Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition — page 30: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

58 _ ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION he dropped the dish of almonds, his mouth Popping open, his tiny red | d tongue inside flickering nervously. He listened spellbound. The voice told him of the war on Grismet and of the permallium con- | structed robots, and of the cement blocks. This, however, he already knew, because he had been one of the delegates to the Peace Conference who had decided to dispose of the robots. The voice, however, also told him things he did not know, such as the inability of the robots to commit any crime that | any other sane human being would not commit, of their very simple desire © to be allowed to live in peace, and most of all of their utter horror for the | fate a civilized galaxy had decreed for them. When the voice Stopped, the Casseiopeian delegate was a greatly shaken little being. Back on the ship, Hall opened the circuit to the nineteen, and they spoke in words, in memory pictures and in sensations, A copter cab driver was hurrying with his fare from Manhattan to Oyster | Bay. Suddenly, in his mind, he became a permallium robot. He was bound | with cables of the heavy metal, and was suspended upside down in a huge cement block. The stone pressed firmly on his eyes, his ears, and his chest. | He was completely immobile, and worst of all, he knew that above his head © for six miles lay the great Grismet Ocean, with the blue mud slowly settling down encasing the cement in a Stony stratum that would last till the planet | broke apart. The cab driver gasped: “What the hell.” His throat was so dry he could 7 scarcely talk. He turned around to his fare, and the passenger, a young man, | was pale and trembling, ~ You seeing things, too?” the driver asked, “I sure am,” the fare said unsteadily. “What a thing to do.” For fifteen minutes, over the northwest quadrant of Earth, the words and the pictures went out, and thirteen billion people knew suddenly what lay in the hearts and minds of nineteen robots. A housewife in San Rafael was at the moment in a butcher shop buying meat for her family, As the thoughts and images started pouring into her — mind, she remained stock-still, her package of meat forgotten on the counter, The butcher, Wiping his bloodied hands on his apron froze in that position, | an expression of horror and incredulity on his face. When the thoughts Stopped coming in, the butcher was the first to come out of the trancelike state. “Boy,” he said, “that’s sure some Way of sending messages. Sure beats | the teledepths.” The housewife snatched her meat off the counter. “Is that all you think of,” she demanded angrily. _ that’s a terrible thing that those barbarians on Grismet are doing to | - those people. Why didn’t they tell us that they were human.” those . . THE STUTTERER 59 She stalked out of the shop, not certain what she would do, but determined to do something. In the ship Hall reluctantly broke off the connection and replaced the trap door. Then he went back to his cell and locked himself in. He had accomplished his mission; its results now lay in the opinions of men. Jordan left the ship immediately on landing, and took a’ copter over to the agency building. His conversation with his Superior was something he wanted to get over with as soon as possible. The young woman at the secretary’s desk looked at him coldly and led ~ him directly into the inner office. The chief was standing up in front of the map of the galaxy, his hands in his pockets, his eyes an icy blue. “ve been hearing about you,” he said without a greeting. Jordan sat down. He was tense and jumpy but tried not to show it. “I suppose you have,” he said, adding, after a moment, “Sir.” “How did that robot manage to break out of his cell and get to the power source on the ship in the first place?” . “He didn’t break out,” Jordan said slowly. “TI let him out.’ “T see,” the chief said, nodding. “You let him out. I see. No doubt you had your reasons,” | “Yes, I did. Look—” Jordan wanted to explain, but he could not find the words. It would have been different if the robots’ messages had reached Grismet; he would not have had to justify himself then. But they had not, and he could not find a way to tell this cold old man of what he had learned about the robots and their unity with men. “I did it because it was the only decent thing to do.” “I see,” the chief said. “You did it because you have a heart.”’ He leaned suddenly forward, both hands on his desk. “It’s good for a man to have a heart and be compassionate, He’s not worth anything if he isn’t. But”— and he shook his finger at Jordan as he spoke—“‘that man is going to be compassionate at his own expense, not at the expense of the agency. Do you understand that?” [Continued overleaf Membership is open to all interested in rocket engineering and space-flizht THE BRITISH Full particulars of the Society, together INTERPLANE TARY witha programme ot iectures, film shows etc., in London, Manchester, Birming- SOCI ETY ham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh will be sent on request 12 BESSBOROUGH GARDENS, Annual Subscription £111 6 LONDON S.W.1 comicbooks.co EE ER MSN Ot OE el Oey