The robots continued their work, now assisted by and sometimes hindered by the slowly developing Immortals. Like their primitive anthropoid predecessors, they started out very curious and mischievous. They were into everything. They poked and pushed every button and lever. There were days when the robots spent all their efforts just cleaning up and repairing the messes made by these new creatures. The robots complained to the Master. He sympathized but could only counsel patience.
“Those qualities you complain of now are the very ones I will need in the future. As they mature you will see many interesting changes.”
And mature they slowly did. They came to understand the robots’ work better and started to work more effectively with them. Soon they were supervising the robots and the Master moved on to other tasks.
Among them the Immortals and the robots built a great city under the ice. The older purely robot-built sections all looked like a cross between a warehouse and a spaceship interior but as the Immortals took over more of the planning the city grew more varied and interesting. For many years its structures grew more and more extravagant as the Immortals took control of their realm and mastered the material sciences. One phase of building grew magnificent and baroque. There were multi-story rooms and great columns. There were buildings within buildings. There were heroic statues of rapidly increasing sophistication. The city was brightly lit with the hues of the many colors of the spectrum and given a name—the Color City.
As the Immortals moved on to the mastery of the other sciences the buildings became more conservative and comfort-oriented. The Immortals discreetly started traveling on the surface to their predecessor’s spawning grounds south of the great ice sheets. There they learned of earth tones, green things, and water running in rivers. They built smaller, using earth-toned mixes of color and texture. They built parks and fountains. The city’s name was changed to the Golden City after its predominant earth color.
Meanwhile the Master built and later moved permanently into a retreat further north. He needed the Immortals but did not like the hustle and bustle of the city they were building.
Even after he left, the Immortals still worked for the Master. They worshipped him as their creator and god. As they built their city they built for him as well. When they had mastered the basic sciences and started the comfortable phase of the city, the demands of the Master increased and the things he demanded of them became much more complex.
The Master was probing the limits of his own science and searching for knowledge that came from understanding concepts beyond those limits. He needed more than robots to conduct this search. He needed sentient and clever beings that could think and research on their own. He needed beings that could think in ways he couldn’t.
“You were created from mortal material,” he told them. “You may be immortal but you still think like mortals and that is vitally important. Your mortal side lets you think differently than I do. You are risk-takers. You jump. You climb. You push and pull things just to see what happens. I need that curiosity.”
The Immortals were his tools in this search and they were happy with their station.
The Master never told them what he hoped the ultimate fruits of his labors would be. But he did tell them that there were others in the galaxy who did not approve of his work and that they were searching for him. Therefore the Golden City should remain hidden and never be detectable from space.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The stormy day had come and gone. Professor Threshmore had gone to meet with Ned and come back. He announced to the family that the weather was clearing sooner than expected so he would probably be heading back out Friday.
“What about the rally on Saturday?” asked Mary.
“Oh, Ned has some interesting ideas, all right. And he’s quite a dynamic fellow. But I think he needs to do a bit more thinking before he gets those ideas turned into practical plans. I think I’ll pass on this opportunity.” The professor went into his study to prepare for the next day’s return to the island.
The girls borrowed the car and headed for Clamsport. There they found Ned and Toby sitting alone at a big table in the rally center. Ned was looking sour and Toby was talking at him earnestly.
“Look, Uncle Ned, it’s not that important. We’ll still have plenty of publicity without him. We’ll still get our goals accomplished.”
Ned responded moodily, “Why wasn’t he interested in doing more? He sees the dangers but he refuses to get involved. What does he mean about weighing the risks against the benefits?”
Toby responded hurriedly, “It’s just a reactionary distraction. Don’t worry about it now— The professor’s girls are coming.”
As they sat down Tarna remarked, “Well, sounds like things didn’t go well with Dad.”
Ned smiled. “No, it seems like it’s going to take a while to turn him around. Time that we don’t have. The big rally is just two days away and there’s so much to do before then.”
“It’s too bad. Daddy does tend to stay very busy with his work. But we don’t. As a matter of fact, we don’t have anything planned for tonight, do we, Mary? Care for dinner and a movie?”
Ned smiled and looked like he was about to say okay when Toby interrupted abruptly, “Out of the question, Ned. We have a lot of work still to get done.”
Ned looked at him angrily, “What do we have that’s that important? The others are handling the routine arrangements just fine. We—”
“Remember our special assignment?” interrupted Toby.
Ned looked a little crestfallen. “Oh yes, that is important.” He thought for a moment. “Well then, how about a compromise? Dinner but no movie.”
“A special assignment? Perhaps we could help you with it?” asked Tarna.
Toby turned almost white.
“No, I’m afraid not. In fact,” Ned dropped his voice conspiratorially, “you aren’t even suppose to know there is a special assignment. So please keep it quiet. Let’s get out of here and get something to eat.”
The party headed for the restaurant. The girls could get no more out of them about the assignment. So they tried to get Ned lined up for a quiet little beach party the next week. But every time they would get Ned warmed up Toby would throw cold water on the idea by talking about how much work they had to do. It was becoming obvious that they were going to have to crowbar them apart if they were going to make any time with Ned. After they finished dinner, Toby and Ned left quickly.
“Well, do you want to go to the movie, Tarna?” asked Mary.
“No, you’re right, let’s follow them and find out what’s so important about this ‘special assignment’.”
Tarna watched the door as Mary paid the tab. They raced to their car and followed the MG.
Trailing them wasn’t difficult; there were only three roads out of Clamsport and the MG headed straight for the new one, leading towards the power plant. The road was empty that night; the MG drove up to the plant gates and, to their surprise, was admitted after only the briefest questioning by the guard.
When they drove up, the guard told them, “Sorry ladies, no one’s admitted at night without authorization. If you’d like to get in, please come back tomorrow.”
“Then who were the people in the MG?” blurted Mary.
The guard looked blank for a moment, then regained his composure. “They’re part of the night crew. Ladies, you’ll have to move on now, please.”
Just then another car came up the road behind them.
Mary started to object but Tarna cut her off. “It’s okay, we’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Why’d you wimp out so easily?” asked Mary as they headed back.
“I sensed a lot of trouble if we stayed there. That guard was doing something he didn’t want to get caught at. If we’d pushed him he might have tried to arrest us or done something rash.
“Also, that car that came up behind us back there, it’s behind us again.”
Mary looked back and sure enough she could see the headlights of a following car shining through the thickening evening fog.
“Well, I tell you what,” she said, “let’s try going to that movie after all.”
The car followed them all the way to where they parked in town for the movie. But even after they stopped and waited no one got out of it.
When some people came by headed for the theater Mary and Tarna locked their car and joined them, feeling they could safely approach the mystery car as part of a crowd.
They were about fifty feet away from it when a young girl in jeans, a sweater, and pigtails hopped out and rushed off quickly ahead of them. As they walked by they saw it was a Ford compact with New York plates, a rather commonplace sight for those times and parts, now sitting empty. When they reached the theater the girl who had run ahead wasn’t in the ticket line.
Tarna said, “Well, that leaves just one more lead. Let’s go investigate Ned’s house some more.”
As they turned onto the road to Forthright, they saw the same car, following them again but at a greater distance this time.