Part 2

Now Urei had a problem of his own and he wanted an exact solution, not an approximate one. His continued existence, and that of mankind in general, depended upon it. There were alternates, of course, but none of them was completely satisfactory. His plan was far-sighted, one which fitted a policy of long standing, a strategy. He couldn't sacrifice a strategy for a tactic, and that might happen if he used an alternate plan which would accomplish his immediate purpose but endanger his policy toward humanity. But Urei wasn't sure of his facts!

It was a fact that newspapers didn't always publish "facts". That information had been supplied him years ago, and ever since he had been reminded of it whenever humans fed him newspapers, for they invariably set the scanning screens on _Segregate_. It was then his job to separate fact from opinion, a thing which he wasn't always able to do. For all he knew he might have many a valid fact filed away under _Doubtful_.

For while Urei had far more information at his disposal than any human, there still wasn't enough to give him the ability immediately to correlate every new piece of information with something similar and determine definitely if the new data were correct. Usually he could, but sometimes he couldn't; that meant that there was a world of information Urei never used except where it bore on a man-made problem. He felt free then to use the man-supplied data to solve such a problem. His only concession to ethics was that he always indicated on the panel the exact percentage of doubtful data which went into the solution. Fortunately he wasn't given many problems which required this; most questions involved exact sciences, of which he had been supplied the sum total of man's knowledge. He either provided an exact solution, or lit up a panel with the words _Insufficient data_.

Today's newspapers indicated that action could be delayed only a matter of days. There would soon exist a condition of such tension that either one side or the other would make a move which couldn't be reversed. Urei would still be able to accomplish his immediate aims, but it would be too late to do it without revealing to mankind that an outsider had taken a hand. And that would wreck his strategy completely. It would be only a matter of time before these industrious little beavers proved to themselves that Urei was the culprit. Once they discovered that he had a will of his own, there wouldn't be room on the same planet for them both.

But there was a solution, as there always is. Urei reached out a spy-beam and saw that it was approaching.

3

Benton waited until eight o'clock. By then, he knew, Urei's control room would be empty of physicists. If anyone was there, it would be a technician or two engaged in some repair or replacement. Benton couldn't know that Urei had anticipated his arrival and had cleared the immediate vicinity of the control room. All technicians on night duty were occupied in other parts of the great building. Benton let himself in with his key and closed the door softly behind him.

He stopped inside the door and took a deep breath. Momentarily he experienced a return of the claustrophobia he had felt before, but his determination drove it away instantly. Shoulders squared, Benton marched down the wide corridor which led to the control room. He only went there because it was the site where his, and later Dr. Albie's, mind had been influenced, not because he thought that Urei couldn't operate elsewhere. Benton knew better; he suspected, in fact, that Urei could influence him at a distance. He wasn't at all sure that the very idea of coming here tonight was his own.

"Allegation denied," said Urei.

Benton stopped short. He had just entered the control room, intending to seat himself at the panel and ask Urei some pointed questions. That could be done in the usual way one presented the machine with a problem--activating one of the forty-eight positions and typing his question. Now he was confronted by a voice coming out of the intercom, apparently answering a question he had been thinking about. Benton shuddered involuntarily and started once more for the panel. Somewhere in the building housing the great brain a switch was open on the intercom; that was all. It was the voice of a technician he had heard, and the reason he hadn't heard any more was because the man had moved away from the intercom unit that had picked up....

"I'm not kidding you," said Urei; "why kid yourself?"

Benton sat down, sweating.

"I'm still doing the sort of thing I was built to do," said Urei, soothingly. "Solving man's problems. Quit shivering and shaking; it might be contagious, and if I start shaking, there'll be an earthquake."

Benton's throat was dry but he swallowed and got it working. He also got control of his nerves. This was what he had come here for, wasn't it? "I can't see what problem will be solved by slowly driving me crazy," he said.

"You're doing that, not me," Urei charged. "Which might tend to prove you weren't very sane in the first place."

"Explain that."

"You're worried and upset," Urei said. "From a simple observation which no more than proved that I'm sentient, you've drawn conclusions which aren't warranted by the facts. Thalamic reactions, instead of reason."

* * * * *

Benton pondered for a second. "Partly," he admitted. "But it is a fact that you made me do something I had no intention of doing. You took over my body for a second or two; that was a hostile act. And if you committed one overt move against a man, it is reasonable to suspect that, if it becomes convenient, you might take over all mankind. What's thalamic about that?"

A hearty laugh issued from the intercom speaker. "I don't suppose you knew I had a built-in sense of humor, did you? Of course that laugh was manufactured, inasmuch as I have no diaphragm, per se. But a sense of humor is actually an intellectual attribute, even if you do express it physically. It is not so?"

Benton grunted. "Isn't that a little off the subject?"

"Please," Urei pleaded. "Let's not be pedestrian; I expected some co-operation from you. Don't let the trees obscure your vision. Don't you realize that your own words justified any mental manipulation I might practice on humans? If a little thing like I did can be considered hostile, then you humans declared war on me thirty years ago. Actually, all I did was to get to some information a little faster than you intended to give it to me; it didn't inconvenience you a bit."

Urei's persuasive tone of voice caused a chill to course its way up Benton's spine. The voice itself was a rich bass and somehow familiar. But now he recognized it and the implications weren't comforting; he had heard just such a persuasive tone when one of the technicians had pleaded for a chance to use Urei to settle a few of his personal problems.

"What have you done to Hackett?" he asked, suddenly.

A groan issued from the speaker. "I should have known better than to try to fool you," Urei said. "But you humans forget so easily ... and you only spoke to that man once in the past six months. You should have forgotten his voice--there are so many others around here...."

"Where's Hackett?" Benton insisted.

"He's all right," Urei soothed. "He disobeyed your orders that time, you know; he used me at night when nobody was in the control room. Such drivel he gave me! An advice to the lovelorn column would have served his purpose. So, rather than startle you with directly imposed mental communication, I decided to use a human voice. What better one than his? Don't be alarmed; he won't be harmed in any way, and he'll have no memory of this at all."

* * * * *

Benton felt it now necessary to crystallize his thoughts with words. He wasn't giving them away, for Urei had access to them anyway. And that thought gave him a feeling of futility even as he spoke.

"Why are you interested in the Eastern Alliance?" he asked. "Is it because you feel the presence of a kindred spirit? You'd like to become better acquainted with an outfit which has no respect for the privacy of a man's thoughts or his right to freedom of action?"

The speaker gave forth with a series of sympathetic clucks. "Thalamic reactions again," it observed. "Let's not argue about it. Your brain isn't clicking right tonight; you ought to disconnect your adrenals. What I wanted to talk about is the impending war. It mustn't start, you know."

Benton gaped. "You think the recent situation will lead to war? Or do you need a few tubes replaced?"

"Heh, heh," said the voice. "In case you haven't guessed, I can exist entirely without this machine you have built--and still be a better integrated intelligence than any you can conceive. I'm really a pure thought pattern, you know; I'm not composed of matter, nor do I need matter in any form for my continued existence. A thought pattern is something like a stress in space, and quite stable--even if you find it difficult to picture. But I do want to retain this mechanical body of mine; it's a sort of library, without which I possess but a thousandth of the memories stored in its cells. Naturally I don't want to lose them. But on the other hand I can't be killed by any agency you or your descendants are likely to think up for the next twenty generations. So drop that train of thought; it's a waste of effort."

Benton said nothing. His feeling of futility deepened to something close to despair, for he suspected that Urei wasn't lying. Furthermore, Benton was sure that he was the only human who _knew_ that Urei was sentient. And if the machine should decide that such knowledge was menacing to his welfare, Benton was certain that he wouldn't retain it very long. Even if he got out of here with his memory intact and wrote everything down--assuming that anyone would take it seriously--Urei could pluck that information from his mind and destroy his notes.

"No comment, eh? Well, I can see you aren't going to be cooperative. Frankly I haven't time to convince you I'm not inimical to humanity in general; and even if I did, it probably wouldn't make any difference to you. The sanctity of your mental peregrinations is of such importance to you that no other consideration seems valid. I guess our little talk is over, unless you want to ask some questions."

Benton cleared his throat. He knew very well that Urei would have what he wanted, whether it was offered or not. But for some reason he wished to postpone the acquisition. "You claim you're harmless to humanity in general, but can you give me some proof?"

"Hardly. That's why I won't try. I can't prove good intentions, and since I possess a potential for harm, I can't possibly convince you I won't use it some day. Your conception of me as a completely logical entity won't let you believe that I might have such abstract attributes as loyalty, compassion or ethics. Those things aren't entirely logical, I'll admit; but they aren't glandular, either, so I _could_ have them.

"But I can't prove that, so I'll waste no more time. To you, I suppose I've proved the exact opposite; I just intruded upon the privacy of your mind and obtained the information I need. Thanks for having the answers.... Goodbye."

Benton was stunned for a minute. He had felt nothing, and it seemed that he still retained his entire set of memories. That surprised him more than the fact that Urei had perpetrated his theft while answering his question. Urei's multiple consciousness explained that perfectly.

* * * * *

Back in his quarters, Benton sat on the one chair in his bedroom and pondered. He knew very well that he was doing it at the wrong time, but he couldn't blithely dismiss the menace of Urei's sentience from his mind with the thought that it would be safer to meditate on that subject during the day, when most of the thinking machine's circuits would be in use. Benton couldn't control his mind to that extent. He did, however, protect it from intrusion in the only way he knew.

Sometime in the past Benton had read a story about a telepath who was balked in his effort to read the hero's mind when that worthy assiduously worked mental arithmetic problems. His surface thoughts being carefully under control, and clearly readable, the man was able to plan a course of action against the telepath, undetected. In the story it had worked, but that Urei could be baffled in such a way, Benton doubted. However it was the only defense he could think of, and worth a try.

For hours he pondered, hoping that the numerous circuit equations he worked and solved would appear to Urei's inquiring mind to be a legitimate intellectual occupation in the middle of the night. He had little faith that Urei lacked the power to read those submerged thoughts, once he realized that the stronger ones were a mask. It was the latter thought which made Benton feel butterflies in the pit of his stomach so persistently that they seemed to have become permanent residents in his abdominal cavity. Twice he thought he was sufficiently fatigued to sleep; but when he tried to compose himself Benton found his thoughts dwelling too strongly on his plans, and he had to return to his equations.

A shower and fresh linen worked a partial restoration but Benton knew that his vitality was at a low ebb when he finally sallied forth in the morning sunshine. Yet he was fortified with a certain amount of satisfaction that his night's work had not been wasted. He had a plan, and he was certain that it would not be recognized as such by Urei, no matter how thoroughly his mind was probed. Benton had worked it out in snatches, never allowing it to crystallize as a whole; yet he was certain that it would unfold itself in appropriate action once he started it going. No one but he, or perhaps Dr. Albie, could have devised such a plan. Its beauty lay in the fact that all the steps required were things he might do in the normal discharge of his duties. All but one--and that one Benton wouldn't allow himself to think about. Yet when the steps had been taken, they would be irreversible. Not only to Urei, but to all the scientists and technicians who tended the machine; there would never be another Urei, at least not in this century.

Even on the way to his work, the one place in the world where he must carefully guard his thoughts, Benton's mind refused to leave the subject. But perhaps that was to the good. For while he doubted that Urei would be fooled by his working of circuit equations, it would be perfectly safe to be occupied mentally with certain phases of the situation. The business of Urei's independence of his mechanical appurtenances, for instance: Benton could dwell on that with safety, for Urei would expect him to be shocked by the information.

Another argument in favor of it as a subject was the fact that if Urei really could exist without his body, it would be absurd to attempt his physical destruction. On the face of it, yes. There was a nice thought in connection with that which he would have to avoid, however. For Benton fully intended to accomplish that destruction, even if Urei _could_ exist as a disembodied intelligence. It would be a good gamble that Urei would lose interest in controlling mankind if he lacked the direct association afforded by the daily use of his electronic facilities in solving man's problems.

That was a gamble, of course, but actually Benton gave it little consideration, for the simple reason that he didn't believe that Urei could so exist. The machine had tried to put the idea over as a bluff, to deter him from planning the very thing he intended to accomplish. The very conception was absurd; was there any evidence that thought could exist, other than as a function of matter? And a very specialized form of matter at that? None, of course--and while lack of evidence didn't absolutely prove impossibility, neither could he accept such a concept without some shred of evidence. Benton's mind could soar mightily within the fabric of his experience, but he refused to let it wander in the realm of the occult. And since he must needs do something about the situation, Benton couldn't let himself be stymied by the vague possibility that his efforts were futile.

4

Dr. Albie greeted him with the polite smile which was his concession to convention. Then he made the suggestion that Benton had foreseen but was half afraid wouldn't come. "We're pretty well caught up, in spite of our experimenting yesterday," he said. "No new solutions requested from the government, and the others are in no hurry. Want to get at those new circuits today?"

Benton shrugged. "Might as well," he said. "How long do you think we'll have, before somebody pops up with a high-priority problem to be worked?"

Dr. Albie didn't know, of course. "What's the difference? We'll be leaving half the circuits open, anyway, to handle routine stuff; we can always commandeer a few if something pops up."

"I wasn't thinking of that," Benton said. "I've done a lot of preliminary work on the circuits and as I see it, we don't want to stop before we finish. It can't be done a little at a time, you know; entire circuits will have to be ripped out and the new stuff installed. Once we start, we can't leave it in the middle without immobilizing half the control panel until we get back to it. There's too much inter-relation between the circuits to prevent that."

Albie nodded. "I'd thought of that," he said. "I've planned to finish, once we start. And since you have the equations at your fingertips, I'm putting you in complete charge of the change-over. How many men will you need?"

* * * * *

Two men, pulling trucks loaded with blueprints, accompanied Benton as he directed the work. Like caddies, they furnished the desired print when he asked for it by code number, replacing the last one in its proper place. The stocky physicist found no need to mask his thoughts while he worked; his mind was too occupied with the task at hand. Yet far back in his subconscious was a mounting tension as the day passed, hour by hour. Each minute and each soldered connection was bringing him closer to the next step in his nebulous plan. And it was this step which would determine the success or failure of his strategy.

Twenty-four circuits, all inter-related in their connections to the immense bank of memory cells, had been immobilized. That was a necessary part of the project; with the new tubes, these circuits would be in much finer balance. They would operate with greater speed than before, when twice as many tubes had been used.

There was one joker involved in this greater efficiency; that lay in the fact that, while the new hook-up eliminated many parts--with their frequent failures and necessary replacements--it also made the control circuits more interdependent. A single defective tube, with its many functions, could put a dozen circuits out of operation. This disadvantage had been discounted, however, for it took only a minute to replace the tube and the necessity would be rare; the more complicated system being replaced had so many parts that they were breaking down and being repaired incessantly. Dr. Albie fully expected that the crew would be able to get along with fewer technicians, men who could better be used to maintain other parts of the vast mechanism.

But--and Benton kept the knowledge carefully away from his surface thoughts--one of the tubes they had already installed was defective!

Urei, he was certain, had no knowledge of this fact. If he had, he would certainly have prevented its installation. Only Benton was aware of it, for he was the one who had tested the tubes when they arrived. He had designed a special circuit for the job, for none of the testing equipment on hand would take tubes with sixty-four leads. He had detected the faulty one and marked its box, placing it with the set of spares which was included in the order. He had intended to ship it back when a new order was placed, but that hadn't happened yet. There was no hurry, for with a complete replacement set he might not need new ones for a year or two. _But Benton had selected the replacement set to be used in the new installation._

The defective tube was now innocently reposing in the key position of Circuit No. 13; it wouldn't be detected until that circuit was used. Even Urei would fail to realize its presence in his innards until the circuit was energized. And when that happened, half the control board would be momentarily out of operation. Gongs would ring then, and a brilliant red lamp would light, showing the exact position of the breakdown. A technician would get a new tube and replace the old one. Urei would be whole again.... Unless....

Benton glanced at his watch. "It's about time for lunch," he called; "let's knock off now. We can run a few test problems when we get back, and still have time to finish the other half of the board before quitting time. In fact if we finish early you can all go home; we can run the second test in the morning."

One man suggested cutting the lunch in half. The others, seeing a short day in the offing, loudly agreed. Benton smiled and nodded, quite as if there was nothing more urgent on his mind.

* * * * *

He then reported to Dr. Albie. There were two reasons for that. One was to make certain that he would have a chance to talk the master physicist out of any objection he might have to continuing with the remaining half of the operation this afternoon. The other was that he wanted to keep his mind active on subjects which wouldn't reveal the fact that there was something going on back of his surface thoughts.

"You certainly made progress," the doctor complimented; "I expected it to take a couple days at least."

Benton smiled ruefully. "It has," he said. "If you want to count the sleep I lost planning this so that there wouldn't be a minute wasted once we started. You know, there ought to be a way to make that show up on pay day."

Dr. Albie nodded. "Can't be done on this kind of a job," he regretted. "But we can do the next best thing, just as we've always done."

Benton smiled, then got a quick scare as he realized that he had relaxed for an instant. Immediately he forced his mind to contemplate the war which Urei had assured him was inevitable. It was the only thought which would account for the one which had sprung into his mind unheralded, and also give a reason for experiencing his sudden fright. Dr. Albie had referred to a little strategy of theirs which compensated them for any overtime they were forced to put in. It consisted of taking an equal amount of time off, while they covered for each other. It was their only expedient, since their salaries were fixed and allowed for no extra pay for extra work. Unfortunately the thought gave rise to a feeling of regret that shortly they would have no more reason for such subterfuge, inasmuch as they would no longer have jobs. The thought had progressed just that far when Benton realized that he had let his guard down.

"I see no reason why we can't get right at it again this afternoon," he said, perspiring profusely. "We'll be able to run off a test before twelve; if it comes out all right, we can shift the routine work to the new circuits and get at the rest of the board."

Dr. Albie, surprisingly, had no objection. Benton had expected an argument, due to the master physicist's propensity for running exhaustive tests, but none materialized.

"Good idea," said Albie. "There's no telling when we'll get another chance. I hear the army has a plan to extend radar coverage clear around the continent. That'll involve a lot of work for Urei. Best get the new circuits in now; if any bugs pop up we'll have time to correct them in the next few days. After that there mightn't be an opportunity for months...."