The Magic Labyrinth (43 page)

There was silence for a while. Loga continued his painful limping. Then Burton said, “You might as well tell us.”

Loga sat down in his chair.

“My signal put an inhibit on the resurrection line. I didn’t want any Ethical to commit suicide and get to the tower before I did. What I didn’t know was that another Ethical had also commanded an inhibit on the resurrection line when I was found out.”

The reason for this, Loga said, was that Monat didn’t want the unknown traitor to gain access to the tower. There he or she might be able to carry out his plans—whatever they were—before his presence was known.

Monat’s command overrode everybody else’s.

“He was the Operator.”

Moreover, Monat, through his proxy, had commanded the computer to obey no one else but him until normal operations were restored.

“I’m sure that if he’d known exactly what was to happen, he’d not have given such a command. But he had no more idea than I what course events would take.”

“The universe is infinite, and the events in it are also infinite,” Nur said.

“Perhaps. But you see, the computer uses the
wathans
as its…what shall I say?…blueprints to duplicate bodies. Once, records were kept of the bodies, but it was more economical to use the
wathans
themselves, as I’ve explained. There are no other records. So, if the
wathans
are lost, then we have no way to duplicate bodies anymore.”

Burton rolled this around in his mind.

“Well, you
have
the
wathans
. We saw them in that enclosure in the middle of the tower.”

“Yes, but when the computer dies, the
wathans
will be released! And there is no means then to resurrect the dead. They are lost forever!”

There was another silence. After a minute or two, Alice said, “The computer…is
dying
?”

Loga was almost choking. “Yes. It wouldn’t be if it hadn’t been left unattended so many years.”

The machinery was built to last for centuries without any need for repair or replacement. Nevertheless, parts and units did malfunction now and then. That was why technicians inspected everything at regular intervals, and why there were so many self-repair capabilities. Machines, however, had a well-known but as yet unexplained obstinacy, a seeming tendency to break down of their own will or to refuse to operate. It had been jestingly observed that perhaps they, too, had
wathans
of a sort, and their free will was more ill will than anything else.

During the long absence of human supervision, a valve had quit operating.

“This is not a mechanical valve, you understand. It’s basically a force field which shuts off or on to allow flow of sea water into the food-mixing chamber for the computer. The computer subsists on distilled water mixed with sugar and some traces of minerals. The shut-down valve is one of two. Its mate is for emergencies. It takes over should the main one go out. Then the technicians repair the field generator of the valve, and the backup one shuts down.”

Unfortunately, the emergency valve did not admit enough water for a long term. And so the protein computer was dying.

“I could use the computer memory banks to furnish a model for a duplicate of it as the original before it was fed any data. Unfortunately, the computer contains the only memory banks of that. And it won’t release the information so that I can feed it into the matter-energy converter.”

“Why don’t you repair the field generator?” Frigate said.

“For the good reason that the computer won’t permit me to. Apparently, Monat ordered long ago that it be equipped with defenses. These weren’t activated, though, until I was found out.”

There was another long silence. Alice broke it, saying, “Why don’t you use one of those
wathan
catchers you told us about? The moment the computer died and released the
wathans,
the catcher could restrain them.”

Loga smiled grimly.

“A very good idea. I’ve thought of that. Briefly. The only catcher is the computer. There are memory banks which I could tap to make a catcher. But these are also in the computer.”

“Are the defenses absolutely invulnerable?” Burton said.

“It’s easy to gain access to the field generator. I’d just have to pull out the malfunctioning module and replace it with another. But I’d be dead before I could do that. The computer would cut me down with beams. Just like those which my beamer shoots.”

Nur said, “You used the computer at the same time that the others were. How did you keep them from finding that out?”

“In a sense, I made the computer schizophrenic. One part of it didn’t know what the other was doing.”

“That’s it!” the Moor cried. Then his exultant expression was replaced by a frown. “No. You’d have thought of using it.”

“Yes. I can’t because the engineers apparently discovered the split mind. Now it’s dominated by the main part.”

“You said
dominated,
not
integrated,
” Nur said.

“Yes. The engineers didn’t have time to remove the complex circuits which made the computer schizophrenic. But they did put in temporary bypass circuits to give the main part dominance. They would’ve integrated the parts later. But they were killed before they could do that.”

“How do you know all this?” Burton said.

“The computer gave me that information. It doesn’t refuse to communicate. It just won’t obey any commands except those from Monat or whoever was authorized to act for him.”

“There’s no chance of finding out the codeword or whatever Monat used?”

“Not unless he recorded it somewhere. I doubt that he would. Also, the code would have to be accompanied by the voiceprints of Monat or his aide.”

“Maybe there is no codeword,” Frigate said. “Maybe the voice-recognition is enough.”

“No. Monat would think of that. It’d be relatively easy to isolate phones from records of his speech and synthesize them to make new sentences. Also, Monat might’ve required that there be body recognition, too.”

“Could you make a disguise of Monat to wear yourself?” Turpin said.

“I suppose so. But I’d use beam-simulators.”

Loga seemed very weary now. Burton suspected that it was not the wound which had drained his energy. It was hopelessness and guilt.

“Well,” Burton said. “We don’t know but what voice and body recognition is all that’s required. We must try to fool the computer even if it’s wasted work.”

Alice said, eagerly, “Have you told the computer that it’s going to die?”

“Oh, yes. But it already knew it.”

“Perhaps a man could get through the computer’s defenses,” Burton said, looking hard at Loga.

The Ethical straightened up a little.

“I know what you’re thinking. Since I’m responsible for this horror, I should try to repair the valve generator. Even if there’s an almost one-hundred-percent probability that I’d just be sacrificing myself. I would do that if I thought it’d do any good.

“But what if I succeeded and yet died? None of you would know how to operate the equipment here. You could do nothing to solve this problem.

“Moreover, if the computer lives, what then? The situation is unchanged only in that the computer lives and so the
wathans
won’t be released.”

Burton said that Loga must train them in the use of whatever instruments might be needed. He must because something might happen to him. Was there time for that before the computer died?

The Ethical replied that there might be. He’d have to teach them what the instrument markings meant. It would take too long to teach them the language used when talking to the computer, which was that of Monat’s people and the primary one on the Gardenworld. But he could change the language converters and so allow them to use Esperanto.

“Excellent!” Burton said. “I think we should all go to bed now. We’ll wake up refreshed and with clearer minds. Perhaps we can think of something to use against the computer then.”

They moved into the Councillors’ apartments. Loga went into his. Aphra Behn and de Marbot took one; Alice and Burton, another. Tai-Peng and Turpin shared a fourth apartment and Nur and Frigate the one next to it. Burton thought it best that none of their group be alone. He still didn’t entirely trust the Ethical.

Before they went to sleep, Alice said, “Richard, there has to be a way to get around the computer. It was made by humans, so it should be mastered by humans.”

“Why don’t you appeal to its emotions?” Burton said. “You women are particularly good at that.”

“No more than men, you braying arse! Anyway, I know there’s no use appealing to the emotions of a thing that has none. Although I’m not sure that it doesn’t have some. Or analogies thereof. But since it operates purely by logic, why not use logic against it? Humans put human logic into it. We should be able to fight it or cozen it with logic.”

“I’m sure that Loga has thought of that.”

He kissed her on the cheek and turned away.

“Good night, Alice.”

“Good night, Richard.”

When he awoke some hours later, he found her staring up at the moving figures on the ceiling.

In the morning, they showered and put on clean cloths and then went to a room which was used as a dining hall. Going past the control room, they saw that Croomes’ body had been removed. There were no bloodstains on the floor, and all the skeletons were gone.

“Robots,” Loga said. “I also sent one to take care of Gilgamesh’s body.”

“I didn’t see any robots,” Frigate said.

“You did, but they looked like large cabinets. Your beds are robots, too. They gently massage your muscles and manipulate your spinal cords.”

“I didn’t feel anything when I awoke during the night,” Burton said.

“Nor I,” Alice said.

“They’re very subtle and only operate automatically when you’re asleep. But if you want a massage while awake, you command them. I’ll show you how.”

Over the delicious breakfast, Alice told the others her thoughts about circumventing the computer with the very logic it used.

Loga shook his head. “It sounds fine, but it won’t work.”

“We can at least try,” Alice said.

“We’ll try everything, mental or physical,” Loga said. “But, believe me, I’ve thought of everything.”

“I don’t doubt your intelligence,” she said. “But nine heads are better than one.”

“The nine-headed dragon!” Tai-Peng shouted. His face was flushed; he’d been drinking wine throughout the meal.

“I’ll use one of the electronic computers in this room to set up a system,” Loga said. “But it won’t, I believe, be able to beat its own logic. A computer can calculate much faster than a human, if it has all the proper data. But it doesn’t have an imagination. It’s not creative. Still, its data might contain something I’ve overlooked. And it can be set to make combinations in a very short time which it would take me years to write out. Also, it does have some degree of extrapolation.”

After going to his apartment, he went to the control room and seated himself in the chair in the center of the revolving platform. In a very short time, he called to the others.

“I couldn’t resist asking the big computer how many
wathans
are now in the shaft.”

“How many?” Nur said.

Loga looked at the screen again.

“Eighteen billion and twenty-eight. No. Add three more.”

“Over half the people in The Valley,” Frigate said.

“Yes. Add two more now.”

Loga turned the display off.

“For every hour that passes, more people die, more
wathans
are caught. When the computer dies…”

His voice trailed off.

The Ethical had to have great courage, endurance, determination, and quick wits to do all that he’d done. But his guilt was too crushing for even him.

“Maybe,” Turpin said, “you should throw in the towel. I mean…kill the computer now! That way, you won’t lose any more, and you can continue the project.”

“No!” Loga said, showing fire for the first time since they’d known him. “No! That would be monstrous! I have to save all of them! All!”

“Yes, and maybe you’ll end up losing millions. Or maybe everybody on this planet.”

“No! I can’t!”

“Well,” Turpin said, “I can’t think of anything that’ll help. This is all too deep for me.”

He left for the nearby lounge to play on its piano.

“He’s disgusted with me,” Loga said. “But he doesn’t know the loathing I feel for myself.”

“Recriminations will do no good!” Tai-Peng said, waving a bottle in his hand. “But Tom may be right! I think I’ll go to the lounge and enjoy myself, too! My head aches with thinking!”

“That isn’t what’s making it hurt,” Alice said gently.

Tai-Peng just grinned and kissed her quickly on the cheek as he passed her.

Nur reminded the Ethical that he hadn’t removed the bombs in the cabinets in the other control room.

“I’ll just lock the door,” Loga said. “Now for the logic-versus-logic program. Even if it will be a waste of time.”

Those remaining went off to the language laboratory. The Ethical had given them instructions for the use of the equipment which would teach them to speak and read Gardenworldish or Ghuurrkh. There were also Esperanto-Ghuurrkhian grammars and dictionaries available.

Alice clutched Burton’s arm.

“It is horrible, isn’t it?” she said, her large dark eyes looking into his. “All those souls lost, and they had a chance for immortality! It’s too horrible to think about!”

“Then don’t think about it,” Burton said. “Anyway, even the lost ones will be immortal. They just won’t know it, that’s all.”

She shuddered and said, “Yes. But we could be among them. Do you think you’re Going On? I’d like to believe that I am, but you practically have to be a saint to Go On!”

“Nobody has ever accused me of being a saint unless it was my wife,” Burton said, grinning. “And she knew better.”

Alice wasn’t fooled. She knew that he was as desperate as she.

Two days passed. Loga ran out the results on the console screen while the others watched. When the display was ended, he shook his head.

“No use.”

They conferred again and again and came up with many plans, but these were all dismissed because of flaws in logic or insurmountable facts.

The fourth day after they’d come to the tower, Frigate leaped smiling into the room.

“Hey, we’re pretty dumb! The answer is right under our noses! Why don’t you send robots in to insert the module?”

Loga sighed.

“I’d thought of that. It was one of the first things to occur to me. But even though the robots are made of
charruzz
(the gray metal), the computer’s beamers will slice through them.”

Frigate looked disappointed and a little foolish.

“Yes…but…if you send enough in, they’d knock out the beamers!”

“None of the robots have the functional structure to shoot beamers.”

“Well, couldn’t you convert them? And then program them?”

“It would take me ten days. If I’d started when I first got here, I couldn’t have altered one in time.”

He paused, then said dolefully, “I just checked on the time left before the computer dies. Five days!”

Even though they’d been expecting such an announcement, they were shocked.

Tom Turpin said, “At least we won’t have that to worry about. The souls’ll be gone, and there’s nothing to do about it. But you can give those that’re still alive a lot more time.”

Loga turned some dials and punched a button. Ghuurrkhian numbers glowed on the screen. The others were advanced enough by now to be able to read them.

“Eighteen billion, one hundred and two,” Aphra said.

“I should kill the computer right now.” Loga said. “I’ve waited too long as it is. For all I know, my mother’s soul was collected today.”

“Wait!” Frigate said. “I’ve got an idea! You said you’d reopened your private resurrection chambers when you got here. Can they be fixed up so that we could be resurrected in them, too?”

“Why, yes. They could be. The resurrector catchers operate on a slightly different frequency from that of the computer. I had my
wathan
and Tringu’s tuned to it. I could do the same for you. But why?”

Frigate started to explain, but Loga, Burton, and Nur comprehended at the same time what he meant to say.

They would go down in force, leaving several behind to do the necessary supervision. They would storm the room, and, though they might be killed over and over, they still could put out all the beamers of the computer.

“How’d you happen to think of that, Pete?” Tom Turpin said.

“I’m a science-fiction writer. I should’ve thought of it when I found out what the situation was.”

“I should’ve thought of it, too,” Loga said. “But we’re all under great emotional pressure.”

“You can duplicate these?” Burton said, holding up the pistol-like sphere-ended weapon.

“As many as we’ll need.”

Within two minutes, the entire group was armed with the beamers. The Ethical then had his machine print out diagrams of the route to the valve room from the control room and from his private resurrectors. They studied the diagrams, identifying each corridor and chamber with the corresponding screen displays.

“There are video cameras on every wall in that area, including the valve room. Here’s a picture of it from the files.”

They studied the reproductions issued by the machine until they knew the room by heart. Then Loga commanded that a module be duplicated in the e-m cabinet, and he gave them the simple instructions for pulling out the old module and inserting the new.

Unfortunately, the Ethical was unable to get diagrams showing where the computer’s defenses were located.

“That information must be in the computer’s memory banks.”

Nur said, “Why don’t you ask the computer for it?”

Loga looked surprised, then laughed softly.

A moment later he had information, though it wasn’t what he’d asked for. The computer refused to divulge where its weapons were.

“Well, it was worth a try.”

They got into their chairs and followed the Ethical to a lift shaft. They descended in it far faster than they’d dared operate their chairs until then. When they’d gone a mile, he stopped and then went into a bay and from there into a corridor. After a few minutes Burton, who had an excellent sense of direction, realized that they were heading for the general area of the secret room at the base of the tower. At their speed, they quickly arrived at it.

The Ethical looked at the door, still kept from opening by the grail Burton had placed there. His face turned red.

“Why didn’t you tell me that the doors were still open?”

“I thought about it, but it didn’t seem important,” Burton said.

“The agents could have come through!”

“No. They couldn’t possibly have caught up with us in such a short time. They’ll be using sailboats.”

“I won’t take any chances.”

Loga turned the chair away from the door, then turned it back to face them.

“You get that boat out of the entrance while I’m gone.”

“Where’ll you be?” Burton said.

“I’m going to a control room so I can reactivate an automatically operated aircraft and direct it to the ledge. It’ll melt it all down, and then it’ll plug up the cave entrance.”

“Go with him,” Burton said to Tai-Peng and de Marbot.

Loga glared but said nothing, and his chair turned and flew down the corridor.

Burton led the others into the fog-shrouded room where, with much shoving, they got the boat out into the sea. Then they went back to the corridor, the larger ones squeezing themselves again through the narrow opening above the grail.

“We should’ve asked Loga to open it all the way,” Frigate said.

“I don’t think he wants us to know how he opens it,” Burton said.

“Still doesn’t trust us?”

“With the life he’s led, he’s conditioned to trust no one.”

That, however, wasn’t true. Loga, trailed by the Chinese and the Frenchman, returned after fifteen minutes. He got out of the chair and banged his fist on the wall a few inches from the door. At the same time, he said, clearly, “Ah Qaaq!”

The door slid back within the recess.

Burton made a mental note of the exact area struck.

“How did you know that someone wouldn’t be coming along and catch you?” he said.

“This door is one big video screen. I also have other screens which look just like part of the walls. They’re situated so that I can see up this corridor past its curves for some distance.”

They followed Loga into the room. Halfway down it, he stopped, turned, facing the wall, and voiced the codeword again. An apparently seamless part of the wall moved back and then slid into a recess. The room beyond was well-lit and contained some equipment on tables, a large cabinet, and two skeletons. These were pointed toward the door as if they’d been about to leave the room. On the floor by bone fingers was a metal box. It had a number of dials, gauges, buttons, and a small video screen on one side and prongs on the other.

Loga said, “If only I could have sent that signal a few seconds earlier. I would’ve caught them before they removed the control box.”

“But you wouldn’t have known that,” Burton said. “You would still not have been able to take the chance of killing yourself. By the way, why were the doors closed? Those two would’ve had to open them to get in.”

Nur said, “Since they wouldn’t have known the codes, how’d they get in?”

“After seventy-five seconds, the doors close automatically unless countermanded. What happened is that the investigators located this room by tracing the circuits. That would’ve been a very time-consuming and arduous job because they couldn’t use the computer to do the tracing. When they located this room, they must have been using magnetometers, too. They went back to find the tap-in source, and found the programmed open-shut code box. It wouldn’t have taken them long to analyze the code.”

“But what about the knock accompanying the code? How…”

“They figured that out, too, though it would’ve taken longer.”

He pointed at the cabinet. “The resurrector.”

He went in with Frigate at his heels. The American said, “You couldn’t use your own power supply?”

Loga stopped and picked up the control box and then walked to the side of the cabinet. He inserted the prongs into receptacles on the side of the cabinet.

“No, I couldn’t. I would’ve liked my own atomic converter so there’d be no wires to trace. But energy-matter conversion and
wathan
-attracting require enormous power. The physical-extraphysical interface alone uses enough power to black out half of the cities of ancient Earth in the late twentieth century.”

Frigate said, “How’d you prevent this power drain from showing up on meters?”

“I made arrangements for it not to. To get back to the original question. If the engineers had removed the code box, I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the secret room into the corridor. The other access door is activated by a signal going to another coder-decoder. It was very fortunate that the engineers didn’t work on that before they were killed. I lost the signal-generator when I had to abandon my aircraft. But the boats in the cave contain generators. These are automatically started when the sensors detect that the tower is near.”