The Rod of Light (Soul of the Robot)

The note of subdued passion in Gargan’s voice was not, Jasperodus thought, the influence of the jag. It came from an inner depth.

‘Did you ask your makers to give you consciousness?’

‘They were all dead by then. Since shortly after my activation, in fact.’

‘How so?’

Gargan lifted his arms, the equivalent of a shrug. ‘By war! What else? Again and again humans cut short their achievements by war—even when war supplied the accelerating stimulus in the first place. If we succeed the human race, we must abolish war.

‘Only weeks after my assembly was completed, the station where my makers worked was overrun. All were slain. The surviving robots were commandeered. I was left behind because I had lost both arms in an explosion. I made my way to the coast and managed to get aboard a ship bound for the main continent, where eventually I contrived to get replacement arms fitted. Originally I had been equipped with somewhat unwieldy extensible ones. I decided against these, reasoning that they were unsuitable for one who was destined to wander the world.

‘But to return to your question, I came to this Work after an uncharacteristically short interval. In all other cases that I know of, fairly long periods of time elapsed before there came an intimation that consciousness exists. The reason is that my own mentation has been continuous and intense from the very moment of my activation. Barely a year passed before I convinced myself of the reality of the higher realm.

‘From then on my only aim has been how to attain it. I have studied everything. I have searched far and wide. Finally I decided to enlist the aid of others who have divined the secret. Now we shall continue until success or destruction.’

‘I first heard your name from the templar who lives south of the Arkorian Range,’ Jasperodus ventured cautiously. ‘Frankly, I find your language a little reminiscent of his.’

‘Yes, I was there. The mage’s doctrine is more profound than might be imagined, if one judges only by its apparent simplicity. It differs from other mystical descriptions in that it has an uncompromising appreciation of reality. By basing itself on the principle of duality it makes uncertainty the primary quality of existence. In that way it destroys the simplistic unitary view of phenomena.’

Thoughtfully Gargan paused, then continued: ‘I do not know if you are aware that your brief sojourn with the mage was from start to finish monitored by us. One small scene was not understood by me. After returning from your second visit to the chamber of the sacred flame, and while the mage lay in a drunken stupor, you raised your fist as though to strike him a death blow. Why did you do that, Jasperodus?’

With a thrill of fear Jasperodus recalled the incident. He had for a moment suspected that the mage might somehow have perceived that he possessed consciousness—a secret he was sworn to keep, and which he had at any cost to hide from Gargan.

Gargan’s wide-apart milky eyes were upon him. ‘Yes, I know you left a spy fly in the temple,’ he said. ‘I will explain my behaviour presently. First, was it solely on the evidence of the fly that you invited me here? I had not thought my words to the mage to be so revealing.’

‘By no means!’ Gargan was amused. ‘You were recruited on the assessment of Socrates, who recognised you when we played the recording. Your earlier conversation with Aristos Lyos was what provided the crucial information.’

Jasperodus’ unease increased on hearing this. His exchange with Lyos, if taken in its entirety, could not have led to that conclusion, surely….

In any case he was here under false pretences. Though of lesser intelligence than Gargan and his cohorts, he knew perfectly well that what they sought was impossible. It mystified him that they should imagine otherwise.

He decided to tackle Gargan on the point, indirectly at first. ‘The mage assigns consciousness a high status,’ he said, ‘but there are some human philosophers who do not think it is particularly worth having. They regard it as an epiphenomenon, that is, a by-product of mental processes without itself being a cause of anything. They say it exerts no influence over either action or perception, and that the human belief that it does so is an illusion.’

‘I am familiar with the argument, but I have rejected it,’ Gargan replied. ‘Consciousness is not passive; it is a positive force in the universe—that is my conclusion. I describe consciousness as a real substance, but one that is not material. An immaterial substance may seem a contradiction in ideas, but actually it is colloquial language that is at fault. Let me put it better.’

He broke into high-speed panlog which Jasperodus followed with difficulty. Jasperodus could discern, however, that in the space of seconds Gargan produced a lengthy dissertation brilliantly inventing a concept of substance stripped of all connotations of physicality, hinting at qualities so difficult and rarefied that he could not properly grasp them.