Watchbird by Robert Sheckley
just wasn't safe. With their high speed and superfastsenses, the watchbirds got around quickly.
And now they meant business. In their original directives there had beena provision made for killing a murderer, if all other means failed.
Why spare a murderer?
It backfired. The watchbirds extracted the fact that murder and crimesof violence had increased geometrically since they had begun operation.This was true, because their new definitions increased the possibilitiesof murder. But to the watchbirds, the rise showed that the first methodshad failed.
Simple logic. If A doesn't work, try B. The watchbirds shocked to kill.
Slaughterhouses in Chicago stopped and cattle starved to death in theirpens, because farmers in the Midwest couldn't cut hay or harvest grain.
No one had told the watchbirds that all life depends on carefullybalanced murders.
Starvation didn't concern the watchbirds, since it was an act ofomission.
Their interest lay only in acts of commission.
Hunters sat home, glaring at the silver dots in the sky, longing toshoot them down. But for the most part, they didn't try. The watchbirdswere quick to sense the murder intent and to punish it.
Fishing boats swung idle at their moorings in San Pedro and Gloucester.Fish were living organisms.
Farmers cursed and spat and died, trying to harvest the crop. Grain wasalive and thus worthy of protection. Potatoes were as important to thewatchbird as any other living organism. The death of a blade of grasswas equal to the assassination of a President--
To the watchbirds.
And, of course, certain machines were living. This followed, since thewatchbirds were machines and living.
God help you if you maltreated your radio. Turning it off meant killingit. Obviously--its voice was silenced, the red glow of its tubes faded,it grew cold.
The watchbirds tried to guard their other charges. Wolves wereslaughtered, trying to kill rabbits. Rabbits were electrocuted, tryingto eat vegetables. Creepers were burned out in the act of stranglingtrees.
A butterfly was executed, caught in the act of outraging a rose.
This control was spasmodic, because of the fewness of the watchbirds. Abillion watchbirds couldn't have carried out the ambitious project setby the thousands.
The effect was of a murderous force, ten thousand bolts of irrationallightning raging around the country, striking a thousand times a day.
Lightning which anticipated your moves and punished your intentions.
* * * * *
"Gentlemen, _please_," the government representative begged. "We musthurry."
The seven manufacturers stopped talking.
"Before we begin this meeting formally," the president of Monroe said,"I want to say something. We do not feel ourselves responsible for thisunhappy state of affairs. It was a government project; the governmentmust accept the responsibility, both moral and financial."
Gelsen shrugged his shoulders. It was hard to believe that these men,just a few weeks ago, had been willing to accept the glory of saving theworld. Now they wanted to shrug off the responsibility when thesalvation went amiss.
"I'm positive that that need not concern us now," the representativeassured him. "We must hurry. You engineers have done an excellent job. Iam proud of the cooperation you have shown in this emergency. You arehereby empowered to put the outlined plan into action."
"Wait a minute," Gelsen said.
"There is no time."
"The plan's no good."
"Don't you think it will work?"
"Of course it will work. But I'm afraid the cure will be worse than thedisease."
The manufacturers looked as though they would have enjoyed throttlingGelsen. He didn't hesitate.
"Haven't we learned yet?" he asked. "Don't you see that you can't curehuman problems by mechanization?"
"Mr. Gelsen," the president of Monroe said, "I would enjoy hearing youphilosophize, but, unfortunately, people are being killed. Crops arebeing ruined. There is famine in some sections of the country already.The watchbirds must be stopped at once!"
"Murder must be stopped, too. I remember all of us agreeing upon that.But this is not the way!"
"What would you suggest?" the representative asked.
* * * * *
Gelsen took a deep breath. What he was about to say took all the couragehe had.
"Let the watchbirds run down by themselves," Gelsen suggested.
There was a near-riot. The government representative broke it up.
"Let's take our lesson," Gelsen urged, "admit that we were wrong tryingto cure human problems by mechanical means. Start again. Use machines,yes, but not as judges and teachers and fathers."
"Ridiculous," the representative said coldly. "Mr. Gelsen, you areoverwrought. I suggest you control yourself." He cleared his throat."All of you are ordered by the President to carry out the plan you havesubmitted." He looked sharply at Gelsen. "Not to do so will be treason."
"I'll cooperate to the best of my ability," Gelsen said.
"Good. Those assembly lines must be rolling within the week."
Gelsen walked out of the room alone. Now he was confused again. Had hebeen right or was he just another visionary? Certainly, he hadn'texplained himself with much clarity.
Did he know what he meant?
Gelsen cursed under his breath. He wondered why he couldn't ever be sureof anything. Weren't there any values he could hold on to?
He hurried to the airport and to his plant.
* * * * *
The watchbird was operating erratically now. Many of its delicate partswere out of line, worn by almost continuous operation. But gallantly itresponded when the stimuli came.
A spider was attacking a fly. The watchbird swooped down to the rescue.
Simultaneously, it became aware of something overhead. The watchbirdwheeled to meet it.
There was a sharp crackle and a power bolt whizzed by the watchbird'swing. Angrily, it spat a shock wave.
The attacker was heavily insulated. Again it spat at the watchbird. Thistime, a bolt smashed through a wing, the watchbird darted away, but theattacker went after it in a burst of speed, throwing out more cracklingpower.
The watchbird fell, but managed to send out its message. Urgent! A newmenace to living organisms and this was the deadliest yet!
Other watchbirds around the country integrated the message. Theirthinking centers searched for an answer.
* * * * *
"Well, Chief, they bagged fifty today," Macintyre said, coming intoGelsen's office.
"Fine," Gelsen said, not looking at the engineer.
"Not so fine." Macintyre sat down. "Lord, I'm tired! It was seventy-twoyesterday."
"I know." On Gelsen's desk were several dozen lawsuits, which he wassending to the government with a prayer.
"They'll pick up again, though," Macintyre said confidently. "The Hawksare especially built to hunt down watchbirds. They're stronger, faster,and they've got better armor. We really rolled them out in a hurry,huh?"
"We sure did."
"The watchbirds are pretty good, too," Macintyre had to admit. "They'relearning to take cover. They're trying a lot of stunts. You know, eachone that goes down tells the others something."
Gelsen didn't answer.
"But anything the watchbirds can do, the Hawks can do better," Macintyresaid cheerfully. "The Hawks have special learning circuits for hunting.They're more flexible than the watchbirds. They learn faster."
Gelsen gloomily stood up, stretched, and walked to the window. The skywas blank. Looking out, he realized that his uncertainties were over.Right or wrong, he had made up his mind.
"Tell me," he said, still watching the sky, "what will the Hawks huntafter they get all the watchbirds?"
"Huh?" Macintyre said. "Why--"
"Just to be on the safe side, you'd better design something t
o hunt downthe Hawks. Just in case, I mean."
"You think--"
"All I know is that the Hawks are self-controlled. So were thewatchbirds. Remote control would have been too slow, the argument wenton. The idea was to get the watchbirds and get them fast. That meant norestricting circuits."
"We can dope something out," Macintyre said uncertainly.
"You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now. A murder machine.Before that it was an anti-murder machine. Your next gadget will have tobe even more self-sufficient, won't it?"
Macintyre didn't answer.
"I don't hold you responsible," Gelsen said. "It's me. It's everyone."
In the air outside was a swift-moving dot.
"That's what comes," said Gelsen, "of giving a machine the job that wasour own responsibility."
* * * * *
Overhead, a Hawk was zeroing in on a watchbird.
The armored murder machine had learned a lot in a few days. Its solefunction was to kill. At present it was impelled toward a certain typeof living organism, metallic like itself.
But the Hawk had just discovered that there were other types of livingorganisms, too--
Which had to be murdered.
--ROBERT SHECKLEY
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ February 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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And now they meant business. In their original directives there had beena provision made for killing a murderer, if all other means failed.
Why spare a murderer?
It backfired. The watchbirds extracted the fact that murder and crimesof violence had increased geometrically since they had begun operation.This was true, because their new definitions increased the possibilitiesof murder. But to the watchbirds, the rise showed that the first methodshad failed.
Simple logic. If A doesn't work, try B. The watchbirds shocked to kill.
Slaughterhouses in Chicago stopped and cattle starved to death in theirpens, because farmers in the Midwest couldn't cut hay or harvest grain.
No one had told the watchbirds that all life depends on carefullybalanced murders.
Starvation didn't concern the watchbirds, since it was an act ofomission.
Their interest lay only in acts of commission.
Hunters sat home, glaring at the silver dots in the sky, longing toshoot them down. But for the most part, they didn't try. The watchbirdswere quick to sense the murder intent and to punish it.
Fishing boats swung idle at their moorings in San Pedro and Gloucester.Fish were living organisms.
Farmers cursed and spat and died, trying to harvest the crop. Grain wasalive and thus worthy of protection. Potatoes were as important to thewatchbird as any other living organism. The death of a blade of grasswas equal to the assassination of a President--
To the watchbirds.
And, of course, certain machines were living. This followed, since thewatchbirds were machines and living.
God help you if you maltreated your radio. Turning it off meant killingit. Obviously--its voice was silenced, the red glow of its tubes faded,it grew cold.
The watchbirds tried to guard their other charges. Wolves wereslaughtered, trying to kill rabbits. Rabbits were electrocuted, tryingto eat vegetables. Creepers were burned out in the act of stranglingtrees.
A butterfly was executed, caught in the act of outraging a rose.
This control was spasmodic, because of the fewness of the watchbirds. Abillion watchbirds couldn't have carried out the ambitious project setby the thousands.
The effect was of a murderous force, ten thousand bolts of irrationallightning raging around the country, striking a thousand times a day.
Lightning which anticipated your moves and punished your intentions.
* * * * *
"Gentlemen, _please_," the government representative begged. "We musthurry."
The seven manufacturers stopped talking.
"Before we begin this meeting formally," the president of Monroe said,"I want to say something. We do not feel ourselves responsible for thisunhappy state of affairs. It was a government project; the governmentmust accept the responsibility, both moral and financial."
Gelsen shrugged his shoulders. It was hard to believe that these men,just a few weeks ago, had been willing to accept the glory of saving theworld. Now they wanted to shrug off the responsibility when thesalvation went amiss.
"I'm positive that that need not concern us now," the representativeassured him. "We must hurry. You engineers have done an excellent job. Iam proud of the cooperation you have shown in this emergency. You arehereby empowered to put the outlined plan into action."
"Wait a minute," Gelsen said.
"There is no time."
"The plan's no good."
"Don't you think it will work?"
"Of course it will work. But I'm afraid the cure will be worse than thedisease."
The manufacturers looked as though they would have enjoyed throttlingGelsen. He didn't hesitate.
"Haven't we learned yet?" he asked. "Don't you see that you can't curehuman problems by mechanization?"
"Mr. Gelsen," the president of Monroe said, "I would enjoy hearing youphilosophize, but, unfortunately, people are being killed. Crops arebeing ruined. There is famine in some sections of the country already.The watchbirds must be stopped at once!"
"Murder must be stopped, too. I remember all of us agreeing upon that.But this is not the way!"
"What would you suggest?" the representative asked.
* * * * *
Gelsen took a deep breath. What he was about to say took all the couragehe had.
"Let the watchbirds run down by themselves," Gelsen suggested.
There was a near-riot. The government representative broke it up.
"Let's take our lesson," Gelsen urged, "admit that we were wrong tryingto cure human problems by mechanical means. Start again. Use machines,yes, but not as judges and teachers and fathers."
"Ridiculous," the representative said coldly. "Mr. Gelsen, you areoverwrought. I suggest you control yourself." He cleared his throat."All of you are ordered by the President to carry out the plan you havesubmitted." He looked sharply at Gelsen. "Not to do so will be treason."
"I'll cooperate to the best of my ability," Gelsen said.
"Good. Those assembly lines must be rolling within the week."
Gelsen walked out of the room alone. Now he was confused again. Had hebeen right or was he just another visionary? Certainly, he hadn'texplained himself with much clarity.
Did he know what he meant?
Gelsen cursed under his breath. He wondered why he couldn't ever be sureof anything. Weren't there any values he could hold on to?
He hurried to the airport and to his plant.
* * * * *
The watchbird was operating erratically now. Many of its delicate partswere out of line, worn by almost continuous operation. But gallantly itresponded when the stimuli came.
A spider was attacking a fly. The watchbird swooped down to the rescue.
Simultaneously, it became aware of something overhead. The watchbirdwheeled to meet it.
There was a sharp crackle and a power bolt whizzed by the watchbird'swing. Angrily, it spat a shock wave.
The attacker was heavily insulated. Again it spat at the watchbird. Thistime, a bolt smashed through a wing, the watchbird darted away, but theattacker went after it in a burst of speed, throwing out more cracklingpower.
The watchbird fell, but managed to send out its message. Urgent! A newmenace to living organisms and this was the deadliest yet!
Other watchbirds around the country integrated the message. Theirthinking centers searched for an answer.
* * * * *
"Well, Chief, they bagged fifty today," Macintyre said, coming intoGelsen's office.
"Fine," Gelsen said, not looking at the engineer.
"Not so fine." Macintyre sat down. "Lord, I'm tired! It was seventy-twoyesterday."
"I know." On Gelsen's desk were several dozen lawsuits, which he wassending to the government with a prayer.
"They'll pick up again, though," Macintyre said confidently. "The Hawksare especially built to hunt down watchbirds. They're stronger, faster,and they've got better armor. We really rolled them out in a hurry,huh?"
"We sure did."
"The watchbirds are pretty good, too," Macintyre had to admit. "They'relearning to take cover. They're trying a lot of stunts. You know, eachone that goes down tells the others something."
Gelsen didn't answer.
"But anything the watchbirds can do, the Hawks can do better," Macintyresaid cheerfully. "The Hawks have special learning circuits for hunting.They're more flexible than the watchbirds. They learn faster."
Gelsen gloomily stood up, stretched, and walked to the window. The skywas blank. Looking out, he realized that his uncertainties were over.Right or wrong, he had made up his mind.
"Tell me," he said, still watching the sky, "what will the Hawks huntafter they get all the watchbirds?"
"Huh?" Macintyre said. "Why--"
"Just to be on the safe side, you'd better design something t
"You think--"
"All I know is that the Hawks are self-controlled. So were thewatchbirds. Remote control would have been too slow, the argument wenton. The idea was to get the watchbirds and get them fast. That meant norestricting circuits."
"We can dope something out," Macintyre said uncertainly.
"You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now. A murder machine.Before that it was an anti-murder machine. Your next gadget will have tobe even more self-sufficient, won't it?"
Macintyre didn't answer.
"I don't hold you responsible," Gelsen said. "It's me. It's everyone."
In the air outside was a swift-moving dot.
"That's what comes," said Gelsen, "of giving a machine the job that wasour own responsibility."
* * * * *
Overhead, a Hawk was zeroing in on a watchbird.
The armored murder machine had learned a lot in a few days. Its solefunction was to kill. At present it was impelled toward a certain typeof living organism, metallic like itself.
But the Hawk had just discovered that there were other types of livingorganisms, too--
Which had to be murdered.
--ROBERT SHECKLEY
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ February 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.