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ture, written into the texture of the universe, makes it and us free.
Hari replied with:
Paradox. How does the event itself know how to happen?
Only a massive computer could describe the next tiny whorl in a stream.
What makes real systems even able to change?
Voltaire shrugged a difficult gesture for a bird.
"At last you have encountered an agency you cannot dismiss, " Joan said
proudly.
Voltaire's head jerked with surprise. "Your... Creator?"
"Your equations describe well enough. But what rives these equations
" she hesitated at the word >
"You imply a Mind which does the universal computation?"
loan said primly, "Morality is not dependent upon us. "
Voltaire shot back, "Nonsense! We evolved with morals shaped by the
universe by a Creator, if you wish. "
Hari asked, "You mean by evolution? The pans "
Joan cried, "Indeed! Holiness shapes the world, the world shapes us. "
Hari looked doubtful, Joan pleased. Voltaire said wryly, "My mathist, would
you rather believe that moral constraints emerge as 'a spontaneous order from
rational utility-maximizing behavior'? Truly?"
Hari blinked. "Well, no... "
"I quoted one of your own papers. What you've forgotten, sir, is that our
endless models of the world shape how we look at human experience. "
"Of course, but "
"And the models are all that we know. "
Hari suddenly smiled. "I like that. Don't get married to a model. " He al-
lowed himself to morph slightly, growing taller, more muscular. "I don't know
why, but I feel better. "
"Your soul has come to terms with your actions, " Joan said.
Voltaire said, "I would prefer 'selves' to 'soul, ' but let us not quibble. "
Suddenly Hari felt categories shift in his mind. He had arranged for the
revival of these sims, guided by pure intuition. Now came the payoff: they had
inadvertently discovered the step he wanted. "The mind... is a self-
with elements of unknown "
"They are already involved, " Joan said. "They are here, all around us. "
Hari sighed. "I hope we can keep them here in the "
"Zoo, " Joan said dryly.
Thunderheads roiled over the horizons, closing fast.
"You killed robots!" Hari shouted into the gale. "That was not in our bar-
gain. "
[WE DID NOT SAY WE WOULD REFRAIN]
"You took more than we agreed! Lives of "
[TERMS OMITTED CANNOT BE PRESUMED UPON]
"The robots are a separate kind. Of high intelligence "
[YOUR MERE TIKTOKS COULD KILL THEM THOUGH]
[YOU, SELDON, DID NOT OWN THESE MACHINES]
[AND THUS HAVE NO DISPUTE WITH US]
Hari ground his teeth and fumed.
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[MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS BECKON]
"Your rewards?" Hari asked bitterly. "You've come for them?"
[WE SHALL NOT STAY HERE]
[FOR THIS PLACE IS DOOMED]
Hari staggered under a hailstorm of biting cold. "Trantor?"
[AND MUCH ELSE]
[ELSE WE SHALL EXTINGUISH ALL YOUR "ROBOTS"]
"That wasn't part of our deal!" Hari shouted. Hard cold rain hammered him, but
he turned his face to confront the towering, angry clouds and their skirts of
wrathful lightning.
[HOW CAN YOU STOP US?]
[THOUGH IT WOULD DEPLETE OUR CAPACITIES]
[WE COULD BRING TRANTOR TO STARVATION]
Hari grimaced. He was learning a lot about power, quite quickly. "All right.
I'll see that research gets done on how to transfer you to physical form.
There are those I know who can do it. Marq and Sybyl know how to keep quiet,
too. "
Voltaire asked, "Why do you wish to exit stage left with such unseemly haste?"
[A NEW BRUSH FIRE IS COMING]
[TO HUMANS ACROSS THE SPIRAL]
[WE SHALL WATCH THIS FALL]
[AS SPORES FROM GALACTIC CENTER]
[THERE NONE CAN HURT US, NONE CAN WE HURT]
A glittering crystal with sharp spikes materialized beneath the purpling sky.
In a data-dollop, Hari learned of the alien technology which had once made
these stable, rugged compartments for digital intelligences.
"For now, I can make it safe for you to live widely in the Mesh. In re-
turn " he gazed anxiously at the Voltaire eagle, flapping in brassy splen-
dor " I want you to help me. "
"If it is a holy cause, surely, " Joan called.
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