ing."

Gelsen didn't answer.

"But anything the watchbirds can do, the Hawks can do better," Macintyre
said cheerfully. "The Hawks have special learning circuits for hunting.
They're more flexible than the watchbirds. They learn faster."

Gelsen gloomily stood up, stretched, and walked to the window. The sky
was blank. Looking out, he realized that his uncertainties were over.
Right or wrong, he had made up his mind.

"Tell me," he said, still watching the sky, "what will the Hawks hunt
after they get all the watchbirds?"

"Huh?" Macintyre said. "Why--"

"Just to be on the safe side, you'd better design something to hunt down
the Hawks. Just in case, I mean."

"You think--"

[Illustration]

"All I know is that the Hawks are self-controlled. So were the
watchbirds. Remote control would have been too slow, the argument went
on. The idea was to get the watchbirds and get them fast. That meant no
restricting circuits."

"We can dope something out," Macintyre said uncertainly.

"You've got an aggressive machine up in the air now. A murder machine.
Before that it was an anti-murder machine. Your next gadget will have to
be even more self-sufficient, won't it?"

Macintyre didn't answer.

"I don't hold you responsible," Gelsen said. "It's me. It's everyone."

In the air outside was a swift-moving dot.

"That's what comes," said Gelsen, "of giving a machine the job that was
our own responsibility."

* * * * *

Overhead, a Hawk was zeroing in on a watchbird.

The armored murder machine had learned a lot in a few days. Its sole
function was to kill. At present it was impelled toward a certain type
of living organism, metallic like itself.

But the Hawk had just discovered that there were other types of living
organisms, too--

Which had to be murdered.

--ROBERT SHECKLEY

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ February 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Watchbird, by Robert Sheckley

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