Death's Demand Read online

  Ron Landry struggled to keep things in a rational perspective. He knew that there were few living, organically-constituted officials left in the Arkonide Empire, and most of them served in the regional ministries or other less important administrations. The inner core of the imperial government itself consisted mostly of robots. Nor were they the two-legged type designed to imitate their creators in appearance. For the most part the aesthetic considerations had been subordinated to the need for greater capacity and efficiency. Behind the doors on either side of the transport-belted passages there was nobody who reported here to work every morning to accomplish their more or less responsible duties and then go home again at night. In their places were positronic robot brains which worked unceasingly, both day and night.

  For this reason the corridors were empty. It was why the whole vast complex gave the impression of being a haunted house.

  Nike Quinto swung into an antigrav shaft and floated upward. The others followed him. Ron Landry estimated that they must have ascended at least 50 meters before a shaft exit appeared overhead. Quinto shoved himself toward it, still leading the way. They were in a circular chamber which gave access to many branching passages which led off in all directions. However, Quinto went straight across to a door in the opposite wall and activated its automatic release.

  The door glided to one side and gave access to a medium-sized, moderately furnished room. Ron saw a large desk that was surrounded by a few comfortable chairs. Against the walls were a number of automated file cabinets for auto-retrieval of records. Behind the desk were two men: Julian Tifflor, Solar Marshal and Ambassador to Arkon; and His Eminence Gonozal VIII, Imperator of the Arkonide Empire.

  Ron bowed to the Imperator, after which he snapped to attention and saluted the Marshal according to regulations.

  • • •

  "I have to disappoint you, gentlemen," explained the Imperator after the first introductory remarks had been exchanged. "You no doubt assume that I have information to give you regarding this event." As he looked at Nike Quinto and each of his men, one after another, dejection was reflected in his eyes. "But such is not the case."

  Quinto waited diplomatically. Before him sat an Emperor and a Solar Marshal. There would be no purpose in opening his mouth as long as either one of them had something to say. It was only after a few moments of silence that the colonel ventured to speak.

  "We had not expected, Your Highness, that in the few days since the Admiral's assassination the crime and its motivation would be all cleared up. We are prepared to start right from the beginning."

  The Imperator nodded. "Colonel, if you have a plan which you wish to inform me about, please let me hear it."

  Nike Quinto began without preamble. He presented his idea to his listeners and included all necessary particulars.

  "Are you aware of the risks involved?" asked Marshal Tifflor after he had heard it all.

  "Yes sir," answered Quinto. "But of all plans we've examined which might lead to success in the shortest possible time, this one is considered to be the most feasible."

  • • •

  Admiral Thekus' body had been brought to the central government building. Immediately after their conference with the Imperator, Quinto and his men went directly to the place where Thekus was lying in state. The equipment from the spaceport had been transported here in the meantime. Nike Quinto made sure that the general area had been hermetically sealed off by robot guards and additional unseen security devices, and then he got to work at once.

  Arkon would not have to wait much longer for the Admiral's return.

  • • •

  The first thing he was aware of was a sense of impatience.

  It was an unusual kind of impatience. He searched his mind. Probing here and there mentally, he discovered that for the most part his general awareness still lay in shadow. In other words, the life force had not yet penetrated everywhere. He had a definite impression that he would be capable of much more important perceptions, once he had fully awakened. This was the basis of his impatience.

  He possessed a memory. He searched through it in an attempt to find out who he was and why he was in this situation. But memory itself had not yet fully awakened. That was why he was only picking up fragments of recollection which he laboriously tried to piece together.

  He had a name: Thekus.

  He had a rank: Admiral of the Arkonide spacefleet and adviser to Imperator Gonozal VIII.

  Gonozal VIII was not his friend.

  He had been—assassinated.

  By whom?

  He was still searching for an answer to this as he came fully back to life. And then he realized that there was no answer. Although no part of his memory now lay in darkness he had no recollections which could satisfy the question concerning the motive for his murder. Which he found to be very strange.

  Somewhere deep within his memory he encountered certain presentiments which were related to revolutionary intrigue, insurrection and high treason. There were no clear details, merely an outflow of various combined observations—apparently the result of logical processes.

  When he opened his eyes he found that his sense of sight was completely in working order. Before him he saw two men whom he had never met before, according to his memory references. One of them was small and fat with a very red face. The other was tall, broad-shouldered and blond.

  Thekus found that he was lying on a stretcher. He felt strong enough to stand up. He wanted to get up as quickly as he thought about it but he had no sooner begun to do so than he realized that thinking and moving were two different things. He was probably faster than the two who stood before him and observed him but he was nevertheless 1000 times slower than his thoughts.

  This was his first new experience. He registered it carefully in his memory. Thoughts are immaterial things, he told himself, and move swiftly. Limbs of the body are material things and are subject to a high amount of inertia. He learned fast. Even as he stood up and returned the gaze of the two men he absorbed at least 10 new phases of experience.

  "How are you, Admiral?" asked one of these two suddenly.

  At first Thekus was only aware of the sound of the words alone. Then in the back of his consciousness an amazingly rapid process took place—and he understood the question. More than that, he could even answer it. In fact he spoke clearly in perfect Arkonide.

  "Thank you. Considering the circumstances, I am well."

  He looked down at himself to find that he was naked. This failed to disturb him but in the middle of his chest he saw a lump under his skin and it came to his consciousness that this little detail of his body was unnatural.

  "What's this here?" he asked, and he stared questioningly at the little fat man.

  The latter turned to look meaningfully at the big blond man beside him. "Don't you know, Admiral?" he countered.

  Thekus turned his left hand in a gesture of uncertainty. "No, I don't think so," he answered hesitantly.

  The fat one spoke to his companion. "We have to make a note of that, Landry. Something is wrong there.

  The big man named Landry was more optimistic. "Nothing that we can't correct in a hurry, sir."

  "Then please do so, Major!"

  For a moment Thekus was confused. Was the man's name Landry or Major? And what kind of language was this that they were speaking now? He understood it but it was different than the tongue he had first made use of. Then he realized that he was proficient in two different languages. He was bilingual. He understood that "Major" was a military rank, so Landry must be a name. He was satisfied with his progress.

  Now Landry came to stand in front of him. After studying him for a few moments he opened his mouth and spoke quite slowly "Read #100!"

  Thekus understood the command at once and read. Under address 100 he found certain constants he was supposed to read and with it the next command. This command ordered him to differentiate between two variable conditions. First: INPUT = 0. The meaning of this was: nobo
dy is near me. This was tied to address 213, which ordered him to remain silent. Secondly: INPUT = less than 0. This meant: an enemy is near me. The related address here was 1000, and under 1001 Thekus found one explanation: The apparatus on my chest is a temporary aid to my circulation. I am not completely well yet.

  There was a third variation: INPUT = greater than 0. This meant: a friend is near me. This was tied to address 1125, which gave the final meaning to Thekus: The apparatus on my chest is a magnetic-field generator and generates the fields which turn on or turn off the bit registers in my central memory bank.

  He sensed something like surprise that he had not arrived at this conclusion by himself. Now he wasn't quite so confident of his progress. But without being asked he reported to the man named Landry what he had found.

  Landry seemed to be satisfied as he smiled at the smaller man. "Do you see, sir?"

  The fat one nodded. "Amazing," he commented. "But we'll still have to make a series of tests to be sure of ourselves."

  Thekus suddenly understood that he had been created for a special purpose. He realized that he must be at the disposal of these two but it didn't bother him. He knew no such feelings.

  After all, he was only a robot, even if a fairly complicated model.

  3/ THE SUPER DECOY

  Meech Hannigan regarded his new colleague with unconcealed interest while they prepared for the reception that Thekus himself was going to give on the occasion of his "resuscitation".

  For Meech this was a new experience. He had been involved with other robots but they had all been recognizable as such at first glance. They had performed useful tasks without having to be disguised as men of flesh and blood. However with himself and the robot named Thekus it was another matter.

  For the purposes of Division 3 it had proven useful to have a member in the active service who could not be influenced psychologically and whose reaction time was much faster than others. A robot was capable of filling both requirements. Yet any enemy would immediately change his tactics if he knew that the one he was dealing with was a robot. So this was why Meech had been disguised. No one who spoke with him or observed him would ever have a suspicion that he was anything but a man of flesh and blood.

  Thekus' task and purpose were simpler and more direct than his. No one knew who had killed the real Admiral. It was obvious, however, that some revolutionary movement must be going on under cover of various illegal actions and that this had been behind Thekus' death. What role Thekus himself had played in connection with this movement was the more difficult question.

  The robot Thekus was supposed to find the answers. When he had made the trip from Terra to Arkon in a coffin-like case he had only been a framework containing the necessary positronic equipment. Now, 12 days after his arrival on Arkon, there was nothing about him that would have enabled anyone to tell that he was not the genuine Thekus. That is, unless they were to cut through the shell of living cellular substance that covered his plastic-metal body in order to take a look at what was down inside.

  For Meech Hannigan the odd situation had developed wherein he would have to show special respect to Thekus in spite of their equality of origin. Because after all he was only a sergeant while Thekus was an admiral.

  • • •

  The reception proceeded without the slightest untoward incident. If the enemy had shown up at all by now he must have decided to lie low for the time being. Thekus talked to a whole lineup of news reporters. He told them how he had felt during his revivification and described how he still had to carry supporting devices with him which gave his weakened body the strength to continue and would aid him to reach the highest possible level of health again. He handled all this in such a natural conversational tone and with such a good voice simulation that there was not the slightest suspicion that this could be a perfect stranger to the people who had been substituted in the role of the Admiral.

  The entire ceremony lasted only an hour. In the opinion of the Terran physicians, no more could be expected of the patient at this time. The reception terminated with the appearance of His Eminence the Imperator, who embraced the Admiral and congratulated his "dear friend" on such a wonderful resuscitation. The reporters departed in great haste to report the sensation to their papers and stations. Arkon had its topic of conversation for the day. As Nike Quinto expressed it, Admiral Thekus was back in circulation.

  After the colonel had returned with his team to the house they had rented, he made a more private comment: "We've thrown out the bait. All we can do now is wait and keep our eyes open."

  • • •

  Unobtrusively they had so arranged Admiral Thekus' daily activities so that they could always keep an eye on him. It was revealed to the public that Thekus' state of health was still not good enough for him to be released to go home. This was why a house had been rented for him that was near the residence of his Terran "physicians". Both buildings were no more than 20 km from the border of the governmental district. It was understandable that for the present the Terran doctors would want to still keep their patient under close surveillance. It did not escape anyone's notice that one of the Terrans always accompanied Thekus each day when he took his short walks.

  What was of course much less obvious was the fact that Thekus' house had been wired with many kinds of listening and monitoring devices. Nike Quinto himself had selected the location and on the very first day had commissioned Meech Hannigan to provide the necessary installations. Although Thekus was a perfect robot as far as the role he had to play was concerned, for that very reason there had been no room to spare in his interior to include the required amount of warning and sensing devices. So Meech had carefully concealed them in the walls, ceilings and floors of the house that had been chosen for the Admiral.

  In their own house, 500 meters distant, the five Terrans took turns at the job of monitoring their indicators. Usually it was Ron Landry who accompanied Thekus on his little outings. Being tall, stately and intelligent-looking, he came closest to the Arkonide concept of a Terran scientist. Larry Randall was practically the only other team member who could take his place in this regard.

  On this particular day Ron Landry came to Thekus' house as usual just before noon and pressed the buzzer. Almost at once the wide door opened in the "stem" section of the inverted funnel structure. There was no one to be seen in the antechamber, which was in keeping with the recommendation of Thekus' doctors, who said that until he had fully recovered he should have as few personnel around him as possible. All he was permitted to have was three all-purpose robots. Of course the reason was obvious: organic personnel could be bribed and even robots could be re-programmed. If the dwelling of a top statesman like this were to be staffed with the usual complement of aides and servants it would have been easy for an enemy to kidnap the Admiral—or to kill him—depending upon the objectives of the opposition.

  Ron launched himself into one of the seven antigrav shafts that branched upward from the antechamber. As usual he got out at the fifth level of the conical building, just above the upper terraces of the garden, and there he found Thekus on one of the verandas which gave one a view of the inner open court.

  Ron gave him a military salute. "Sir, I have come to take you for your walk, if I may."

  Thekus gave him a friendly nod. "Let's go," he answered. "But do you think that today I could take a drive instead of going for a walk?"

  Landry appeared to consider this for a moment. "I believe we could try it, sir," he finally decided. "I'll call a car."

  At his present residence Thekus had no personal vehicles. Ron left the veranda and went into one of the rooms beyond it so that he could use one of the intercoms which were everywhere. He selected the address code of a car-rental station but didn't have to speak. At the station the selector impulse was received and the time and origin were registered. He knew that a robot car would be dispatched and that it would arrive within five minutes at the latest.

  Ron descended to the ground floor w
ith his ward. Meanwhile, Thekus had left word with one of his mechanical domestics as to where he was going. The car was already there when Ron and the Admiral came out of the house. Thekus made himself comfortable in one of the adjustable rear seats and sighed as though in pleasurable anticipation of the drive.

  "I'd like to visit the eastern shopping center," he said. "I recall that my niece is having a party tomorrow or day after tomorrow and I'd like very much to send her a present.

  Ron nodded in agreement. "Good. I don't have any idea where the eastern shopping center is—but help yourself..."

  He waved a hand invitingly to the address-selector panel that was installed between the 2 seats. Thekus leaned over it and fed a series of numbers and code-letters into the auto-pilot. The car responded and started off in the indicated direction.

  Ron took a few moments to enthuse over the excellent response of Thekus' programming. He actually knew very well where the eastern shopping center was located. He himself had adjusted Thekus' program so that on a certain day and time—meaning now—the Admiral would request this drive to the large shopping area. The purpose of the operation was to bring Thekus among the people for a longer time than usual. It was necessary to give the enemy a chance to make the first move. Ron was sure that no one would find it peculiar that the robot car had been prepared with listening devices. That would be regarded as a very normal precaution.

  Since all such vehicles were capable of flight, the aircar rose up over the park-like landscape that covered all the areas between the typical Arkonide cone structures. The gigantic buildings of the government zone fell swiftly away toward the southwest. Within a matter of seconds the cluster of buildings known in this region as the "eastern shopping center came into view."