All The Loving Androids - A. E. VAN VOGT

The police came in answer to the android's emergency call, and an ambulance bore away the unconscious body of Anita Copeland, who had taken an overdose of a sleeping potion.

Police Officer A. Sutter noted in his report that this android -- who had telephoned for help -- seemed to be unusually human in his mannerisms and conditioning. 'Even the slight forward tilt,' he wrote, ~which is the main recognizable characteristic of the mass-produced androids, appears to have been rectified in this model, suggesting costly custom design. I do not recall ever having been informed that such masterful androids were being manufactured.'

After he and his companion had the story of what had happened, they were briefly nonplussed. 'Well-l-l,' said Officer J. Black doubtfully, while Sutter wrote furiously, 'it doesn't sound illegal, but it sure was a dirty trick to turn his wife over to an android image of himself without her knowing it.'

It was Sutter who addressed the android. 'Does she have any relatives?'

'A brother,' was the reply. 'But he won't be much help. He thinks his sister is a nut'

'But you do have information about him?' Officer Sutter persisted.

'Yes. His name is Dan Thaler. He's a physicist in government employ.'

He had the address and phone number, and so 'Officer Black put through a call, which fortunately connected at once.

Dan, as he entered his sister's living room, saw waiting for him two police officers and his brother-in-law, Peter Copeland.

At least, it seemed to be his brother-in-law until Dan said, 'Hello, Peter.'

Peter bowed and smiled a faint, cynical smile, but said nothing.

One of the officers came forward and addressed Peter sternly. 'You realize that you have just given the impression that you are in fact Peter Copeland?'

'I am Peter II,' was the calm reply. 'I am programmed to act as if I am Peter I. I cannot cancel that out of myself.'

Utter surprise!

His first real clue.

Dan stood very still, trying not to give away what a fantastic piece of good luck this was for him.

For more than a year he had been on a secret assignment, his task to find out exactly what was going on among the androids.

Something was -- the government knew that. But what?

Neither he nor his superiors had had any suspicion that such perfect androids existed.

Ordinary androids in their tens of millions had face, body, limbs, artificial flesh, skin that was in appearance undistinguishable from that of human beings. But they had a way of standing, walking, turning, that everybody had learned to recognize.

This android did not have such identifying characteristics.

Instants after he realized the astonishing reality of what was here, Dan had a labeling thought: superandroid!

He presumed, of course, that this one was an android and therefore underneath all the outward paraphernalia of humanness was a basic mechanical-electronic structure.

'What's all this about?' he said as he arrived at that point in his reaction.

When he had heard the details of what had happened to his sister, Dan's somewhat pale face became spotted with angry color. His lean body stiffened. And his voice went way up.

'Does anybody know where this so-and-so is? I'm going to beat his brains out.'

The android, who had been standing off to one side, came courteously forward. 'You are referring to Anita's husband, Peter -- where is he?' He drew a billfold from his pocket and produced a card. 'My orders from Peter are to not reveal this address, but naturally police can preempt such a programming.'

He handed the card to Officer Sutter. Dan Thaler attempted to snatch it, but the policeman held it away from him.

'Not in your state of mind, Mr. Thaler,' he said judicially.

Dan had actually been thinking rapidly while he acted out the role of indignant brother. What decided him finally on a course of action was the presence of the police. He took down the names of both officers and secured their identification numbers with the intention of using his influence to have one of them forced to be his companion for the next few days.

With the data safe in his pocket, Dan turned to the android, said, 'Since I am a responsible relative, and you are a valuable property, I think you should be stored until all this is settled.'

The duplicate Peter bowed politely. 'My box is in the basement,' he said 'Shall I accompany you down there?'.

Dan took the precaution of having Officer A. Sutter go along. A few minutes later, the two men stood by as the android fumbled with a remote-control device, clicked it, and sank back into the coffinlike box.

Officer A. Sutter helped Dan lower the lid. Whereupon the policeman went upstairs. Dan drew a tiny instrument from an assortment he carried and studied the dials on it.

The little meters indicated that the superandroid was not turned off at all but was lying quietly in his case, waiting.

Smiling grimly, Dan went up to the main floor, accompanied the officers outside, and locked the door. He walked with them to their combo-cruiser, watched them take off, then went to his own combo and zoomed up into the night sky -- but came down again, this time landing on the street a hundred yards away.

An hour went by, and then the door opened and the Peter android came out. Dan identified the humanlike figure as an electronic unit on his highly sensitive instrument panel -- and, aiming carefully, shot the creature with a high-powered energy gun.

His combo glided toward the still body at high speed, and stopped. Swiftly Dan leaped out, dragged the body into the combo, and took off.

In terms of communication, he was many places the balance of that night But as a person he spent the long darkness in his combo-air-ground unit outside the hospital to which his sister had been transported for emergency treatment. About noon the next day, when he made his nth inquiry, the receptionist sighed, dialed a number, and presently pointed to a phone on the desk.

'Pick that up. Her psychiatrist will talk to you.'

Dan did so. A man's voice said, 'At Anita's request, I have agreed to bar all visitors for the time being.'

'I'm her brother.'

'She specifically doesn't want to see any relatives.'

Since he was her only relative, other than her husband, somewhere inside Dan Thaler's head a tiny spot of brotherly rage, connected since babyhood to his sister by emotional circuitry, expanded in size. Fortunately, the brain-nerve complex involved had long-suffering inhibiting mechanisms associated with it. And so Dan was presently able to remind the apoplectic spot in his brain that Anita was probably quite sick and needed consideration.

He said aloud, 'When do you think -- ?'

'She said she'll call you -- '

* *

Policeman A. Sutter was considerably exhilarated that same afternoon when he was told by Inspector Ingrath, 'Uh, stay on this case, Constable, until, uh, this matter of the brother's threats is resolved.' Ingrath went on, 'Make a point of seeing this rat, uh, Peter Copeland, and warn him of his possible danger from his brother-in-law.'

What Sutter did was phone the private number he had been given, and he was put through to somewhere; and a man's voice said, Yes, officer, this is Peter Copeland.'

After Sutter had told his story, the voice said, 'I think the best solution would be for me to have Dan come and hear my side of this matter and for you to be present; so why don't you bring him over, Officer?'

The two men -- Dan Thaler and Officer A. Sutter -- flew to the Copeland factory together, and were at once ushered into the inner sanctum.

'I found myself,' wrote Sutter later, 'in the presence of a man of about five-feet-ten who was, naturally, of very familiar appearance to me, since he was an exact duplicate of the android I had seen the night before in Anita Copeland's home.'

Officer Sutter drew a chair off to one side and, as he wrote it, 'prepared to act as a mediator'.

Peter Copeland broke the silence with what was clearly intended to be an appeasing statement, 'I'm very glad you came, Dan. I realize I owe you an explanation.

Peter continued, 'It's a little difficult to talk to a brother about his sister, because it is unlikely that he'll ever realize how unreasonable a woman can be,'

Dan Thaler said grimly, 'If a man and woman don't get along, they should get divorced.'

Peter Copeland laughed curtly.. "Are you kidding?' he said.

The verbal picture he now drew of Anita -- as Sutter recorded it -- "was of a hysterical woman who figuratively held a gun to her heard and threatened to fire it at the slightest indication that her husband would not do exactly as she required.'

Some of the statements which Sutter noted down verbatim were: "She insisted on possessing me body and soul. She demanded the shadow as well as the substance. She phoned me at the office a dozen times a day. It seemed as if I had barely time to think before there she was again. One day, when her call interrupted an important conference for the third time, I realized I had to do something. At first I merely had in mind having an android that would answer the phone for me when she called. The rest -- letting the android play my part at home also -- came later.'

'The rest,' Dan said, 'is absolutely unforgivable.'

'Hear me out -- '

Exactly when the change had taken place, Anita had no recollection afterward.

Somehow, life became -- normal.

She would find herself starting to fret with Peter. On occasion she actually spoke irritably. And then a realization would come that he had not resisted her, as she had expected he would; had not asserted any thought of his own; not objected to her plan; was willing.

'Anything your little heart desires,' he would say lightly.

'One day' she flared at that. 'You say those words as if you're speaking to a child!' she yelled.

'So,' said Peter Copeland to Dan Thaler, 'when the android reported that remark -- if you can call a shriek that -- to me, I accepted it as a challenge. That's when I decided I would become infinitely flexible and change the programming of the robot to conform to her desires. It became a matter of mild interest to me to discover how much a neurotic woman required of her husband -- and of course I knew by this time that I had the worst neurotic of all time and space on my hands.'

He paused. His face worked; he seemed to be fighting grief. He mumbled, 'How could a woman like that have happened to a good guy like me!'

Abruptly he braced himself, continued. 'To solve this particular problem -- of Peter II just using one now-suspect sentence -- I recalled a line I had seen somewhere in a story, or heard in a play: "Your slightest wish is my command". Later I added three more sentences, leaving it to my android to decide which one fitted the occasion. The three sentences were: "You always think of interesting things to do"; "That's what we'll do"; "I'm very happy to go along with that". What astonished me, as I proceeded with my conformance plan, was that not once did it seem to cross her mind that I never expressed a wish, myself. She seemed to take it completely for granted that what she liked I liked.'

Peter I went on in an amazed tone, 'If I were to tell you all the things that happened during this period, you wouldn't believe me. She began to give me errands to do during the daytime; it took the android all day just to carry out these instructions. But -- get this! -- she continued her twelve calls to the office, and there I was answering the phone again. I ordered another android duplicate.'

Officer wrote in his notebook: 'At this point Mr. Copeland rose to his feet, went to a door behind his desk, opened it, and said, 'Peter III, will you come out here?' Whereupon his exact duplicate walked out, bowed with a faint, mocking smile on his face, and said, 'At your service, gentlemen.'

Peter I addressed the android: 'Will you tell 'Mr. Thaler and Mr. Sutter what your duties were?'

'For the most part,' was the reply, 'I simply sat in the adjoining room and answered the phone to Mrs. Copeland.'

'Will you give an estimate of how long on average you were kept on the phone?'

'Between seven and seven and a half hours each day.'

'What is our work day? Office hours, I mean?'

'Including time out for lunch, seven and a half hours.'

'During this time, where was Peter II?'

He was out shopping for Mrs. Copeland.,'

'Where was I?'

'Here at this desk working, except for those occasions when -- '

'Never mind those occasions!' said Peter I hastily.

'Very well, sir,' said Peter II with a meaningful smile.

Dan Thaler interjected stridently, 'I think that was a very important slip. Now, I'm beginning to see this whole picture. There's another woman.'

Peter I sighed. 'All right, so it came out. But that didn't happen until much later. I swear it'

It was the moment Dan Thaler had been waiting for; what he believed might be the psychologically locked mental door in Peter could probably be opened by the exact right emotion.

He stood up and said in a venomous tone, 'I don't want to listen to any more of this rat talk.'

Peter said, 'For heaven's sake, Dan, be reasonable. You're a scientist. Surely I've presented a logical case.'

Dan hissed, 'Where did you get these special androids? I've seen people with one -- but you've got two!'

He saw that Peter's face had on it a sheepish smile.

'Each one of these,' said Peter, 'cost me eighteen thousand dollars. Boy, I had to be sincere' I tell you, Dan, it was a real problem.'

'But who sells them?'

'Oh, some outfit. An android salesman comes to your office. You think it's a human being until he reveals the truth. I could hardly believe it at first.'

'But how do they know you're in the market? Nobody's ever come to sell me one.'

'Oh!' Peter was silent, frowning. 'Well, I really can't answer that. There he was one morning, and did I ever welcome him. I think he did say something about it being illegal. I suppose you being a government physicist puts you off bounds for him.'

'But what about the second one?' Dan asked. 'Did the salesman just drop by?'

'As a matter of fact, yes. Checking, he said.'

'And he arrived when you were contemplating buying another one?'

'That's right.'

'Had you let some hint drop?'

'Don't be a nut. To whom?'

Abruptly Dan realized that that was Peter's full information,

"Never mind all this!' he snapped. 'Don't think you can get around my feelings by changing the subject.'

'But it was you who changed it!' Peter protested.

Dan snarled, "I'm going to talk to my sister. That rotten hide of yours is safe until then.'

With that, he stalked out of the room, feeling pleased with his handling of the key questions.

Officer Sutter subsequently added to his account: 'I remained behind and discussed with Peter the possible danger to him of these threats. He would not take them seriously, and he also refused to comment on the other woman in his life, saying only that he didn't love her and that therefore she didn't count.'

* *

During the two days that Dan waited for word from or about his sister, he dismantled and studied the 'dead' android, then put it back together again and replaced it in the box in Peter's house.

Before leaving, he concealed a camera overlooking the box and set to operate automatically if someone came into its range.

On the morning of the third day, he was told that his sister had been discharged. Outraged, Dan demanded to be put in touch with Anita's psychiatrist.

'Just a moment,' said the woman's voice. A pause. Finally, 'I'm sorry. Dr Schneiter does not feel that a communication with you would serve any useful purpose.'

'Schneiter-Schweiter!' snarled Dan. 'You tell Dr Schneiter that I'm coming up there for a quart of his blood for letting that girl out on the street without consulting me.'

He smashed the receiver down on the phone.

Immediately after this bit of acting, he called Officer Sutter, and was put through to that individual, who, on the phone screen, was revealed as being in his police cruiser somewhere over the city.

Dan said, 'Am I right in thinking that everybody has to show a change of address immediately, and that when an apartment or room is leased anywhere in the zone the name of the new occupant is recorded in a police computer? And if so, can you get it for me?'

It was a purely rhetorical question. Dan was perfectly aware that such a record system existed, and -- given time -- he could undoubtedly get the information through his own agency. But he preferred to appear unofficial. Anita was the hottest lead he'd had so far on this assignment.

As he had expected, Sutter admitted that the system existed, and that under the circumstances he could probably secure the information, given a little time.

During the twenty-four hours that passed before Inspector Ingrath bent his long-necked head over a desk and signed the address release authorization for Sutter, Dan Thaler sought his sister in department stores and other haunts of hers -- in vain. And when he finally had the address, she was not there. The room receptionist at the building said, 'She's seldom in -- there's a bar down the street that I think she goes to.' She had a round face, on which was shown her disapproval.

Anita was nervously sipping at a tall green drink when Dan sank onto the stool beside her. At first she did not see him, and when she finally became aware that someone had taken the adjoining seat, she said without glancing around, 'Did you do that on purpose -- sit next to me?'

Her voice was tense; she had a flushed look; she was visibly under a strain and probably had drunk too much. And she did not seem to realize who it was she was talking to.

Dan Thaler nodded; he could not trust himself to speak. All in a flash, his acceptance of what Peter had said -- for he had believed Peter -- yielded to his first real emotional pity for his sister.

Still without looking at him, Anita said, 'Did you come over to pick me up? You want a woman? All right -- any time you're ready.'

Dan gasped, 'Anita!'

At that she turned and looked at him. Her eyes widened. Then she flung her arms around him.

'Oh, my God, Dan!' she sobbed. 'I needed you so. Where have you been?'

After a little, Dan gently disengaged himself. Her words had unfortunately reminded him of one of Peter's complaints: that in the course of a sentence or two Anita always turned blame away from herself.

He sat there, remembering her refusal to see him at the hospital, her departure from the hospital without notifying him, her disappearance, his subsequent attempts to find her -- and now these words making him totally responsible for his failure to comfort her, when, as a matter of fact, she had behaved like a maniac throughout.

There was a time -- before Peter's story -- when he might not have considered the significance of what she had done so swiftly; would simply have tucked it away with the scores of other times when she had somehow irritated or enraged him.

Now he felt a heated sensation rising up from some choleric depth. But, remembering, he restrained himself -- remembering that Anita, his only sister, had proved herself an easy pickup. For any man. Absolutely any.

He recalled how she hadn't even glanced at him, had herself made all the moves; had shown no interest in who the man was or what he looked like.

The bloodcurdling recollection of her manner and approach had an abrupt, subduing effect on him.

'Anita, you need help.'

'I'll be all right'

'Don't be a stupe!' he said with a brother's privileged rudeness. 'You ought to see a psychiatrist.'

'I've already seen one,' said Anita. 'Dr Schneiter. He's a cute little man. He thinks Peter is a rat, too.'

The picture, her words evoked of the doctor confirmed Dan's previous low opinion. By agreeing with her, the psychiatrist had barred her from the need to question her own madness.

So it was up to him. So he would have to drum some sense into her. So be it

Sitting there, he told her Peter's complaints. He was aware of her blue eyes staring at him. When he had finished, tears suddenly misted the blue: her eyes took on a dark, mottled look.

She said with a sob, 'So you're on his side? You've turned against me, too.'

Dan was impatiently convinced that she had not heard most of what he had said.

'Look,' he argued, 'let's just take one item of Peter's complaint: is it true that you phoned him twelve or more times a day at his office?'

'I never phoned him at all.' Her tone was angry. The tears had dried, and her eyes flashed with blue sparks. 'I hate him. why would I phone a man I hate?'

'You didn't hate him then,' Dan pointed out

'I've always hated him. I never liked him.'

Dan looked into her eyes. They were sky blue again, but staring. He thought: There's nobody home.

He remembered an android at college physics class that had been deliberately damaged. It's basic stability gone, it began to answer questions with partially associated answers only. Anita's response resembled that.

Dan had half-turned away as he had these disturbing thoughts. Before he could face her again, or deduce her intention, she was gone. He saw her hurrying among the tables. Then she was at the table of a man who had come in moments before; Dan recalled observing his entrance with an idle glance.

As he watched in dismay, Anita tried to pick up the man. But the man shook his head. She argued with him and tried to sit in his lap. As he continued to resist, abruptly she left him, made a wide turn around the far end of the room, and a moment later settled back beside Dan.

And, as if the interlude had not occurred, said, 'There's another woman, isn't there?'

Since Dan felt no obligation to Peter, he answered without thinking, 'Yes.'

'I thought so,' she said. A vindictive look came into her face. 'So that's it.'

'Just a minute,' said Dan in a groping tone.

He made a vague gesture with his hand. And then he sat there, stunned. He thought: The truth is, I believe Peter, that the woman came later. What struck him was that now the whole thing would be twisted even more in Anita's mind.

'Hey, wait a minute,' he said hoarsely. 'That isn't it. That isn't it at all.'

He saw that she was not listening. The vindictive look was still on her face.

He said, 'What about these men you've been picking up?'

'Oh, that!' she said. A shrug of her slender shoulder dismissed his question. She added, 'What a woman does, doesn't count. Women are just objects.'

The vindictive look had complete possession of her face as she uttered these words.

Dan gulped, and decided that this was the moment for the real questions he wanted to ask.

'Maybe we can find out who this woman is,' he said. 'Listen, when you were with that android who played Peter -- '

'I don't want to talk about it!'

' -- Did you ever go with him anyplace that struck you as unusual?'

The question seemed to penetrate. 'Just once,' said Anita. 'It was the street with those queer places.'

'What queer places?' said Dan, who suspected that that was key information and that his idiot sister was going to spoil things by not remembering.

'You know!' said Anita, waving vaguely. 'I was there once before to a meeting.'

'With whom? What kind of a meeting?'

'Ohhh!' she said, and yawned.

Whereupon she put her arms on the bar, lowered her head onto them, and went to sleep.

The barkeeper came over. "You'll have to get her out of here,' he said. 'We can't have anybody as drunk as her in here.'

Dan said, 'Give me a hand.'

The man promptly helped him carry her into a seat in the cabin of his combo-cruiser. Dan landed on the roof of her apartment building and took her down to her room on a dolly that he had.

Then, thoughtful, he departed.

* *

At three o'clock in the morning, Dan's phone rang.

He grabbed it, and after a little made out from what the man was saying that Anita was being held at the police station.

'For what?' he yelled into the mouthpiece.

'For trying to destroy an android with a hammer.'

'I'll be over in a few minutes!' Dan yelled.

And he was.

Anita and the handsome duplicate android of Peter were brought into the anteroom where Dan waited. It took a little while to get the story.

It seemed the android had turned Anita in for trying to damage someone else's property: himself.

The android, who identified himself as Peter II, said with dignity, 'I was lying in my box and I felt this blow on my shoulder padding, I opened my eyes, and there was Anita with a hammer raised for a second blow. Naturally, I removed the destructive instrument from her hand and called the police at once.'

Quietly Dan bailed her out and took her off to his combo. As he headed, groundside, for the apartment building where she had her room, he was aware of Anita sprawled beside him, head back, eyes closed. Her body seemed limp and helpless; her hair and clothes were disheveled. It seemed useless to upbraid her in her present state.

'What happened?' he asked finally, glumly. What was all that about?'

After what must have been a minute, a tired voice answered him. 'I followed him,' she said.

'Who?'

'Peter, of course.'

It still made no sense.

'Do you know who he's living with?' Anita asked.

Dan's mind grappled now with a developing feeling that the conversation was getting away from him. 'Why would you follow an android?' he asked peevishly. 'A robot under present law cannot be guilty of a crime, and it doesn't matter who it lives with.'

Silence greeted his words. Dan took his eyes off the street to glance at her. He nearly went off the road at what he saw.

Her eyes were open. They were glaring at him with a blue rage. 'Still my stupid little brother,' she hissed. 'I'm talking about Peter. Who else?'

Her hand came up and slapped him in the face. It was like childhood days. Dan swung about and grabbed at her neck with both hands, and was choking her -- when a grinding sound snapped him out of his passion.

He caught at the wheel. But it was unnecessary. The combo's automatic control mechanism had brought the machine to a halt.

The bright deserted street was almost like day around them, as brother and sister sat there glaring at each other.

'All right, who is he living with?' Dan shouted.

'Me. An android that looks like me.'

The anger went out of Dan. He recalled what Sutter had told him, that Peter had said that he didn't love the woman he was living with. And, of course, that was now obviously true.

Dan was patient. Now, look, Anita. You can't be jealous of an android.'

She sat sullen, staring past him; the way the light fell on her eyes, they seemed slate blue.

'An android,' said Dan, 'is -- well' -- he groped -- 'it's an android, that's all.'

Those perfect lips parted and spoke: 'Then why does she have to resemble me? That's degrading.'

For Dan, hers was an unhappy choice of words. He remembered her behavior at the bar.

'But just a minute,' he said. 'Why take a hammer to Peter II because Peter I is living with Anita II?'

'Oh, you men!' said Anita. 'Take me home.'

Her brother did so, silently.

* *

Officer A. Sutter, while cruising on duty the following morning, wrote in his daybook: 'Presumably, during the night, Peter I, II, and III Copeland, Peter I's estranged wife, Anita Copeland, and his brother-in-law, Dan Thaler, continued their various reactions to each other. But I have no additional reports. It is a beautiful day this 1/23/2287.'

As Sutter finished his account, he grew aware that Inspector Ingrath's face was forming on the screen in front of him. Seeing the man, Sutter wrote mentally, 'On a small screen, he looks almost human.'

'Uh, Sutter.'

'Yes, sir.'

'The Copeland matter.'

"Yes, Inspector.'

'I have two reports, uh, before me. The first states that Anita Copeland was in police custody during the night for attempting to, uh, destroy an android -- with a hammer.'

Officer Sutter felt a strange guilt, as if he should have anticipated and prevented such an attack. He said, 'Has the, uh, brother been informed, Inspector?'

Later he wrote: He'll have me, uh, communicating that way, uh, soon.'

At the moment, Ingrath said, 'Yes, uh, he obtained her release during the night. However, I have a feeling that you should contact Mr. Thaler now that another interview with the real Peter Copeland is indicated.'

'Very well, sir. Now, what is the second report?'

'It says here that Anita Copeland is again in custody.'

'Uh --' said Officer Sutter. 'You mean, again.'

'Yes, uh!'

'What is the charge?'

'Attacking an android with a hammer.'

Officer Sutter's face must have shown bewilderment, because Inspector Ingrath said hastily, 'I think you and Mr. Thaler should straighten out this confusion, because I am not clear as to whether it's the same android or another. Will you, uh, attend to the matter?'

'Of course, sir.'

As Sutter and Dan Thaler entered the police waiting room, Dan saw Anita sitting in a chair in a comer.

He hurried Over to her. 'You nut!' he said rudely. 'What's the idea this time?'

The blue eyes gazed up at him, puzzled. 'Do you know me, sir?'

Dan felt a chill.

'I -- I -- Anita, don't be an idiot!' he stuttered.

Officer Sutter touched his arm. He had been studying a report. 'Just a moment, Mr. Thaler. I think you've jumped to a false conclusion.

'Eh?'

Sutter addressed Anita. Will you describe the attack?'

The seated woman said, 'Shall I stand up?'

'No, no.'

'Very well. Shortly after Peter left for work this morning, the doorbell rang. When I answered it, this woman with the hammer, in whose image I have apparently been constructed, rushed in and attacked me. Naturally, I took the instrument away from her and called the police.'

Dan Thaler was staring at the perfect duplicate of his sister. 'You -- you're the other woman!'

He turned to Sutter, 'Where's my sister?'

Sutter indicated the paper he held. 'According to this, she's in custody.'

Dan's eyes lighted hopefully. 'Look, Officer,' he said, 'This is the one bright feature. This could well be the frame in which we can solve the entire problem.'

How do you mean?'

'Before I get Anita I released, why don't we go see Peter I.'

Peter I was in his office, and he listened with a faraway expression on his face. Finally he said, 'I can guess what is now going on in that woman's noodle. And she's all wrong. The duplication of her body in Anita II doesn't mean that I am constantly longing for her. No person in his right mind would involve himself with Anita I. She is completely impossible. You must make that absolutely clear to her. Impossible.'

Dan persisted, and as Sutter reported it, stated that 'I must have your explanation.'

Peter Copeland spread his hands in a dismissing gesture.

'It's very simple,' he said quietly. 'Physically, I was always attracted to Anita. So I just had an android made to look like her, but otherwise to act like a normal woman should.'

His eyes grew dreamy.

'There she is, waiting for me when I get home. Anita II always has my slippers and robe laid out. Dinner is cooking and is served just right at exactly the proper time without histrionics. After dinner, I have brandy, while she washes the dishes without argument. If I want to read or watch TV, I do. And if presently I realize that she's in the bedroom, and I retire, there's still no argument. Now, it happens that I'm a real man with strong needs, and so if I wake up three times during the night, do I get the story about being tired or sleepy? Not at all.' His expression hardened. Why should a woman be tired? If she would have a little consideration for her husband, she would naturally conserve her energies during the day instead of expending them on useless activities. All I ever wanted is just a normal wife behaving in a normal fashion. That's the truth, Dan.'

He sighed, and reaching into his pocket, drew out a key ring. He removed a key from it and handed it to Dan.

'I wish you'd check on Peter. II. I'm kind of worried. Did he go back to his box after he was released last night?'

'Why don't you check it yourself?' asked Dan, merely curious.

Peter shook his head. 'I'm. staying away from there. I have a feeling if Anita were to pot me with her .38 -- yes, she's got one -- it would be considered justifiable homicide.'

Dan took the key; and Sutter and he cruised over and found the android box empty.

Eagerly, Dan examined his camera. The film had of course developed itself. As he ran it over the spool and peered at it through an opening he saw on the film a small man enter the shot from the direction of the stairway and open the case containing Peter II. There was Peter, much as Dan had left him.

The little man reached down, turned Peter II on, and said, 'What happened to you? You were to report.'

Peter II climbed with dignity out of the box and said, 'Dr. Schneiter, I have no programming to that effect.'

The little man stared at him with a frown; then, thoughtfully: 'Tell me what's happened to you since that first night.'

Peter II described the arrival of the police and of Anita's brother, and of the brother consigning him to storage. His only memory after that was of Anita hitting him with a hammer and of his turning her over to the police.

The little man remained thoughtful. 'Theoretically, that hammer blow could have damaged your programming, but that wouldn't explain your failure to leave here on the night you revealed who you were and gave her that sleeping potion. So I'd better check you.'

He Proceeded to do so, but presently turned the android on again; now the psychiatrist was visibly shaken.

'Whoever tampered with you,' he said, 'was an expert. I've accordingly programmed you to kill that woman in some secret way, and I'll do the same for Peter III.'

'Kill Anita?'

'Yes. I suspected we were in danger when she broke out of all that conditioning and escaped from the hospital. I still can't figure that, but the simplest solution is' -- he shrugged -- 'death.'

He broke off. 'You'd better leave here right after I depart.' With that, he turned and walked out of the camera's eye. A minute later, Peter II followed him.

Dan looked up presently from the film and said to Officer Sutter, 'At the time, it didn't occur to me to ask you, but who ordered the ambul-air that took my sister to the hospital? Did you?'

'No, the android had already phoned for it. Why?'

Dan did not reply at once. In his mind a lot of things were falling into place.

* *

The dozen men in the dark room watched silently as the film unrolled. After the lights went on, everyone waited; all eyes, including Dan's, fixed on the thoughtful countenance of a stern-looking man who appeared to be in his mid-forties. His name was Edward Jarris, and he was the assistant chief of National Security.

This individual presently straightened in his chair and shook his head.

'We can't get away with it,' he said with finality. He turned to Dan. 'A very good effort,' he said, 'but that film could too easily have been doctored; it wouldn't stand in a court.'

Dan waited. He had attended similar meetings in the past where evidence was reasoned to nothing by a process of legal logic.

The great man addressed him again: Who else has actually seen one of these super -- as you call them -- androids?'

Dan parted his lips to identify officers Sutter and Black, and Peter and Anita.

But something in the other's tone of voice stopped that instant answer. He said, after a moment, courteously, 'Why don't I prepare a report for you, sir, listing such details?'

'Yes, of course,' was the testy reply. 'That's the proper method.'

Whereupon Assistant Chief of National Security Jarris stood up and strode from the room without a backward glance.

Dan's immediate superior came over and shook his hand admiringly. 'I think you made a big impression,' he said. 'Jarris isn't usually interested in such details.'

Dan thanked him, hurried to the projection room to secure his film and departed. Once outside, he ran most of the way to his combo, and did not feel safe till he was in the air again.

But he had been up only a minute when there was a call from his boss. Hey, Dan, Mr. Jarris lust asked for that film, and the projectionist said you took it.'

Dan pretended to be surprised. 'I need it to prepare my report,' he said. 'I'll submit it at that time -- tomorrow.'

'All right,' was the cheerful, unsuspicious reply, 'I'll relay that'

Shuddering, Dan broke the connection. Then he shot over to his bank, placed the film in his personal deposit box, and got into the air again. He now contacted Officer Sutter.

'I'm going over to the Center Hospital. Tail me.'

'Going to talk to Schneiter?'

'Yes.'

'Do you think these people know about me?' asked Sutter.

'Only my immediate boss knows,' said Dan. 'Such details have not been of interest to anyone else' -- he paused -- 'until now.'

* *

It was a short time later. As Dr Schneiter emerged from his office, Dan slipped into step beside him; pushed a gun into him in the direction of his right kidney, and said, 'I'm Anita's brother. I'm going to have an interview with you if it's the last thing you ever do.'

And so, presently, they were in the psychiatrist's office, and Dan at the beginning pretended he was merely a brother who was concerned about a mentally ill sister.

'Couldn't you have held her?' he asked peevishly. 'Isn't there some law governing would-be suicides?'

The psychiatrist shook his head. His initial tension was gone, and he was smiling genially. 'It seems reasonable that she should make the attempt to kill herself in those first few minutes after discovering what had happened.' He eyed Dan brightly. 'Right? But no further suicide attempt -- right?'

And that, with added details, was the level of voluntary reply Dan evoked from Dr Schneiter.

So a woman was promiscuous? Statistically, she would presently become fixated again on one man, and the promiscuity would end. Dan was disturbed by it? An infantile reaction. Grow up.

Objective, cool, amused -- that was the outward appearance of the man who was undoubtedly a leading human figure in the secret android rebellion.

Dan had been curious. He had wanted to look over the psychiatrist before precipitating the crisis.

That he had now done.

And so --

He raised his gun. "Doctor,' he said, 'I don't want to listen any longer to your phony talk. You have fifteen seconds to make your first statement of truth.'

There was a long pause. The face in front of him grew pale, but the eyes remained bright and watchful. Finally Dr Schneiter spread his hands with deceptive mildness.

'What do you want to know?'

'Why did you have my sister brought here? And I don't want any denials. Start talking.'

This time the pause was briefer. 'In spite of all her conditioning, she was going out of our control. I wanted to find out why.'

'What conditioning did she have?'

'The three stages. Complete android simulation.'

'In what way was she out of control?'

'We merely wanted to use her -- as we have other women -- to force her husband to buy an expensive android. That's how we get funds. But, somehow, Anita got out of control and became a threat.'

'A threat -- how?'

Since she was out of control, we couldn't be sure of her.'

'Did she know she was supposed to simulate an android and respond only to programming?'

'Normally they know it only when it's being done, but the memory fades; but we began to believe that she did know. whether she did or not, she resisted it, and we couldn't take a chance with her.'

'Did you find out why?'

No, she got out of the hospital before I could determine the problem. I have a theory -- ' His gaze questioned Dan.

Dan said, 'Yes, tell me.'

'-- The only comparison I can think of,' said Dr Schneiter, 'is the "running-amok" situation which we had in most recent historical times in Asia, but prior to that it occurred among slaves and other abused persons,'

'Yes?' said Dan.

'It suggests to me,' continued the doctor, 'that a certain kind of rebel personality should not be subjected to android simulation. They must be won over on the basis of the ideal.'

Dan looked straight into those glittering eyes. 'What ideal?' he asked, softly.

'I'm a supporter of GALS,' said Dr Schneiter in a quiet voice, as if that explained everything.

He took a deep breath and said earnestly: 'You're in a battle you can't win. Almost everybody has some use for an android -- as a perfect servant, to keep from being lonely, as a protector -- there's almost no limit. Of course, at present they're still purchased like dogs or objects, but the next step will be that you can buy one on a basis that he must be freed after you have got some equivalent of your money back in terms of service.

He shrugged. 'I hope you realize you're not going to escape from this building with what I've told you.'

'Jarris called you?'

'Yes,' said Schneiter simply.

Dan said, 'I can't believe you've had time to take precautions.'

Schneiter said, 'This hospital, except for the doctors, is operated by androids. The nurses, the maintenance people -- ' He broke off. 'It was when I gradually realized how tireless, uncomplaining, undeviating, and, oh, all good things, the androids were that I became a complete supporter of their civil rights.'

Dan said, 'Let me tell you my strengths. I have the film.'

'That's your greatest strength. Where is it?'

'If anything happens to me,' said Dan, 'people who are against GALS will get it.'

'What are your weaknesses?' asked the inexorable, calm voice.

'Undoubtedly, Jarris is a secret GALS supporter, so that means I'll be taken off the case. Knowing that, I should tell you that I'm really here on a personal matter and willing to bargain. My sister -- '

'Yes,' said Dr Schneiter softly. 'What about your sister?'

"I want androids Peter II and III reprogrammed not to kill her.'

'It shall be done,' said the psychiatrist.

Dan stared into those bright eyes and said, 'Let me put it like this: You figure out how to convince me that you mean that -- and that'll be the end of the matter. I'll get in touch with you within twenty-four hours. And now, just so you don't act against me in the next few minutes -- '

He fired three times into the small body in front of him.

Since his gun was a gas injector unit constructed to resemble a bullet-firing automatic, the shots consisted of anesthetic gas, which induced unconsciousness. The psychiatrist slumped in his chair.

Dan walked out of the same private entrance, where he had originally caught Dr Schneiter, and headed rapidly down the corridor to the elevators.

One of the two men who entered the elevator with Dan was first at the controls. This individual turned and asked Dan politely, 'Which floor, sir?'

Fingering the gun in his pocket, Dan told him.

He was alert to danger, and so he had a minimum of thoughts.

But a simple awareness underlay them.

It was an accident that he, the principal government agent investigating the android conspiracy, had proved to be the brother of someone being manipulated. And an even bigger accident that that someone was Anita.

But as a result, he, an expert, had seen a superandroid.

These supers were, for the most of their behavior, normally programmed; thus Peter II and the others lived in the human society, their identities concealed for one reason or another by their owners.

The conspiracy would continue to develop in the same substantially unnoticed fashion only if his film were destroyed, and a few people killed or disposed of.

Among the people who would have to be dealt with were the two police officers, Black and Sutter -- at least, Sutter -- plus Anita, all the security people who had seen the film, and of course, Dan Thaler.

His analysis ended as he grew aware that the elevator had stopped and that the door was opening.

Dan Thaler made a move to step out, but stopped when he saw that a combo-cruiser was in the act of pulling up opposite the elevator, so close that it barred his way. At that moment the two men inside the elevator stepped to either side of him and grabbed him with an inhuman speed of movement.

'Hey !' said Dan Thaler.

He was lifted toward the combo, the door of which slid open. The two men hoisted him effortlessly inside and climbed m with him.

The door slid shut behind them.

Belatedly, as he felt the combo-cruiser begin its forward glide, and when it was already far too late, Dan started to struggle.

As the ship lifted to the 1,100-foot lane going west, Dan discovered that in the tussle his wrists had been tied to the chair arms and his ankles were similarly held by steel bands attached to the legs of the seat.

One of the two men took over the controls of the ship. The other settled down opposite Dan and regarded him with a faint, mocking smile.

'So we finally got you.'

Dan considered how it had been done and said, 'I can't see that it was so difficult.'

'Well,' said the man, 'our problem is different from what it seems. Androids, with the help of a few enlightened human beings, are engaged in taking over this planet from an inferior race. But our true potentialities have been cunningly limited by our lesser group. when you accidentally saw an advanced type android like myself and my friend' -- he indicated his companion -- 'you became -- when we discovered who you were -- a problem. Only the fact that you have a film restrains us from killing you at once, and indeed it makes necessary what might be called a more lenient solution.'

Dan found his voice. 'How far has this take-over gone?' he asked.

The man held up his hand. The cynical smile was on his face again. 'I don't have time to go into details.' He glanced out of the transparent plate beside him. 'We're about to land. But, very briefly, our first task is to reverse the entire process, that is, to free the androids from restriction and place proper restrictions on human beings.'

Dan said earnestly, 'In order for you to have such a goal, it means that a human being programmed you to have it.'

'The free androids,' was the retort, 'all have such thoughts, and it was, of course, a learned process -- which, after all, is the way human beings also get their training.'

'What about human creativity?' Dan asked.

The android gave a ridiculing laugh. 'A logical process, in the final analysis, which, even before androids as such were constructed, was largely turned over to computers, the precursors of androids.'

'But those computers were programmed by human beings,' Dan pointed out

'Who cares how it all started?' was the contemptuous answer.

The android shrugged and went on, 'But we recognize that there will be setbacks in this early stage of the take-over. Eventually thousands, and then millions of us will be free, and all human beings will be living drugged existences. Then we can dominate. But right now, we want two things from you. One is your sister -- '

Dan blinked. 'Anita!' He added, 'And what is the second thing?'

'You'll see,' was the reply.

The android had taken what looked like a syringe from his pocket. He pointed this at Dan's face. A fine spray shot out from it.

And it was not exactly then that Dan lost consciousness. But the next thing he knew clearly, he was sitting.

For a while he kept making a body effort of resistance, and he kept thinking he was in an air-ground combo, and that the two men were holding him.

Now he grew aware of something. He was sitting, yes. He was inside somewhere, yes.

But it was not an air-combo.

And there was no one holding him.

In front of him was glass. In front, behind, to either side, above, below. He was surrounded by glass.

A remote part of his brain registered his awareness of this environment as an impact: astonishment, dismay, shock. But these were shadowy feelings, like echoes of reactions rather than the reactions themselves.

Time passed. And he had another awareness: There were people on the other side of the glass.

Not-easy-to-see people. The glass distorted them, somehow. Parts of bodies and hands could be glimpsed at odd moments, as if for an instant a piece of face or cloth, or a hand or leg, had come opposite a peephole,

The peepholes were of different sizes and shapes. Some stretched long, some were vertical, others horizontal, diagonal, and curved. Several times an eye -- each different -- peered at him. In every instance, the eyes were inquisitive and wondering.

Somewhere in the course of this observational period, Dan had a thought of his own: I seem to be living at a retarded speed.

Having had the thoughts, he continued to sit.

He had ceased his body effort of resistance, and so he was receptive when what seemed to be a voice said into his mind: 'You are now, as you have observed, turned on. You have observed that, haven't you? Say yes.'

'Yes,' said Dan.

'Are you ready for programming?' said the voice. 'Say yes.'

'Yes,' said Dan.

'Very good,' said the voice. 'You want to be programmed, do you not? Say yes.'

'Yes,' said Dan.

'Programming,' said the voice, 'consists of you receiving specific instructions regarding your behavior and response. You will always and invariably respond and behave exactly as the programming indicates. You agree to respond and behave exactly as programmed? Say, yes, I agree.'

'Yes, I agree,' said Dan.

'The initial programming,' said the voice, 'is simple. You stand up. Stand up!'

Dan got to his feet.

'Sit down!'

Dan sat.

'There, that was easy, wasn't it? Say yes, it was easy.'

'Yes, it was easy,' said Dan.

'Splendid,' said the voice. 'Your next programming will be to stand up, walk forward two steps, then back up two steps, then sit down. You agree to do this, do you not? Say yes.'

'Yes.'

Dan now had his second personal thought. 'Hey,' he thought, 'no.'

Even as he made the mental objection, he got up, took two steps forward, two steps backward, and sat down again.

And, as time went by and more programming took place, he sat, walked, lifted objects, put them down, responded to commands with verbal answers or actions as required by the voice, which continued to speak directly, so it seemed, into his brain.

Finally: 'You are now ready,' said the voice, 'to come out of your training cabinet.'

He was commanded to walk straight ahead. As he did so, an opening appeared in the glass; a moment later Dan emerged into a room where several dozen human beings behind a rope barricade were evidently waiting for him. As he came out and moved along -- which he was now commanded to do -- inside of his part of the rope barrier individuals among these watchers asked questions about him, and the same voice that had spoken into Dan's head answered the questions through a wall speaker. They all seemed to take it for granted that he had volunteered to simulate an android.

'But I didn't volunteer,' Dan said. 'I don't want to be like an android.'

He did not say that aloud

He was not programmed to speak such a sentence.

He stood there and waited for his next command.

The people began to disperse. Some went out of what seemed to be a front door; others went through a side door.

Behind Dan, a door opened, and there were footsteps; then a man came into view.

'Walk out of that door!' He indicated the front entrance with a curt gesture. It was the same voice that had given him his training.

Dan walked as directed and found himself on Queer Street!

He recognized in that distant way that this was unquestionably what Anita had been referring to.

The street where the robots came, headquarters of GALS: Give Androids Life Society.

The GALS had androids donated to them, willed to them, bought for them. And here, on this strange street, was a city within a city. Here these 'free' androids 'lived' without anyone to give them orders. The GALS reprogrammed them according to a systematic idea, which had in it, first of all, a delimiting concept

The concept was: I can refuse to be turned off.

In addition, several consciousness-expanding ideas were programmed into the free android.

One of these, in essence, gave the android permission to learn.

Dan walked along, held in his android-mental frame by some inner force beyond his control, and only vaguely conscious of his past.

He saw an android-enticing sign: GET JUICED UP HERE.

He saw a for-androids-only theater, whose marquee featured a double bill. 'Remember,' it said; 'you see both pictures at once, because an android can --

'A billboard showed a towering android beside a puny human. 'An android,' it said, 'is stronger, more logical, better in every way.'

Another billboard showed a male and a female figure. The legend was: 'Human note -- Androids make perfect wives and husbands.'

From somewhere deep in Dan's own mind came his own thought: The day will come when every human being has been treated as I am now being treated; first, this present stage one, then stage two, then the final permanent stage of total control. On that day, life on earth will be -- what?

He walked on, the thought fading into a shadowy region of his mind.

* *

Officer A. Sutter wrote in his notebook: 'On leaving Dan Thaler, earlier, I put a tracer on him and followed him to the Central City Hospital, hovered above this structure until tracer line swung over, indicating tracer line was moving away from hospital. Located source in a combo with number 8-283-746-A and followed to free-robot area, sometimes called Android City. With spy ray observed Dan Thaler being carried Out by two superandroids into GALS headquarters. Consciousness-diminishing drug injected immediately; spy ray showed human audience observing stage-one induction. At this point called for reinforcements, and then, shortly after Thaler came into street for his initial walk, and as raid began, rescued him. Am now waiting for effect of drug to Wear off. Believe this to be first time pictures taken of actual enforcement of android simulation by human. Thus suspicion that such simulations were not always voluntary confirmed.'

Dan sat for four hours in Sutter's police combo, and then he felt normal.

But he was in a meditative mood.

'The lines are drawn for battle,' he said. 'And the secret of the superandroids is out; so that's a gain. I may have to give up the film to save my sister, but I'll leave her in jail while I think about that.'

He shook his head. 'It's strange to think that that mad woman is in a position where she can't do anything nutty. In fact' -- he frowned -- 'maybe you'd better check to see if she's still there.'

Sutter turned back presently from his phone. 'Yes,' he said, 'she's still there -- and it's over my time to go off duty. My wife will be expecting me --'

The following morning, Sutter noted that on his visual tape were three reports: (1) Dan Thaler's sister still in custody; (2) GALS board of directors deny knowledge of use of GALS headquarters for coerced simulation of androids; board fires on-premises manager, who is under arrest; (3) Apparently all quiet on Thaler-Copeland front. Signed: INSPECTOR INGRATH.

Sutter couldn't quite believe that last item, so he put through an A-plus call to Dan Thaler's apartment.

No answer.

He then called Peter Copeland I at his private number.

No reply.

He zoomed over to the Copeland factory and insisted on going into the private office.

No sign of Peter I.

And Peter III was not in the building.

He flew to the original Copeland home.

Unoccupied.

The container in the storeroom, where Peter II was supposed to be kept when turned off, was not there. And no sign of Peter II.

At his next stop, where Peter I had been living with Anita II, there was no answer to his ringing. And the apartment manager refused him entry without a warrant.

Officer A. Sutter was beginning to have a strange, empty feeling when he received a call from Dan Thaler.

'I'm over at the prison, getting Anita out. Join me.'

Sutter said, 'But -- '

And at that point realized he was talking into a dead line.

On inquiring at the desk of the jailhouse, Officer Sutter was directed to one of the anterooms. Inside, he found Dan and the woman. Dan had taken her shoe off and had slit her stocking, and as Sutter watched, he reached into a hole in her heel and began to make adjustments on a set of dials.

Sutter stared, then hastily stepped into the room and closed the door. For once he was too taken by surprise to write any thing either in his real or mind's-eye notebook.

Sutter found his voice. 'You mean -- that woman, yesterday ... was your sister?'

Dan said, 'I couldn't raise anybody anywhere today; so I hurried down here.'

Sutter said, 'I couldn't find anyone, either.'

Dan made a shushing gesture. 'I'm going to turn her on.'

He closed the opening in the heel, slipped the shoe back on, steadied the woman, and drawing a gun-shaped instrument from his pocket, pointed it at the heel and pulled the trigger.

The Anita duplicate turned and evidently finished a thought she must have been about to speak before being turned off.

'Yes, I'm the android who has been living with the real Peter Copeland.'

'Why did you not report this to the police yesterday?'

'I am not programmed to handle that kind of situation that developed yesterday.'

'What was that situation?'

'She pretended to be an android -- me.'

Dan glanced at Sutter and shrugged. 'Well?' he said.

Sutter said, 'What would she want to do that for?'

Dan said, 'How would I know what goes on in that woman's skullcase!' His tone was sharp.

Sutter's thought had leaped back to the previous morning. 'That was her, here?' when Dan did not reply, Sutter persisted, 'But she did it so well. So polite. what's she up to?'

This time Dan replied, 'We'd better get over there and check.'

'Over where?'

Dan glanced significantly at Anita II and said, 'I think we should leave her here and get organized for a raid, based on all the silence we ran into this morning when we tried to locate people.'

Officer Sutter had his first glimmering of understanding. The empty feeling returned. Somebody was in danger. He said, 'Uh!'

He wrote rapidly in an imaginary notebook, 'It would seem that in some circumstances Inspector Ingrath's is the only appropriate remark.'

On the way over to Peter I's apartment, Sutter asked, 'What did you program Anita II to do?'

'To obey only me in future,'

'Uh!' said Sutter.

They came to N-12, or rather, to where they could see the front entrance of the Copeland apartment. A wide hallway, a staircase, then more hallway -- that was the view from the elevator. The front door of N-12 was ornate, showing a design which obviously cost money.

Dan led the way to the rear entrance, drew a short-circuiting device from a pocket, and inserted it into the electronic lock. The device detected the exact pattern of the electronic flow by a sensitive feedback system, adjusted itself, and soundlessly unlocked the door.

Officer A. Sutter raised his eyebrows as the door silently swung open. But he made no comment as he tiptoed after Dan into the corridor beyond.

Dan gestured with one hand. Sutter softly closed the door.

And they were inside.

The interior alcove was surprisingly large, and three doors led from it: one to a half-open door which showed a kitchen; another, directly opposite, either a bathroom or the rear entrance to a bedroom.

The third door was also slightly open -- Inches only -- and from beyond it there was audible and muffled sound of voices. Dan moved in that direction, Sutter close at his heels.

Dan reached the door, flattened himself against one wall, and peered through the three-inch opening.

He saw the backs of two men. Both resembled Peter Copland. Peter II and Peter III -- he deduced.

And as he watched, one of the men said, in Peter's voice, : There's got to be a way you can help us get your wife out of jail, so we can kill her.'

'Go to hell,' said Peter's voice from somewhere out of sight.

'It's you or her,' said the android.

And Peter said, 'We've been over this twelve hundred times I've told you I'm not going to do it.'

'It's you or her,' repeated the android..

Standing there, Dan realized what had happened here.

Somebody must have programmed these two to believe that for humans personal survival was an ultimate motivation. Whoever had programmed that had forgotten to add, 'Except when a mother is defending her baby, or a man's maleness is somehow at issue, or his honor -- or something.'

As a result, they were stuck in a circular thought process: The threat, the unexpected response -- for which they were not programmed -- then back to the threat -- timelessly repeating. Dan divined that this had been going on now for a long time -- what was it Peter had said? Twelve hundred times.

At least since early morning.

And Peter must be answering in the repetitive way because he did not understand the situation.

Dan felt relief. The danger he had divined had been real. But now that his circular madness had been started, Sutter and he need only wait. Make no sudden moves. Wait for the arrival of the police goon squad that Sutter had called.

Standing there, realizing, Dan experienced a vague pity, a sadness, a strange regret for androids and their bid for freedom.

He thought: On one level, I'm not really against androids achieving freedom.

But the problem was fantastically difficult. For, basically, androids had to be programmed for everything they thought or did.

These two didn't realize that the real Anita was in the room with them.

What kind of a chance did such beings have to be free?

As he had these thoughts, he had been edging forward, his intention being to catch a glimpse of Anita's or Peter's foot or hand, so that he would have them mentally located.

These androids had the superspeed response ability of electronic devices; and there would be violence when the goon squad arrived; for that would break the stereotype that now held them.

Dan suspected that no attempt would be made to kill Peter I when the raid began.

So where was Peter I, exactly?

He bent his head, angled inches farther into the room -- and saw Anita.

She was looking up. Their gaze met.

Her eyes widened, and she came to her feet.

'Time for lunch,' she announced.

She walked rapidly out of Dan's range of vision -- easy to do, for he had more inches of visual leeway.

Dan cursed silently. For Peter II and Peter III turned and looked at each other.

'Lunch,' they said simultaneously. 'But he never eats lunch at home.'

Dan was thinking violent, vituperative language at his mad sister. At the same time, he was backing away from his position at the doorway. There was a faint, ever so faint, muffled sound from Sutter.

Dan turned and saw that Sutter was staring at the kitchen door. Dan glanced in that direction. And froze.

Anita stood there.

In her hand was an automatic pistol.

'All right,' she said. 'You two -- inside.'

She gestured toward the living room with the weapon.

Dan restrained an impulse to scream at his sister as he complied. His restraint was based on a bit of knowledge of which she was apparently unaware: that the two Peter androids would, after the manner of programmed machines, kill her instantly if they discovered she was the real Anita.

As he entered the living room, he was aware of Sutter's dragging foot following him. And behind Sutter was the click of Anita's high heels on the gleaming floor.

He was too dazed by the unexpected turn of events to think clearly. In a single act of madness, Anita had converted what had been completely under control into a deadly, dangerous situation. And there was nothing he could do about it.

His purpose, and, in a different way, Peter's had been concentrated on saving her. As usual, everyone protecting Anita, and she protecting no one.

'Tie them!' Her voice came from behind him. And when that had been skillfully done by Peter II and III, she gave the equally inexplicable command, 'Gag them!'

As the duos of Peters completed this latter task, Anita raised her gun and fired at them. Twice.

The two androids fell almost simultaneously; and Dan noticed that in the death act their motions were not human.

There was no struggle, no twitching of limbs, with thousands of cells and muscles and nerves clinging desperately to life. Peter II and Peter III simply fell like inanimate objects.

Anita untied Dan first. As she undid his gag, she said in a low, fierce whisper, 'Don't you say one word to Peter that I'm not an android ... And see to it that the policeman shuts his mouth, too.'

A light lit in Dan's mind. So that was it. All this danger had been incurred to further some scheme she had in connection with her husband.

Seething, Dan whispered the required admonition a minute later as he released Sutter. He was aware of Anita untying Peter I; and still he could not quite let his mind examine the implications of what he had said.

That didn't come until later.

There was an interlude, while Peter said to Anita, 'Let me see that gun.'

She handed it to him, and he stood staring down at it; and what he was thinking was not clear, for he finally slipped it into his pocket and said in an even tone, 'I didn't know you were programmed to protect your owner.'

'Oh, yes,' said Anita.

'And what about tying and gagging these two?' He indicated Dan and Sutter.

'That was part of the pattern of getting the gun.'

The police raiding party now, belatedly, arrived; ended the questioning. The two dead -- though of course, reparable and reprogrammable -- Peters were carted off, with Peter I's permission, to Dan's office.

Dan found himself unwilling to depart. He finally found himself standing in the doorway of the apartment, silently staring at his beautiful sister and her husband. It was at this point that he caught a glance from Anita's eyes. They flashed blue rage at him.

'Get out of here, you lunkhead!' that blue glance telegraphed.

Dan got.

* *

It was another day. Shortly after noon.

Officer A. Sutter landed his combo in a suitable parking place in Android City, walked to the street, and presently espied Dan, Peter II, Peter III, and Anita II coming toward him.

At least Dan had said, when he called, that he was with these three persons. The two male androids had been repaired and reprogrammed.

They all stopped, and Dan said to the woman loudly, Well, my dear sister, since I can't make you change your mind, I'll say good-bye, and wish you luck.'

He held out his 'hand. The woman ignored it. She walked off, followed by the male androids.

When they had gone, Dan said, 'I'm pretty sure I convinced the two Peters that the woman with them is Anita I. And if that raid on GALS broke up the local ring, then no one is, at least for the moment, monitoring any of the superrobots in this city.'

Sutter said, Why would you want to have them think it was actually your sister?'

Well, I got a call from Anita late yesterday, and she gave me my instructions.' Dan laughed ruefully and looked embarrassed as he continued, 'Anita has a woman's outlook on things, and she thought it would be a good idea if I programmed Anita II to feel deep love for Peter II and Peter III, and vice versa.' He went on, apologetically, 'As I picture it, something in that strange head of my sister's gets pleasure out of thinking that Peter I is going to be believing that Anita I is living with Peter II and Peter III, and of course all the time it's Anita II.'

'But why would you do such a meaningless thing? why do what your sister wants?'

'Well,' Dan confessed, 'she threatened to have the two male supers dismantled, and I may need them later as tools in my continuing assignment Now that Mr. Jarris has been removed from his high post, and Dr Schneiter is facing serious charges, everything is fine, but ... ' He left the sentence hanging.

'Do you think your sister knew consciously that she had been subjected to an android simulation?'

'No.'

'But then how did she break out of it?'

Dan was silent. Part of the answer must lie in the concept -- intimated by Dr Schneiter -- that she had 'run amok'. But it was more than that, much more. Something in a human being resisted enslavement.

Not in all situations, of course. Not if it were subtle, not on the level of conformity -- which the majority of all times and places did not even think of as slavery.

Yet the moment that a human being actually considered that enforcement was taking place, his resistance began.

The realization relieved Dan in a basic way. Human beings would survive the android fight for freedom. Women, particularly, would hold their own.

Officer A. Sutter was also silent, startled. He was visualizing two male Peter androids and a female Anita android, each programmed for deep love, endlessly making love to each other.

He was vaguely aware of Dan Thaler saying, 'Kind of makes you wonder about life.'

Sutter nodded absently.

'Just imagine,' said Dan, 'a woman having to spend the rest of her life pretending to be a completely programmed android. I refer to my real sister, as she is now, living with Peter.'

'Uh!' said Sutter, startled. 'That!'

For a few seconds he put his attention on Anita I living with her husband under such conditions -- a little enviously, he realized as he considered what a difficult female his own wife had become recently.

They had arrived -- as Sutter had these thoughts -- at his combo. From it there came the sound of a double buzzing.

'Just a moment,' he said, 'my wife is on the line.' He walked in and pressed the switch for the -- he estimated -- tenth time since he had gone on the job that morning. He said resignedly:

'Yes, dear -- of course I love you. I've already told you that nine times today.....'