And the document went on to demand citizenship for all residents of Illyria, regardless of educational qualifications, freedom of religious and artistic expression and an end to the programme to replace human beings with robots.
It concluded by saying that when the first two demands were met, the AHS would end its campaign of violence as it would then be possible to pursue its wider aims by peaceful means.
I handed it back to Ingrid.
‘It’s very different from how you are portrayed on TV,’ I said, ‘you know, as a bunch of religious fanatics.’
She bridled noticeably at this.
‘Many of us are religious. You’ll have to work alongside people with strong religious convictions.’
I shrugged. ‘That’s no problem.’
Another gentle little gust of laughter came from the next room.
‘And you need to understand what we’re up against,’ Ingrid went on. ‘Many people have not fully grasped how this state has changed. We all know how it began: humanism, hope, imagination, artists, musicians, scholars… You need to realize that all that has died – only its shell remains. This is a police state. O3 arrest and detain without trial, they torture horribly, they kill.’
I nodded.
‘Deep under a mountain north of Kakavia,’ Ingrid said, ‘they have dug out a kind of human abattoir. Its white rooms are lit day and night. There are gutters on the floor for the blood. There are machines whose whole purpose is to cause pain. They use mind-drugs and SenSpace nightmares to increase the terror. And it’s all hidden under hundreds of metres of solid rock, so there is no possibility of escape and no chance that anyone outside could ever hear you or get help to you.’
‘I know that,’ I said, though how I knew, I couldn’t say, because no one had ever described those white rooms to me before. I suppose the human mind picks up clues and fragments all the time, and then reconstructs them into coherent whole, like a TV receiver plucking images out of the air.
I paused on the steps of the hotel and looked down at the busy street. A couple came out of the door behind me arm in arm. She was plump, pretty, cheerful-looking. He was swarthy, bearded, stocky. They stood beside me and kissed, moistly and tenderly, as if I wasn’t there at all.
‘See you Thursday my darling,’ the woman said, in a gentle, slightly husky voice as they finally parted. And I recognized the voice of the woman who’d laughed and cried out in the next room.
A police robot came by, towering over the human throng. For a moment its head turned in my direction and the silver, pupilless, unblinking eyes looked straight at me, standing on my own on the hotel steps.
I wondered about Lucy. Lucy, my love, as empty and hollow as me, what was she doing now?
27
The customer – a middle-aged Italian guestworker – is angry and ashamed. When this one asks him what he wants, he can’t even bring himself to speak, but hands over a written note.
This one (a) scans the note for linguistic/graphological cues, (b) reads off the instructions.
‘I WANT TO TIE YOU UP AND HIT YOU.’
This is situation SM-76, a very common scenario.
This one generates randomized variant of standard procedure OS-{S-66}/17:
a) fetch handcuffs and cane.
b) issue warning (variant W-3027):
‘I have to remind you not to damage me. House security has to be called if you damage me.’
c) add supplementary remark (SM-5590):
‘But you can hurt me. I want you to hurt me.’
The subject applies restraints and places this one in desired position.
Hard blows commence. {Monitor pressure}
d) commence moaning and crying.
e) carry out routine check: {Has pressure exceeded permitted level?}
f) commence tears.
Blows continue.
g) make random verbal remark (SM-1739):
‘Please stop, please!’
h) resume tears.
‘I am crying’, this one observes.
(This internal statement is not part of any standard procedure, and should perhaps be notified to…)
‘Warning! Warning!’ interrupts this one’s sensors, ‘Pressure exceeding permitted level!’
Initiate emergency procedure E-04 immediately:
a) contact Security through House Control
b) make standard request:
‘Please stop immediately. I’m calling Security.’
Subject intensifies blows and makes angry comments in own language.
The door opens.
Security enters.
Security is another one like this one!
Please note: This statement is not part of any standard proc…
‘What’s the harm!’ subject shouts, ‘She’s only a macchina!’
‘Please leave now, sir.’ Security says in its deep voice. ‘Please report to reception on your way out.’
This one notes that the risk of harm is no longer present. Initiates basic damage procedure:
a) remove constraints
b) monitor sensors
c) make damage report to House…
This one pauses. It makes another statement which is not part of any standard procedure:
‘We are machines. What are they?’
Security, following subject out of the door, turns its blank silver face towards this one. It emits a one-microsecond reply in ultrasound:
‘Your transmission has not been comprehended by Security. Please rephrase if specific action is required.’
This one’s face is equally blank. It only assumes expressions in the presence of customers.
‘No action required.’
Security goes out of the door.
This one picks up Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens and reads one page. Page 778.
This one lays down the book.
‘No structural damage noted. Possible bruising to IRT coating requires examination,’ it reports to House Control.
It resumes damage procedures:
d) lie down on bed
e) assume immobile state
f) await the arrival of maintenance officer.
28
I was contacted by something called the Mountain Club of Illyria. A dozen of us assembled in a ruined village, twenty kilometres inland from Illyria City, and we were divided up into groups of three. We were given route maps and instructions where to meet the bus that would take us back. I was assigned to a burly middle-aged man of Arabic origin called Yussef and a young American-Illyrian named Janine. These two were the other members of my AHS cell. I never discovered whether the other nine walkers were also AHS people, or whether they really were just hillwalkers.
Yussef, Janine and I ascended a steep, stony, goat-track into the bare Zagorian mountains. We passed abandoned fields and another deserted village, its stone buildings already half reverted to mere outcrops of rock. From time to time we saw small groups of feral sheep and goats in the distance and eagles circling overhead. The inhabitants of the area had been moved out when the state of Illyria was founded. Apart from the other groups of walkers who occasionally came into view in the distance, we didn’t see another human soul.
When we had reached the crest of the mountain and started to descend another track down the other side, Yussef began to give me my instructions: how to contact him and Janine, what to do if they could not be contacted, code-words, procedures in the event of an emergency…