Homunk felt his throat tighten as he passed them and went into the wide hall whose ceiling vaulted high above him. He was between his 4 guards. Still, they held back a step. Right and left stood robots, hundreds of them, the entire hall full of them. Everyone was looking in his direction, their eyes full of devout awe and joyful hope.
Hope… in the eyes of soulless robots!
Opposite the portal, at the end of the hall, there was a monster of a steel robot brain—at least that’s what Homunk took it for. But as they came closer, he had to correct himself. It could not be the usual robot brain for it lacked all control panels and other attributes of technological wonders. In any case, there was only one video screen, exactly at its midpoint and two meters above the stone floor.
If Homunk had been a human being, his pulse at this moment would have stepped up, for on the only screen he at last and for the first time saw an alien for whom he had come to this strange world.
A human being!
His very short hair formed a triangle on his brow. Under it, the eyes looked stem and calm; they did not move. The nose was narrow and long. The mouth was drawn into a somewhat ironical smile. The chin was clean-shaven. The man—surely it was a man—wore a blue uniform with gold epaulettes. More could not be seen for the image reached only to the waist.
Homunk stopped a few meters from the screen. He could not take his eyes off the serious yet gentle face. Fascinated, he returned the glance until finally, almost against his will, he realized that he was facing no living image but a lifeless reproduction.
It was masterfully executed. Three-dimensional and coloured, at first glance it gave the impression that he was facing the living original or at least a video-screen that was projecting the image of the living original.
But it was only an image, a quite wonderful and realistic hologram, but still dead, perhaps dead for a long time.
When Homunk turned toward the guards, he saw that they stood beside him, bowing deeply and with lowered eyes.
All the robots followed their example.
They bowed before the image.
The image of a human being!
And as if at one stroke, Homunk understood what had happened on this planet.
He understood that some of the robots had waited for him for millennia perhaps. For him, whom they honoured as a god!
* * * *
At this exact moment, Harno appeared.
The black sphere materialized directly under the dome and at first was not noticed. It barely stood out against the dark ceiling; and besides, it stayed quiet and did not stir.
But it established contact with Homunk who was normally not sensitive to telepathy.
“You’ll have to play along, Homunk—don’t be alarmed, I’m Harno. Stay proud and unapproachable, as is expected of someone as honourable as you. Don’t disturb the illusions of the robots.”
Homunk inwardly heard the voice and froze. He knew who Harno was but he had no explanation of why that energy-being should come here now. Was Pucky behind it all?
“How did you find me?”
“I’ll explain everything later. Now just do exactly as I tell you. If the robots find out that they’ve been duped, you won’t live a second longer. They’ve waited too long for this moment of triumph to put up with any deception.”
“How can the robots think and behave this way? It’s totally against all known laws and experiences. It’s impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible when robots are left to themselves.”
Homunk thought this over. Left to themselves? Could that mean…?
“Later,” Harno repeated. “What is taking place here now has already occurred in other worlds. In worlds inhabited by organic intelligences. The slumbering memory and the hope for a miracle arouse an eternally returning combination of feelings that no thinking being can withstand for long, no matter whether it has an organic or an artificial brain. Sometimes it lasts longer, and groups that fight each other are formed. Like here.”
Homunk saw that the robots straightened up again as farther up in the ‘altar’ a metal piece rolled back. A dull shining screen became visible.
It was oval.
The colour patterns came quickly and nearly automatically. Whoever was at the controls knew what he was doing. It was hard for Homunk to follow the text but segments were enough for a general idea.
It was a kind of sermon in which it was triumphantly mentioned that the creator had returned. They had waited 10,000 years for it—that was 20,000 Earth years. An unimaginably long time. Now the day of triumph over the non-believers could no longer be far off. Now at last they would be converted.
Homunk wished at this moment that Pucky were in his place. The mousebeaver had landed them all in this soup with his curiosity and his drive for exploration. But Pucky did not look in the least like a human being. They could not accept him as God. Maybe they even thought he was the devil. That would explain the ill treatment that had fallen his lot.
“They expect you to stay in the temple—for this is a temple that’s a relic from long-gone days. Like the city. All the others were razed to the ground but this one escaped. The last sign of the old inhabitants who used to live in this world.”
Homunk did not move, even though the final confirmation of his most secret fears hit him like a bodily blow. “Who used to live…? Are you trying to say that they are no more?”
“No more for a long time. Not for 20,000 Earth years. Time enough for the surviving robots to develop into what they are today. But my explanation will come later; I don’t want to give it twice.”
“And the oval screens? I was convinced they represented a connection between the robots and the aliens. I thought…”
“I’ve already told you that there are no aliens. Some of the robots partly obey the screens or brains. Others are entirely independent and rule in turn over these robots. They fight against the respect shown their extinct masters. But behind the robot brain that stands in this temple, a robot priest is hiding. He pretends to be speaking for the creator. So, a swindle, Homunk.”
“The parallel of…”
“I’ve told you already, it has happened on nearly all worlds in similar circumstances. You must remain standing when the robots leave the temple. Don’t move and don’t turn around. Look at the screen.”
Homunk heard the noise of stamping feet as the robots left the great hall. It took a long time but then he heard the portal close with a dull thud.
Now at last he turned around and saw the black sphere slowly floating downwards. It grew larger and brighter until it filled the entire hall. It was as if the sun were suddenly shining through a wide window.
At the same moment, Pucky materialized in the middle of the room and landed, not very gently, at Homunk’s feet. He shook himself and made sure he was alone with Homunk. He did not notice Harno’s presence.
“I’ve been chasing behind you forever but the robots were guarding you as if you were the apple of their pie. When they came out of the building, I took the chance. Have they left you behind?”
Before the android could answer, Harno made himself noticeable and explained to Pucky in broad outline what had happened. The mousebeaver was so shaken that he made no reply. Wordlessly he squatted on a ledge and stared darkly in front of him. Then at last, after long minutes, he murmured: “Well, and what now?”
“That,” said Harno, “is why I’m here. In 2 or 3 days the EX-238 will meet us here; until then we must make a clean sweep of it.”
“A clean sweep? What do you mean? You surely don’t want us to continue with this circus?”
“You’re wrong!” Harno’s thought impulse was strong and sharp. Pucky ducked involuntarily. “This is no circus. The robots are wrong only on one point: they take Homunk for a human being, an Arkonide, some kind of a humanoid. So they think he’s their creator. But Homunk is an artificial man. He stands here for all other men and represents them. When the EX-238 lands, 50 men will come into this world. Fifty gods, if you will. It can lead to catastrophe.”
Pucky looked at the picture on the altar. “And what should we do?” he asked in a small voice.
“We will organize that crusade,” Harno replied.
5/ REVOLUTION #2
During the night Harno told them the history of the planet in the centre of the galaxy. The energy-being turned into a screen that filled the entire hall. From the distant past, it projected the events at a smaller scale. Homunk and Pucky witnessed the rise of the kingdom of the Metalix.