Clarke, Arthur C - Fall of Night 02 (13 page)

 
          
 
"These machines," he said abruptly,
"surely they've been questioned? If they came to Earth with the Master,
they must still know his secrets."

 
          
 
The old man smiled wearily.

 
          
 
''They know," he said, "but they
will never speak. The Master saw to that before he handed over the control. We
have tried times without number, but it is useless."

 
          
 
Alvin
understood. He thought of the Associator in
Diaspar, and the seals that Alaine had set upon its knowledge. Even those
seals, he now believed, could be broken in time, and the Master Associator must
be infinitely more complex than these little robot slaves. He wondered if
Rorden, so skilled in unraveling the secrets of the past, would be able to
wrest the machines' hidden knowledge from them. But Rorden was far away and
would never leave Diaspar.

 
          
 
Quite suddenly the plan came fully fledged
into his mind. Only a very young person could ever have thought of it, and it
taxed even
Alvin
's self-confidence to the utmost. Yet once
the decision had been made, he moved with determination and much cunning to his
goal.

 
          
 
He pointed toward the three machines.

 
          
 
"Are they identical?" he asked.
"I mean, can each one do everything, or are they specialized in any
way?"

 
          
 
The old man looked a little puzzled.

 
          
 
"I've never thought about it," he
said. "When I need anything, I ask whichever is most convenient. I don't
think there is any difference between them."

 
          
 
"There can't be a great deal of work for
them to do now,"
Alvin
continued innocently. Theon looked a little startled, but
Alvin
carefully avoided his friend's eye. The old
man answered guilelessly.

 
          
 
"No," he replied sadly,
"Shalmirane is very diff"erent now."

 
          
 
Alvin
paused in sympathy: then, very quickly, he
began to talk. At first the old man did not seem to grasp his proposal: later,
when comprehension came,
Alvin
gave him no time to interrupt. He spoke of the great storehouses of
knowledge in Diaspar, and the skill with which the Keeper of the Records could
use them. Although the Master's machines had withstood all other inquirers,
they might yield their secrets to Rorden's probing. It would be a tragedy if
the chance were missed, for it would never come again.

 
          
 
Flushed with the heat of his own oratory,
Alvin
ended his appeal:

 
          
 
"Lend me one of the machines—you do not
need them all. Order it to obey my controls and I will take it to Diaspar. I
promise to return it whether the experiment succeeds or not."

 
          
 
Even Theon looked shocked, and an expression
of horror came across the old man's face.

 
          
 
"I couldn't do that!" he gasped.

 
          
 
"But why not?
Think what we might learn!"

 
          
 
The other shook his head firmly.

 
          
 
"It would be against the Master's
wishes."

 
          
 
Alvin
was disappointed—disappointed and annoyed.
But he was young, and his opponent was old and tired. He began again to go
through the argument, shifting his attack and pressing home each advantage. And
now for the first time Theon saw an Alvin he had never suspected before—a
personality, indeed, that was surprising Alvin himself. The men of the Dawn
Ages had never let obstacles bar their way for long, and the willpower and
determination that had been their heritage had not yet passed from Earth. Even
as a child
Alvin
had withstood the forces seeking to mold
him to the pattern of Diaspar. He was older now, and against him was not the
greatest city of the world but only an aged man who sought nothing but rest,
and would surely find that soon.

 
          
 
The evening was far advanced when the
ground-car slid silently through the last screen of trees and came to rest in
the great glade of Airlee. The argument, which had lasted most of the journey,
had now died away and peace had been restored. They had never quite come to
blows, perhaps because the odds were so unequal. Theon had only Krif to support
him, but
Alvin
could call upon the argus-eyed,
many-tentacled machine he still regarded so lovingly.

 
          
 
Theon had not minced his words. He had called
his friend a bully and had told
Alvin
that he should be thoroughly ashamed of
himself. But
Alvin
had only laughed and continued to play with his new toy. He did not
know how the transfer had been
effected
, but he alone
could control the robot now, could speak with its voice and see through its
eyes. It would obey no one else in
all the
world.

 
          
 
Seranis was waiting for them in a surprising
room which seemed to have no ceiling, though
Alvin
knew that there was a floor above it. She
seemed to be worried and more uncertain than he had ever seen her before, and
he remembered the choice that might soon lie before him. Until now he had
almost forgotten it. He had believed that, somehow, the Council would resolve
the difficulty. Now he realized that its decision might not be to his liking.

 
          
 
The voice of Seranis was troubled when she
began to speak, and from her occasional pauses
Alvin
could tell that she was repeating words
already rehearsed.

 
          
 
"
Alvin
," she began, "there are many
things I did not tell you before, but which you must learn now if you are to
understand our actions.

 
          
 
"You know one of the reasons for the
isolation of our two races. The fear of the Invaders, that dark shadow in the
depths of every human mind, turned your people against the world and made them
lose themselves in their own dreams. Here in
Lys
that fear has never been so great, although
we bore the burden of the attack. We had a better reason for our actions, and
what we did, we did with open eyes.

 
          
 
"Long ago,
Alvin
, men sought immortality and at last
achieved it. They forgot that a world which had banished death must also banish
birth. The power to extend his life indefinitely brought contentment to the
individual but stagnation to the race. You once told me that you were the only
child to be born in Diaspar for seven thousand years—but you have seen how many
children we have here in Airlee. Ages ago we sacrificed our immortality, but
Diaspar still follows the false dream. That is why our ways parted— and why
they must never meet again. "

 
          
 
Although the words had been more than
half-expected, the blow seemed none the less for its anticipation. Yet
Alvin
refused to admit the failure of all his
plans—half-formed though they were—and only part of his brain was listening to
Seranis now. He understood and noted all her words, but the conscious portion
of his mind was retracing the road to Diaspar, trying to imagine every obstacle
that could be placed in his way.

 
          
 
Seranis was clearly unhappy. Her voice was
almost pleading as it spoke, and
Alvin
knew that she was talking not only to him
but to her own son. Theon was watching his mother with a concern which held at
least more than a trace of accusation.

 
          
 
"We have no desire to keep you here in
Lys
against your will, but you must surely
realize what it would mean if our people mixed. Between our culture and yours
is a gulf as great as any that ever separated Earth from its ancient colonies.
Think of this one fact.

 
          
 
Alvin
. You and Theon are now of nearly the same
age— but he and I will have been dead for centuries when you are still a boy.
"

 
          
 
The room was very quiet, so quiet that
Alvin
could hear the strange, plaintive cries of
unknown beasts in the fields beyond the village. Presently he said, almost in a
whisper:

 
          
 
"What do you want me to do?"

 
          
 
"I have put your case to the Council, as
I promised, but the law cannot be altered. You may remain here and become one
of us, or you may return to Diaspar. If you do that, we must first reshape the
patterns of your mind so that you have no recollection of
Lys
and never again attempt to reach us."

 
          
 
"And Rorden?
He
would still know the truth, even if I had forgotten everything."

 
          
 
"We have spoken with Rorden many times since
you left. He recognizes the wisdom of our actions."

 
          
 
In that dark moment, it seemed to
Alvin
that the whole world had turned against
him. Though there was much truth in the words of Seranis, he would not
recognize it: he saw only the wreck of his still dimly conceived plans, the end
of the search for knowledge that had now become the most important thing in his
life.

 
          
 
Seranis must have read his thoughts.

 
          
 
"I'll leave you for a while," she
said. "But remember—whatever your choice, there can be no turning
back."

 
          
 
Theon followed her to the door but
Alvin
called after him. He looked inquiringly at
his mother, who hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head. The door
closed silently behind her, and
Alvin
knew that it would not open again without her
consent.

 
          
 
Alvin
waited until his racing thoughts were once
more under control.

 
          
 
"Theon," he began, "you'll help
me, won't you?"

 
          
 
The other nodded but did not speak.

 
          
 
"Then tell me this—how could your people
stop me if I tried to run away?"

 
          
 
"That would be easy. If you tried to
escape, my mother would take control of your mind. Later, when you became one
of us, you would not wish to leave."