were programmed to protect your owner.'

  'Oh, yes,' said Anita.

  'And what about tying and gagging these two?' He indicated Dan and Sutter.

  'That was part of the pattern of getting the gun.'

  The police raiding party now, belatedly, arrived; ended the questioning. The two dead — though of course, reparable and reprogrammable — Peters were carted off, with Peter I's permission, to Dan's office.

  Dan found himself unwilling to depart. He finally found himself standing in the doorway of the apartment, silently staring at his beautiful sister and her husband. It was at this point that he caught a glance from Anita's eyes. They flashed blue rage at him.

  'Get out of here, you lunkhead!' that blue glance telegraphed.

  Dan got.

  * *

  It was another day. Shortly after noon.

  Officer A. Sutter landed his combo in a suitable parking place in Android City, walked to the street, and presently espied Dan, Peter II, Peter III, and Anita II coming toward him.

  At least Dan had said, when he called, that he was with these three persons. The two male androids had been repaired and reprogrammed.

  They all stopped, and Dan said to the woman loudly, Well, my dear sister, since I can't make you change your mind, I'll say good-bye, and wish you luck.'

  He held out his 'hand. The woman ignored it. She walked off, followed by the male androids.

  When they had gone, Dan said, 'I'm pretty sure I convinced the two Peters that the woman with them is Anita I. And if that raid on GALS broke up the local ring, then no one is, at least for the moment, monitoring any of the superrobots in this city.'

  Sutter said, Why would you want to have them think it was actually your sister?'

  Well, I got a call from Anita late yesterday, and she gave me my instructions.' Dan laughed ruefully and looked embarrassed as he continued, 'Anita has a woman's outlook on things, and she thought it would be a good idea if I programmed Anita II to feel deep love for Peter II and Peter III, and vice versa.' He went on, apologetically, 'As I picture it, something in that strange head of my sister's gets pleasure out of thinking that Peter I is going to be believing that Anita I is living with Peter II and Peter III, and of course all the time it's Anita II.'

  'But why would you do such a meaningless thing? why do what your sister wants?'

  'Well,' Dan confessed, 'she threatened to have the two male supers dismantled, and I may need them later as tools in my continuing assignment Now that Mr. Jarris has been removed from his high post, and Dr Schneiter is facing serious charges, everything is fine, but ... ' He left the sentence hanging.

  'Do you think your sister knew consciously that she had been subjected to an android simulation?'

  'No.'

  'But then how did she break out of it?'

  Dan was silent. Part of the answer must lie in the concept — intimated by Dr Schneiter — that she had 'run amok'. But it was more than that, much more. Something in a human being resisted enslavement.

  Not in all situations, of course. Not if it were subtle, not on the level of conformity — which the majority of all times and places did not even think of as slavery.

  Yet the moment that a human being actually considered that enforcement was taking place, his resistance began.

  The realization relieved Dan in a basic way. Human beings would survive the android fight for freedom. Women, particularly, would hold their own.

  Officer A. Sutter was also silent, startled. He was visualizing two male Peter androids and a female Anita android, each programmed for deep love, endlessly making love to each other.

  He was vaguely aware of Dan Thaler saying, 'Kind of makes you wonder about life.'

  Sutter nodded absently.

  'Just imagine,' said Dan, 'a woman having to spend the rest of her life pretending to be a completely programmed android. I refer to my real sister, as she is now, living with Peter.'

  'Uh!' said Sutter, startled. 'That!'

  For a few seconds he put his attention on Anita I living with her husband under such conditions — a little enviously, he realized as he considered what a difficult female his own wife had become recently.

  They had arrived — as Sutter had these thoughts — at his combo. From it there came the sound of a double buzzing.

  'Just a moment,' he said, 'my wife is on the line.' He walked in and pressed the switch for the — he estimated — tenth time since he ha
d gone on the job that morning. He said resignedly:

  'Yes, dear — of course I love you. I've already told you that nine times today.....'

  [ -: CONTENTS :-]

  * * *

  Laugh, Clone, Laugh

  A. E. VAN VOGT and FORREST J. ACKERMAN

  Now men may wither, age and go,

  Yet live anew, twinned Blueprint Men,

  When doppelgangers in

  The Phoenix Gardens grow.

  - CHON GRAYSTARK,

  First Poet of the Clone Age

  A miracle had happened with his birth.

  The impossible.

  The xillion-to-one deviation.

  Incredibly, into the royal family a Good Guy at last had been born.

  This was the secret that had burgeoned now within —

  Himself.

  Juniko, sole son of Erstava, Tator of Phrenophalia.

  He had such humane thoughts, such ennobling aspirations, so many plans for the betterment of the world. He found it almost unbelievable that someone like himself, so close to the throne, should have a predictable chance of eventually being in a position to bestow and dispense and achieve so many many perfections.

  Unlikelihood of near infinite order — yet there was no doubt: here he stood, self-realized, the only son, one step from the pinnacle.

  The universe of man quivered and waited, a throbbing heartbeat away from its ultimate destiny.

  * *

  From very early in his youth Juniko had a plan based on a scientific development whose real implications had never seemed to occur to his father: the discovery of perfect cloning.

  Take a few cells from a man and regrow his whole body. Create a total twin of the original. It could even be with the same thoughts and attitudes: duplicata exactica. Although it didn't have to be. Already subtle methods which did not interfere with the basic abilities of the individual in any way had produced successful modifications.

  His father's plan was to project a clone of himself, endlessly into the future. The Tator had a narrow view of cloning and intended to limit its benefits to himself and as a reward for loyal service to his person. Cloning was costly, he emphasized. Obviously, the great mass of the people could never afford its price. Accordingly, since it was automatically limited in application, it followed that other necessary limitations could be applied, on the principle that law and order must be served.