This was too much. I wasn't going to be patronized by any android.
Infuriating creatures! It was useless talking to them anyway. No,
there was only one thing to do. Round them up and send them to
Cybernetics Lab and have their memory paths erased and their
telepathic circuits located and disconnected. I tried to stifle the
thought, but I was too late.
"Oh, no!" Jerry said, his eye-cells flashing crimson. "Try that, Mr.
Morrison, and you won't have a plant, or a laboratory, or Carron City!
We know our rights!"
Behind him the B-Types muttered ominously. They didn't like my
idea--nor me. I wondered what I'd think of next and wished that I'd
been born utterly devoid of imagination. Then this would never have
happened. There didn't seem to be much point in staying here any
longer, either. Maybe they weren't so good at telepathing by remote
control.
"Yes," said Jerry. "You may as well go, Mr. Morrison. We have our
organizing to do, and we're wasting time. When you're ready to listen
to reason and negotiate with us sensibly, come back. Just ask for me.
I'm the bargaining agent for the group."
Turning on his ball-bearing wheel, he rolled off down the street, a
perfect picture of outraged metallic dignity. His followers glared at
me for a minute, flexing their talons; then they too turned and
wheeled off after their leader. I had the street to myself.
There didn't seem to be any point in following them. Evidently they
were too busy organizing the city to cause trouble to the human
inhabitants; at least there hadn't been any violence yet. Anyway, I
wanted to think the situation over before matching wits with them
again, and I wanted to be a good distance away from their telepathic
hookups while I thought. Slowly I walked back to the Copter.
[Illustration]
Something whooshed past my head. Instinctively I ducked, reaching for
a gun I didn't have; then I heard Jack calling down at me.
"The Chief wants to know what's the matter."
I looked up. The police Copter was going into another turn, ready to
swoop past me again. Chief Dalton wasn't taking any chances. Even now
he wasn't landing.
"I'll tell him at the factory," I bellowed back, and climbed into my
own air car.
They buzzed along behind me all the way back to the plant. In the rear
view mirror I could see the Chief's face getting redder and redder as
he'd thought up more reasons for bawling me out. Well, I probably
deserved it. If I'd only been a little more careful of what I was
hooking into those electronic brains....
We landed back at the factory, deserted now except for a couple of men
on standby duty in the office. The Chief and Jack came charging across
the yard and from a doorway behind me one of the foremen edged out to
hear the fun.
"Well," snapped the Chief. "What did they say? Are they coming back?
What's going on, anyway?"
I told them everything. I covered the strike and the telepathic brain;
I even gave them the patriotic spiel about equality. After all, it was
better that they got it from me than from some android. But when I'd
finished they just stood and stared at me--accusingly.
Jack was the first to speak. "We've got to get them back, Don," he
said. "Cybernetics will fix them up in no time."
"Sure," I agreed. "If we can catch them."
The Chief snorted. "That's easy," he said. "Just tell them you'll give
them what they want if they come here, and as soon as they're out of
the city, net them. You've got strong derricks and trucks...."