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with the other observers, and we have reached a decision."
"Kill me and shut me up forever?"
"No, we cannot do that. Warped as you are by your incorrect upbringing among the savages in the
valley, you are still the First Arriver. Therefore you will arrive, that is our decision."
"What nonsense is this?" Chimal was too tired to argue more. He pushed the unemptied bowl away and
shut his eyes.
"The diagrams disclose that there are five objects called spaceships in caverns on the outer skin of this
world. They are described carefully and have been designed to travel from here to whatever planet is to
be settled. You will be placed into one of these spaceships and you will leave. You will go to the planets
as you wish. You will be the First Arriver."
"Get out," Chimal said, wearily. "No, you're not killing me, just sending me on a fifty year voyage by
myself, in exile, alone for the rest of my life. In a ship that may not even carry enough, food and air for a
voyage of that length. Leave me, you filthy hypocrite."
"The machines inform me that in ten days you will be cured enough "to leave this bed. An eskoskeleton
is being prepared to aid you. At that time observers will come and see that you board the ship. They will
drug you and carry you if they must. You will go. I will not be there because I do not wish to see you
again. I will not even say goodbye because you have been a sore trial in my life, and have said
blasphemous words that I will never forget. You are too evil to bear." The old man turned and left even
before he was through speaking.
Ten days, Chimal thought, as he drifted on the edge of sleep. Ten days. What can I possibly do in that
time? What can I possibly do at all? To end this tragedy. How I wish I could expose the indecency of the
life these people lead. Even the lives of my people, short and unhappy as they are, are better than this. I
would like to break open this termites' nest to their gaze, to let them see just what kind of people they
are who hide and skulk nearby, watching and ordering.
His eyes opened wide and, unconscious of what he was doing, he sat bolt upright in the bed.
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"Of course. Let my people into these caverns. There would be no choice then we would have to
change the orbit for Proxima Centauri."
He dropped back onto the pillows. He had ten days to make plans and decide just what to do.
Four days later the eskoskeleton was brought in and stood in a corner. During the next sleeping period
he dragged himself from the bed and put it on, practicing with it. The controls were simple and
foolproof. He was out of bed every night after that, tottering at first, then walking grimly in spite of the
pain. Doing simple exercises. His appetite increased. The ten day figure was far more time than he
needed. The machines must have estimated his period of healing by using as a standard the sluggish
metabolisms of the Watchers. He could do much better than that.
There was always an observer on guard outside of his room, he heard them talking when they changed
shifts, but they never entered. They wanted to have nothing to do with him. During the sleeping period
of the ninth day Chimal rose and silently dressed himself. He was still weak, but the eskoskeleton helped
that, taking most of the exertion out of walking and other physical movements. A light chair was the
only possible weapon that the room provided. He took it in both hands and stood behind the door then
screamed.
"Help! I'm bleeding& I'm dying& help!"
At once he had to raise his voice and shout louder to drown out the voice of the nurse who kept ordering
him back to bed for an examination. Surely alarms were going off somewhere. He had to be fast. Where
was that fool of an observer? How long did it take him to make up his simple mind? If he didn't come in
soon Chimal would have to go after him, and if the man were armed that could be dangerous.
The door opened and Chimal hit him with the chair as soon as he entered. He rolled on the floor and
moaned but there was no time to even look at him. One man or a world? Chimal pried the laser rifle
from his fingers and went out, moving at the fastest speed the eskoskeleton would permit.
At the first turning he left the hospital passage and headed toward the outermost corridors, the ones that
were usually deserted, almost certainly so at this hour. It was one hour to dawn, the Watchers of course
kept the same time as the valley, and he would need every minute of that. The route he had planned was
circuitous and he was so slow.
No one would know what he had planned, that certainly would help. Only the Master Observer could
make decisions, and he did not make them easily. The first thing he would probably think of would be
that Chimal might return to finish his job of sabotage. Weapons would be found and observers
dispatched to the air plant. Then more thought. A search perhaps, and finally the alerting of all the
people. How long would that take? Impossible to estimate. Hopefully more than an hour. If it happened
sooner Chimal would fight. Hurt, kill if necessary. Some would die so that future generations might live.
The Master Observer moved even slower than Chimal imagined. Almost the entire hour had passed
before he met another man, and this one was obviously bent on a routine errand. When he came close
and recognized Chimal he was too shocked to do anything. Chimal got behind him and let the powered
hands of the eskoskeleton throttle the man into unconsciousness. Now dawn, and the last corridor.
His life was running backwards. This was the way he had entered, so long ago, going fearfully in the
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other direction. How he had changed since that day: how much he had learned. Valueless things unless
he could put them to some real use. He came down the stone-floored tunnel just as the door at the far
end swung up and outward. Outlined against the blue of the morning sky stood the monstrous figure of
Coatlicue, snake-headed and claw-armed. Coming toward him. In spite of knowledge his heart leapt in
his chest. But he walked on, straight toward her.
The great stone swung silently shut again and the goddess came forward, gaze fixed and unseeing. She
came up to him and past him then turned and entered the niche to wheel about and stand, frozen and
inactive. To rest for one more day before emerging on her nightly patrol.
"You are a machine," Chimal said. "Nothing more. And there, behind you, are tools and parts cabinets
and your breviary." He walked past her and picked it up and read the cover. "And your name isn't even
Coatlicue, it is HEAT SEEKING GUARD ROBOT. Which explains now how I escaped from you
once I was under the water I vanished as far as your senses were concerned." He opened the book.
Though the Coatlicue robot was undoubtedly complex, the repairs and instructions were simple, like all
the others. Chimal had originally thought that it would be enough to open the portal and send her out in
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