passage of a breeze, machines so large you could build a city inside them, and devices so small you could hold one in your hand, balance it on a finger tip; devices so fast they fly across this land in minutes-’
‘What are they doing here?’ interrupted Karel. A sudden suspicion seized him. ‘If they exist at all, of course.’
‘Oh, they exist, Karel. Yes, yes they exist! You will see them soon. As to why they are here, well, they have come to trade, or so they say. The Emperor of Yukawa has granted them land to grow their crops, given them mines so that they may own metal-’
‘Crops?’ asked Karel.
Morphobia Alligator tilted his head, and then his eyes glowed with understanding.
‘Of course, you’re from Turing City! You don’t know that the robots of Yukawa have not sterilized their land like the robots of southern Shull. You don’t realize that in Yukawa they still plant crops and farm animals, harvesting the oil and skin and bone that they produce! Yes, yes? And so the animals, presumably seeing these crops and farms as they approached Penrose from space, have landed in Yukawa and have begun trade with the robots there. They take metal and work it to make wondrous devices that they give as presents to the Emperor in order to flatter him. The animals are skilled in agriculture – a Tokvah word relating to the growing of crops, Karel, and they are teaching the Emperor this lore.’
Karel looked around at the shiny grass, blown in patterns of light green and dark green by the fresh sea breeze. He found the sight vaguely unpleasant. Now he imagined the whole of the continent covered in the same vegetation, farmed by the animals. The thought made his gyros spin. It was obscene!
‘But what has all this to do with me?’ he asked.
Morphobia Alligator turned his head towards the silver sea, a strange movement given his odd body.
‘What has this to do with you Karel? Everything or nothing! Who knows which it will be? You are unusual, Karel, in these times. Not unique, understand, there are other robots with minds such as yours. But not many. You are unusual. Yes, Yes!’
‘So I’m unusual. So what?’
‘Think of this. Suppose the animals had come to Shull forty years ago, how would the robots have responded?’
Karel gazed at the robot, hurt to be asked such questions. They reminded him of his past.
‘I’ll tell you,’ said Morphobia Alligator, not seeming to notice his silence. ‘The robots of Stark would have studied their technology so that they could become stronger, the robots of Wien would have traded coal and their own serfs and slaves with the animals in order to gain more power, and the robots of Bethe would have observed them and waited to see what they did next. And as for the robots of Turing City-’
‘We would have spoken to them. We would have tried to understand who they were and what they were.’ Karel spoke softly. That had been his job. He used to negotiate with outsiders. To think that he might have been summoned to speak with the animals, back when Turing City was at its height. What an opportunity that would have been!
‘But that was then,’ said Morphobia Alligator. ‘What about now? What will happen now, when the animals come to Shull?’
‘Artemis will attack them, they will try and defeat them.’
‘Is that the right course to take, Karel?’
‘Of course not! There is a time for fighting, but one should always speak first!’
‘Yes, yes, but of course you would say that, Karel! That is what Turing City robots do! That is the way you were made. But you will be made that way no longer, because all the minds that will be twisted on Shull from now are to be twisted in the fashion of Artemis.’
Karel nodded. He understood what Morphobia Alligator was saying now.
‘So Artemis will fight the animals. Well, that may not be a bad thing.’
‘It may not be. But the animals are very clever. They are very powerful. What if they defeat us all? What if they melt down all the metal life on this planet and place organic life in its place?’
‘Zuse, yes,’ said Karel. His gyros were churning. ‘But what difference does it make now? Artemis is strong. If the animals had come forty years ago.’
‘Yes, yes. If they had come forty years ago. What then, though? How do we know that Stark or Bethe or Turing City or any of the other states would have had the right mindset to deal with the animals?’
‘How am I supposed to know that?’
‘How indeed, Karel? How could a robot with a mind such as yours possibly be expected to understand that? Now, I on the other hand.. .’
Morphobia Alligator let the sentence trail away.
‘Who are you?’ asked Karel.
‘I am a pilgrim. I am a mule. I am only one hundred years old, yet I was one of the first robots to walk on Penrose. I was there when the truth of the Book of Robots was first understood and yet my mind was not yet twisted.’
‘Spare me the riddles, Morphobia Alligator. You know I have a temper.’
‘I know you’re not a fool, either, Karel. You’ve been to the reliquary on the northern coast of Shull. You’ve seen what is in there; you’ve seen the mind patterns engraved around the outside of the building. You should realize that there are more types of robot that walk on Penrose than those like yourself. You have met some of the others. Robots like Banjo Macrodocious, who once fought the pilgrims. Robots like myself. Maybe we are not so plentiful as your own species who have spread their offspring across this planet, but we all have our place on this world.’
Karel looked again across the waters to the town of Blaize. He had spent nearly all of his life in Turing City. He had thought of himself as educated and urbane, he was increasingly aware of how wrong that impression was. He felt as out of touch and provincial in the eyes of this robot as the robots of Artemis had once seemed to himself.
‘So I ask you again, Morphobia Alligator. What do you want with me?’
‘I want nothing with you personally, Karel. But at times like this, pilgrims have always paid special attention to robots such as you. Robots whose minds weren’t made up for them by their parents.’
‘Why? Am I so special?’
‘I don’t know, Karel. Most of you die young, you know. But, just occasionally, one of you has a thought so original it can change the path of life of Penrose. Nicolas the Coward was one such robot.’
‘Are you saying I am a coward?’
‘You know that I’m not. Nicolas the Coward realized that the mind was more important than metal.’
‘That’s not how the story goes.’
‘Stories have a way of changing as they are twisted into new minds. Stories change with each telling, slowly evolving into new stories. Perhaps some day there will be a story about Karel and Kavan?’
Karel gazed at the pilgrim, suspiciously.
‘So you are saying that I’m special?’
‘Who knows, Karel? No one ever knows until afterwards. In all probability, the chances are that you are not such a robot. There are around two hundred of you that we know of on Penrose at the moment, and most, if not all of you will die young and unfulfilled.’
‘I had a sister,’ said Karel. ‘She was just like me.’
‘I know. Eleanor.’
‘Kavan killed her.’
‘Robots such as yourself usually die young, Karel. I told you that.’
‘All I want to do is free my wife.’
‘Just maybe, I can help you do that.’
‘Then why are we wasting time here? Let’s go!’
‘No, no. You don’t understand, Karel. I am not going anywhere. I have seen you and spoken to you, and I have played my part. All that remains for me to do is to give you some advice, give you a direction in which to travel. Not south, Karel. At least, not at first. Climb down this hillside to the waters edge, and there find the heaviest rock that you can carry. Pick up that rock and then follow the road beneath the water to Blaize.’
‘Why take a rock?’
