The Mechanical Hound
They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show's got to
have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the whole damn river it
might take all night.
So they're sniffing for a scape-goat to end things with a bang. Watch.
They'll catch Montag in the next five minutes! "
"But how--"
"Watch."
The camera, hovering in the belly of a helicopter, now swung down at an
empty street.
"See that?" whispered Granger. "It'll be you; right up at the end of that street
is our victim. See how our camera is coming in? Building the scene.
Suspense. Long shot.
Right now, some poor fellow is out for a walk. A rarity. An odd one. Don't
think the police don't know the habits of queer ducks like that, men who
walk mornings for the hell of it, or for reasons of insomnia.
Anyway, the police have had him charted for months, years. Never know when that sort
of information might be handy. And today, it turns out, it's very usable
indeed. It saves face. Oh, God, look there!"
The men at the fire bent forward.
On the screen, a man turned a corner. The Mechanical Hound rushed
forward into the viewer, suddenly. The helicopter light shot down a dozen
brilliant pillars that built a cage all about the man.
A voice cried, "There's Montag ! The search is done!"
The innocent man stood bewildered, a cigarette burning in his hand. He
stared at the Hound, not knowing what it was. He probably never knew. He
glanced up at the sky and the wailing sirens. The cameras rushed down. The
Hound leapt up into the air with a rhythm and a sense of timing that was
incredibly beautiful. Its needle shot out.
It was suspended for a moment in their gaze, as if to give the vast audience
time to appreciate everything, the raw look of the victim's face, the empty
street, the steel animal a bullet nosing the target.
"Montag, don't move!" said a voice from the sky.
The camera fell upon the victim, even as did the Hound. Both reached him
simultaneously. The victim was seized by Hound and camera in a great
spidering, clenching grip. He screamed. He screamed. He screamed!
Blackout.
Silence.
Darkness.
Montag cried out in the silence and turned away.
Silence.
(Montag is a fireman who has started reading the books he is supposed to burn. He has just killed his captain, and there is a city wide televised hunt for him. He has been rescued by a group of like minded malcontents who are showing him the manhunt on a portable television. Just because the authorities can't find him is no excuse for poor viewer ratings. Oh, and a nuclear war is about to start).
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451. 1953.
AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Exploration and Evasion), the flawed robot dog from the movie Red Planet.
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