Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [79]
DD was on his own here, and Sirix had all the advantages.
As more and more of the deactivated Klikiss robots were reawakened, he asked, “What will all these machines do, Sirix? Are they soldiers to fight against the human race? Why were they hidden in storage in the first place?”
“There are many things you do not understand, nor do you need to understand. Humans have designed their compies with inherent limitations. You have no free will. You are unable to take independent action. Klikiss robots have that capability, and we are attempting to share it with you.”
So far, Sirix had been unable to discover how to eradicate that core protective programming without destroying the compies themselves. For that, DD was silently thankful.
“Klikiss robots murdered my master Louis Colicos and also the green priest Arcas. It is readily apparent how much harm robots can do without such programming laws. Perhaps it is a necessary restriction.”
“Humans have no right to impose such laws on us—or you.”
“They willingly abide by their own laws. A civilized society without boundaries will degenerate into anarchy.”
“We are efficient. We will never degenerate into anarchy.” Sirix turned back to his work, activating another black robot.
Elsewhere in the hidden base, as the tunnel walls shuddered with seismic vibrations, reawakened robots retrieved stored components that had been dismantled long ago and used them to reassemble spacecraft inside buried hangars. The thousands of newly resurrected Klikiss robots would fly away before the planetoid broke apart.
DD replayed memories of fond times with his human masters, especially his first, an adorable girl named Dahlia. When they played together, Dahlia had confided in him her secret hopes, desires, and disappointments. Through her, DD had begun to understand humans. Watching her grow up, the compy had learned the capacity for love, especially the unconditional love of a little girl. All innocent humans had such a capacity, though some more than others.
But the Klikiss robots had no such potential, nor did the incredibly alien liquid-crystal hydrogues. Neither of them had any interest in sentimentality, caring, or kindness—DD doubted they could even grasp the basic concepts. The Klikiss robots considered all compies little more than primitive mechanical children who needed to be guided to their destiny.
But DD felt that compies, such as himself, exceeded their limitations and achieved things that no Klikiss robot ever could. He experienced irony and disappointment at their lack of comprehension. He said aloud, “And you say I am not free.”
But Sirix and the other Klikiss robots, intent on their tasks, were not listening.
Chapter 40—BASIL WENCESLAS
Hansa work could have kept him awake and busy twenty-four hours a day, but even the Chairman needed to sleep. Occasionally. Returning to his penthouse quarters late at night, Basil saw that someone had cycled the ceiling to transparent so the wilderness of stars could shine through. When he noticed the shadowy figure near his bed, he thought Sarein had come to see him again. He let out a short, weary sigh. Tonight he wanted just to be alone, to sort through the problems that continued to peck at him like a flock of hungry carrion birds.
But upon bringing the lights up, he was astonished to find Davlin Lotze waiting for him. The tall, dark-skinned spy crossed his arms over his chest. “Good evening, Mr. Chairman.”
Basil was incensed. “What are you doing here?”
“After all the service I’ve performed for the Hansa, that’s the best greeting you can offer?”
“I repeat, Mr. Lotze, what are you doing here?”
“I needed to meet with you and thought it might be difficult to fit into your busy calendar. Since you preferred to keep our previous chats off the record, I felt this would be best.”
Basil kept the lights