Victory Unintentional by Asimov Isaac

Author:Asimov, Isaac [Asimov, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

a third

a fourth.

He came back and addressed the Jovian. “Those are supposed to be alive, aren’t they? I mean those little worm things.”

The Jovian said, “Certainly.”

“That’s strange – when I look at them, they die!”

Three exclaimed sharply and said to his two companions, “We’ve forgotten our gamma-ray radiation. Let’s get out of here, One, or we’ll kill every bit of microscopic life in the room.”

He turned to the Jovian, “I’m afraid that our presence is fatal to weaker forms of life. We had better leave. We hope the specimens are not too difficult to replace. And, while we’re about it, you had better not stay too near us, or our radiation may affect you adversely. You feel all right so far, don’t you?” he asked.

The Jovian led the way onward in proud silence, but it was to be noticed that thereafter he doubled the distance he had hitherto kept between himself and them.

Nothing more was said until the robots found themselves in a vast room. In the very centre of it huge ingots of metal rested unsupported in mid-air – or, rather, supported by nothing visible – against mighty Jovian gravity.

The Jovian clicked, “There is your force field in ultimate form, as recently perfected. Within that bubble is a vacuum, so that it is supporting the full weight of our atmosphere plus an amount of metal equivalent to two large spaceships. What do you say to that?”

“That space travel now becomes a possibility for you,” said Three.

“Definitely. No metal or plastic has the strength to hold our atmosphere against a vacuum, but a force field can – and a force field bubble will be our spaceship. Within the year we will be turning them out by the hundreds of thousands. Then we will swarm down upon Ganymede to destroy the verminous so-called intelligences that attempt to dispute our dominion of the universe.”

“The human beings of Ganymede have never attempted –” began Three, in mild expostulation.

“Silence!” snapped the Jovian. “Return now and tell them what you’ve seen. Their own feeble force fields – such as the one your ship is equipped with – will not stand against us, for our smallest ship will be a hundred times the size and power of yours.”

Three said, “Then there’s nothing more to do and we will return, as you say, with the information. If you could lead us back to our ship, we’ll say good-bye. But by the way, just as a matter for the record, there’s something you don’t understand. The humans of Ganymede have force fields, of course, but our particular ship isn’t equipped with one. We don’t need any.”

The robot turned away and motioned his companions to follow. For a moment they did not speak, then ZZ One muttered dejectedly, “Can’t we try to destroy this place?”

“It won’t help,” said Three. “They’d get us by weight of numbers. It’s no use. In an earthly decade the human masters will be finished. It is impossible to stand against Jupiter. There’s just too much of it.

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