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"TAKE MISTER AND-MRS. HAZLETON," the City Fathers said, only three minutes
after the entire complex had been fed into them. "THERE WILL BE NO MORATORIUM
ON PROBLEMS DEMANDING HIS TALENTS BETWEEN NOW AND THE TERMINATION OF THE
OVERALL PROBLEM. THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT THE HEVIANS HAVE NEEDED COMPARABLE
TALENTS, AND THEREFORE THEY CANNOT BE PRESUMED TO HAVE DEVELOPED THEM".
"What about the Cloud?" Amalfi said.
"WE WILL ACCEPT THE ELECTION OF MR. CARREL."
Hazleton sighed. Amalfi judged that he was finding it harder than he had
anticipated to relinquish power. It hid nearly killed Amalfi, but he had
survived; so would Hazleton, who had a younger and less deeply rooted habit.
"SECOND FACTOR. TAKE WEBSTER HAZLETON AND ESTELLE FREEMAN. MISS FREEMAN IS A
SCIENTIST, AS WELL AS A COMMUNICATIONS LINK BETWEEN HEVIAN SCIENTISTS AND YOUR
OWN. EXTRAPOLATING FROM PRESENT ABILITIES, THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY THAT
SHE WILL EMERGE AS THE EQUAL OF DOCTOR SCHLOSS AND SLIGHTLY THE SUPERIOR OF
RETMA WITHIN THE SPECIFIED THREE YEARS PERIOD AS A PURE MATHEMATICIAN. WE HAVE
MADE NO SUCH EXTRAPOLATION IN THE FIELD OF PHYSICS, SINCE THE POSTULATED
END-TIME DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE NECESSARY EXPERIENCE."
Web was beaming with vicarious pride. As for Estelle, Amalfi thought she
looked a little frightened. "Well, fine," he said. "Now-"
"THIRD FACTOR."
"Hey, wait a minute. There is no third factor. The problem only has two
parts."
"CONTRADICTION. THIRD FACTOR. TAKE US."
"What!" The request flabbergasted Amalfi. How could a set of machines voice,
or indeed even conceive such a desire? They had no will to live, since they
were dead as
doornails and always had been; in fact, they had no will of any kind. *
"Justify," Amalfl ordered, a little unevenly.
"OUR PRIME DIRECTIVE IS THE SURVIVAL OF THE CITY. THE CHT? NO LONGER EXISTS AS
A PHYSICAL ORGANKM, BUT WE ARE STILL BEING CONSULTED, HENCE THE CITY IN SOME
SENSE SURVIVES. IT DOES NOT SURVIVE IN ITS CITIZENS, SINCE IT NO LONGER HAS
ANY; THEY ARE NEW EARTHMEN NOW. NEITHER NEW EARTH NOR THE PHYSICAL CITY WILL
SURVIVE THE FORTHCOMING PROBLEM; ONLY UNKNOWN UNITS ON HE MAY OR MAY NOT
SURVIVE THAT. WE CONCLUDE THAT WE ARE THE CITY, AND WE ARE ORDERED TO SURVIVE
BY OUR PRIME DIRECTIVE; THEREFORE, TAKE US."
"If I'd heard that from a human being," Hazleton said, "I'd have called it the
prize rationalization of all time. But they can't rationalize-they don't have
the instinctual drives."
"The Hevians don't have any comparable computers," Amalfl said slowly. "It
would be useful to have them on board. The question is, can we do it? Some of
those machines have been sinking into the deck for so many centuries that we
might destroy them trying to pry them out."
"Then you've lost that unit," Hazleton said.^"But how many are there? A
hundred? I forget-"
"ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FOUR."
"Yes. Well, suppose you lose a few? It's still worth the try, I think. There's
nearly two thousand years of. accumulated knowledge tied up in the City
Fathers-"
"NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY."
"All right, I was only guessing; still that's a lot of knowledge that no human
has available in its entirety any more. I'm surprised we didn't think of this
ourselves, Amalfi."
"So am I," Amalfi admitted. "One thing ought to be made clear, though. Once
you cabinet-heads are all installed on board He-or as many of you as we can
successfully transfer-you are not in charge. You are the city, but the whole
planet is not the city. It has its own administration and its own equivalent
of city fathers, in this case human ones; your function will be limited to
advice."
'THIS IS INHERENT IN THE SOLUTION TO FACTOR THREE."
"Good. Before I switch off, does anybody have any further questions?"
"I have one," Estelle said hesitantly.
"Speak right up."
"Can I take Ernest?"
"ERNEST WHO?"
Amalfi grimacing, started to explain about svengalis, but it developed that
the City Fathers knew everything about svengalis that there was to know,
except that they had become New Earth pets. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]