• IV.


    The android had become self-aware with a start. There was really no way he could put it into words. He was just suddenly there. A man was lying propped up against the wall, dead to the world. There were two curious lines running from the android’s hand to a machine that was silently humming in the corner. He sat up.

    The android swung his legs around and hopped off the slab. He unhooked himself from the generator and switched the machine off. He was amazed at how he could simply think of something and it happened. He could not fathom how he had complete control of the appendages that were linked to his torso. He looked down at his hands.

    He was intent on studying how he could make his fingers wiggle when he heard something stirring behind him. He turned around and saw that the sleeping man had awakened and was standing. The android wanted to share the joy it had found in its fingers with the man. He held out his arms and walked forward, but the floor was slick and he fell forward.

    Something jarred his head with a thunderous clang, and the android was faintly aware of pain. He struggled to stand, finding it a little harder to move now. The android knew that the man must be the one to go to for answers. He would be able to help him realize who and what he was. He walked towards the man again, his arms outstretched. He tried to speak, but found he did not know how to do so. He slipped again and was engulfed in darkness.

    When the self-awareness came the second time, it was not so much of a shock. The android was now alone in the room. He sat up and leaned against the slab. He wondered where the man had gone, and why he had not helped him. He tried again to speak, to call out, but could only groan.

    The android stood and slowly walked about the room. He carefully watched his step to avoid slipping in the black stuff again. He picked up things he found around the room, beakers, wiring, and bits of string all held him in awe. He found a pile of clothing lying forgotten in a corner and started to put them on. He remembered that the man had been wearing clothing, but had been oddly afraid of the android. Maybe it was because of his nakedness.

    He also found a notebook among the clothing and thought it might be important. He slipped it in his pocket to examine later. There were so many curiosities to explore. In the adjoining room, he came across the man again. He was asleep again, and the android felt it better not to disturb him. The man had acted strangely and the android didn’t want to have try and figure out what his problem was.

    The door leading outside was bolted, but it didn’t take the android long to figure out how to open it. When he stepped outside into the dazzling sunlight, he was almost knocked off his feet by a new surge of awareness. There was a whole world full of infinite possibilities before him. At that moment, he felt there was nothing he couldn’t do.

    He walked down the street. University Town was really nothing more than a small collection of shops and dormitories. The largest building in town was the university itself, and without its support, the town would fold up over night. Many of the shop keepers had their wares out on the street, as it was such a beautiful day. The android walked past booth after booth examining the merchandise. He was totally unaware of the horrified gasps of the merchants.

    There was a table before him that was laden with fruits and vegetables. It suddenly struck the android that he might be hungry, but as he wasn’t sure what hungry was, he didn’t know the sensation. He picked up a citrus fruit of some sort and bit into it. As it slid down his metal throat, he decided that the sensation he felt was not hunger.

    The fruit merchant had witnessed this hulking man come up to his counter and bite into an orange. The man tossed the fruit aside and began walking away. “Hey!” called the merchant. “You gonna pay for that or what?” He approached the man and tugged at his sleeve.

    The android turned and saw the man, aware at once of a new sensation. This man was angry with him. Mimicking the man’s facial expressions, the android said, “Hey! You gonna pay for that or what?”

    By this time, the merchant was far from being angry. When the android had faced him and he saw the sagging, incompetently sewn together skin, terror seized the merchant’s heart. He screamed and backed away. The android mimicked the scream and stepped forward. The merchant stumbled backward over the fruit stand and sent his merchandise rolling through the street. A small crowd began to gather.

    They were all horrified and disgusted by the towering man who was accosting the merchant. One of them in the crowd, a mischievous young boy, picked up an apple and threw it. It sailed through the air and hit the android square on the temple. This the android perceived as a threat to it’s logic circuit, and it quickly grabbed the young boy by the throat and choked the life out of him.

    A woman in the crowd shrieked and ran to the boy’s crumpled, lifeless body. “What have you done to my son?” she cried. She gather the boy in her arms and ran down the street with him. The crowd began to back away.

    The android cocked his head and turned back to the merchant. He had questions he wanted answered, but could not think of how to make the right words. “What have you done to my son?” he said to the confused and petrified merchant. “You gonna pay for that or what?”

    The crowd, which had grown to about a dozen, began to pelt the android with fruit. The android shouted “Hey!” over and over, but to no avail. The crowd attacked with more and more vigor, forcing the android to back away. Finally, seeing a break in the crowd, he darted away and down the street. The people gave chase for a while, but gave up after a few blocks. The android ran and ran, faster and faster until he was clear out of town. He ran into the forest that lay a mile away from Town, and did not stop running until he was deep in the forest, safe from those who would harm him.

    This particular region of Skonnos was still fairly uninhabited. There were a few farms scattered around, the space port and University Town, but most of it was miles and miles of untamed wilderness. The android wandered aimlessly through the forests and fields, trying desperately to communicate with the birds and other small animals he came into contact with. He could mimic them easily, but they seemed not to understand.

    Early one morning, the android came across an unusual sight for the forest. A little girl, about six or seven years of age, stood in a thicket holding a doll and crying. At first, the android hid behind a tree and watched the girl, but curiosity got the better of him. He had to know why fluid was escaping from her eyes. He walked slowly over to her, then got down on one knee and put his hand gently on her shoulder. “Hey,” he said quietly.

    “Who are you?” sniffled the little girl. She was not in the least bit scared of the man. In her innocence, he seemed like just a kindly stranger.

    “Who are you” repeated the android, pleased that he had more words to add to his vocabulary. He was about to ask her if she was going to pay for that or what, but the little girl spoke first.

    “My name is Mary,” she said. “I’m lost. My father and I went into the woods to look for wood for the fire, but I got lost. I don’t know where he is or where I am. I’m terribly afraid.”

    The android sat on the ground. He was pleased at the veritable treasure chest of words the child had given him. He decided to try them out. “Lost,” he said. “Name son who pay woods fire why where I.”

    Mary giggled. All of her fear had dissolved. The android mimicked her smile. “You’re funny,” said the girl. “You make me laugh just like daddy. I guess you can help me find him. Say some more!”

    Of course, the android didn’t know what the words meant, but he had a feeling he had done something right. The girl seemed to want to continue. He was certainly getting farther with her than he ever had with the birds. He tried to switch some more words around, hoping he was saying something intelligible. “Mary, I don’t know who my father is.”

    “Oh, that’s terrible! What a sad man you must be.”

    “Sad man. Afraid.”

    “What are you afraid of?” asked Mary. “You’re not lost in the woods. Will you help me find my daddy?”

    The android had picked up enough conversation by now to know by the tone of her voice that Mary was asking him a question. Even his limited programming understood questions. They had two answers, yes and no. He took a gamble and went for the positive. “Yes,” he said. Judging by her reaction, he had chosen the correct response.

    The two of them stayed in the thicket for many hours talking. Mary taught him a considerable amount. There were still things he did not understand, and things that Mary herself could not explain. One was the feeling of hunger. The android still could not understand it. He learned, though, as the hours dragged into days and the days dragged into weeks, that hunger was a need for sustenance. No matter what he brought to Mary, nothing was right. Nothing was edible. She grew weaker and weaker until finally one day the android brought her a bunch of wild berries.

    “This is fruit of a small tree, Mary,” he said. “This may fill your hungry.” He put the berries in her mouth, but Mary would not chew or swallow. She would not even open her eyes. She had slept much longer than usual, and the android assumed it was because she was too weak. He sat back and watched her, waiting for her to awaken.

    After a month, he finally realized that Mary simply wasn’t going to wake up. She had explained the concept of death to him, that it was going to sleep for a long time and never waking up. It had happened to her grandfather. The android was saddened when it dawned on him what had happened to Mary. He wailed mournfully, wishing he had the ability to cry.

    He began wandering again. He would walk for miles and miles, often not stopping for days at a time, but his wanderings always brought him back to University Town. Finally one day, he resigned himself to returning to his place of origin. He waited until evening, then slipped into town under the cover of darkness. He found the building from which he had started, and opened the door with ease, even though someone had taken the precaution of nailing it shut.

    Once inside, he could tell the place had been abandoned for weeks. He sat at the desk and looked up at the books on the shelf. “Books,” he said to himself, and took one day off the shelf. He opened it and looked at one of the pages. He was surprised to learn that he knew how to read.

    It took him one night to read all of the books in Schuyls’ library. He filled his data banks with everything. Physics, biology, philosophy, and anatomy. It was all fascinating to him. The last book he read was the Holy Book. When he came to the passage that Ben’s engineering professor had read to the class about the android, he was troubled.

    By this time, the android knew what he was. Schuyls had enough books about robotics in his study to make it glaringly obvious to the android that he was an artificial lifeform. After reading the Holy Book, he cursed his maker. He was without a soul. He was damned from the start. He wished there was a way he could confront his maker, but the words he spoke to Mary that first day still rang in his ears. “I don’t know who my father is,” he had said.

    He slammed the Holy Book shut and hurled it across the room. Why had he been created? More importantly, why had he been abandoned? Why has he left to fend for himself in a world where he was hated, feared, unwanted, and alone? Who was to blame? The answer came quite unexpectedly. There was still one book he had not read, the one still in his coat pocket.

    Quickly, the android pulled the book from his pocket and flipped it open. On the first page, in steady block letters, were the words This is the journal of Benjamyn Shockmann. The android grinned as he read further. Everything was finally falling into place.
    *


    Dak Randarr locked the door of his lab and headed for home. He had a package under his arm that he was going to drop off at the nearest incinerator. The day had been long, and he was happy to be going home. Since he graduated, he had been busy every day. Grants were pouring in from all over the empire from people who supported his research.

    Dak had never left University Town. He loved the place, and would not leave for all the money in the empire. Many serious offers had come in from some fairly important labs, but Dak felt he could do more without having to answer to anyone but himself. The only real supervision he had to endure came in the form of a monthly report to his biggest supporter, the Royal Institute for Disease Control.

    As he walked through the deserted streets, Dak could swear he could feel someone’s eyes on him. Someone was following him, but he could find no one. The streets were quiet and desolate. He approached the public incinerator that was not more than a block from his house and tossed in his package. He watched it burn for a while, then turned to go home.

    It was standing before him. The android was there, it’s menacing red eyes aglow. “Forget something, Doctor Randarr?” he asked.

    “No...” whispered Dak. “Not you... It can’t be you. Ben said you were dead.”

    “Ben was wrong,” replied the android. With one quick movement, he picked Dak up and tossed him into the incinerator. Dak screamed as he looked up at the android. The android smiled as he watched Dak burn. He felt an all new emotion. This, he realized, was joy. But it was a hollow victory, really. In order to feel real satisfaction, the android knew he would have to travel to Plebus.