Anthony, Piers - Adept - 04 - Out of Phaze

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a third of the way along, then drove ahead for the victory. Panting and

ruddy-faced with his effort, he laughed as Mach finished. "Slowpoke!"

Mach shrugged. He had expected to lose, because his power was

produced evenly; he could not put forth that extra surge of energy for a spot

activity. However, neither did he tire; he could maintain a similar pace

indefinitely. Had the race been longer, he would have won.

Rory knew that, of course; it was only the luck of the grid that had

given him the victory. He liked to tease Mach about his supposed

unwillingness to try harder. It was his human way, for he was fully human.

Mach was, of course, unhuman in all but form and consciousness.

They shook themselves dry and watched while two girls lined up at

the far end of the pool for their own contest. Both were young and well-

formed, with tresses that fell down about their breasts with the provocative

suggestion of clothing. One waved.

"Hey, I think they're following us!" Rory exclaimed. "Let's wait for

them!"

"Yes, they collaborated to match our choice of contest," Mach

agreed.

Rory squinted as the two young women dived in, wincing as one

made a bad entry. "Android," he muttered. "They're clumsy."

The girls completed their race and heaved themselves dripping

from the pool. The breasts of the android bounced as she shook herself.

The other girl was more diffident, standing somewhat awkwardly, so that

her body did not show to advantage.

"Looking for company?" Rory asked, his eyes traveling up and

down the android's body.

"You're human, aren't you?" the android inquired. "I'd like to trade."

"Favors?" Rory asked, licking his lips.

"Companions."

Rory nodded. "Sure, why not! Here's Mach." He hauled on Mach's

elbow.

"Here's Agape," the android said, giving the other girl a little shove.

"I'm Narda."

"I'm Rory. Let's go somewhere."

The two walked away, leaving Mach with Agape. He

had not sought her company, but found himself thus abruptly

committed.

"I don't believe I have seen you before," he said to the girl. Actually,

he was sure of it; his memory for detail was of course infallible.

"I'm new," she agreed, speaking with an odd accent. "I just arrived

yesterday. Narda was showing me the Game."

'They are not. But sometimes they are expected." He studied her

more closely. "Are you android? You seem different."

"I am -- alien," she said. "This is not my natural form. But I was

advised that if I wished to participate in this experiment, it was best to

assume it. Have I given of-fense?"

Alien! No wonder! "No offense." Mach became more interested as

his circuits grappled with the shift of concept. He had never interacted this

closely with a hu-manoid alien before. The experimental community

consisted of human beings, robots, androids and cyborgs, all in perfect

human form, and in the course of the past year there had been a number of

changes as individuals were shifted from one city to another. The purpose

was to create a new, egalitarian society in which no serfs were ghettoized.

It seemed to be working, and now these integrated serfs were being spread

about the planet of Proton so as to bring the enlightened attitude to all.

Whether that latest effort was to be successful remained in doubt; the wider

society of Citizens and

serfs clung to its prejudices as if they were points in the Tourney.

Now aliens were being included. This was ambitious indeed. Mach

perceived the input of his father in that. Citizen Blue had been laboring for

twenty years to revamp the society of Proton, and had accomplished a

great deal. Obviously the effort was not slackening.

He told her how many serfs, including himself, practiced the Game

diligently, because each year there was a Game Tourney whose winner

was granted Citizenship and became a member of the ruling class.

Apparently Narda had simply brought her along without explanation, and

dumped her at the first opportunity. This was not proper behavior, but

allowances had to be made for androids. They tended to be less socially

aware than others were.

He brought her to a cubicle and showed her the two panels. "This

is the selection mechanism," he explained. "You stand at one, and I stand

at the other. Each panel presents the primary grid, with the numbered

terms across the top, and the lettered ones down the side. One player

chooses from the numbers, the other from the letters. On my grid the letters

are highlighted, so I must choose from them. On yours it will be the

numbers."

"Yes," she agreed. "They read '1. PHYSICAL, 2. MENTAL, 3.

CHANCE, 4. ARTS.' But I do not grasp what they mean."

"You must select one. If you wish to indulge in a physical

competition, touch 1. If you prefer mental, touch 2. I will touch one of mine,

and where they intersect will define the nature of our game."

"How very clever," she said. "I shall touch the first."

define the tool-assisted physical games. We must choose again -- you from

the lettered ones, I from the numbered ones, this time."

"E. EARTH, F. FIRE, G. GAS, H. H20," she read. "I don't believe I

understand."

"They really stand for the type of surface on which the game is to

be played," Mach said. "Flat, Variable, Discontinuous or Liquid. Some

programmer decided to get clever with the letters, matching them up with

words. It is true that the earth is normally a flat surface, and fire forms a

variable surface, and gas is discontinuous if you seek to stand on it, and

H2O stands for water, which is a liquid. All you need be concerned about is

the nature of the surface upon which you prefer to play, whether flat, or like

a mountain, or -- "

"Thank you," she said, and touched her choice.

His own choices were 5. SEPARATE, 6. INTERACTIVE, 7.

COMBAT and 8. COOPERATIVE. He touched the second.

The square for FLAT SURFACE/INTERACTIVE brightened. Now

the grid became a smaller one of nine boxes, with a list of terms at the side.

"We get to fill in this one ourselves," he explained. "Choose any game that

you like."

"I do not know these games," she protested. "Marbles, earthball,

Jett de boules -- "

delighted. They played the game, and he won, but she was quite satisfied.

Now she had a notion how things were done on the Planet of Proton.

They exited the Game Annex. Mach would have preferred to go his

own way, but was uncertain how to dispose of Agape. He had been given a

commitment to assist her, and though he knew the basis for that

assignment was largely spurious, he also knew that she needed guidance,

and that he was a more responsible guide than the android Narda had

been. Thus he could not let it go as casually as he had undertaken it.

"Am I now becoming a burden to you, Mach?" she inquired

nervously.

"This is true," he agreed. "But I conclude that I should assist you

further, so that you will be able to handle our society alone."

She made an uncertain laugh, as though both the act and the basis

for it were novelties. "You are unlike Narda."

"She is an android. I am a robot."

She turned her head to gaze at him with perplexity. "I had assumed

you were android or human, like the others. You resemble those."

"I am crafted to resemble them, just as you are. But my interior

operations are no more human than are yours." He spotted a dining region.

"Do you wish to eat?"

"That is appealing," she agreed.

Mach considered. He suspected that she was hungry, I but so

anxious about making an error of custom that she was afraid to make her

own choice. "I can eat," he said. "I merely do not need to. Suppose I order

nutro-I drink for each of us?"

"My gratitude." Indeed, she was almost fawning. He placed the

order, and in a moment they had two | tall containers of the beverage,

complete with straws. "Is it permissible to be private?" she asked.

"Certainly." He showed the way to a booth, and the I curtain closed about

them, cutting off all sight and sound I of the remainder of the dining alcove.

Mach sipped his drink, using the straw. Agape hesitated. "It is a

matter of generating a partial vacuum in the mouth," he explained. "That

causes the pressure of I the air to push the fluid up through the straw."

"My concern is not of that nature," she said. "I am an alien,

amoebic in nature. I can maintain the human form for ordinary pursuits, but

am unable to do so for imbibation. I am concerned that my mode of

assimilation | would be a social indiscretion in your presence."

"I will of course leave the booth if you prefer," Mach said. "But I am

scientifically interested in your biology, and I am not subject to annoyance

because of differing I modes of operation."

Still she hesitated. "Narda termed it 'gross,' I believe | that is why

she preferred to separate herself from me." Androids were notorious for

gradually reformed into a broad, shallow dish. Mach had known how

malleable the material was, as the empty containers were normally

compacted into balls and rolled into the recycling hopper, but he had never

before seen a person reform one while it was full of fluid.

Now she leaned forward, bringing her head directly over the dish.

Her features melted, the nose, eyes, ears and mouth disappearing. Her

head receded into her neck, and her breasts lifted to join it, forming a single

globular mass above the table. This mass flattened and descended until it

covered the full dish. The flesh dipped into the beverage.

In the course of the next few minutes the beverage disappeared,

absorbed into the pancake-shaped mass of flesh. The amoeba was

assimilating nourishment in the fashion of its kind.

Then the mass lifted, forming another glob. The glob stretched out,

narrowing to form the neck, bulging below to fashion breasts, and shaping

gradually back into the human features above. The configuration he

recognized as Agape returned, features clean, eyes and mouth closed.

The eyes opened, and then the mouth. "Do you wish to depart my

presence now?" she asked.

"No. I find your process of assimilation fascinating."

"It is not gross to you?"

"It is educational to me. I appreciate being shown it."

father's effort to integrate the self-willed machines into the society of

Proton. If humanoid ones can be successful at this, then the nonhumanoid

ones can follow."

"But do not human beings grow from small creatures formed within

the bodies of their parents? Surely you have a maker, not a father."

"I have a father and a mother," Mach said firmly. "My father is

Citizen Blue, an immigrant from the frame of Phaze. My mother is Sheen, a

female robot. It is possible for a female robot to be implanted with a human

egg-cell that can be fertilized internally by a human male, and for her to

nourish that cell in the laboratory of her body and birth it in the human

fashion, becoming a surrogate mother to his child. But Sheen elected not to

be modified to accommodate this; she preferred to have a robot baby, like

herself. Therefore I am a robot, but my basic programming makes my

awareness and intellectual quotient very similar to those of my father."

"But then you were constructed as an adult, fully formed as you are

now."

"I was crafted as a robot baby, incontinent and untrained. I was

adjusted for growth on a weekly basis, trained and educated by hand.

Periodically my metal skeletal structure was replaced, and my wiring

revamped, but I never changed size or appearance in any large step. In

this manner I proceeded in the course of sixteen years to my present size,

discrimination against

robots, cyborgs and androids. In the future all will participate on an

equal basis."

"And perhaps aliens too," she agreed. "Now the rationale behind

my own participation becomes clear, was not informed by my own

planetary authorities; was simply given my assignment. Your father is a per

ceptive being."

"This is true. But the job is not yet complete, and there is

substantial opposition. We must all be careful."

"Opposition? I did not realize."

"The majority of Citizens would have preferred retain the prior

system, in which only chosen hum beings had power, and only human

beings were eligibl to compete for Citizenship."

"You mentioned this before. What is a Citizen?"

"A member of the governing class of Proton. Citize have enormous

power, and the right to wear clothin We serfs must address any Citizen as

'sir' and obey an directive he gives."

"But I had understood that serfs had opportunity to achieve power.

That if I succeeded in accommodating myself to this society, such

opportunity would become mine."

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摘要：

athirdofthewayalong,thendroveaheadforthevictory.Pantingandruddy-facedwithhiseffort,helaughedasMachfinished."Slowpoke!"Machshrugged.Hehadexpectedtolose,becausehispowerwasproducedevenly;hecouldnotputforththatextrasurgeofenergyforaspotactivity.However,neitherdidhetire;hecouldmaintainasimilarpaceindefin...

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Anthony, Piers - Adept - 04 - Out of Phaze

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