s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

practice, for I would say that oxygen is poisonous to the creatures. One of them died!' There
was a pause, and then ZZ One, whose greater simplicity led at times to an increased
directness of thought, said heavily, 'It might be that these strange creatures in a rather
childish way are attempting to destroy us.' And Two, struck by the suggestion, answered,
'You know, One, I think you're right!' There had been a slight lull in Jovian activity and now a
new structure was brought up. It possessed a slender rod that pointed skyward through the
impenetrable Jovian murk. It stood in that starkly incredible wind with a rigidity that plainly
indicated remarkable structural 42 strength. From its tip came a cracking and then a flash
that lit up the depths of the atmosphere into a gray fog. For a moment the robots were
bathed in clinging radiance and then Three said thoughtfully, 'High-tension electricity! Quite
respectable power, too. One, I think you're right. After all, the human masters have told us
that these creatures seek to destroy all humanity, and organisms possessing such insane
viciousness as to harbor a thought of harm against a human being'his voice trembled at the
thought'would scarcely scruple at attempting to destroy us.' 'It's a shame to have such
distorted minds,' said ZZ One. 'Poor fellows!' 'I find it a very saddening thought,' admitted
Two. 'Let's go back to the ship. We've seen enough for now.' They did so, and settled down
to wait. As ZZ Three said, Jupiter was a roomy planet, and it might take time for Jovian
transportation to bring a radio code expert to the ship. However, patience is a cheap
commodity to robots. As a matter of fact, Jupiter turned on its axis three times, according to
chronometer, before the expert arrived. The rising and setting of the sun made no
difference, of course, to the dead darkness at the bottom of three thousand miles of
liquid-dense gas, so that one could not speak of day and night. But then, neither Jovian nor
robot saw by visible light radiation and that didn't matter. Through this thirty-hour interval the
surrounding Jovians continued their attack with a patience and persevering relentlessness
concerning which robot ZZ One made a good many mental notes. The ship was assaulted
by as many varieties of forces as there were hours, and the robots observed every attack
attentively, analyzing such weapons as they recognized. They by no means recognized all.
43 But the human masters had built well. It had taken fifteen years to construct the ship and
the robots, and their essentials could be expressed in a single phraseraw strength. The
attack spent itself uselessly and neither ship nor robot seemed the worse for it. Three said,
'This atmosphere handicaps them, I think. They can't use atomic disrupters, since they would
only tear a hole in that soupy air and blow themselves up.' 'They haven't used high
explosives either,' said Two, 'which is well. They couldn't have hurt us, naturally, but it would
have thrown us about a bit.' 'High explosives are out of the question. You can't have an
explosive without gas expansion and gas just can't expand in this atmosphere.' 'It's a very
good atmosphere,' muttered One. 'I like it.' Which was natural, because he was built for it.
The ZZ robots were the first robots ever turned out by the United States Robots and
Mechanical Men Corporation that were not even faintly human in appearance. They were
low and squat, with a center of gravity less than a foot above ground level. They had six legs
apiece, stumpy and thick, designed to lift tons against two and a half times normal Earth
gravity. Their reflexes were that many times Earth-normal speed, to make up for the gravity.
And they were composed of a beryllium-iridium-bronze alloy that was proof against any
known corrosive agent, also any known destructive agent short of a thousand-megaton
atomic disrupter, under any conditions whatsoever. To dispense with further description,
they were indestructible, and so impressively powerful that they were the only robots ever
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built on whom the roboticists of the Corporation had never quite had the nerve to pin a
serial-number nickname. One bright young fellow had suggested 44 Sissy One, Two, and
Threebut not in a very loud voice, and the suggestion was never repeated. The last hours of
the wait were spent in a puzzled discussion to find a possible description of a Jovian's
appearance. ZZ One had made a note of their possession of tentacles and of their radial
symmetryand there he had stuck. Two and Three did their best, but couldn't help. 'You can't
very well describe anything,' Three declared finally, 'without a standard of reference. These
creatures are like nothing I know ofcompletely outside the posi-tronic paths of my brain. It's [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]