He ordered the automatic secretary to make all suitable arrangements
and then stood up. He walked to the elevator, where a soft, hissing
breeze conveyed his temporary one-tenth pound relative gently up the
tube to the roof. There his weight returned to its normal two pounds
relative, and he spoke to the robot attendant. "My cab." His Formair
Aircab was promptly and quietly delivered, and Hal stepped inside.
"Destination?" a voice inquired softly from the control bank.
"Take me to the nearest available Civilization Conditioning Treatment
Center."
At once, the cab took off. It was a silent and comfortable motion. Hal
had always liked flying.
The automatic pilot was speaking to him gently. "Central Authority
advises that the nearest available CCT Center at this time is in
the metropolis of Knoxville. This requires traversing interurban
wilderness."
Hal frowned just slightly. He had never seen the interurban wilderness,
of course, and had not the slightest desire to do so. That was chaos.
He inquired, "How soon can the local Center take me?"
"Three days, seven hours twenty minutes from reference time. Mark
time ... mark!" the robot announced the temporal point of reference.
"Too long," Hal replied wearily. "Let's go to Knoxville. And shut off
all outside views. I do not wish to see the chaos."
The Aircab obediently turned and transposed through the suspend-field
of the York metropolis Airdome. It was an effortless passing, since the
field that constituted the wall structure of the Aircab was exactly in
phase with that of the Airdome field. Both were Formair manufacture, of
course.
The pleasant, silent, effortless motion of the Aircab soon produced its
usual somnolent effect on him, and he dozed comfortably off. He slept
the entire trip.
At Knoxville, he spoke to the Center Technician briefly, advising the
master robot of the possibility of his altered economic status, and the
matter was thoroughly checked by the computer at Central Authority.
Every conceivable source of psychosomatic tension and internal conflict
was studied, and suitable alterations on Hal's master curve plotted.
The process took ten minutes, while Hal dozed under the soothing warmth
of the examination cap. There was a crackling buzz, and it was over.
He awoke immediately, and felt wonderful. No tension. No irritation.
Not the slightest bit of his recent restlessness. Hal was delighted.
On the way out of the cubicle, he encountered another Proprietor, and
smiled at him with perfect, civilized mildness.
"York," he ordered his Aircab. Once again, the sleek button-shaped
vehicle soared up through the Airdome and out over the interurban
wilderness. Hal contentedly went to sleep right in the middle of the
pilot's automatic rundown of flight data.
* * * * *
He was jolted awake by a raucous rattle from the control bank. Blinking
his eyes sleepily, he said, "Please stop all that noise. What is the
trouble?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account