Spaceship of Ancestors Read online

  PS5 and D3 stared down at her and realized that she was unusually lovely. Only once in their lifetime were the men of their world allowed to see a woman. When their studies and apprenticeship was over there was one year of vacation. It was the most beautiful time of their lives. In that year they got to know some sort of family life and had only one responsibility—to produce offspring. When that had occurred, the temporarily coupled individuals were separated, never to see each other again. The man was detailed to the work sector for which he had been trained and remained there until the Commander ordered his elimination. The woman remained in the children's sector for several years until she received her second vacation.

  After the birth of the second child her life's task was fulfilled. If she had not excelled at anything or applied for some special training in childcare or education, death in the converter claimed her...

  The girl in the glass case was not only beautiful, she also embodied the most secret wishes and longings of the two men, who knew nothing but their useless and already lost lives.

  The voice of the psychologist trembled. "A miracle... she's like a miracle! She's still very young..."

  "She is thousands of years old!" the doctor soberly interrupted. "She just looks so young because her body cells haven't decomposed."

  The psychologist stared transfixed at the naked figure as his fingers tightened like iron clamps around the raygun. His eyes gleamed menacingly as he whispered: "These monsters...! What a life they have condemned us to, whoever they may be!" He looked up and sought the eyes of the physician. "Now we know why we were never to learn the truth, they knew we could not have stood it any longer! Our entire life is one single lie. We are only to know what we are allowed to see and we are repeatedly told it is the sole beauty existing in the universe. We were unaware of what else there was—except us. But, D3, now we know!"

  "Just what do we know?" replied the doctor, making an effort to appear calm and composed. "Here they lie, the eternal slumberers. So what next? Do they bear the guilt for our existence? Or is there some other guilty one?"

  "Who could that be?"

  "Perhaps the Commander... I don't know. He must know more than we do."

  PS5 shook his head and regarded the girl again. "The Commander is mortal like us. When his time has come the converter will be waiting for him too." The psychologist paused briefly, squinted his eyes and added: "Nevertheless we are going to ask the Commander if he knows anything. Now we finally have the courage for that."

  "Of course we will ask him," D3 agreed. "But it will be the end of our lives. Or do you think that we still will be alive one hour after that conversation?"

  "I'll take that risk, my friend. We have weapons. If we are at the right spot, we could even hold an entire army of guards in check."

  "Mutiny?" whispered D3 timidly. "You mean you intend to rebel against the existing order?"

  "That was not my intention but it is becoming increasingly evident that we will never survive our questions to the Commander without resistance. I don't know who the Commander is and how he thinks. I know him only from various conversations in which not one private word was uttered. Perhaps he himself is tormented by doubts but perhaps he is an unfeeling automaton who mechanically fulfills his duty—or what he considers to be his duty."

  With one last, almost regretful look at the naked girl the psychologist turned away. He looked over at the small entry hole next to which R75 stood guard. It was still perfectly quiet.

  "There are more than 200 glass blocks," D3 said. "I wonder if there are other rooms of this sort? The number seems too small to me."

  "You will have noticed that the room is slightly inclined," PS5 responded thoughtfully. "My knowledge of mathematics is hardly outstanding but I guess that there are at least nine or 10 more of these halls in this sector of the ship. I don't venture to say what it looks like in those other parts but there is nothing to indicate that—that the freezer is limited to one section."

  The physician shuddered in horror. "That term reminds me how cold it is. I can't stand it much longer. Shall we have a look at the other slumberers?"

  "Some," replied the psychologist, suddenly turned monosyllabic. "We will hardly learn any more than we already know—arid the guards could appear at any moment. I am surprised that it hasn't happened yet."

  Again they strained to pick up any sounds in the twilight but there was nothing to be heard. R75 cast them questioning, fearful glances. He raised his hand and signaled. The hour was almost up.

  PS5 nodded back. "We had better hurry," he said to the doctor. "I want to avoid a meeting with the guards—at least today. One day the showdown will have to take place."

  "With those metal monsters," D3 shuddered. "I don't feel very well when I think about it."

  The psychologist seemed astonished. "Why's that? Haven't you done away with one yourself?"

  "Sure—but I think we will have to distinguish between the guards on this side of the wall and beyond it. I haven't seen any here as yet it's true but the tale our new friend R75 told is enough to..."

  He suddenly stopped.

  Was that a noise?

  With lightning speed he turned to the place where R75 stood guard. The repairman was standing motionlessly, peering into the dimness behind the glass blocks. Somewhere back there metal was scraping upon metal, it seemed as if something were rubbing against the floor. And then it became lighter.

  They saw it.

  In the background a crack opened, soon increasing in size and revealing a portalway. The room behind it was brightly lit. Against the light, however, the outline of five or six gigantic shadows appeared, in outline. They proceeded to slowly set themselves into motion.

  "The guards!" R75 screamed in terror and bent over to seek salvation in flight. As quickly as he could he jammed himself through the hole, not ceasing to call for help.

  "Let's get out of here!" D3 shouted, grabbing the psychologist's arm. "What are you waiting for? If they catch up with us..."

  "They know that we are here," PS5 responded with uncanny calm. He might have been fearful of the danger but now that he was confronted with it his composure returned. His thumb clicked back the safety catch of his weapon. "I want them to know that their waiting is at an end. We'll finish off at least one of them."

  The doctor hesitated. He did not want to flee alone and abandon his friend to his fate but on the other hand he loved his life, as empty and meaningless as it might be. Having decided, he too prepared to face the enemy.

  "We should at least attempt to cover our retreat he hastily suggested. "Let's shoot when we reach the hole so we can disappear right afterward."

  "Good—but quick!"

  With one last glance at the sleeping girl the psychologist hurried after the doctor. One second later he reached the opening to the inhabited rooms of the ship. Tensely they awaited the things that were coming.

  And they came...

  Six robots they were, striding towards them between the long rows of glass coffins. Their arms were bent at right angles and they had no hands but instead the insidiously gleaming lenses of deadly energy ray emitters. They were almost 232 meters tall, true giants. The guards in the inhabited part of the ship were at most two meters tall. The difference was obvious and it made itself noticeable in another respect: They possessed the ability to speak.

  It was a hard, metallic voice that suddenly called: "Stay where you are! Do not try to escape us!"

  PS5 seemed to awaken from a dream. His hand trembled lightly as he raised the weapon and aimed at the robots. Poised with one leg in the escape hole, the doctor followed his example.

  "If you stand still we will talk with you," answered PS5 as loudly as he could. His words echoed through the domed chamber and reflected off the walls. But they did penetrate the mechanical ears of the robots, as the 6 figures came to an instant standstill. Only one of them made another two steps but then it stopped as well.

  "You are not in a position to set conditions," t
he metallic bass voice droned with terrible undertones. "You have been condemned to death since the second you forced your way into this room. No one is capable of saving your life. Why did you come?"

  "Can't you guess?" asked PS5 sarcastically, although his body was covered with goose bumps. He had never been as close to death as at this moment. "What about those people asleep in the glass containers? Who are they? What is your assignment?"

  For awhile there was silence, then the answer came: "Perhaps we shall tell you and your friend the answer but only when it is a mere matter of seconds that separates you from death. Come here and do not flee. We know that a third man got away but he will be struck by the law of the Commander."

  "Don't move," ordered PS5 as the robots prepared to set themselves in motion. "Why didn't you pursue our friend who fled?"

  "We are never allowed to leave the forbidden sector," the robot admitted. It was never to tell a lie, its creator had seen to that—a safety measure which now backfired. "So will you come over to us or should we fetch you?"

  "You haven't answered our questions yet!"

  "I already made explicit that they would be answered later."

  D3 whispered hoarsely to PS5: "You can't bargain with the machine. They act according to their orders and will not change their minds until they are reprogrammed. I know a bit about it. One of my acquaintances, a physicist..."

  "Then at least well give them something to remember us by," the psychologist grimly replied. "Come on, let's try to put at least two of them out of action. And then hightail it out of here. They aren't allowed to follow us, we know."

  Without waiting for approval he pressed the firing button of his weapon.

  The six robots were standing with their backs to the light and were easy to see. The glaring energy finger springing from the psychologist's weapon hit the speaker on the chest and hissed as it ate its way into the ice cold metal. Before the doctor could open fire in turn, a small detonation followed that literally ripped apart the robot leader. Clattering, the giant tumbled to the ground, creating such a din that the two men feared it might be heard in the entire ship.

  The psychologist took aim at the second robot.

  Three of them were destroyed before they returned fire.

  All at once D3 felt a scorching pain on his left hip and was horrified as he saw that his clothes had begun to burn. He screamed as he stooped to slip through the hole into the generator room. PS5 could do what he wanted...

  But the psychologist was smart enough to realize that he alone could not stand up against the three remaining opponents. He followed the doctor and helped him reset the metal piece into the jagged hole.

  Only then did they notice R75, who came out from behind a generator block, trembling and weak-kneed and obviously ashamed of his cowardice. But they could understand him and did not hold his hasty withdrawal against him. They had almost done the same.

  "Help us, R75. Weld the edges!"

  Ten minutes later they were on the way back to their living quarters. More than once they encountered curious glances when they met up with workers or scientists but no one asked a question.

  Before taking leave of one another, PS5 said to R75: "In two days you will report to me for another examination. Come at once, at the beginning of your shift. And another thing, not one word to anyone about what we have experienced! Death is certain if you are unable to keep silent!"

  "I'll keep quiet and come the day after tomorrow," the repairman promised and departed, walking away with calm and slow steps.

  D3 watched him go. "Just a simple man but we can rely on him."

  The psychologist nodded. "And we have to! Especially the day after tomorrow. Can you guess the reason why we are not going to the Commander today?"

  "Yes, I can," D3 responded. "You want to find out whether the robots are really in touch with him and will report the incident."

  "That's it exactly!" nodded PS5. "I am not so sure that they will do it."

  With a handclasp they took leave of one another.

  • • •

  The left door of the two opened and the three men entered the inner sanctum of the ship—the Central Command Room.

  The Commander sat behind a table, and watched them enter. When he recognized by the characters on their chests that it was the persons he had expected, he nodded to the guards that had accompanied his visitors to the door.

  Without a word the giants wheeled around and were gone.

  The door shut by itself.

  Long seconds passed in tense silence; then the spell seemed to be broken. With a friendly gesture the Commander pointed at three armchairs.

  "Have a seat, gentlemen. You are the only people who requested an interview today. As this is not the appointed day for our routine talks, I am very anxious to find out what brings you to me—especially Repairman-75."

  It was indeed unusual that a simple worker wished to speak with the Commander.

  The three men had agreed that PS5 would be their spokesman. He was familiar with the human psyche and knew the right reaction to even the most baffling impulses of a strange heart.

  "Before we disclose the real reason for this talk, we have a few questions to put to you," the psychologist began, consciously breaking the existing order. It was not customary to put questions to the Commander. "If you answer us truthfully, it will be possible for us to speak openly with one another."

  The Commander did not move. An astonished expression did appear in his reddish albino eyes but otherwise he did not betray by the slightest grimace how perplexed he was by the psychologist's extraordinary suggestion. His gaze slid over the faces of the three men as if seeking in them an explanation, then he calmly said, "Go ahead, PS5."

  Now the psychologist was astonished. He had counted on meeting with greater resistance. The unusual readiness of the Commander to bypass all existing laws seemed to indicate that he was informed about the incident in the ship's center. But perhaps he was only curious.

  "My questions are related to the everyday things of our life, Commander. They are not just asked by me but they occupy the minds of thousands of people who are born in this ship, raised here and, ultimately, eliminated. All of these questions can be combined into one: why are we living, Commander?"

  The white-haired ruler over life and death looked into the psychologist's eyes with a glassy stare. His hands were resting on the table before him and PS5 noticed that his fingers were twitching nervously. That was an encouraging sign.

  "Why we are living? A very peculiar question, PS5, if you allow me the remark. But your special profession excuses the curiosity that prompts these questions. What surprises me is that R75 also comes to me with such a question—that he dares to come to me. You as a psychologist should give some thought to it..."

  "You haven't answered me yet," the psychologist brusquely interrupted. His arm was dangling loosely at his side and he felt the comforting nearness of the dangerous energy weapon in his pocket. Don't evade me, Commander."

  This time the Commander openly showed his bafflement. According to the existing laws he was absolute ruler over all living beings of the metal world, his word sufficed for the immediate enforcement of the most severe punishment. And disobedience was always punished by death. This was even more than that! It was plain mutiny.

  "Alright, PS5. You shall have an answer. Every one of us is living so that one day he can serve the community by his death. The disintegration of his body in the converter gives the ship's engines new energy. The living must breathe, drink and eat, the generators must be fed and the course of the ship must be maintained."

  "And why? For whom, when all of us die anyway?"

  However, this time the Commander did not answer directly. "Every one of us who only thinks of his own small and insignificant fate is committing a crime against the community. The individual does not count. Whoever does not submit to this must relinquish his material energy earlier than was allowed him. None of us is living uselessly. We are all s
erving the highest purpose."

  "What is that purpose?"

  "The purpose of the individual is to end in the converter. The purpose of our entire people is unknown."

  "I want to get to the bottom of it. That is why I came to you."

  The Commander studied PS5 with a long and thoughtful look. Then he shook his head. "Even if I wanted to, I could not help you with that. I myself don't know the ultimate goal. I fulfill the task which fate entrusted to me—more I cannot do. It won't be long now and my successor will be sitting in this position. I don't know if he would have the patience to listen to you one more second."

  The psychologist sensed that the talk had entered a critical phase. It would be well not to lay his cards on the table and precipitate a decision.

  "When your successor takes over your office you will die. Are you looking forward to that moment with particular pleasure or satisfaction, Commander?"

  It took a minute for the answer to come. "I regard that inevitable event coldly and indifferently. When I assumed office a generation ago I already knew my mission. I myself brought my predecessor to the converter. That is exactly what will happen to me. I picked the most intelligent lad in the Offspring Sector, made him into O1 and hence into my successor. In gratitude he will kill me as soon as he receives the signal from me."

  "And you don't spend one thought on postponing that event because you want to live?" asked PS5 dubiously. "Do you want to tell us that you look forward to certain death with no emotions?"

  "I feel no different than you do," the Commander responded. "When you decided to ask me these questions you also resigned yourselves to die on that same day. Or do you believe that you will live to see the end of this day?"

  "Yes, we believe that, all three of us, Commander. What is more, we will live even longer than today or tomorrow or until the day you think it right to have us brought to the converter. We shall live until nature decides that we must die. We will live out our full lives until our natural end!"

  The Commander shook his head gravely. "No you, won't! What you are demanding is total madness! You would get old and become a burden to the community. In its final phase your life would be useless to our people and would destroy all the benefit it brought in your active years. None of us may die a natural death because the whole race would die along with him. Why, our commonsense tells us that. There would be too many children, too many people, too little room."