Harry Harrison Bill 02 On The Planet Of Robot Slaves

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

and recording equipment, we packed a considerable supply of dehydrated beetles
and other rations. What a wonderful experience! We discovered that once the
trip had begun they were more outgoing. They answered all our questions, even
the most technical ones, and were grateful when our physicist pointed out ways
of improving their FTL communication equipment. I was in fourteenth heaven as
I made the notes for my book, the first exopological text to be written about
homo sapiens.. The commander of the spacer, a Captain Queeg, offered to help
Page 33
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
me in any way he could. I decided an interview in depth should begin at once.
Armed with a recorder, notebook and stylobiro I went to his quarters.99
"This is pleasure of greatest importance, Captain Queeg," I
told him. "I know scarcely how to begin," "Why not start by calling me
Charley, which is my first name. And you?" "We have but one name and mine
is Bgr." "Bugger "Beager is closer. Two words you have often used
intrigue me. What is a secret?" "Something you don't tell anyone. You keep
it secret." "If a fact is kept secret then how can communication and
learning be accomplished?" "Easily-on other matters. But secrets are kept
secret." My stylobiro flew across my pad. "Fascinating. Now the other word,
often linked with 'secret'. Military." He frowned. "Why do you want to know
this?" "Why? Why not. Many things we asked about we were told were military
secrets. Both concepts are unknown to us." "You don't keep secrets?" "We
see no reason to. Knowledge is public and meant to be shared by all." "But
you got armies and navies don't you?" Oh how my stylobiro flew. "Negative,
negative. Meaning of terms unknown." "Let me
explain then. Armies and navies are large groups of people with weapons who
defend those nearest and dearest against the vicious enemy." "But what is
enemy," I asked, getting into deeper water all the time. "Enemies are other
groups, countries, people100 who want to take your country, land, freedom
away. And kill you." "But who would want to do that?" "The enemy," he
said grimly. I was at a loss for words, a rare thing for a
Chinger of education. I finally managed to control my spinning thoughts and
speak. "But we have no enemies. All Chingers of course live in peace with
other Chingers, since to consider injuring another means that another could
consider injuring you and that is nonviable. And, in our voyages to other
worlds, we have never met an intelligent species before. We study the species
we meet, aid them if we can, but have found no enemies so far." At that point
a sudden thought devastated me and I could barely speak, barely choke out the
words. "You humans, you are not our enemies are you?" "Of course not," he
laughed loudly at the idea. "We like you little green guys, really we do."
"And of course we are not your enemies," I assured him. "We could not be
since, until this moment, the term was unknown to us." I decided to let
this strange and discomfiting matter rest there and went on to other topics of
interest. When I returned and told my associates about military and secrets,
then about enemies they were just as baffled as I was. These alien concepts of
the aliens were really alien. It was our physician who suggested the idea that
there might be a disease that infected mankind, a form of mental illness that
made them see enemies where none existed. This was a concept we could deal
with. It even cheered us because, if this concept were true, we might help
them find a cure for the disease. It was in this enthusiastic mood that we
landed on the human planet named Spiovente.101 This may sound incredibly
naive to a sophisticated audience, but it is true. We were dealing with
concepts the mind cannot stomach, so were suffering from mental gastric
upsets. However our studies terminated rather unexpectedly. One of our number
proved to be krndl. This is a term of a sexual nature, having to with our
unique physical structure, and too complex to explain. But it does require
that the Chinger so affected must return to our world, our society, within a
limited period of time. When this was explained to our hosts they grew
agitated and withdrew. My companions were not disturbed by this. I was. I
was beginning to assemble a mental operating pattern for homo sapiens-and I
did not like it. These were just suspicions at the time and I failed to
acquaint the others of my thoughts since they were so outrageous. In fact
there was little time to do this since at that moment we were summoned to the
meeting hall on the third story of the building where our studies were taking
place. Captain Queeg was the only human present and he appeared to be upset.
"What has gotta be, has gotta be," he said cryptically. "I'm sorry"
"Sorry for what?" I asked. "Just sorry. I really do like you little green
Page 34
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
fellers, I really do..." When he said this I knew that my worst fears had
become reality. I called out to my companions to flee at once, but they were
too shocked to understand. So I alone survived. I hurled myself through the
window as the doors opened and the firing began. It was obvious by
hindsight that when we had agreed to accompany the humans we would never be
allowed to return. We had been told secrets, and a102 number of them of a
military nature, which would have to be kept secret. And there was only one
sure way of doing that. Kill us all. I brooded over this and sorrowed for
my dead companions. And looked for a way to get off this planet and warn my
fellow Chingers. It was very difficult since all spacecraft were undergoing
intense and complete inspection before being allowed to leave. That was when I
conceived the notion of human disguise. My first altered robot was not as
sophisticated as the later Eager Beager persona, but it sufficed to get by in
a crowd on a rainy night. The crowd happened to be a group of draftees off to
the wars and they were so wrapped up in their own troubles that they never
noticed my rather unusual appearance. The war began after that. Once in
space I entered the communications room by walking through the steel wall,
coming from a IOG world does have its advantages, and sent an FTL message of
warning. It was believed, since by that time humans had been attacking our
establishments wherever they could be found. It takes two to make a war work.
We had to either knuckle under or fight back. The reluctant choice was
made.C H A P T E R 11103"Are we supposed to believe that?" Meta sneered.
"It is but the truth." "I don't think that you little four-armed bastards
can even spell the truth!" "Tea, art, you, tea, haich." "Don't get smart
with me, buddy. I'm supposed to believe that holier-than-thou bowb? Your bunch
is honest, truthful, upright. While we humans are lying warmongers." "That
is your interpretation, not mine.
Though I find it quite descriptive and will make a note of it. I did not say
that we Chingers are models of perfection. We are not. But we do not lie and
we do not start wars." "You lied to me," Bill said. "When you were a spy.
"Correction humbly accepted. Until we met you humans we did not lie.
Now, naturally, we do. As one of the exigencies of total warfare. But we still
do not start wars." "A likely story," Meta sniffed. "You expect me to
believe that if we stopped the war tomorrow that you would just go away like
that?" "Of a certainty." "You wouldn't maybe attack suddenly when we104
weren't looking, a preemptive strike? Get us before we got you."
"I assure you that we would not. This concept, which you accept so willingly,
is alien to us. We fight, when forced to for our own survival, in defense. We
are incapable of fighting an offensive war." "War is war," Bill said,
making what he thought was an intelligent remark. "It certainly is not," [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Podobne