Bryce Walton

“ A waste of time,” she said. “Anyway, World Brain was a reaction to—to the Atomic War. That almost finished Earth life. And remaining humanity decided it couldn’t afford another. Human governmental agency is too unreliable. Even human dictatorship was, of course, variable. So all the greatest scientific minds pooled their brain cells and created World Brain. Now, human culture is fixed and static. For a human, that’s death. Nothing can change unless World Brain changes, and that’s impossible.”
“Well,” said Roland. “Isn’t that what was wanted?”
“It didn’t work out, Rolly. ”

“ The Martians might get you. The plastic men ... you might have trouble with them.”
“They’re one-track, highly specialized,” said Berti, studying Roland with a quizzical, unwavering stare. “Anything that blocks their specialized assignments they’ll push aside. They have no conception of violence as such. It’s just a means to carry through their fixed patterns of behavior.”
“If you’re waiting for my decision,” said Roland, “you know it. I couldn’t be any different. I’m human. Humanity means more to me than my own life.” ”

“ A billion people turned into stagnant automatons. When organisms stop moving and changing, they’re better off completely dead. Don’t you agree, Rolly?”
“Yes,” said Roland. “So why not destroy World Brain?”
“We’re going to,” interrupted Berti. “And it’s got to be done right now. Civilization—I use that word liberally—has simply stopped. And as long as the entire working culture is mechanically fixed, it’s absolutely hopeless.” Berti’s narrow shoulders drooped. “Not that everything isn’t, in its cosmic sense. But even the cosmos doesn’t make sense, does it, Fran?” ”

“ World Brain blocked any action of free thought—the one spontaneous, progressive and unique characteristic of the human.”
That broke Frances’ reverie. “Yes, Rolly. Block that characteristic and you kill the human. The human is a step above the beast because of his free-associative brain. But it also persists in dooming him as a species. The human heart and muscle belong to the jungle—his overdeveloped brain to an environment of his own creation.”
She was swinging freely along beside him. Berti said, “Civilization subjected the human body to a vast and critical experiment. ”

“ And there are a thousand plastico-mechanical creations which act positronically under World Brain to carry out its functions.”
Berti looked sharply at him. “Roland! Doesn’t that seem terribly unjust to you. Monstrously inhuman?”
“If it’s mechanical, obviously it’s inhuman,” said Roland.
Berti said, “Human? Organic? What is life? Only chemistry and that’s all any machine is. No, by human I mean one’s emotional, thalamic reactions. Do you react negatively to a dictatorial machine that destroys all human characteristics?”
“I’ll even hate it,” said Roland. He looked at Frances. ”

“ She had called him “dear” twice.
“I’ve already told him he might not come back,” said Berti. “It’s dangerous. The Martians’ new rapport-clan are difficult. And the destruction when World Brain stops will be terrific. The Martians will immediately jump in and try to knock out Earth as soon as they see World Brain go. If they don’t get you first. As soon as we take over the atomic laboratories, our first job will be to blow up the Martian’s Moon bases. It’s a risky business.”
“You’ll be safe,” Frances said. “You’re not afraid, are you, Rolly?”
“Not too much,” answered Roland. ”

“ The Martians work out of their observatories and laboratories on the Moon. They want to learn all they can about humans in case they have to destroy humanity.”
“Why don’t we destroy them? Now.” Roland’s voice trembled.
“The Underground is the only Earth agency that knows the Martians even exist. And we can’t act against them anyway until World Brain is destroyed. Atomic energy is locked behind impenetrable shields as long as World Brain rules. Violence or conflict of any kind is forbidden by the fixed laws of World Brain. The Martians are persistent. ”

“ He walked along the railed edge of the abyss until he faced the plastic man who was standing before the opening of a levitation shaft that would take him directly into the arteries of World Brain.
He tried to edge past the plastic man. There wasn’t room enough; the plastic man wasn’t designed to make any room. The creation was very close to a perfect synthesis. There was no other way. Roland charged head down into the waiting figure and hurled him upward over the railing. ”

“ A slight environmental change could destroy man—aside from his obvious willingness to destroy himself. But, Rolly, in one way, perhaps, extinction, the price of evolution, isn’t too high. After all, you made us possible. ”

“ Frightened by another possible atomic war under unreliable human agency, they had established fool-proof laws, then subjected themselves and the laws to a machine dictator that could never alter them. ”

“ If he could only remember—. A man answered tensely, “He’s waking, all right. Check the spy-circuit again, Fran. Their newly developed rapport-clan is dangerous. They might find out about our new Adam.” ”