The Jupiter Weapon Page 3

Mansard was his father," protested Trella.

  "Robots and androids frequently look on their makers as their parents,"said Jakdane. "Quest may not even know he's artificial. Do you know howMansard died?"

  "The oxygen equipment failed, Quest said."

  "Yes. Do you know when?"

  "No. Quest never did tell me, that I remember."

  "He told me: a year before Quest made his rocket flight to Ganymede! Ifthe oxygen equipment failed, how do you think _Quest_ lived in thepoisonous atmosphere of Jupiter, if he's human?"

  Trella was silent.

  "For the protection of humans, there are two psychological traits builtinto every robot and android," said Jakdane gently. "The first is thatthey can never, under any circumstances, attack a human being, even inself defense. The second is that, while they may understand sexualdesire objectively, they can never experience it themselves.

  "Those characteristics fit your man Quest to a T, Trella. There is noother explanation for him: he must be an android."

  * * * * *

  Trella did not want to believe Jakdane was right, but his reasoningwas unassailable. Looking upon Quest as an android, many things wereexplained: his great strength, his short, broad build, his immunity toinjury, his refusal to defend himself against a human, his inabilityto return Trella's love for him.

  It was not inconceivable that she should have unknowingly fallen in lovewith an android. Humans could love androids, with real affection, evenknowing that they were artificial. There were instances of androidnursemaids who were virtually members of the families owning them.

  She was glad now that she had not told Quest of her mission to Ganymede.He thought he was Dr. Mansard's son, but an android had no legal rightof inheritance from his owner. She would leave it to Dom Blessing todecide what to do about Quest.

  Thus she did not, as she had intended originally, speak to Quest aboutseeing him again after she had completed her assignment. Even if Jakdanewas wrong and Quest was human--as now seemed unlikely--Quest had toldher he could not love her. Her best course was to try to forget him.

  Nor did Quest try to arrange with her for a later meeting.

  "It has been pleasant knowing you, Trella," he said when they left theG-boat at White Sands. A faraway look came into his blue eyes, and headded: "I'm sorry things couldn't have been different, somehow."

  "Let's don't be sorry for what we can't help," she said gently, takinghis hand in farewell.

  Trella took a fast plane from White Sands, and twenty-four hours laterwalked up the front steps of the familiar brownstone house on theoutskirts of Washington.

  Dom Blessing himself met her at the door, a stooped, graying man whopeered at her over his spectacles.

  "You have the papers, eh?" he said, spying the brief case. "Good, good.Come in and we'll see what we have, eh?"

  She accompanied him through the bare, windowless anteroom which hadalways seemed to her such a strange feature of this luxurious house,and they entered the big living room. They sat before a fire in theold-fashioned fireplace and Blessing opened the brief case withtrembling hands.

  "There are things here," he said, his eyes sparkling as he glancedthrough the notebooks. "Yes, there are things here. We shall makesomething of these, Miss Trella, eh?"

  "I'm glad they're something you can use, Mr. Blessing," she said."There's something else I found on my trip, that I think I should tellyou about."

  She told him about Quest.

  "He thinks he's the son of Dr. Mansard," she finished, "but apparentlyhe is, without knowing it, an android Dr. Mansard built on Jupiter."

  "He came back to Earth with you, eh?" asked Blessing intently.

  "Yes. I'm afraid it's your decision whether to let him go on living as aman or to tell him he's an android and claim ownership as Dr. Mansard'sheir."

  Trella planned to spend a few days resting in her employer's spacioushome, and then to take a short vacation before resuming her duties ashis confidential secretary. The next morning when she came down from herroom, a change had been made.

  Two armed men were with Dom Blessing at breakfast and accompanied himwherever he went. She discovered that two more men with guns werestationed in the bare anteroom and a guard was stationed at everyentrance to the house.

  "Why all the protection?" she asked Blessing.

  "A wealthy man must be careful," said Blessing cheerfully. "When wedon't understand all the implications of new circumstances, we must beprepared for anything, eh?"

  There was only one new circumstance Trella could think of. Withoutactually intending to, she exclaimed:

  "You aren't afraid of Quest? Why, an android can't hurt a human!"

  Blessing peered at her over his spectacles.

  "And what if he isn't an android, eh? And if he is--what if old Mansarddidn't build in the prohibition against harming humans that's requiredby law? What about that, eh?"

  Trella was silent, shocked. There was something here she hadn't knownabout, hadn't even suspected. For some reason, Dom Blessing feared Dr.Eriklund Mansard ... or his heir ... or his mechanical servant.

  * * * * *

  She was sure that Blessing was wrong, that Quest, whether man or android,intended no harm to him. Surely, Quest would have said something ofsuch bitterness during their long time together on Ganymede and aspace,since he did not know of Trella's connection with Blessing. But, sincethis was to be the atmosphere of Blessing's house, she was glad that hedecided to assign her to take the Mansard papers to the New Yorklaboratory.

  Quest came the day before she was scheduled to leave.

  Trella was in the living room with Blessing, discussing the instructionsshe was to give to the laboratory officials in New York. The twobodyguards were with them. The other guards were at their posts.

  Trella heard the doorbell ring. The heavy oaken front door was keptlocked now, and the guards in the anteroom examined callers through atiny window.

  Suddenly alarm bells rang all over the house. There was a terrific crashoutside the room as the front door splintered. There were shouts and thesound of a shot.

  "The steel doors!" cried Blessing, turning white. "Let's get out ofhere."

  He and his bodyguards ran through the back of the house out of thegarage.

  Blessing, ahead of the rest, leaped into one of the cars and started theengine.

  The door from the house shattered and Quest burst through. The twoguards turned and fired together.

  He could be hurt by bullets. He was staggered momentarily.

  Then, in a blur of motion, he sprang forward and swept the guards asidewith one hand with such force that they skidded across the floor and layin an unconscious heap against the rear of the garage. Trella had openedthe door of the car, but it was wrenched from her hand as Blessingstepped on the accelerator and it leaped into the driveway with spinningwheels.

  Quest was after it, like a chunky deer, running faster than Trella hadever seen a man run before.

  Blessing slowed for the turn at the end of the driveway and glanced backover his shoulder. Seeing Quest almost upon him, he slammed down theaccelerator and twisted the wheel hard.

  The car whipped into the street, careened, and rolled over and over,bringing up against a tree on the other side in a twisted tangle ofwreckage.

  With a horrified gasp, Trella ran down the driveway toward the smokingheap of metal. Quest was already beside it, probing it. As she reachedhis side, he lifted the torn body of Dom Blessing. Blessing was dead.

  "I'm lucky," said Quest soberly. "I would have murdered him."

  "But why, Quest? I knew he was afraid of you, but he didn't tell mewhy."

  "It was conditioned into me," answered Quest "I didn't know it untiljust now, when it ended, but my father conditioned me psychologicallyfrom my birth to the task of hunting down Dom Blessing and killing him.It was an unconscious drive in me that wouldn't release me until thetask was finished.

&nbs
p; "You see, Blessing was my father's assistant on Ganymede. Right after myfather completed development of the surgiscope, he and my mother blastedoff for Io. Blessing wanted the valuable rights to the surgiscope, andhe sabotaged the ship's drive so it would fall into Jupiter.

  "But my father was able to control it in the heavy atmosphere of Jupiter,and landed it successfully. I was born there, and he conditioned me tocome to Earth and track down Blessing. I know now that it was part ofthe conditioning that I was unable to fight any other man until my taskwas finished: it might have gotten me in trouble and diverted me fromthat purpose."

  More gently than Trella would have believed possible for hisJupiter-strong muscles, Quest took her in his arms.

  "Now I can say I love you," he said. "That was part of the conditioningtoo: I couldn't love any woman until my job was done."

  Trella disengaged herself.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "Don't you know this, too, now: that you're not aman, but an android?"

  He looked at her in astonishment, stunned by her words.

  "What in space makes you think that?" he demanded.

  "Why, Quest, it's obvious," she cried, tears in her eyes. "Everythingabout you ... your build, suited for Jupiter's gravity ... your strength... the fact that you were able to live in Jupiter's atmosphere afterthe oxygen equipment failed. I know you think Dr. Mansard was yourfather, but androids often believe that."

  He grinned at her.

  "I'm no android," he said confidently. "Do you forget my father wasinventor of the surgiscope? He knew I'd have to grow up on Jupiter, andhe operated on the genes before I was born. He altered my inheritedcharacteristics to adapt me to the climate of Jupiter ... even to beingable to breathe a chlorine atmosphere as well as an oxygen atmosphere."

  Trella looked at him. He was not badly hurt, any more than an elephantwould have been, but his tunic was stained with red blood where thebullets had struck him. Normal android blood was green.

  "How can you be sure?" she asked doubtfully.

  "Androids are made," he answered with a laugh. "They don't grow up. AndI remember my boyhood on Jupiter very well."

  He took her in his arms again, and this time she did not resist. Hislips were very human.

  THE END

  [ Transcriber's Note:

  The following is a list of corrections made to the original. The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

  destruction--immeasureably destruction--immeasurably

  dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already, drunk, had insisted.dome-colony on Ganymede. Motwick, already drunk, had insisted.

  her mission was confidential, but surely Dom Blesssing could not objecther mission was confidential, but surely Dom Blessing could not object

  microscope. The principal was the same as that used in operation ofmicroscope. The principle was the same as that used in operation of]