Escape! Read Online Free PDF Page A

were white, plain-looking. He glanced up at the
TV screen and saw that it had gone dead.
    “Hey SPECS.”
    The screen glowed again, “YES, MR. ROMANO?”
    “Uh... any other messages for me?” Suddenly Danny
felt foolish, talking to a TV screen.
    “NO OTHER MESSAGES. I HAVE YOUR SCHEDULE FOR
TOMORROW’S CLASSES, BUT I AM PROGRAMED TO GIVE THIS INFORMATION TO
YOU TOMORROW MORNING, AFTER YOU AWAKEN.”
    “Can you give it to me now?”
    “IF YOU ORDER THE INFORMATION, I AM PROGRAMED TO
ANSWER YOUR REQUEST.”
    “You mean if I tell you to do it, you’ll do it?”
    “YES.”
    “Suppose I tell you to turn off all the alarms in the
Center?”
    “I AM NOT PROGRAMED TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”
    Danny plopped down on the bed, his mind running
fast.
    “Listen SPECS. Who can give you orders about the
alarms? Who can make you turn ‘em off?”
    The answer came at once. “DR. TENNY, THE CAPTAIN OF
THE GUARDS, THE HIGHEST RANKING MEMBER OF THE GUARDS WHO IS ON
DUTY, THE CHIEF OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT, THE HIGHEST RANKING
MEMBER OF THE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT WHO IS ON DUTY.”
    Danny thought for a moment. “Suppose the guard
captain told you right now to turn off all the alarms. Could you do
that?”
    “YES.”
    “Okay SPECS,” Danny suddenly said loud and firm,
“turn off all the alarms!”
    “I AM NOT PROGRAMED TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”
    “This is the captain of the guards. I order you to
turn off all the alarms!”
    Danny could have sworn that SPECS was ready to laugh
at him. “YOU ARE NOT THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD FORCE. YOU ARE DANIEL
FRANCIS ROMANO. YOUR VOICE INDEX SHOWS IT.”
    “Okay SPECS. You got me cold.”
    “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT STATEMENT.”
    “You won’t tell Tenny about this, will you?”
    “THIS CONVERSATION IS RECORDED IN MY MEMORY BANK. IF
DR. TENNY OR ANOTHER STAFF MEMBER ASKS TO REVIEW IT, I AM PROGRAMED
TO ANSWER THAT REQUEST.”
    “But you won’t tell ‘em unless they ask?”
    “CORRECT.”
    Danny grinned. Tenny can’t ask for something unless
he knows it exists.
    “Okay. G’night SPECS.”
    “GOOD NIGHT, MR. ROMANO.”
    As Danny undressed, he wondered to himself, Now,
where can I get a tape recorder? And maybe I ought to get a gun,
too... just in case.
     

Chapter Nine
     
    When Danny got to his first class the next morning,
he thought he was in the wrong room.
    It didn’t look like a classroom. There were nine
other boys already there, sitting around in chairs that were
scattered across the floor. A man of about thirty or so was sitting
among them, and they were talking back and forth.
    “Come on in and take a seat,” the teacher said. “My
name is Cochran. Be with you in a minute.”
    Mr. Cochran looked trim and wiry. His hair was
clipped very short, like a military crewcut. His back was
rifle-straight. He looked to Danny more like a Marine in civilian
clothes than a teacher.
    Danny picked a seat toward the back of the room. On
one side of him the wall was lined with windows. On the other was a
row of bookshelves, like a library. There was a big TV screen at
the front of the room.
    Turning around in his chair, Danny saw that the back
of the room was filled with a row of little booths. They looked
about the size of telephone booths. Maybe a bit bigger. They were
dark inside.
    “Hello. You’re Daniel Romano?” Mr. Cochran pulled up
one of the empty chairs and sat next to Danny. The other boys were
reading or writing, or pulling books from the shelves.
    “This is a reading class,” Cochran explained.
    “Different boys are working on different books. I’d
like you to start out today on this one.”
    For the first time, Danny saw that the teacher had a
book in his hands. The title was Friends in the City .
    Danny took the book and thumbed through it. It was
filled with pictures of smiling people—grocers, cops, firemen,
housewives—living in a clean, bright city.
    “You got to be kidding!” He handed the book back to
Mr. Cochran.
    The teacher grinned. “I know.