Gods of Riverworld (32 page)

What Nur had tried but failed to impress on his companions was that the Computer was a genie let out of a bottle or an afreet that had been released from the constraints of Solomon’s Seal. Or, as Frigate had put it, a Frankenstein’s monster with an unlimited credit card. One person using these powers might suddenly find that another was using them against him or her. The full potentialities of the Computer were still unknown. To use it safely, you had to learn everything it could do, and that would take a long, long time.

For instance, Burton, while watching those in the Ripper case, had not considered that he was being watched while watching. If he had foreseen the possibilities, he would have put an inhibit on anyone spying on him. Now that he knew it could be done, he had ordered the Computer to insure his privacy in his operation of it. But it was rather late for that. Five people, one of whom, Netley, might be a danger to everybody else, had been brought in. Moreover, if Williams had thought of it, he could have told the Computer to override Burton’s privacy instructions and not tell Burton about it.

Whoever got to the Computer first could override the latecomers.

Only one who learned the list of all that the Computer could do could protect himself. And the others. Even then, he might be too late. Another might have already put in commands giving himself control channels that he had made sure would be denied to others.

Nur intended to go through the list of potentialities, learn them by heart, and then see to it that the Computer would deny control to anyone who could misuse certain powers. That would, of course, give him the greatest power of anyone in the tower. But he knew that he would not use it for evil purposes.

For the moment, though, he had other things to do. His allotted work hours for the day were over. He must go now and have dinner with the woman he had raised, his wife on Earth, a woman whom he had not seen much there because he had been traveling in his quest for knowledge and the Truth. He owed her much, and now he could repay her.

29

Alice gave her Mad Tea Party on April 1, April Fool’s Day.

It was also a farewell party, not for Alice, who was staying, but for the “decor” of her world and the androids in it. Tired of the Wonderland cum Looking-Glass motif, she intended to change it. Her guests would have a last look at it, and sometime later she would have the Computer remove most of it and replace it with whatever she ordered. As of the moment, she said, she had several ideas for the redecorating. What she hoped was that during the party the guests would give her more ideas.

First, though, she had to make up a guest list, and this caused problems from the beginning. She had intended to invite only the seven companions and their mates. Li Po said that he wanted to bring all of his “wives.” She responded by saying that she preferred that he bring only one. That could be whichever woman was his bedmate for April 1. Li Po replied that his other wives and his friends and their mates would be hurt if they did not receive invitations, too. After all, she had a place big enough for the few people he would like to bring (about a hundred, he estimated). The forty sages (now fifty) and their charming women were all well behaved. They might get a little boisterous, but she wanted a lively party, didn’t she?

Alice could be very stubborn. But she was very fond of Li Po, even if she did think that he drank too much and was altogether too lecherous. Also, he was entertaining, and he seemed determined to be accompanied by his friends. In the end, she gave in and extended a blanket invitation to the Chinese.

Frigate said that he and Sophie would be very happy to attend. However, Sophie, who was very gregarious, had by now resurrected ten men and ten women, with his permission, of course. They were very good friends she had known in New York City, Los Angeles, and, believe it or not, please restrain your laughter, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Puzzled, Alice asked why he thought she would laugh. Frigate sighed and said, “Kalamazoo was, like some other American place-names, Peoria, Podunk, and downtown Burbank, a risible word, a poke in the ribs and a snigger. Like the English Gotham of the later Middle Ages, the German Schildburg, the town of Chelm in Yiddish stories, the Boeotia of the ancient Greeks. Well, Kalamazoo and the other American cities are not quite like the others I mentioned. The difference is…”

Alice listened politely, then said, “You intended to ask me if I would invite Sophie’s friends, but you wandered off. Yes, they are welcome, since there are only twenty of them.”

Frigate thanked her, but she could detect some hesitancy in his voice. Whereas Sophie was gregarious, he was, not antigregarious, but nongregarious. No doubt he had been glad that he and Sophie now had some companions. On the other hand, he was beginning to feel a little crowded and put upon. The world would never have enough elbow room for him.

De Marbot and Behn also wanted to bring the people they had resurrected recently. Alice said that they could come, but when she had cut off their screens, she sighed. Originally, she had planned for around thirty. Now she had one hundred and three. So far.

Burton, at least, was no problem in terms of numbers. He and Star Spoon had not as yet brought anybody else in.

“Oh, yes,” she said. “I have a surprise.”

“For all of us or just for me?” he said.

“Oh, for everybody, though it may affect you more than the others.”

“I know you, Alice,” he said, smiling and, as so often, looking like Mephistopheles himself when he did so. “I know your expressions. You have just regretted adding that last phrase. You’re ashamed that you did so. What is the surprise, another man?”

“Go to hell,” Alice said, and she told the Computer to cut them off. She had changed in many ways. Never, never on Earth, no matter how angered, would she have said that to anyone. Not even her husband.

After pacing back and forth a while to allow herself to settle down, she called Nur. He said, “Greetings, Alice. It’s a pleasure to see you. Could I call you back in a moment? I’m talking to Tom Turpin. There’s…” He hesitated, then said, “Never mind that.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I just … that’s all right. I’ll call back within the half hour.”

She bit her lip as she wondered if she should invite William Gull and his fellow Dowists. He had been, after all, physician in ordinary to Queen Victoria and a baronet. Yet she had long ago rid herself of the class distinctions that had governed her on Earth and for quite a while on the Riverworld, so his high connections should not be considered. Also, he had been a murderer-mutilator. Yet he had repented and was a deacon of the Dowist Church. And she, as one who was no longer a believer in Christianity but still tried to act like a Christian, should not permit his renounced past to bother her. He could be an entertaining conversationalist as long as he refrained from proselytizing. Then he became a nuisance and a bore. But she would insist that the Dowist not push their religion if they attended the party.

Finally, she called him. He was pleased to be asked, almost pathetically so.

“I’m also inviting Annie Crook, Elizabeth Stride, and Marie Kelly,” she said, “if that makes a difference to you.”

“Oh, of course not,” he said. “It is your party, and Mrs. Stride and I get along well now, though we have certain disagreements on theology. Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Kelly are rather cool, understandably so, but I hope to bring them around someday. I assure you that I will not spoil this social function by any unseemly behavior.”

Alice then called the three women, and they said they would be delighted. Could they bring their “beaus” with them? Though reluctant to have them, Alice smiled and said they would be welcome. So, that made one hundred and fifty-one guests, since Gull would bring his woman and thirty-two others. Stride and Crook would each bring a man, and Kelly would, as usual, have a man on each arm.

The second time she tried Nur, he was ready to talk to her. He thanked her for the invitation and said that he and Ayesha would be happy to come. He had just had a rather intense conversation with Tom Turpin. Both of them were disturbed because of the two women who had become pregnant. The first birth would occur in four months, the second, two weeks later.

“Tom has told the women many times that the babies will have no
wathans.
Since the Ethicals did not intend to have babies here, they made no provisions for creating
wathans.
I asked the Computer if it had the schematics for making a
wathan
generator, and it said that there was no such thing in its records. That means, as you perhaps remember, that the babies, lacking
wathans,
will hence lack self-consciousness. For all exterior purposes, they will behave just as babies with
wathans
will. But they will not be self-conscious. They’ll be biological machines, very superior machines, but still machines.”

“Yes, I know,” Alice said. “But what can one do?”

“If those women want to bear and raise what will be the equivalent of androids, that would be only their business.
If
that was all there was to it. However, their example may stimulate others to imitate them, to have babies also. Eventually, this tower will be jammed with people, a good part of whom will be soulless. What happens when the overcrowding causes fights for space? War. Suffering. Death. I don’t have to fill in the picture for you.”

“Yes, but…” Alice said.

“Turpin has threatened to kick them out if they bear the children. They don’t care. They’ll just go to an apartment with their men and live there. But this little trouble will lead to great trouble. Somebody … we … will have to take drastic action to stop this and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

“You mean … kill the babies?”

“I don’t like to contemplate that, it pains me greatly, but it will have to be done. The babies, as I said, are really androids, and one should have no more compunction about destroying them than about destroying androids. They look completely human and behave like human beings to a certain extent. But they are not self-conscious; they do not have that which makes
Homo sapiens
human. The babies can’t be allowed to grow into children; they should be eliminated now before they know what’s happening.”

Alice knew that their death would be instantaneous and painless. They would be placed in a converter and reduced to atoms in a microsecond. Nevertheless, the idea horrified her.

No doubt the kind-hearted Nur felt horror, too. But he knew what had to be done, and he would do it. If Turpin could not get the job done, Nur would see to it.

“If we had a
wathan
generator,” Nur said. “I would insist … I think almost everybody would agree with me … that these two infants be the exception. We would see that they had
wathans,
but there would be no more children born. Any woman who used the Computer to make herself fertile would be killed and her body kept in the records until the day … if it ever comes … that the Computer starts resurrecting people again in The Valley. Any man who knowingly made the woman pregnant would also be slain. However…”

“Yes?”

“
Allah!
That won’t be necessary. I should have thought of this before. The Computer can be ordered not to make anyone fertile from now on. Why didn’t I think of that long ago? Time…”

“Time?” Alice said.

Nur waved his hand to dismiss the phrase.

“Then I see no reason to destroy the babies,” Alice said. “Surely they won’t be any problem.”

Nur sighed with relief, though he still looked troubled. Perhaps that was because he had been so slow in arriving at the very obvious solution.

He shook his head. “There’s a possibility I must check on at once. What if someone has given a command to the Computer that anybody who wants to become fertile can become so? That would be the prior command and the authoritative one. The only one who could override that would be Loga or the woman whom I killed … if I did kill her. Just a moment. I’ll check.”

Alice could have listened in on him, but she would never have done that unless he gave permission. A minute later, the screen before her glowed, and Nur’s face appeared. She knew at once what had happened from his angry expression.

“Someone has done just what I hoped would not be done. He … she … whoever … has made it possible for anyone who wants to become fertile to do so. The Computer would not tell me who gave it the command.”

“My God!” Alice said. Then, “Dick told me about that black man, Bill Williams, resurrecting Gull and the others. Do you suppose…?”

“I don’t know. We’ll probably never find out. It’s possible that Wandal Goudal or Sarah Kelpin, one of the women having babies, did it. In any event…”

Though not very often at a loss for words, Nur was so now.

“Tom will have to be told,” she said. “Surely, he’ll do what must be done.”

“I’ll call him now,” Nur said.

She sat down to wait, thinking that she would hear from him in ten or fifteen minutes. However, the screen glowed on the control console in less than six minutes. She was surprised to see, not Nur’s, but Tom Turpin’s face. It was red under his dark skin, and his face was contorted.

“I’m contacting all of you!” he shouted.

You, she understood, would be the seven companions. But what was he doing in the central area forming the O at the tips of the pie-slice-shaped private worlds? And why were his favorite women, Diamond Lil Schindler, his cronies, Chauvin, Joplin, and other musicians, and their women there?

“OK! I see all of you there! Man, I’m mad! Mad, do you hear?”

Nur’s voice, quiet and soothing, came.

“Calm down, Tom. Tell us what happened.”

“They threw me out!” he screamed. “Overpowered my guards, grabbed me and my friends, and threw me out! They said I wasn’t King Tom no more! I was through! I couldn’t ever get back in! So long, good-bye, farewell, adieu, adios, motherfucker!”

“Who’s they?” Burton’s voice said. “Was Bill Williams the ringleader?”

“No, not him! He moved out two days ago into one of the empty worlds! It was Jonathan Hawley and Hamilton Biggs did it! They were the ringleaders, I mean!”