He rose and stood staring at a wall-map of the world, split into two
regions with faint edgings of color. An irregular portion on the left
of the map was edged in a mild green. A smaller, but just as irregular,
portion on the right of the map was bordered in a washed-out pink. We
and They.
The map hadn't changed much in a century. The loss of Formosa and
the gain of East Germany some eighty years before had been the last
territorial switch of importance.
There had been another change, though, that was significant enough and
that was in the colors. Two generations before, Their territory had
been a brooding, bloody red, Ours a pure and undefiled white. Now there
was a neutrality about the colors. Lynn had seen Their maps and it was
the same on Their side.
"They wouldn't do it," he said.
"They are doing it," said Breckenridge, "and you had better accustom
yourself to the fact. Of course, sir, I realize that it isn't pleasant
to think that they may be that far ahead of us in robotics."
His eyes remained as guileless as ever, but the hidden knife-edges of
the words plunged deep, and Lynn quivered at the impact.
Of course, that would account for why the Chief of Robotics learned of
this so late and through a Security officer at that. He had lost caste
in the eyes of the Government; if Robotics had really failed in the
struggle, Lynn could expect no political mercy.
Lynn said wearily, "Even if what you say is true, they're not far ahead
of us. We could build humanoid robots."
"Have we, sir?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, we have built a few models for experimental
purposes."
"They were doing so ten years ago. They've made ten years' progress
since."
Lynn was disturbed. He wondered if his incredulity concerning the whole
business were really the result of wounded pride and fear for his job
and reputation. He was embarrassed by the possibility that this might
be so, and yet he was forced into defense.
He said, "Look, young man, the stalemate between Them and Us was never
perfect in every detail, you know. They have always been ahead in one
facet or another and We in some other facet or another. If They're
ahead of us right now in robotics, it's because They've placed a
greater proportion of Their effort into robotics than We have. And that
means that some other branch of endeavor has received a greater share
of Our efforts than it has of Theirs. It would mean We're ahead in
force-field research or in hyper-atomics, perhaps."
Lynn felt distressed at his own statement that the stalemate wasn't
perfect. It was true enough, but that was the one great danger
threatening the world. The world depended on the stalemate being as
perfect as possible. If the small unevennesses that always existed
over-balanced too far in one direction or the other--
Almost at the beginning of what had been the Cold War, both sides
had developed thermonuclear weapons, and war became unthinkable.
Competition switched from the military to the economic and
psychological and had stayed there ever since.
But always there was the driving effort on each side to break the
stalemate, to develop a parry for every possible thrust, to develop
a thrust that could not be parried in time--something that would make
war possible again. And that was not because either side wanted war so
desperately, but because both were afraid that the other side would
make the crucial discovery first.
For a hundred years each side had kept the struggle even. And in the
process, peace had been maintained for a hundred years while, as
byproducts of the continuously intensive research, force-fields had
been produced and solar energy and insect control and robots. Each side
was making a beginning in the understanding of mentalics, which was the
name given to the biochemistry and biophysics of thought. Each side had
its outposts on the Moon and on Mars. Mankind was advancing in giant
strides under forced draft.
It was even necessary for both sides to be as decent and humane as
possible among themselves, lest through cruelty and tyranny, friends be
made for the other side.
It couldn't be that the stalemate would now be broken and that there
would be war.