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.It seemed to be a hub between intersecting corridors, since eachwall framed an identical door.The alien paused for Derec to catch up, thencontinued on through. Where do the other doors lead? Can t tell u, the alien said cheerfully.Beyond the hub, the interior of the ship had a different character.There werejust as many walls and small spaces, but the walls were either of a coarsemesh, almost more like fencing, or had large windowlike cutouts.Together themesh and the cutouts provided long lines of sight and the feeling not of smallspaces but of a large busy one.The largest space within this deck seemed to be straight ahead.Peering overthe alien s shoulder,file:///D|/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Robot%20City%201%20-%20Odyssey.txt (28 of 91) [2/9/03 10:57:08 AM]file:///D|/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Robot%20City%201%20-%20Odyssey.txtDerec caught glimpses of what seemed to be a control center, and of a figureseated at the console with its back to them.There was something familiar andhuman about the figure, and something wrong and disturbing at the same time.As soon as the caninoid led him into the control center, Derec knew why he wasgetting mixed messages, and who or what the storage corridors had beendesigned for.The alien sitting at the console was decidedly humanoid, andDerec could describe him in very human terms a slender build, thin neck,almost hairless head, pale skin.But even sitting down, Aranimas was as tall as Derec, and he had the arm spanPage 37 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlof a condor.The entire horseshoe-shaped console, easily three human arm spanswide, was within his comfortable reach.Beyond and above Aranimas was a huge curved viewing screen on which eightdifferent views of the asteroid s surface were being projected.Superimposedon most of them were blue-lined targeting grids and small characters Derectook to be numbers.Some of the characters were changing constantly, andothers seemed to change in response to Aranimas s hands moving over theconsole and to the endless pattern of explosions and groundslides on thesurface. Praxil, denofah, praxil mastica, he was saying, apparently into amicrophone. Deh feh opt spa, nexori. Derec took a step forward. Aranimas? The alien turned his head slightly to the left, and a chill went throughDerec.The lizardlike eye that peered back at him was set in a raised socketon the side of Aranimas s head.From behind, Derec had mistaken the eye bumpsfor ears. Sssh! the caninoid alien said nervously, grasping Derec s hand and pullinghim back. Don t interrupt the boss. E ll talk to u when e s ready. Aranimas turned back to his work and resumed speaking.Derec had theimpression that he was issuing orders, chiding, prodding, reprimanding,assigning targets and grading gunners.There was nothing moving on the surfaceand nothing stirring below, and yet the carnage went on.After a few minutes of watching, Derec could no longer restrain himself. There s nothing down there anymore, Derec blurted. They blew it all up.What are you doing this for? Prrractice, Aranimas said.His voice was high-pitched and he trilled the r sound.It went on for another ten minutes that way, millions of watts of energyexpended uselessly against an inert and lifeless world.Then Aranimas ran afingertip along a row of switches, and the screens went blank. Rijat, he said, and turned his chair to face them. What is your name? Derec. Only one of Aranimas s eyes was trained on him; the other glancedaround randomly.Derec could not imagine what it would be like to view theworld that way.Did the alien s brain switch back and forth between the twoinputs, like a director choosing a camera shot? Or did it somehow integratethe two images into one? This device you used to attack my ship, Aranimas continued. What was it? An augmented worksuit altered to allow the leg servos to operate at fullpower.But I wasn t attacking you.I was escaping. Aranimas s other eye pivoted forward and focused on Derec. Were you aprisoner? I was stranded on the asteroid in a survival pod.The robots found me andthen wouldn t let me go.I had to steal that equipment from them to get away. And where did you come from before you were stranded? I don t know, Derec said, frowning. I can t remember anything before that. Don t lie to im, the caninoid whispered. It makes im angry. I m not lying, Derec said indignantly. As far as I can tell, five days agoI didn t exist.That s how much I know about who I am. While Derec spoke, Aranimas reached inside the folds of his clothing andextracted a small golden stylus.Seeing it, the caninoid cringed and turnedhalf away. Oh, no, it whined. Too late. Aranimas pointed the stylus at Derec s side, and a pale blue light began todance over the entire surface of Derec s hand.He screamed in pain and droppedto his knees.It was as though he had trust his hand into a raging furnace,except that no skin was being destroyed and no nerve endings deadened.Thepain just went on and on, sapping his strength until even the screams caughtin his throat, too feeble to free themselves. I know something of the rules of governing robots and humans, Aranimas saidPage 38 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcalmly while Derec writhed on the floor. Humans build robots to serve them.Robots follow human direction.If you were the only human on this asteroid,then it follows that the robots here were under your command, and serving yourpurpose. Aranimas tipped the stylus ceilingward, and the blue glow vanished.The painvanished with it,file:///D|/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Robot%20City%201%20-%20Odyssey.txt (29 of 91) [2/9/03 10:57:08 AM]file:///D|/Isaac%20Asimov/Asimov,%20Isaac%20-%20Robot%20City%201%20-%20Odyssey.txt except for the memory.Derec lay on his side and sucked in air in greatgasping breaths. I will know who you are and what you know about the object you broughtaboard, Aranimas said quietly. To end the pain, you need only tell me thetruth. His face as emotionless as his trilling voice, Aranimas pointed the stylus atDerec once more.CHAPTER 8TEST OF LOYALTYAt some point, it ended.But by that time Derec was in no condition to knowclearly why Aranimas had interrupted his torture.He had only a vagueawareness of Aranimas s going away, and of being dragged away from the controlcenter by the caninoid.Unable to either resist or help, he was taken to another section of thesubdivided compartment and laid on a thinly padded board.He lay theredrifting in and out of consciousness, sometimes aware of the caninoidcrouching solicitously beside him, sometimes aware of nothing but his ownconfusion and fatigue
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