Game World

The robots continued to drag me through doors and corridors, andI started to panic when I realized that Jan wasnt doing what he wassupposed to do. We went down two floors to the buildings basement. There were no marble floors or wooden ornamentation down there, onlymetal, concrete, and bricks. I could see the old metal doors of cells as we moved along thecorridors. Faces appeared behind the bars, prisoners made curious by thearrival of someone new. The basement contained all the cells. It was theperfect place to hide the ugly side of the Health Agency. The public sawonly the clean, efficient, and caring aspect of the Agency. One of the robots opened the door of an empty cell, and the otherone pushed me in. I fell on the cold concrete of the floor, and I realizedthat I had reached the end. I didnt know what was going on with Jan,but without his help, Halina and I were lost. But, as I mentioned before, there are times when life can go one wayor another, and we have no say in which direction it goes. All we can dois accept fates choice and be its beneficiaries . . . or its victims. Muchlater, Jan told me what happened. Or, rather, what he told me made itGAME WORLD 71possible to reconstruct what most likely happened. It was probably a flythat had the honor of deciding whether or not my life would be saved. Yes, a fly that, in another precinct, in another building, in another room,was buzzing not far from my friend Jan. If that little creature had for whatever reason decided to fly elsewhere,Halina and I would have been dead within the hour. But the fly wasgoing up and down, with its customary irritating sound, not very farfrom Jans fat belly, and it didnt want to go anywhere else. The cat, sitting on the same belly, was attentively watching the fly,its eyes following the flys movements. It was waiting for a favorableopportunity. When such an opportunity arrived, the cat leaped suddenlyto grab the fly. Missing the target, it landed on a vase of flowers locatedon a shelf just above the couch where Jan was snoring. Of course the vasefell, and the water inside the vase poured right onto Jans face. He wasalone and thus not wearing a mantle, and the water rudely awoke thepoor guy from his slumber, like a shocking slap on the face. After a brief but intense struggle to remember who he was, where hewas, and what he was seeing, the first thing he comprehended was themeaning of the flashing com on the table in front of him. Jan jumped to his feet and ran to do what he was supposed to do. He pushed a switch, and all the magnetic fields of an entire precinct,the one in which the Health Agency was located, went off. All the doorlocks in the building were released, and all the robots in the area stoppedfunctioning, frozen in place like gigantic broken toys. The cell doors turned slowly on their hinges and, as if by magic, theyopened in front of the incredulous prisoners eyes. #The Abot stiffened in his armchair. What the hell is happening? Iwant to know what is going on! He yelled these words at the robots inthe room, but not one of them moved or said anything. He walked up tothe closest robot and yelled again. What are you doing? Do you know Icould destroy you? Speak to me! Obey!The robot stood in silence. Sardos lips started to shake out of fear. Hewalked to the door. He slowly opened it and looked into the hall. Therewere motionless robots as far as he could see. Some had been pushed tothe ground. People were running through the corridors. Others wereshouting on the other floors.