The robot swept into the atrium and began talking in a harried, accelerated voice. “Hello, you must be Dr. Anastasi. Please accept my apologies for not meeting you at the spaceport. Your arrival caught us completely by surprise. ”

Janet looked up. “No, really?”

The city robot was unused to dealing with humans, and therefore not tuned to detect sarcasm. “Truly, I am City Supervisor 3. You may find it more convenient to address me as Beta. I was involved in a major research project, but I came as soon as I was able to delegate authority. If it is necessary, my fellow supervisors can be summoned as well. You may consider the entire city to be at your disposal. ”

Janet looked around the hall and thought about the many meanings of the word disposal. “Thank you. To be honest-Beta, is it?-I don’t want to spend any more time here than I absolutely must. I only came here to get one question answered.

“Before I ask it, though, I’ve got a new one. What the deuce is going on with Central?”

Beta’s eyes dimmed, and he shuffled his feet nervously. Basalom detected a slight leakage of sadness on the commlink channel… Central has been… damaged,”Beta said.

“No kidding. What happened?”

“A rogue robot invaded the hall and attacked Central. ” Beta looked up… You must understand, this was before we realized the need for tight security measures. ”

Janet absent-mindedly rubbed her upper arm. “Yes, I’ve met your security measures. But back up a moment: You said a rogue robot? No offense intended, but I’ve never heard of a rogue robot before, much less a rogue Avery robot. ”

“This was not an Avery robot. ” Janet was suddenly stricken with a nasty, sinking feeling. “What kind of robot was it?”

Beta’s eyes flashed, and he looked to Basalom for a moment. “We are not certain. It was not a design that we were familiar with. For example, it was constructed of a cellular material similar to our own, but of a much finer grain. And, while it was subject to the Laws of Robotics, it seemed to have no clear idea of what constituted a human. ”

Basalom switched to commlink. Stand by for download of data. When Beta had acknowledged, Basalom transmitted a summary of the learning machine’s design specification. Was this the robot that attacked Central?

Why, yes.Then on audio, Beta repeated, “Yes, that’s it. The rogue robot was a unit of the type you describe as a learning machine. This explains a lot of things. ”

Janet grabbed Beta and turned him to face her. “Like what? Exactly what did the rogue robot do?”

Beta’s eyes flashed again, and there was a hesitation in his voice. “Or. Anastasi, the rogue apparently became convinced that it was a member of the local species. It assumed their form. It took over leadership of a small socio-political unit. From what we have been able to establish lately, it has apparently been adopted by that unit as a minor deity. ”

Janet let go of Beta and sagged. “Frost… ”

“The learning machine led repeated attacks against Robot City. It destroyed several hunter/seekers, a number of worker robots, and City Supervisor Gamma on two different occasions. Ultimately, it attempted to destroy Central. ”

Janet sat down on the floor and buried her face in her hands. “Frost, frost, f-” She looked up and grabbed Beta’s knee. “What happened to it?”

“Master Derec-are you familiar with the human called Derec, also known as David Avery?”

Janet smiled at the mention of her son. “Oh, I’ve heard of him. ”

“Master Derec arrived and convinced the rogue that he was human. It took the form of a fairly normal robot, and has since left the planet as part of Master Derec’s entourage. ”

Frowning at Basalom, Dr. Anastasi got to her feet and began straightening her hair. “Well, I suppose that’s the best we could hope for. At least it isn’t destroyed. ”, She turned to Beta. “You say the learning machine assumed leadership of the primitive sentients?”

“Yes, madam. Our current research project involves studying the primitives. From what we have been able to decode of their language, it appears that primitives now regard the learning machine as a messiah figure. It has caused considerable disruption to their social order. ”

Or. Anastasi stroked her chin. “I see. So now you’re looking for a way to undo the damage?”

“No, madam. We have concluded that the disruption is too significant for us to repair. Instead, we are seeking ways to take advantage of it, in order to persuade the natives to take up residence in the city. ”

“What?”

Beta blithely continued. “Robot City exists to serve humans. Since there are no humans in permanent residence on this world, we have concluded that the intelligent primitives are human equivalents, or near-humans. Therefore, in order for us to protect and serve them, they must take up residence in the city. ”

Janet went back to staring at her feet and counting to high numbers. Basalom switched to thermographic vision and noted that Mount Anastasi was building up to another eruption.

Janet said, “Next I suppose you’re going to tell me that this is for their own good. ”

“Of course, madam. Our observations have shown that the near-humans live in a dirty, dangerous environment. If they can be persuaded to accept some changes, we can make their lives much more pleasant. ”

This time, Janet defused the angry outburst herself. “Okay, Basalom. Contact the ship. Tell it we’re going to be staying here for a while. We may as well try to steer these tin fascists onto a constructive path. ” Basalom opened his commlink channel and did as Dr. Anastasi instructed.

While he was still on the commlink, though, he intercepted a coded transmission intended for Beta. The code was a simple one, composed of prime number transpositions, and Basalom cracked it in about 50 nanoseconds. He was just in time to catch Beta’s answering transmission.

Go ahead, Linguist6.

We have been engaged by a hunting party of near-humans. Supervisor Gamma has already been destroyed.

Again? Very well; try to salvage his brain, if they ’ ll let you.

That may be difficult. Biologist42 is down with a damaged leg, Organic Chemist 20 is locked up in a First Law dilemma, and I ’ ve lost my left arm below the elbow.

Understood. Mission aborted. Return to the city.

Will comply if possible. The near-humans are circling back. They ’ ve cut us off. I don ’ t think we ’ re going to make it. We ’ d better upload our observational data now. Stand by for core dump.

Ready.

I am commencing to trans

After that, there was only static.

A forest glen: sunlight filtered cool and green through the leaves, while nesting redwings darted through the lower branches of the trees, piping cheerfully. High in the canopy above a newly emerged cicabeetle announced its successful pupation with a loud, low-pitched drone, and off in the distance the happy cries and howls of hunting kin echoed across the valley.

The bowl-shaped floor of the forest clearing was covered with rocky outcroppings, mossy old stumps and fallen logs, and the mangled remains of four robots.

A skinny youngling sauntered past, proudly carrying his prize by the wires that had once connected it to a neck. Someone on the other side of the clearing shouted, distracting the youngling; he dropped City Supervisor Gamma’s head onto a slab of exposed rock, and the resulting clang sent him scampering away. By the time the youngling realized what he’d done and turned back to retrieve the head, it had begun rolling down the slope. Picking up momentum, it skittered across a patch of wet slimewort, dinged off a jutting rock, and took an off -kilter hop and then a long, wobbling bounce. The youngling bounded down the slope after it, trying to catch up with the rolling head.