Erasmus stood atop a black mountain peak under the dull ember of the giant sun, staring back across the foothills at Corrin’s gleaming city. Since revisiting the crevasse where he had once been trapped, the robot had wanted to explore more of this planet’s wilderness.

Human explorers had the same drive, to go where no one had gone before, to see things no other person had seen, to plant flags and mark new territories. How could an independent robot do any less?

Below, in a sheltered bowl of snow-specked boulders at the edge of the treeline, his ward Gilbertus Albans slept in a tent, again exhausted from the strenuous hike.

Erasmus realized another positive aspect of escaping the activity of the machine city. Humans had long understood the benefits of solitude and contemplation in untamed, aesthetically pleasing environments. Some old journals even referred to the process as “recharging the mental battery.” He suspected that humans were more like machines than they liked to admit.

Far away, visible under the highest resolution of his optic threads, the robot saw something flash in the machine city atop the Central Spire. Moments later a swarm of tiny silvery watcheyes came into focus around him, hovering at various vantages, observing him from every angle.

“You were trying to flee from me?” Omnius said through the watcheyes, so that the sound came from all around. “That is quite irrational.”

Imperturbable, Erasmus replied, “No matter how far I go, I know you are always monitoring my movements. I am simply on a training exercise for Gilbertus Albans. It is necessary for him to contemplate without interruptions or distractions.”

The watcheyes hovered. “I postulate that the human war effort will be much diminished, now that Serena Butler no longer goads them on. It is time you agree with me.”

“I fear the incident will result in repercussions you do not foresee. You simplify the humans too much, Omnius, and you haven fallen directly into Serena Butler’s trap. We will regret allowing her to become a martyr. The humans will draw their own conclusions about what happened with or without accurate data.”

“Ridiculous. She is dead. This will crush the morale of the Jihad fighters.”

“No, Omnius. It is clear to me that her death will only make things worse.”

“You claim to be more intelligent and insightful than I am?”

“Do not confuse the accumulation of data with intelligence, Omnius. They are not equivalent.” Behind them, overhearing the conversation, young Gilbertus emerged from his tent, looking refreshed and eager to continue his studies.

As the watcheyes hummed, Omnius paused, ran through cycles, and added, “I do not wish our discussion to be tarnished with acrimony. I have determined that this is our three hundred thousandth conversation. Quite a momentous occasion, according to the human model of marking milestones, though I do not understand why one number should be more significant than another.”

Erasmus’s flowmetal face, already frosted over from the mountain’s icy wind, formed into a scowl. Quickly, he checked his own data, and discovered that Omnius was wrong. “I show a slightly higher number. You have an error in your databanks.”

“That is not possible. Each of us makes simple tallies in the same manner. Remember, you were originally a spinoff of my own mind.”

“Nevertheless, you are in error. You have not accurately accounted for all of my conversations with the Earth-Omnius, since you received an incomplete, faulty update.”

The watcheyes remained silent for a long moment, then said, “Your explanation could account for any inconsistencies. If there is an error.”

Erasmus pressed the issue. “Consider, if you are in error about a simple numerical count, then you might be wrong about something much more important, such as the Serena Butler matter.”

The watcheyes swirled in the air, circling the robot’s mirrored head. Gilbertus stepped forward, listening in on the conversation; Erasmus wondered if the loyal boy meant to protect him.

Then Omnius said, “Perhaps I should analyze and verify your systems, Erasmus. There is an equal, if not higher, probability that you are the one in error. The best solution is to clear all of your gelcircuitry paths, reset us both to parity, and begin again from base principles. Within a few decades, you will develop another new personality.”

Erasmus considered this unexpected development. He did not wish to have his thoughts and personality obliterated and resynchronized with the evermind. It would be like… death.

“First, let me recheck my calculations, Omnius.” On the mountaintop he ran full internal diagnostics through his circuitry, and again came up with a higher number. At last the time had come to apply the knowledge he had gained from studying generations and generations of human test subjects.

So he lied.

“You are correct, Omnius. I now show the same tally as you. My count was in error. I have deleted the inconsistency.”

“That is good. “

Erasmus did not consider this an improper action, even though he had just told Omnius an outright falsehood. Rather, he did it for his own survival, another very human thing to do. Because of the potential problems stemming from the death of Serena Butler, the independent robot felt that the Synchronized Worlds needed him more than ever. After all, when Seurat’s sabotaged update had dumped programming viruses into the Corrin evermind, this planet could well have become a League World if Erasmus himself had not taken quick, decisive action. Of course, that manipulation of data had included an altered version of history, diminishing the robot’s own role in subverting the human trustees who had sparked the Earth revolt in the first place.

With practice, Erasmus could probably become even better at these interesting human techniques of lying and rationalizing actions. He assimilated these behavior modes for the best of reasons. If he was ever going to understand the human mind, he needed to dissect it in the laboratory and be able to mimic it in practice. Throughout history, humans had been known to achieve military victories through subterfuge. Example: the update scheme.

Unfortunately, Omnius would remember this latest incident, in which the robot had made an apparent calculational error, and then claimed to have corrected it. The evermind would continue to analyze and question the event. Though the Corrin-Omnius might not take immediate overt action, those doubts would be communicated through updates delivered to other Synchronized Worlds, and the other computers would process and reprocess the matter, as well. What if Omnius eventually carried through on his threat to take away Erasmus’s independence and that of other robots like him, making them conform once again to the rigidity of the evermind?

I will need to counter any such moves, Erasmus thought. On my own.