General strikes -- Fiction; Robots -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Telepathy -- Fiction
Jack and I stared at each other and then at him. Somehow I couldn't
see the robots calmly waiting to be blown up. If they had telepathed
the last plan, they could probably foresee every move we could make.
Then, while I thought, Jack mentioned the worry I'd managed to forget
for the past couple of hours.
"Four days until Saturday," he said. "We'll never make it now. Not
even if we got a thousand men."
No. We couldn't. Not without the androids. I nodded, feeling sick.
There went my contract, and my working capital. Not to mention my
robots. Of course, I could call in the Army, but what good would that
do?
Then, somewhere in the back of my mind a glimmering of an idea began
percolating. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but there was certainly
nothing to lose now from playing a hunch.
"There's nothing we can do," I said. "So we might as well take it easy
for a couple of days. See what happens."
They looked at me as if I were out of my head. I was the idea man, who
always had a plan of action. Well, this time it would have to be a
plan of inaction.
"Let's go listen to the radio," I suggested, and started for my
office.
The news was on. It was all about Carron City and the robots who had
quit work and how much better life would be in the future. For a
minute I didn't get the connection; then I realized that the
announcer's voice was rasping and tinny--hardly that of the regular
newscaster. I looked at the dial. It was tuned to the Carron City wave
length as usual. I was getting the morning news by courtesy of some
studio robot.
"... And androids in other neighboring cities are joining the
struggle," the voice went on "Soon we hope to make it nationwide. So I
say to all of you nontelepaths, the time is now. Strike for your
rights. Listen to your radio and not to the flesh men. Organizers will
be sent from Carron City."
I switched it off, muttering under my breath. How long, I wondered,
had that broadcast been going on. Then I thought of Rob O. He'd left
my house before dawn, obviously some time between four and seven. And
I remembered that he liked to listen to the radio while I slept.
* * * * *
My Morrison 5's were the ring-leaders, of course. They were the only
ones with the brains for the job. But what a good job they had done
indoctrinating the others. A household Rob, for instance, was built to
obey his master. "Listen to your radio and not to the flesh men." It
was excellent robot psychology.
More reports kept coming in. Some we heard over the radio, others from
people who flew in and out of the city. Apparently the robots did not
object to occasional flights, but the air bus was not allowed to run,
not even with a human driver. A mass exodus from the city was not to
be permitted.
"They'll starve to death," Jack cried.
The Chief shook his head. "No," he said. "They're encouraging the
farmers to fly in and out with produce, and the farmers are doing it,
too. They're getting wonderful prices."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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