RIT1 - Predator, Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time - William F Wu

VIP免费
2024-11-30 0 0 485.97KB 107 页 5.9玖币
侵权投诉
Predator - Isaac Asimov's Robots In Time, vol 1 - by William F. Wu
ISAAC ASIMOV’S
ROBOTS IN TIME
PREDATOR
WILLIAM F. WU
Copyright © 1993
This novel is dedicated to
Bill Moss,
in memory of all those colorful plastic dinosaurs
file:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm (1 of 107)11/19/2005 4:17:00 AM
Predator - Isaac Asimov's Robots In Time, vol 1 - by William F. Wu
we used to play with,
and of our formative years together.
Special thanks are due for help in writing this novel to Michael D. Toman, as usual, for
invaluable research aid; Dr. William Q. Wu, and Cecile F. Wu, my parents, for indulging my
childhood interest in dinosaurs; Ricia Mainhardt; John Betancourt; and Byron Preiss.
THE LAWS OF ROBOTICS
1.
A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to
harm.
2.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict
with the First Law.
3.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the
First or Second Law
Foreward
In “Robot Visions,” Dr. Isaac Asimov writes about a question inherent in any time travel story—
whether individuals traveling in time will alter events that would have occurred without the
interference of a time traveler. Most writers who tackle this question write about changing the
past and whether doing so is desirable or not. The Good Doctor, once again exhibiting the
originality of his own vision, chooses to focus on a more rarely examined concern: of traveling
into the future, and the possible consequences of doing so.
Stories that merely take place in the future are not the same as stories about individuals who
travel from their own time, whatever it is, to their future. To my knowledge, the first science
fiction novel to tell such a story is the classic novel by H. G. Wells, The Time Machine. In it Wells
writes of a man who travels to the distant future from Victorian England, the time and place in
which Wells was writing the novel. However, Wells presented a dystopian vision of the future as
a warning of what could happen if the rigid social and economic divisions of his own society
worsened to the extreme. The possibility of avoiding that vision lay not with the time traveler,
but with the people who lived in Wells’s time. Wells did not really examine whether his time
traveler’s report to his friends back in his own time would bring about a different future.
Two theories of history influence the tale any writer tells about time travel. One belief is that
only large forces such as technological advance, economic change, and the development of
religions and philosophies determine the direction of history. The other theory is that any event,
“no matter how small, sends out ripples of influence that profoundly affect all other events. An
historian told me that his colleagues are about evenly divided in their support of these theories.
Authors of time travel stories always write with one or the other implicit, if not explicit, in their
work.
I first discovered the science fiction of Isaac Asimov as a child and have read both his fiction
file:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm (2 of 107)11/19/2005 4:17:00 AM
Predator - Isaac Asimov's Robots In Time, vol 1 - by William F. Wu
and nonfiction in the years since then. Writing time travel stories about his positronic robots
and his Three Laws of Robotics is therefore a special honor for me, and I hope you will enjoy the
Robots in Time series. By way of introduction, this book presents the late Dr. Asimov’s fantastic
“Robot Visions.”
William F. Wu.
1
Mojave Center Governor sat in his office, deep in the underground city of Mojave Center. He was
an experimental humaniform robot of a type that was new this year, 2140. Each of the Governor
robots was currently running all the municipal systems of one entire, newly-constructed city.
They were doing so under probationary status, monitored by a committee of scientists through
their computer.
His office was in the middle level of the city, in the center of that level. He didn’t really need an
office at all since most of his work was done through his radio link to the city computer or
directly to municipal departments; further, he could plug into various terminals when
necessary. However, he had learned that humans sometimes preferred doing business in an
office, so he maintained a small room in Mojave Center for that purpose.
At the moment, MC Governor was alone. He plugged his humaniform forefinger into a wall jack.
Inside the jack, the end of his finger opened and plugged into the system. He contacted the city
computer.
“I am going to run a simulation program again,” said MC Governor. “I will continue my normal
duties through my multi-tasking system. However, I instruct you not to transfer any
communication or other interruption lower than Priority 5. When I have finished running the
simulation, I will notify you.”
“Acknowledged,” said the city computer.
MC Governor returned his finger to human shape, breaking the shielded connection. For the
sake of security, he told himself, he chose not to use radio communication concerning the
simulation programs. Lately he had been running them more often than before.
He ran down his list of programs. They were standard simulation programs that all the
Governors used to discover and correct potential problems and challenges without actually
having to face them in real life. His favorites involved some sort of disaster that befell Mojave
Center, requiring him to respond urgently under the Laws of Robotics to restore the situation to
normal. Like all positronic robots, he was programmed so that his greatest imperative, and his
greatest reward, was in obeying the Laws. The First Law of Robotics was, “A robot may not
injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”
This time, he selected the program called Desert Flash Flood. It was essentially a form of role-
playing game. He began running it. Suddenly he found himself standing in the main
thoroughfare of Mojave Center, Antelope Valley Boulevard, with water a meter high pouring
down the street.
MC Governor was a very tall, brawny robot. He ran through the water to a young woman who
was stumbling and splashing helplessly, trying to hold a toddler in her arms. As MC Governor
picked her up and strode through the current toward an escalator, he radioed the city monitors
who controlled all the basic life functions.
“Shut down all electricity to nonessential services if they have failed to shut down
automatically,” he instructed the computer, as he carried the woman and her child. “Run a
status check on the emergency electrical systems providing essential services.”
file:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm (3 of 107)11/19/2005 4:17:00 AM
Predator - Isaac Asimov's Robots In Time, vol 1 - by William F. Wu
Right now, his greatest worry was the electrocution of humans if broken power lines touched
the flood water. As a Governor robot, he was a central control unit, capable of managing entire
cities, from traffic to essential services and utilities, to environmental control and industry. The
city had its own decentralized computer systems, which reported directly to him and took his
instructions by way of his internal radio and video systems.
“Thank you,” the woman gasped, clutching her drenched toddler as MC Governor set her down
on the rising escalator.
Almost immediately, the monitors reported that nonessential services were being discontinued.
The escalator stopped moving, but the woman stumbled on up the steps. MC Governor waded
back into the water toward a trolley full of humans stranded on one side of the boulevard. They
were yelling and screaming in panic. Its robot driver was speaking calmly to his passengers,
asking for patience.
The city monitors reported that the emergency power system was functioning safely.
“Send me all data related to the cause of the flood,” he ordered. At the same time, he moved
behind the stranded vehicle. It normally ran on a battery-powered electric motor. Now the robot
driver steered as MC Governor pushed the vehicle to the stationary escalator, where the driver
began helping the humans onto it.
As the monitors all over the city reported their data, MC Governor computed the information. A
flash flood had taken place in the Mojave Desert above them, washing down from the San
Gabriel Mountains to the south. Normally, it should not have been a problem. The top surface of
Mojave Center, a large rectangle on the desert floor, was comprised mostly of solar cells, which
provided power. It was fully sealed, of course, so that flood water would normally pass right
over the underground city. In this case, however, the force of the flood had ripped open the
surface and water was still pouring down into the top levels of the city.
Robots working on those levels were already struggling to seal off the leak. Others all over the
city were coordinating evacuation efforts for the humans. MC Governor was about to request
the details of those efforts when he was interrupted from outside the simulation program.
“City computer calling Mojave Center Governor with a Priority 8 emergency.”
MC Governor shut off the simulation and inserted his finger into the wall jack again to shield
his communication. “MC Governor here. Report the emergency.”
“Flooding is reported on the main level over Antelope Valley Boulevard. At this time, the Priority
8 emergency is estimated to be thirty-seven minutes from reaching a Priority 9 level without
additional measures.”
“What is the cause of the flooding?”
“The circulation of water was routed incorrectly through the city. Too much water was directed
to the problem area, and the increased pressure burst two main valves simultaneously.”
“Why was the water routed incorrectly?”
“The orders came from you.”
“Are all standard emergency procedures under way?”
“Affirmative. The most critical is that all drainage systems are open to the maximum.”
MC Governor quickly broke the connection and ran outside. The scene was similar to that of the
simulation, though not identical. Not as much water was running down the boulevard; it was
only half a meter deep, but many more people were running for the escalators and sliding
ramps, yelling to each other. MC Governor was horrified; somehow, he had allowed his
involvement with the simulation to influence his multi-tasking ability. Unwittingly, he had begun
to create the flood in the simulation, putting humans at risk in violation of the First Law of
Robotics.
He waded into the water, snatched up two children who had been knocked off their feet by the
file:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm (4 of 107)11/19/2005 4:17:01 AM
Predator - Isaac Asimov's Robots In Time, vol 1 - by William F. Wu
current, and carried them to the nearest rising slide ramp.
“City computer,” he radioed. “What is the status of the broken valves now?”
“A robot maintenance team has shut off the water flow manually at the preceding valves. The
broken valves are not yet under replacement.”
Around MC Governor, people were still in danger. The shallow water would not drown anyone in
the areas where it had flowed into gentle backwaters, but the current was powerful enough to
knock people down. If they were injured, they might drown even in shallow water. Other robots
were already wading through the water, carrying people to safety.
A short, balding man with frizzy gray hair had lost his footing. Though sitting in water that was
not over his head, he was clinging to the bumper of a small utility vehicle, unable to pull himself
up against the force of the current. He pulled himself toward the bumper, tried to gain traction
with his feet, and was knocked down again. This time he lost his grip and was rolled roughly
down the boulevard.
MC Governor waded quickly to the man and lifted him up. He was an engineer named Max Eisen,
to whom MC Governor had spoken briefly before. As MC Governor carried him, Eisen coughed
and wheezed, but was breathing. In several long strides, MC Governor returned to the ramp,
where he set the man down in a sitting position. Then he looked around again.
“Over there,” Max wheezed, pointing.
A young woman with curly orange hair had jumped up onto the pedestal next to an abstract
stone sculpture. She was looking doubtfully at the water swirling around the base of the
pedestal. As MC Governor hurried toward her, the pedestal tilted from the imbalance her weight
caused. Water flowed under its raised edge, pushing it over.
The young woman gasped as she was thrown through the air. The stone sculpture began to slide
off its pedestal in the same direction. Before she hit the water, however, MC Governor managed
to catch her and swing her out of the way. In the spot where she would have struck the water,
the stone sculpture splashed and then cracked against the hard floor beneath it.
“You are safe now,” said MC Governor, carrying her back to the ramp to join Max.
The water was slowing down quickly now. With the broken pipes turned off and the drainage
open to the maximum, the emergency was passing. Up and down the boulevard, robots were
helping humans to safety and seeing to their injuries if they had sustained any.
“Elaine,” said Max. “I would like to introduce you to Mojave Center Governor, the robot who runs
our city.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Elaine smiled gratefully, brushing her orange hair out of her face. “And
thank you.”
“I may not deserve thanks,” MC Governor said grimly. “I should never have allowed this to
happen.”
Internally, he radioed the water system monitors again. They all reported good drainage. Then
he called the city computer. “Are you aware of any immediate First Law imperatives that are not
being addressed?”
“No.”
“Compile total damage estimates, including human casualties, and relay them to me as soon as
they are reasonably complete. Prioritize repairs according to safety factors.” He was very
worried that his lapse had caused humans to be injured or worse.
“Acknowledged,” said the city computer.
Then MC Governor reviewed the power monitors and turned the electricity back on in all the
branches of the system that were undamaged.
“Elaine just moved here,” said Max. “I’m afraid this wasn’t a very good introduction, Elaine, but
Mojave Center really promises to be a good place to live.”
file:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm (5 of 107)11/19/2005 4:17:01 AM
摘要：

Predator-IsaacAsimov'sRobotsInTime,vol1-byWilliamF.WuISAACASIMOV’SROBOTSINTIMEPREDATORWILLIAMF.WUCopyright©1993ThisnovelisdedicatedtoBillMoss,inmemoryofallthosecolorfulplasticdinosaursfile:///E|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Princess%2...%20Robots%20in%20Time\%20-%20William%20F%20Wu.htm(1of107)11/19/20...

展开>> 收起<<
RIT1 - Predator, Isaac Asimov's Robots in Time - William F Wu.pdf

共107页,预览5页

还剩页未读， 继续阅读

声明：本站为文档C2C交易模式，即用户上传的文档直接被用户下载，本站只是中间服务平台，本站所有文档下载所得的收益归上传人(含作者)所有。玖贝云文库仅提供信息存储空间，仅对用户上传内容的表现方式做保护处理，对上载内容本身不做任何修改或编辑。若文档所含内容侵犯了您的版权或隐私，请立即通知玖贝云文库，我们立即给予删除！

相关推荐

更多
立即下载
分类：外语学习 价格：5.9玖币 属性：107 页 大小：485.97KB 格式：PDF 时间：2024-11-30

开通VIP享超值会员特权

  • 多端同步记录
  • 高速下载文档
  • 免费文档工具
  • 分享文档赚钱
  • 每日登录抽奖
  • 优质衍生服务

作者详情

相关内容

更多

热门标签

人际关系 配电装置 动力学连接体 力的合成 高考理综 全宋诗作者索引 公务员考试
/ 107
评分 收藏
分享
立即下载 VIP免费下载
客服
关注