Eager, p.7
Eager, page 7
He knew, because Professor Ogden had said so, that until humans made robots with artificial skin and muscles he was more lifelike than any other machine. It was true that he could bend and twist and stretch, and screw his face into hundreds of expressions, but he didn’t look like a human or a regular robot. He noticed that people were beginning to stare at him and shrank back against the outside wall.
Grumps reappeared and led him beyond the learning center in the direction of the technocrats’ quarter. They stopped outside the high wall that surrounded the area. “Fleur’s friend Marcia lives here,” volunteered the butler. Eager peered through the gateway at the rows of houses. “Why is there a wall?” he asked. “Are they in prison?”
“I don’t think so,” said Grumps.
They were about to return home when a van with an open back drove out of the gate. Two robots sat side by side in the front. As the vehicle passed them, Eager and Grumps noticed a third robot lying motionless in the back. The engine spluttered and stalled. The robots at the front must have restarted it because a moment later the van drove off, belching gray smoke from the exhaust.
“What happened?” asked Eager.
“The petrol is very low-quality. It comes from an impure source.”
“I meant the robot,” said Eager. “Why was it lying down?”
Grumps started to walk in the direction of home. “They had cut off its power supply,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Who?”
“Its owners.”
“Why?”
“In all likelihood they no longer had need of its services,” said Grumps.
“No longer had need … but what exactly did they do?” said Eager.
“I understand that newer robots are designed to require very little energy. They are powered by radio waves, whereas I rely on batteries, which I recharge every night. Should you remove my batteries I would no longer function. In the same way, if one stops transmitting power to these other robots, they are incapable.”
“Dead,” whispered Eager.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Dead, like humans when they reach the end of their life.”
Grumps had nothing to say to this. It was outside the realms of his experience. Instead he remarked, as if discussing the weather, “I believe Mr. and Mrs. Bell were going to do the same to me, remove my batteries, that is.”
Eager felt overcome by a sense of confusion. He hardly dared move. He too was powered by radio waves. Did this mean the Bells would one day cut off his energy supply? He wondered whether Professor Ogden would be an accomplice to the act.
“Doesn’t it give you a funny feeling, to see another robot… like that?”
“Why should I feel anything?” asked the butler. “Obviously, I have not been programmed to respond to this situation. I have no feelings about it at all, funny or otherwise.”
They walked the rest of the way home in silence. Eager was no longer fascinated by the objects and materials on his route. Before, they had seemed to call out to him to look, to smell, to marvel. Now they appeared squalid and lifeless, as if the color had drained out of them. The world suddenly was remote and unfriendly, and he felt as if he did not care what happened next. There was nothing more to explore, nothing more to experience.
“Has anything happened?” Mrs. Bell asked Grumps as Eager sloped off toward the kitchen. “He doesn’t have his usual bounce.” The butler did not know how to reply. “I am showing him all I know,” he said simply.
Eager stood in the center of the room and surveyed the domestic appliances. He wondered what they felt about coming to the end of their life. “Excuse me,” he said politely to the fridge. “Do you know anything about death?” Too late, he remembered that the fridge did not speak. A message scrolled across the fridge’s door. “We seem to have run out of death. Shall I order some?”
“No,” Eager said abjectly. He walked along the hallway to the bottom of the stairs. He had not yet been to the top of the house, and perhaps he would find Mr. or Mrs. Bell there. But all the rooms on the upper floors were empty.
Eager was about to go back down when he noticed a small flight of steps. He climbed them and found himself outside a door. It sensed his arrival and slid open. Inside the room were a large screen and a couple of chairs. “The gobetween,” said the robot to himself. The screen flickered into action.
An odd-looking potbellied man was sitting under a gnarled tree. Eager was astonished to see that the man was wrapped in a white sheet. He had hoisted it about his thighs in order to sit comfortably on the grass. Behind him rose a cluster of stone buildings, each with many steps and columns. They reminded Eager of the learning center.
“You will need glasses to join me,” said the man. Eager understood that he was talking about a simulation. “I don’t need them,” he said. “I can switch myself into simulation mode.” The next moment he was stepping into the scene. It was a hot day and the colonnaded buildings looked almost white in the sunlight. He sat down on the grass, which was turning brown in places.
“Good afternoon,” he greeted the man.
“Is it?” asked the other.
“I … I don’t know,” stammered Eager.
“Well, is it good, or isn’t it?”
“No, it is not good. It was earlier on, but now I’m feeling very confused. I don’t know about death.”
“What is there to know?”
Eager was finding all these questions rather trying. “I was hoping you would tell me.”
“How can we know about death before we die? Don’t you want to know about life?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Well,” said the man, “how can you have a good death without a good life?”
Eager pondered. The man in the sheet seemed very keen that things should be “good.” He decided to ask him what he meant by that.
“At last,” said the man, permitting himself a smile. But instead of telling Eager he asked, “What do you mean by good?”
“Professor Ogden,” Eager said without hesitating. “He made me,” he explained. “He is good. He’s never harmed me and he’s very kind.”
The man stroked his jaw. “Hmm?”
“And the Bells are very good. They’re concerned about me and I try to do my best for them. So that is one way to be good, I suppose.”
“Is it important to be good?” asked the philosopher.
Eager stared at him. “I want to be like Professor Ogden,” he said hotly. “I don’t think I should like to be bad at all. People will be unhappy, and if people are unhappy then the world will be an unhappy place. Like it seemed this afternoon,” he added dully.
“Is it important to be happy?”
Eager gave what he hoped was a frosty look. “I don’t think you should go round asking questions like this,” he said. “You might give people wrong ideas.”
“Without questions, how will we ever know?”
Eager looked suspiciously at the philosopher. “I believe the Bells think I ask too many questions already. Anyway, what’s the point of my asking questions if you refuse to answer me?”
A shadow passed across the man’s face and he seemed to have difficulty catching his breath. “I’m feeling rather tired,” he said. “Perhaps you could come back another day.” And before Eager could respond he had faded away.
CHAPTER 10
The days went by and life in the Bell household continued to improve. Meals were on time and the food was no longer surprising. (Though more than one member of the family missed the possibility of having lemon meringue pie for breakfast.)
As for Eager, he had decided that he enjoyed living with the Bells. He liked the way the boy greeted him each day with a chirpy “Morning, Eager,” and always offered to explain anything new. Mr. and Mrs. Bell were thoughtful too, although they were both busy. Mrs. Bell in particular often said, with a kind smile that reminded Eager of Professor Ogden, “You will tell us if you’re not happy about something, won’t you?”
Fleur he found difficult to understand. She wasn’t friendly or helpful like Gavin, though nor was she rude. Yet she had a way of looking at him as if she didn’t see him that confused and discomfited Eager.
Eager would have liked to return to the learning center where he might meet new people and perhaps talk to the other robots, but after that first visit he was not asked to go again. He helped Grumps about the house, went on errands in the neighborhood, and learnt more about the wider world from visits to the gobetween while the family slept. He began to feel ready for a new challenge.
One morning the children and Grumps went off to the learning center, with Fleur urging the others to hurry to avoid bumping into Marcia.
Mr. Bell had a meeting at the site of the new factory and just had time to gulp down a cup of coffee before kissing his wife goodbye. Eager started to clear away the breakfast things.
“Eager,” said Mrs. Bell, “I must finish a report today. I’d like you to watch Charlotte for an hour until Grumps gets back.” She spoke casually but both she and Eager knew that this was an important step.
“Are you sure?” Eager asked in spite of himself.
“You’ve been helping Grumps, haven’t you? He seems to think you’re very good with her. The important thing is to keep an eye on her at all times. Don’t let her touch anything sharp or put small objects in her mouth or—”
“Don’t worry,” interrupted Eager with feeling. “I know all about dangers—cutting things, chemicals, falling … I learnt about them during my own infancy at the professor’s house.”
“Good,” said Mrs. Bell. “Now, if she cries—you know the grizzly sort of cry she makes …”
“She’s probably thirsty, hungry or tired, or has a dirty nappy.”
Mrs. Bell smiled. “I see you’ve learnt a lot already. I’ll leave you to it. She’s had a good breakfast but if she does seem hungry later you can give her a biscuit. You’ll find the biscuits in a tin in the pantry.”
She handed him Charlotte, who gurgled happily and tried to pull his nose. “You’re obviously a natural,” laughed Mrs. Bell. Nonetheless, a qualm seized her at the last moment. Grumps had helped to bring up Fleur and Gavin and she didn’t think twice about leaving him with Charlotte, but Eager was still an unknown quantity.
“Eager,” she said firmly, “if you’re in any doubt at all, if there’s any problem, you must call me at once.”
“Yes, Mrs. Bell.”
Charlotte was so absorbed in the nose-pulling game that she didn’t notice her mother leaving. After eight pulls Eager held her at arm’s length. “Time for something else. I’m not Grumps,” he told her, and carried her into the living room to find some toys. He took out some wooden bricks and built elaborate towers with balustrades. To his immense frustration she knocked them over each time.
Charlotte, he discovered, loved to make a noise and for a long time she banged an irregular rhythm on a battered tin drum. Then, without warning, she dropped the drumstick and her face puckered.
“Nahhhh! Nahhh!” It was the grizzle Mrs. Bell had reminded him about. He carried the baby into the kitchen and offered her a bottle. She pushed it away with unexpected strength. “Nahhhh! Nahhhhh!” It was too soon to change her nappy and she didn’t seem to be tired. “Biscuit?” suggested Eager. The grizzling stopped. Eager sat Charlotte down on the floor and went to the pantry. There was a large round tin just inside the door. He opened it and took out a biscuit that was golden on one side and bright red on the other. He offered it to Charlotte.
“Mmm.” She reached for the biscuit. He handed it to her with the prettier red side uppermost, but instead of eating the biscuit she waved it in the air and held it out to Eager. He began to wonder about human intelligence.
“Don’t offer it to me,” he said, “I just gave it to you.”
Charlotte put the biscuit to her mouth and sank her small ivory teeth into it. She chuckled and waved the biscuit at him once more.
Eager closed the lid and returned the tin to the pantry. The door closed behind him as he stopped dead in his tracks. When he had left Charlotte with the biscuit she had been wearing a white top and pale yellow trousers. Now both were decorated in a livid red pattern. The same red was in evidence across her face, and as he moved closer he saw that it was in her hair as well. There was also a piece of biscuit suspended on the side of her head. This confused him since the law of gravity suggested that the biscuit should have fallen to the ground by now. He took it between his fingers and felt a slight resistance as he pulled it away from her hair. The downside, the red part, was sticky.
Charlotte had evidently taken a large bite of the biscuit and was munching contentedly. The rest of it was squashed in her tiny fists and something red and syrupy oozed between her fingers. This biscuit did not fit Eager’s understanding of biscuit. Biscuits were hard. They made crumbs. They were not soft and they did not exude sticky lumps.
He stared at Charlotte in dismay. He had never seen her in such a mess! Grumps could be back at any moment and, worse, Mrs. Bell might come downstairs to check on his progress. The thought of failure was intolerable to him. He would never be trusted with the baby again. It surprised him to realize how much he had enjoyed the morning. He would have to remove the red stuff before anyone saw her. But how?
He knew that Charlotte had a bath every night but this was midmorning. Besides, she was covered in the sticky stuff— clothes, hair, face, the whole of her needed washing. He remembered his first evening in the house, when Grumps had shown him the washing and drying machines. “They’ll tell you what to do,” Grumps had said. Scooping up Charlotte and holding her at arm’s length, he carried her to the laundry room. He noticed yet more hair stuck together in red clumps. There was even a blob of red on the end of her eyelashes.
The washing machine was activated by his approach. “What do you wish to wash?” it asked in an officious voice.
“A baby.”
The machine considered for a moment. “I have never washed a baby before,” it admitted, “so I am unable to advise you. Is it heavily soiled, lightly soiled or worn once?”
“Heavily soiled,” said Eager decisively.
“Natural fabric or synthetic?”
“Natural.” Eager was feeling pleased with himself. This was obviously the right thing to do.
“Delicate or—”
“Delicate,” said Eager. There was no doubt that babies needed to be handled carefully.
“Then I recommend a long gentle wash with a mild detergent followed by a short spin.”
Eager knew that chemicals could harm children. “I believe detergent is bad for babies.”
“Very well. I shall use soap flakes. Place the item in the drum.”
“Are you sure?” asked Eager. The door seemed rather small.
“Of course I am,” replied the washing machine, somewhat irritably, Eager thought.
The door clicked open and Eager lowered Charlotte into the drum of the machine. She seemed to be enjoying the game and kicked her legs in pleasure.
“What are you doing?” thundered a voice. Eager looked over his shoulder. It was Grumps. The older robot appeared to be under so much strain that Eager was afraid he might explode.
“Remove that baby at once!”
Eager experienced a confused sensation like the one he had felt when he saw the dead robot in the van. He lifted Charlotte out of the drum and handed her into Grumps’ outstretched arms.
“Don’t you know … the first … law … of … robot… behavior?”
Before Eager could reply, Grumps unleashed a torrent of words. “Never … ever … in all my career … to harm a baby … We are programmed to care for humans … It is contrary to our behavior…”
Eager wished he could block out the sound of Grumps’ voice. In fact, he could have put up a barrier between his ears and the sound but something told him this would be wrong. He stood there as the words washed over him until eventually he managed to say, “I am not programmed like you.”
Grumps stopped in midsentence.
“I mean,” continued Eager, “of course I know the laws of robot behavior…”
“Well?”
“A robot must never harm, or allow harm to be done to, a human being. A robot must never do anything that might endanger a human being. A robot must not harm itself or another robot, unless the other robot is endangering a human being.” He broke off, although there were several other laws to recite. “The thing is, I am not programmed to obey rules. I am programmed to learn and to think for myself. It is my choice how I behave.”
He could see that Grumps did not understand him and added miserably, “I thought the washing machine would know what to do.”
Grumps said nothing. Charlotte hit him playfully on the cheek and automatically he began to jig her up and down. She squealed with laughter.
“I’m sorry,” said Eager. “I don’t want to harm her. I’ve learnt a lesson and I’ll never put Charlotte in danger again. Please don’t tell anyone.”
“I am unable to tell a lie,” intoned Grumps. “But if nobody asks me I shall have no reason to speak of this matter.”
“Thank you,” said Eager. The dazed feeling still overwhelmed him. To think he had nearly harmed Charlotte! He had only a vague idea what might have happened to her in the machine, yet he could tell by Grumps’ reaction that it would have been very nasty. One day he would find out; for the time being he couldn’t bear to contemplate it. He followed Grumps back into the kitchen.
“It all started to go wrong when I gave her the biscuit,” he pleaded. “It was a funny sort of biscuit.”
Grumps examined the red blobs on Charlotte’s jumper. “Jam tart,” he said. “I made some yesterday and left them in the pantry.”
“Ah,” said Eager, and thought, not for the first time, that real life was very confusing.
That night, after the family had gone to bed, Eager went to the top of the house to visit the philosopher. All day he had not been feeling his usual self. He knew that nothing had happened to injure him and that he was functioning normally, but ever since the affair with the washing machine he had a strong sense of something not being right.
