I, Robot

‘Yes, I know. But how? Try to remember the exact words.’

‘I said … uh … I said: “Speedy, we need some selenium. You can get it such-and-such a place. Go get it.” That’s all. What more did you want me to say?’

‘You didn’t put any urgency into the order, did you?’

‘What for? It was pure routine.’

Powell sighed. ‘Well, it can’t be helped now – but we’re in a fine fix.’ He had dismounted from his robot, and was sitting, back against the cliff. Donovan joined him and they linked arms. In the distance the burning sunlight seemed to wait cat-and-mouse for them, and just next to them, the two giant robots were invisible but for the dull red of their photo-electric eyes that stared down at them, unblinking, unwavering and unconcerned.

Unconcerned! As was all this poisonous Mercury, as large in jinx as it was small in size.

Powell’s radio voice was tense in Donovan’s ear: ‘Now, look, let’s start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics – the three rules that are built most deeply into a robot’s positronic brain.’ In the darkness, his gloved fingers ticked off each point.

‘We have: One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.’

‘Right!’

‘Two,’ continued Powell, ‘a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.’

‘Right!’

‘And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.’

‘Right! Now where are we?’

‘Exactly at the explanation. The conflict between the various rules is ironed out by the different positronic potentials in the brain. We’ll say that a robot is walking into danger and knows it. The automatic potential that Rule Three sets up turns him back. But suppose you order him to walk into that danger. In that case, Rule Two sets up a counter-potential higher than the previous one and the robot follows orders at the risks of existence.’

‘Well, I know that. What about it?’

‘Let’s take Speedy’s case. Speedy is one of the latest models, extremely specialized, and as expensive as a battleship. It’s not a thing to be lightly destroyed.’

‘So?’

‘So Rule Three has been strengthened – that was specifically mentioned, by the way, in the advance notices on the SPD models – so that his allergy to danger is unusually high. At the same time, when you sent him out after the selenium, you gave him his order casually and without special emphasis, so that the Rule Two potential set-up was rather weak. Now, hold on; I’m just stating facts.’

‘All right, go ahead. I think I get it.’

‘You see how it works, don’t you? There’s some sort of danger centering at the selenium pool. It increases as he approaches, and a certain distance from it the Rule Three potential, unusually high to start with, exactly balances the Rule Two potential, unusually low to start with.’

Donovan rose to his feet in excitement. ‘And it strikes an equilibrium. I see. Rule Three drives him back and Rule Two drives him forward—’

‘So he follows a circle around the selenium pool, staying on the locus of all points of potential equilibrium. And unless we do something about it, he’ll stay on that circle forever, giving us the good old runaround.’ Then, more thoughtfully: ‘And that, half the way, is what makes him drunk. At potential equilibrium, half the positronic paths of his brain are out of kilter. I’m not a robot specialist, but that seems obvious. Probably he’s lost control of just those parts of his voluntary mechanism that a human drunk has. Ve-e-ery pretty.’

‘But what’s the danger? If we knew what he was running from—’

‘You suggested it. Volcanic action. Somewhere right above the selenium pool is a seepage of gas from the bowels of Mercury. Sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide – and carbon monoxide. Lots of it – and at this temperature.’

Donovan gulped audibly. ‘Carbon monoxide plus iron gives the volatile iron carbonyl.’

‘And a robot,’ added Powell, ‘is essentially iron.’ Then, grimly: ‘There’s nothing like deduction. We’ve determined everything about our problem but the solution. We can’t get the selenium ourselves. It’s still too far. We can’t send these robot horses, because they can’t go themselves, and they can’t carry us fast enough to keep us from crisping. And we can’t catch Speedy, because the dope thinks we’re playing games, and he can run sixty miles to our four.’

‘If one of us goes,’ began Donovan, tentatively, ‘and comes back cooked, there’ll still be the other.’

‘Yes,’ came the sarcastic reply, ‘it would be a most tender sacrifice – except that a person would be in no condition to give orders before he ever reached the pool, and I don’t think the robots would ever turn back to the cliff without orders. Figure it out! We’re two or three miles from the pool – call it two – the robot travels at four miles an hour; and we can last twenty minutes in our suits. It isn’t only the heat, remember. Solar radiation out here in the ultraviolet and below is poison.’

‘Um-m-m,’ said Donovan, ‘ten minutes short.’

‘As good as an eternity. And another thing. In order for Rule Three potential to have stopped Speedy where it did, there must be an appreciable amount of carbon monoxide in the metal-vapor atmosphere – and there must be an appreciable corrosive action atmosphere. He’s been out hours now – and how do we know when a knee joint, for instance, won’t be thrown out of kilter and keel him over. It’s not only a question of thinking – we’ve got to think fast!’

Deep, dark, dank, dismal silence!

Donovan broke it, voice trembling in an effort to keep itself emotionless. He said: ‘As long as we can’t increase Rule Two potential by giving further orders, how about working the other way? If we increase the danger, we increase Rule Three potential and drive him backward.’

Powell’s visiplate had turned toward him in a silent question.

‘You see,’ came the cautious explanation, ‘all we need to do to drive him out of his rut is to increase the concentration of carbon monoxide in his vicinity. Well, back at the Station there’s a complete analytical laboratory.’

‘Naturally,’ assented Powell. ‘It’s a Mining Station.’

‘All right. There must be pounds of oxalic acid for calcium precipitations.’

‘Holy space! Mike, you’re a genius.’

‘So-so,’ admitted Donovan, modestly. ‘It’s just a case of remembering that oxalic acid on heating decomposes into carbon dioxide, water, and good old carbon monoxide. College chem, you know.’

Powell was on his feet and had attracted the attention of one of the monster robots by the simple expedient of pounding the machine’s thigh.

‘Hey,’ he shouted, ‘can you throw?’

‘Master?’

‘Never mind.’ Powell damned the robot’s molasses-slow brain. He scrabbled up a jagged brick-size rock. ‘Take this,’ he said, ‘and hit the patch of bluish crystals just across that crooked fissure. You see it?’

Donovan pulled at his shoulder. ‘Too far, Greg. It’s almost half a mile off.’

‘Quiet,’ replied Powell. ‘It’s a case of Mercurian gravity and a steel throwing arm. Watch, will you?’

The robot’s eyes were measuring the distance with machinely accurate stereoscopy. His arm adjusted itself to the weight of the missile and drew back. In the darkness, the robot’s motions went unseen, but there was a sudden thumping sound as he shifted his weight, and seconds later the rock flew blackly into the sunlight. There was no air resistance to slow it down, nor wind to turn it aside – and when it hit the ground it threw up crystals precisely in the center of the ‘blue patch’.

Powell yelled happily and shouted, ‘Let’s go back after the oxalic acid, Mike.’

And as they plunged into the ruined substation on the way back to the tunnels, Donovan said grimly: ‘Speedy’s been hanging about on this side of the selenium pool, ever since we chased after him. Did you see him?’

‘Yes.’

‘I guess he wants to play games. Well, we’ll play him games!’

They were back hours later, with three-liter jars of the white chemical and a pair of long faces. The photo-cell banks were deteriorating more rapidly than had seemed likely. The two steered their robots into the sunlight and toward the waiting Speedy in silence and with grim purpose.