Gods of Riverworld by Philip José Farmer Read Free Book Online Page A

was disturbed by their lack of concern for the dangers that were—as it were—just around the corner.
    Judging from their facial expressions, Nur was the only one thinking of the unknown enemy. Burton felt like kicking the others. Instead, he slapped his hands together sharply, jolting them from their dreams.
    “That’s enough nonsense,” Burton said. “The situation is serious. Deadly. There’s no time to think of anything but how we’re going to fight the enemy. If we defeat him, you may play all you want. Till then … The unknown has a great advantage over us in that he can use the Computer better than we. But if we can learn how to use it against him, it becomes our ally. Let me remind you that the Computer is not just that huge protein electroneural mass at the bottom of the central shaft. The Computer is also the tower, this vast building in which we reside. The brain is the central protein organ, the clearinghouse. But the majority of circuits are in the floors, the walls, and the ceilings of the tower. We’re in the heart, the nerves of the enemy. And we can find ways to strike at that heart, those nerves. Or perhaps I should say, ways to seize them and use them as weapons.”
    “If you’re thinking of belling the cat,” Alice said, “we don’t even know where the cat is.”
    “It may be another mouse who’s buffaloed us into thinking it’s a cat,” Nur said.
    “If … if … may be,” Burton said. “No more speculations on ifs. We abandon speculation; we act.”
    “Fine. But how?” Nur said. “Everything we’re saying now or will say may be, probably is, overheard. And perhaps seen.”
    “I said, ‘No more ifs and may bes!’ ” Burton thundered.
    Frigate laughed and said, “We can’t help that, we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad. We must be, or we wouldn’t have come here.”
    “What are you talking about?” Burton said.
    “He’s paraphrasing the conversation between the Cheshire Cat and Alice in Wonderland,” Alice said.
    “The mention of the cat reminded me of the Cheshire Cat,” Frigate said. “In a way, the unknown is the grin without a cat.”
    Burton threw his hands up.
    “I wish I had all of you in the army!” he cried.
    There was silence, but Burton knew that it would not last long. Not in this group.
    “That,” Frigate said, “may be just what we need.”
    “What?”
    “An army. We can have the Computer make us an army of robots and androids. We’ll set it up so that the unknown, the Snark, let’s call him, can’t override our commands to the robots. We can set them to looking for the Snark and guarding us. We’ll also order them to seize or kill anyone who is not us. Non-us is the enemy. The robots and androids can do in a short time what would take us years.”
    Burton stared at the American, then said, “You wrote that—what do you call it?—science fiction too long. It’s rotted your brain.”
    “It’s within the capabilities of the tower,” Frigate said. “If we’re going to win, we have to think big. I know it sounds crazy, but we need an army, and we can get it. I’d say, oh, a force of about one hundred thousand.”
    Some burst out laughing. Frigate grinned, but he said, “I’m serious.” He went to a console and punched out some numbers and an operation. Simple multiplication. The screen showed: 107,379.
    “Three automaton soldiers to a room makes one hundred seven thousand, three hundred and seventy-nine. We could have a whole army in several days. The soldiers could watch every known room and keep an eye out for a stranger and also probe for hidden rooms.”
    Nur, smiling, said, “I admire your creativity but not your lack of restraint or your contempt for realities.”
    “What do you mean?” Frigate said. “Restraint is good only in situations that call for it. This doesn’t. As for realities, the army could be easily realized.”
    Nur admitted that twice the number proposed could easily be raised. However,