Zero's Senses

"Epilogue."

Zero's three captives generate a lot of:

"...sound-wave radiation." (p. 205)

In other words, people speak and even shout or scream! Zero theorizes that this radiation is caused either by a mechanical malfunction or by some auxiliary system switched on internally. Sure. We do not press a button on our bodies in order to speak. Zero's sound receptors are too insensitive for him to discern whether the radiation is modulated but, in any case, he dismisses anything so localised as a useful means of communication. Each person needs many square miles for sustenance - like Ythrians - so a community needs a medium like radio that can reach beyond the horizon although some lower motiles do use sonics.

Zero's internal sensors warn him that he needs replenishment. This sounds like seeing a red light or reading a screen message to warn you that your batteries are low. However, an energy drain makes him feel "...ravenous." (p. 207) He is hungry enough to eat unprocessed storage cells and salts. He also grinds a digger and her uncompleted new specimen even though he is unable to treat them with heat and acid. A rotor flees between the rods and crystals but Zero brings it down with his crossbow and takes it back to the cave for One. He sounds partly like a conscious machine and partly like a conscious being using machines.