Against the Fall of Night (Arthur C. Clarke Collection: Vanamonde) by Arthur C. Clarke

Author:Arthur C. Clarke [Clarke, Arthur C.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9780795324925
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2012-11-30T05:00:00+00:00

Ten

Duplication

“So you see,” concluded Alvin, “it will carry out any orders I give, no matter how complicated they are. But as soon as I ask questions about its origin, it simply freezes like that.”

The machine was hanging motionless above the Master Associator, its crystal lenses glittering in the silver light like a cluster of jewels. Of all the robots which Rorden had ever met, this was by far the most baffling: he was now almost sure that it had been built by no human civilization. With such eternal servants it was not surprising that the Master’s personality had survived the ages.

Alvin’s return had raised so many problems that Rorden was almost afraid to think of them. He himself had not found it easy to accept the existence of Lys with all its implications, and he wondered how Diaspar would react to the new knowledge. Probably the city’s immense inertia would cushion the shock: it might well be years before all of its inhabitants fully appreciated the fact that they were no longer alone on Earth.

But if Alvin had his way, things would move much more quickly than that. There were times when Rorden regretted the failure of Seranis’ plans—everything would have been so much simpler. The problem was immense, and for the second occasion in his life Rorden could not decide what course of action was correct. He wondered how many more times Alvin would present him with such dilemmas, and smiled a little wryly at the thought. For it would make no difference either way: Alvin would do exactly as he pleased.

As yet, not more than a dozen people outside Alvin’s own family knew the truth. His parents, with whom he now had so little in common and often did not see for weeks, still seemed to think that he had merely been to some outlying part of the city. Jeserac had been the only person to react strongly: once the initial shock had worn off he had engaged in a violent quarrel with Rorden and the two were no longer on speaking terms. Alvin, who had seen this coming for some time, could guess the details but to his disappointment neither of the protagonists would talk about the matter.

Later, there would be time enough to see that Diaspar realized the truth: for the moment Alvin was too interested in the robot to worry about much else. He felt, and his belief was now shared by Rorden, that the tale he had heard in Shalmirane was only a fragment of some far greater story. At first Rorden had been skeptical, and he still believed the “Great Ones” to be no more than another of the world’s countless religious myths. Only the robot knew the truth, and it had defied a million centuries of questioning as it was defying them now.

“The trouble is,” said Rorden, “that there are no longer any engineers left in the world.”

Alvin looked puzzled: although contact with the Keeper of the Records had greatly enlarged his vocabulary, there were thousands of archaic words he did not understand.

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