Oona Dahlborg's jetticopter hovered over the Grand Canyon at the sunset
hour. She had let the controls go so that the little ship drifted with
the wind like one of the clouds which sailed a thousand feet or so over
the canyon rim. The disk of whirling gas which kept the teardrop of the
fuselage suspended shone in all rainbow colors; it reflected through the
translucent plastics top of the fuselage and played over the golden
helmet of the girl's hair and over the greying mane of the gaunt man at
her side.
Lee had been talking intensely, almost desperately for quite some time,
watching her as she lay back in her seat, her eyes half closed, hands
folded behind her neck, the perfect hemispheres of her breasts caressed
by the rainbows as they rose slowly with the even rhythm of her breath.
"And now you know everything, Oona," he ended, "do you think I'm mad?"
"No."
Her eyelids fluttered like wings of a butterfly as she turned to him.
Her right arm came down upon Lee's shoulder in a gesture of confidence.
He breathed relief as he saw no fear, not even uneasiness in the blue
depths of those beautiful eyes. Her hand upon his shoulder felt soothing
and at the same time electrifying; like the purple descending upon the
shoulder of a king.
"No," she repeated slowly: "the fact that you feel The Brain is alive
and possessed with a personality of its own, doesn't make you mad. I've
always felt that way about machines; even the simple ones like
automobiles. It was in the mountains north of San Francisco where I grew
up; whenever we went to town in winter time and the car came roaring
down those serpentines into the heavy air moist with fog and soft rains,
I could feel that engine breathe deeper and rejoice over its added
power. There was no doubt in my mind that it was a living thing. I often
went to the garage when I was little to talk to that car; to children of
another age their dolls were alive, for our generation it's the
machines. It's natural that this should be so. There's a child in every
man, no matter how adult. There is in Howard Scriven, too; in all the
scientists I've come to know, and the greater they are the more it is
distinct. You identify yourself with your work and in the degree you do
that it becomes a living thing; it is through vital imagination that we
become creators of anything, be it love or a machine. You needn't worry,
Semper; let The Brain be alive, let it be a personality, that doesn't
make you mad. All it indicates is that you're doing excellent work."
Lee blinked. With an effort he turned his eyes away from those breasts
which seemed to strive for the light of the sun from under the restraint
of her Navajo Indian sweater dress. He felt the utter inadequacy, the
devastating irony of words as now he was alone with Oona, up in the
clouds in a plane with nobody to interfere for the first time.
"You fool," a voice whispered in him, "you damned, you helpless fool.
Why don't you take her into your arms now? Isn't this the fulfillment of
all your dreams; what are you waiting for?" But: "No," his ration
answered, "that wouldn't do. Maybe she would give in to the mood of some
enchanted hour, maybe she would let herself be kissed. But if she did,
it would be 'one of those things'; the glory of the sunset, God's great
masterpiece, the Canyon spread below, the intensity of my desire. They
are bound to enter, bound to confuse the issue."
His every muscle stiffened and his lips paled as he bit them with a
violent effort to keep under control.
"Thanks, Oona," he said. "Of course I couldn't expect and, in fact, I
didn't expect that you would accept those things I've told you just now;
not in the literary sense that is. I'm very happy though and deeply
grateful that at least you do not think me mad. I'll confess to you--and
to you only--that I've been so deeply disturbed by these experiences
with The Brain that I've thought to myself: "Lee you're going crazy."
The Brain as it has revealed itself to me, is a tremendous reality; the
world outside The Brain is another reality and the two seem mutually
exclusive of one another; they just don't mix. Now: either The Brain is
an absolute reality--in that case I should not wish to have anything to
do with this god of the machines who wants to enslave mankind ... if I
cannot fight this monster I would rather flee before its approach to the
end of the world--or else: I'm suffering hallucinations, I'm hearing
voices, I'm obsessed. In that case I'd be unfit for the service of The
Brain, I'd be unworthy to be in your company and I also ought to run and
hide where I belong, out there in the wilds of Australia."
He had been talking faster and faster as if in fear that she would
interrupt him before he came to the end.
"In other words, I'm damned both ways; damned if I'm right and damned if
I'm wrong; and you know why Oona; you have known it all along: that I
love you."
* * * * *
She did not look at him. She stared upward into the rainbow vortex of
the jet which held the ship in the air. There was a smile on her face, a
kind smile which men do not often see, infinitely wise and infinitely
sad, full of a secret knowledge older than Man's.
It worried Lee, as the unknown of woman always worries man; but at least
she didn't take her hand away; softly, soothingly the fingers of that
hand caressed his shoulder as if possessed with a life of their own.
"No; I would not follow you into your wilderness if that's what you
mean," she said at last. "That hasn't got anything to do with you; I'll
tell you later why. But I don't think that you should go there either;
it wouldn't help--it never helps a man to run away from unsolved
problems." She had sounded strangely dull and dry, but now the beautiful
deep resonance reentered the contralto voice as she continued:
"I know your record, Semper; I know just why you ran away and became an
expatriate the first time--way back in '49. Her name was Ethel Franholt
and just because she happened to be a little bitch and worst of all:
jilted you for old money-bags Carson's son, you took it hard. Granted
that it was a fierce letdown, those postwar years were a nasty picture
generally; did it solve your problem to sulk out there in the desert
like Achilles in his tent? You know it didn't. You were _not_ through
with civilization be it good or bad. You were _not_ through, as now it
turns out, even with the other sex. That human problem which was the
immediate reason why you left, the one named Ethel, has traveled back
and forth to Reno three or four times and is currently married to one
Padraic O'Conner, a Chicago cop. Don't you think that it was good
riddance when she married old man Carson's son? Do you think your
leaving made one iota of a difference or altered a solution as ordained
by fate?"
"No," he said humbly.
"Then why are you trying that selfsame escapist solution now? Maybe
you're right about The Brain and maybe you're wrong; that I wouldn't
know. I've been working with scientists for too long to rule out
anything as impossible. But that's exactly it. You have not _solved_
this problem one way or another yet, not even to your own satisfaction.
To abandon it now, to flee from it in self preservation; why that would
be almost like desertion in the face of the enemy. You have got to see
this thing through to the end. If it turns out that you are suffering
from a neurosis, there still will be time to do something about it. If
you are right and some machine-god has indeed descended upon this earth,
then it is your plain duty to stay on because you are its prophet
whether you like it or not and would know better how to handle it than
anybody else. Perhaps our mechanized civilization _is_ going to the
dogs; as Scriven suspects and you and maybe I myself. But even so we
cannot abandon it; we belong, we are part of it, we're in it to the
bitter end."
Lee nodded slowly.
"Yes, I see what you mean. Please forgive me, Oona; The Brain, has a
terrific force of attrition, it's been wearing me down--Keeping
everything to myself and thinking that you would shrink from me as from
a madman. Tell me then, what shall I do? Should I tell Scriven or
anybody else about this thing?"
"For heaven's sake, no," she said horrified. "In the first place, Howard
carries an enormous burden at this present time; that Brain power
Extension Bill is going before Congress next week. It simply would be
unfair to bring any new uncertainty into his life when his energy is
already strained to its last ounce. In the second place Howard abhors
anything which smacks of the metaphysical. You have no _proof_, Semper,
and in the absence of that you cannot, you mustn't approach anybody with
the matter. All you can do is carry on and build up a strong case 100%
with solid facts. Don't forget that The Brain constitutes a
three-billion-dollar investment of taxpayers' money; besides The Brain
is the heart of our national defenses; never forget your "Oath of the
Brain." You cannot be too careful. Make the slightest mistake, and
believe me, it would be suicide. Promise, please, promise that you won't
do anything rash?"
Lee looked at her in frank amazement.
"You're right," he murmured, "these things never occurred to me before.
But you've got something there; good lord, what a complex world we're
living in."
The face she turned toward his suddenly was wet with tears.
"Forget it," she cried, "oh please, forget everything I said about
staying in this country and seeing this thing through to the end. Go, go
away, back to the never-never land, stay there and be safe. You cannot
cope with this thing, its too big and it's too involved with all those
politics behind. Get out of it as long as there's still time. You're a
child, you're a Don Quixote riding against windmills and it's going to
kill you--you--you innocent."
Anger and contempt were in her voice as she flung this last at him. She
hastily withdrew her hand from Lee; now it fingered for something in her
bag. He sat appalled; this was so unexpected, this was a different woman
from the composed and balanced Oona he had known. What had he done to
provoke this sudden reversal of opinion, this contempt, this tearing
away the king's purple from his shoulder, the purple which had been her
hand.
"She must think I'm a coward," he thought.
"This is awful." Aloud he said:
"Oh no; believe me, I never would have gone back to the never-never in
any case, Oona. Not without you that is. You said you couldn't follow me
there for some reasons which have nothing to do with me. Does that mean,
could I hope perhaps that you would--be my wife--later, when The Brain
problem is all done and over with?" He paused: "It wouldn't necessarily
mean to bury you in any desert, Oona," he added eagerly.
"No, Semper," she cried. "It's very good of you and I'm proud you asked
me, but it cannot be, never." Almost violently she repeated: "Never--it
is too late. Some day, I promise I'm going to explain; right now I
cannot, Semper. Please understand at least this one thing that right now
I cannot explain."
"It's horrid," Lee thought. "I'm always saying the wrong things at the
wrong time with Oona. I don't seem to have any understanding of a
woman's psychology at all; I'm hopeless."
"Of course" he said aloud. "It shall be as you wish."
* * * * *
The girl still didn't look at him. Her face under the transparent
rainbow umbrella of the swooshing jet again was radiant with that
strange smile which women preserve for their newly born after the pangs
of birth or for their men when unseeing they lie in fever deliriums; the
old, the knowing smile as she starts on the road to pain. Still smiling
she gripped the controls with her firm, capable hands.
"From the first minute," she said, "we've been friends, Semper. Let's
stay that way. This afternoon I made a fool of myself by telling you
first to stay on and then to go away. I was a little unnerved; I'm
sorry, Semper, it won't happen again. I, too, am living under a
considerable strain. You won't leave, I can see that now; it's partly my
fault and partly the perversity of the male. Promise me as a friend that
you'll be careful, understand? _Very, very_ careful in all matters
concerning The Brain and above all: discreet. Will you do that?"
It buoyed Lee up no end.
"Of course, Oona," he said. "You know that I trust your judgment. You
know that I think the world of you."
"That's wonderful," she exclaimed, "and now: look down; see the last act
before the curtain falls."
Down in the canyon deeps the dream cities and castles which millions of
years and the river built were changing contours and colors as the big
fireball dived into the Sierra Mountains. And then the shadows raced
like a ferocious hunt out of the deep, chasing away the last iridescence
of that awesome beauty and drowning it in the rising tide of the night.
The girl had flicked on the dashboard lights; the radio started humming
the tune of the Cephalon sound-beam, a deft turn of the wheel set the
jetticopter upon its course. They were alone under the stars; all the
other pleasure craft had returned before darkness from the fashionable
sunset-cocktail hour over the Grand Canyon. Now it was Lee's arm which
eased itself around the shoulder of the girl feeling with a delight in
its every nerve the slight pressure by which she answered it.
"I'm going to kiss her now," he thought, "at last, at last!"
There was a buzz in the phone and Lee lost contact with her shoulder as
suddenly she bent forward to take the receiver:
"Oh hello, Oona; this is Howard. Saw your plane over the canyon."
"Where are you?"
"Right behind you," chuckled Scriven's voice. "On the maiden trip with
my new ship. Took her over in Los Angeles this afternoon straight from
the assembly line. She's got everything. Oona, I don't wish to spoil
your evening for you but there are a few things right now I wish I could
consult with you about. Do you think you could spare me a minute? Would
you feel terrible if you did? Who's with you now; I don't mean to be
personal, you understand."
"Why it's Dr. Lee, of course."
"That's fine. He's the very man I want to see. Perhaps you two would
like to come over for cocktails in my ship? We could both land at the
top of the Braintrust building; it would be more comfortable than up in
the air. Besides, we would have all our working material right there."
With her hand on the receiver Oona turned to Lee: "How about it,
Semper?"
"Do you want me to go?" he asked.
"Frankly I do," she said earnestly. "He needs your aid. He's in a
terrible fix right now."
He tried to hide the bitterness of disappointment by a smile. "Why then
of course," he said.
Uncovering the receiver Oona spoke aloud again: "Okay, Howard, we'll be
seeing you."
"Fine, fine," came the delighted voice: "I'll phone the tower
immediately."
With Scriven's big ship flying behind Oona's, only a few miles behind,
the broken spell did not return. Already like a white table cloth laid
in the sky, the landing platform of the Braintrust tower gleamed under
the floodlights, and as the two ships descended almost side by side into
the clearing behind the cabin, plain-clothes men materialized from under
the shadows of the trees. Under the strong lights their smiles were as
well-bred as those of trained diplomats and their poise was perfect. Six
of them kept Lee, the stranger, covered while the seventh quickly
frisked him under the disguise of a polite bow.
Bearing it all with a grin, Lee thought: "I never knew home would be
like this. Never suspected it would be this kind of an America we were
fighting for. The Brain, it's got a private army too. Funny that I
should have known that all the time and yet not realized...."
Scriven took him warmly by the arm. "I'm awfully sorry Lee, it's plain
folly of course. I don't feel as if I need all this protection, but the
government does. Don't blame it on these men, they merely obey orders.
Now, out with those lights--and let's go over to the "Brain Wave." I
seem to hear a pleasant tinkling of glasses from within."
* * * * *
There was. With her remarkable ability of living up to an emergency,
Oona had taken possession of the strange ship. As the two men
approached, she stood at the door, unhurried hostess of an established
home with the soft glow of an electric fireplace behind her, ice cubes
and cocktail shakers already glittering on the little bar.
It was a spacious cabin. On Scriven's orders it had been equipped
somewhat like the captain's stateroom on an old "East-Indiaman" sailing
ship.
"I like your ship, Howard," she said. "She's swaying a little on her
shock absorbers in this breeze, but that makes one feel like really
being at high sea."
Scriven heaved a big sigh. "Thank you Oona, my dear. And you have no
idea how right you are. We _are_ at high sea; in fact, we're lost--at
least I am. Unless you save my life tonight, you and Dr. Lee."
Oona laughed and even Lee couldn't help smiling. There was something
irresistible comic in the puzzled and worried expression of that leonine
face. "Come on in, you need a drink," the girl said.
The aluminum steps creaked, and then the settee by the fireplace, under
the surgeon's mighty frame. "More than one. Tonight, so help me, I would
be justified, I would even have a right to get roaring drunk."
Lee began to wonder whether the great Scriven had already made some use
of his right in Los Angeles, which would account for the startling
change in the man. The drink, however, which Oona handed him, seemed to
do a lot of good. He sighed relief.
"This, briefly, is the story: I ran into General Vandergeest at the
airplane factory. He was there to take over some stuff for the Army and
he tipped me off. We are going to be invaded, Oona, a full scale
invasion mounted by a Congressional Committee."
"Oh God," there was sincere grief in the girl's voice. "And couldn't you
ward it off?"
With a gesture of despair, Scriven waved that away. "I know, I know. But
after all The Brain _is_ a military establishment and I am only the
scientific director of it. Yes, of course I protested, I protested
vehemently, but--" he shrugged his shoulders, "it was no good. You know
how the military are." He drained his glass and swung around.
"To put you into the picture, Lee, we have under construction at this
present time the 'Thorax.' That's a vast cavity underneath The Brain,
just as is the thorax in the human body. It's strictly hush-hush of
course, but since you were good enough to say that you're going to help
me out, I might as well tell you. The Thorax is going to house the
'motoric organs' of The Brain. It already contains the living quarters
for guards, maintenance engineers, and the general staff and so on in
the event of war emergency. It also contains the first fully automatic
factories for the production of spare parts which would make The Brain
self-sufficient. Eventually it is going to contain a great many
developments such as 'Gog and Magog' as I call them--fascinating little
beasts, I tell you, even if at present they are still in the nursery
stage. Anyway, for the completion of its Thorax The Brain needs another
billion dollars, and for the operation of the Thorax Congress has to
pass the Brainpower-Extension-Bill. For eventually, of course, all
war-essential traffic and all war-essential industries have to be
brought under the centralized control of The Brain if the country is
going to win the Atom-war. Naturally this Brainpower-Extension-Bill has
been very carefully edited by the War Department so as to appear a
peacetime project for the technological improvement of transportation
and so on. Even so we have great reason to fear that one of those blind
mice which we elect for our law-makers might accidentally fall over a
kernel of truth and start a great big squeak over it.
"So that's why I'm faced with this invasion. That's why I'm pushed up
front while the brass cautiously retires behind the ramparts which I'm
supposed to hold. Please Oona, let me have another drink."
From the Sierra Mountains the nightwind came in gusts, making the
"Brainwave's" hull vibrate like the body of a cello, over its rubber
tires it trembled, from time to time it bent a little in its hydraulic
knees. Almost in tune with the wind, gusts of wild thought whirled
through Lee:
"The Brain.... So it was already possessed of some motoric organs.... So
it already _had_ some means to exert its will ... so it wasn't The
Brain's wishful thinking, that full automatization which would lead to
the auto-procreation of machines. It was reality.... Most ominous of
all, why had The Brain concealed from him the work which must have been
going on for months, for years in this mysterious "Thorax", seat of
motoric organs.... Why, unless--had it not been for tonight's accident,
the sudden emergency and Scriven a little the worse for liquor under the
pressure of it.... Would he ever have learned _what_ was going on before
it was too _late_?"
* * * * *
The silence was becoming awkward. It was broken by Oona's carefully
composed voice.
"When is it going to happen--this invasion thing?"
The simple question seemed to startle Scriven who had been looking into
his glass as if in reverie.
"_When?_ Why, didn't I tell you the worst of it? _Tonight!_"
"_Tonight?_"
"Sure," Scriven cast a malicious glance up to the antique ship's
chronometer which hung over the bar. "This very minute the honorable
members are boarding their plane in Washington. They're going to descend
upon us in sixty minutes flat."
"But that's impossible!" Oona said. "The Brain isn't a roadhouse. They
can't do that to us in the middle of the night."
Scriven chuckled over his glass. Obviously he had regained his humor.
"Sometimes, Oona, you're like a little child. You forget that this is
meant to be a wonderful surprise. You forget that it comes armed with
passes from the War Department and fully informed as to The Brain's
midnight intermission-time. You forget that by those logical processes,
peculiar to kings, dictators, and peoples' representatives, they will
expect every courtesy extended to them in the midst of the unexpected
surprise. Hotel reservations, careful guidance through The Brain, an
inspired little speech by the Braintrust Director, fresh as a daisy as
he ought to be at 3 a.m. Not to forget the refreshments of course. Why
else do you think I've buttonholed you two out of the air? I literally
put my life in your hands. Save me from this--if you can!"
Despite the obvious dramatic act he had put on in voice and gesture,
there was a sincere pleading in Scriven's dark brown eyes.
"I will be glad to help as best I can," Lee said. "I'll make an awful
job of it, I'm sure, but I'll try and do the conducting and the
lecturing."
Scriven wiped his forehead with a big silk handkerchief. The leonine
face beamed. "Lee, that will be a tremendous help. You see, they will
feel flattered being conducted by somebody with a big name. They want an
'objective' view and you are not one of our regular employees, you're a
guest scientist from Australia. That makes you just about ideal. But,
Lee, much as it is against my interest, I ought to warn you: Do you
realize the utter impossibility of this thing? Laymen, outsiders coming
to investigate and to pass judgment upon the most complex electronic
organism in the world! In two hours at the most they expect to be fully
informed as to how The Brain works and somehow to be magically
transformed into authorities entitled to mouth considered opinions about
radioactive pyramidal cells in houses of government. Do you really think
you could survive it, Lee?"
"At least I can try," Lee smiled.
"Good man." There was a new spring in Scriven's step as he came over to
shake hands. "I can never thank you enough for this."
"I suppose I could hold the hospitality front," Oona said calmly.
Standing between the two, Scriven put his hands upon their shoulders.
"Oona, you arm yourself with a phone. Lee, you rush over to The Brain.
Oona will give you a pass to the Thorax. Every assistance you need will
be at your disposal. I'll sit down and whip up some kind of a speech.
We'll all meet again afterwards."
* * * * *
Seven hours later, one hour before sunrise and just in time to see the
big official plane from Washington shoot up into the first grey streak
of dawn, they met. They were all pale and shivering with the chill of
the air, of physical and nervous exhaustion. There was a note of
hysteria even in Oona's voice as she ordered a tremendous breakfast from
the Skull Hotel. But then as the fragrance of coffee mingled with that
of bacon and eggs, things rapidly improved and there were sudden
uncontrollable bursts of laughter. They had only to look at one another
to feel the tickle of renewed mirth.
The first thing to strike Lee, as he remembered, as he met the
senatorial group in the subterranean dome of the murals, was their
incongruity with the functional beauty which surrounded them, and the
sharp contrast they formed to the scientific workers of The Brain. As
they descended from their cars after a late dinner at the Skull Hotel
they resembled an average tourist group in Carlsbad Caverns bent upon a
good time and in a holiday mood.
There were seven. Two women senators among them, as they ascended with
Lee at the head along "Glideway Y," the "Visitors' Special" as the
brain-crews called it. It was wider than the service glideways and
equipped with comfortable seats. It led through The Brains median
section in-between the two hemispheres describing a loop which opened
vistas into but did not enter any of the grey matter convolutions. It
was brilliantly illuminated in order to forestall claustrophobia and
also to forestall too close a view into the black-lighted interior of
The Brain.
To Lee it was like a ride in an enormous Ferris Wheel fused with a
nightmarish dream wherein one shouts for help and nobody hears or seems
to understand: "... More than nine billion electronic tubes, more than
ten billion resistors, two billion capacitators, eight billion miles of
wires, etc., etc." He struggled trying to convey some idea of the
magnitude of The Brain. "Did you say _billion_ or did you say _million_
professor?" The senator from Michigan was busily scribbling notes.
"... It is the cerebral hemispheres which analyze and synthesize the
problems which are entered through the Apperception Centers in over a
million ideopulses per minute. Racing through the centers these form the
ideo-circuits...."
"I see, it's like a _typewriter_." That would be the senator from
Vermont.
"In some types of circuits the wires are so fine that skilled weavers of
Panama hats had to be brought in from Central America. Likewise from the
Pavlov Institute in Leningrad a layout for the circuits of 'conditioned
reflexes'...."
"I'm very much against that," the senator from Tennessee frowned. "All
those foreigners. I would have voted against that had the measure come
up in the House."
Lee felt the cold sweat of fear breaking out all over him, especially as
now, in the region of the telencephalon, with nothing but acres of
radioactive pyramidal cells around, when the senator from Connecticut in
audible and agitated whispers inquired whether there was a ladies'
powder room somewhere.
During the steep descent things went from bad to worse as the honorable
member from Kentucky discovered some interesting parallel between The
Brain and a coal mine he had previously seen and, as in between two of
The Brain's convolutions dedi-[A] woman from Connecticut went violently
sick....
In the "Brainwave's" cabin the great Scriven convulsed with laughter as
Lee narrated these things; Oona clapped her hands in delight: "Oh, how
wonderful; and do you remember how they solved the servant problem when
they saw those 'Gog and Magog' things?"
Yes, Lee remembered. His own conducted tour had been only the beginnings
of last nights nightmares of which there seemed to be no end....
Somewhat restored by black coffee at the communications center the
intrepid group had descended into those lower regions of the Thorax
which Lee himself had never before seen.
The drop of the freight-elevator was a good mile. Through the
transparent walls of the cage they saw new excavations being made on
various levels, all of them by powertools and chemicals alone, since
explosives might have caused tremors dangerous to The Brain. It was like
watching a skyscraper being built from the top down and all the way vast
amber colored, translucent pillars had followed them down the shaft, the
spinal column of The Brain.
Down at the lowest level the gentlemanly plainclothesmen of "Military
Intelligence" took over and did all the explaining. There were visions
of scores of tunnel tubes curving into the rock with the gleaming eyes
of narrow-gauge electric trains streaking away into the infinite;
visions of forbidding steel doors operated by photoelectric cells which
opened at a finger's raising of a guard's hand: "This is the Atomic
Powerplant," and their astonished eyes looked down from a dizzy height
into something like a huge drydock with something like the inverted hull
of an oceanliner in the middle of it, a selfcontained machine which
would continue to pour kilowatts for years, for decades on end without a
moving part, without a human being anywhere in sight. Vistas of
breathtaking airconditioning plants, vistas of giant mess halls, living
quarters, kitchens, plotting-rooms, all ready for immediate occupancy in
the event of war but yawning now with emptiness in the sleep of an
uneasy peace....
But the most awe-inspiring and, to Lee, foreboding sights, were the
"C.P.F.'s" as the guards called them, the "Critical-Parts-Factories." On
a superficial glance they looked ordinary modern plants: staggered rows
of machine tools sprouting from the main stem of the assembly line.
There was the familiar din of steel, the piercing screeches of the
multiple drills, the heavy pantings of the hydraulic presses. But after
a minute or so the visitors felt a vague uneasiness and then the
realization dawned that there was something missing and that this
something was human life.
"Aren't there even machine tenders or supervisors? Isn't there
_anybody_?"
"Not a soul," the answer came. "It's all automatic. Full automatic down
here."
They stared at the end of the assembly line; every twenty seconds it
spit out a fractional horsepower motor onto a transport band which
nursed the newborn engine into the rows of testing machines.
* * * * *
The elevator brought them back to the communication center where the
Terminal Cafeteria was ablaze with lights and where Dr. Scriven,
received his honored guests.
The guests were seated after the manner of a French restaurant, all in
one row, and as they raised expectant faces in the direction of the
service entrance "Gog and Magog" entered the room carrying trays with
refreshments which they served with the skill and the dignity of
accomplished waiters.
Gog and Magog were products of two assembly lines down in the Thorax.
Robots, still in an experimental stage, yet of remarkable perfection.
Both of them were about human size and approximately human-shaped but
the design of the two was different. Gog, the "light-duty" robot,
balanced itself by a gyroscope on a pair of stumpy legs, while the
"heavy-duty" Magog crawled noiselessly and rapidly on caterpillar
rubbertracks like a miniature tank. Of both types the arms were
uncommonly long and simian-like, but the remarkable progress made in the
engineering of prothesis after the Second World War had lent them
perfect articulation and sensitivity down to the last hydraulically
operated fingerjoint.
The photoelectric cells of their eyes looked pale and repulsive; the
square audion-screens of their ears however made up for that by the
comical precision with which they turned in every direction at the sound
of a commanding human voice. Their understanding of any given order
appeared perfect.
"Congratulations, Dr. Scriven, you've got the country's servant problem
licked at last."
"I wonder whether one could buy one and how much he would be?"
"First waiter who ever came when I called him."
"What a butler Gog would make, the perfect Jeeves. Could he learn to
answer the phone?"
"I bet he would even make a fourth at bridge."
"Magog, the check please."
"See, how he understands. He shakes his head; he says it's on the
house."
"Let's try to tip him: Gog, here's fifty cents for you; no he won't take
it."
"He has no use for it, no taste for a glass of beer, I suppose."
"What do you feed him, Dr. Scriven; a glass of electric juice for
breakfast? Is he AC or DC or both?"
Scriven's leonine face beamed; the stunt had come off.
Lee on the other hand had paled. He hadn't said a word ever since Gog
and Magog had trotted in. Now he took a silver dollar out of his pocket
and beckoning to Magog he handed it to him. "Magog, will you please
break this in two for me?"
For a second the Robot stood without motion as if undecided what to do.
Then he took the piece between two steely fingers. Inside his breast one
could hear the soft swoosh of the hydraulic pump; there was a sharp
report as of a small calibre gun; two bent and broken pieces were
politely handed back to Lee.
"Thank you, Magog," Lee said. "That's what I wanted to know." From a
corner of his eye he saw Oona and Scriven watching him with uneasy
looks.
* * * * *
Into the sudden and shocked silence of the table, there fell the
tinkling of a glass. On the other end of the table the great Scriven had
arisen to deliver the little speech he had prepared.
"... I wished you would think of The Brain, not in terms of electronics,
not in terms of dollars, but in terms of American lives.... Just think
of what it would mean to American mothers if in the event of another war
the mighty armour of our National Defense would go into battle without
exposing the life of one of their boys. Give us the funds and we'll
finish the job so that under the central control of The Brain our every
plane, every ship, every tank will roar into action unmanned and fully
automatic.
"And just as The Brain would be our impregnable shield in war, so it is
destined to carry the torch of progress in times of peace. Consider what
it would mean to every citizen if we had automatic functioning and
unerring direction by the Brain.
"Never again would there be cities without water, without electricity,
without transportation due to crippling strikes, because The Brain would
come to the rescue through its control over the essential services, and
if necessary with an industrial reserve army of perfected Gogs and
Magogs, kept for just such emergencies.
"... If in the past it has been true that trade follows the flag, thus
today it is true that trade and prosperity follow in the wake of science
and technology. In the invaluable services which it has rendered to
science and technology and to our national safety as well, The Brain has
already paid for itself. With the relatively small additional investment
which is now being proposed, The Brain's net profits to the nation would
be raised many times; never since the Louisiana Purchase has our
national government made a sounder business deal. With your own eyes you
have witnessed tonight what we have done, what we are doing and also how
much more we would be able to do. Thus I confidently trust that with our
nation's interest forever foremost in your minds you will support the
cause of The Brain."
There had been thunderous applause; at Oona's shouted order even Gog and
Magog did some mighty clapping of their steely hands to the delight of
the party.
And now that it was all over with and the reaction had begun to set in
Scriven asked: "Do you really think we put the idea over to them?"
"With this group? One hundred percent," Oona reassured him. "What do you
think, Lee?"
Lee nursed himself out of his settee, every bone in his gaunt frame now
was aching with weariness. "I think," he said hoarsely, "It was very
convincing, as far as those people are concerned. I think I'm too tired
to think. I think I better go now."
"Was there anything the matter with Lee?" Scriven asked after he'd gone.
"No, I guess not. Why?"
"He acted sort of queer with that silver dollar; shouldn't have done it.
Almost spoiled the show."
"He's been under a strain; we all were a little daffy by that time."
Scriven nodded and as he did his eyelids closed. They remained closed.
Staring at him for a moment, Oona thought that in a stupor of exhaustion
his features showed a strange similarity to a contented tiger dreaming
of the blood he's drawn in a successful hunt.