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Speedy took one step forward and stopped. He spoke, but at the sound Powell groaned, for it was, “When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache and repose is tabooed-” It trailed off there, and Powell took time out for some reason to murmur, “Iolanthe.”
It was roasting hot! He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye, and whirled dizzily; then stared in utter astonishment, for the monstrous robot on which he had ridden was moving – moving toward him, and without a rider.
He was talking: “Pardon, Master. I must not move without a Master upon me, but you are in danger.”
Of course, Rule 1 potential above everything. But he didn’t want that clumsy antique; he wanted Speedy. He walked away and motioned frantically: “I order you to stay away. I order you to stop!”
It was quite useless. You could not beat Rule 1 potential. The robot said stupidly, “You are in danger, Master.”
Powell looked about him desperately. He couldn’t see clearly. His brain was in a heated whirl; his breath scorched when he breathed, and the ground all about him was a shimmering haze.
He called a last time, desperately: “Speedy! I’m dying, damn you! Where are you? Speedy, I need you.”
He was still stumbling backward in a blind effort to get away from the giant robot he didn’t want, when he felt steel fingers on his arms, and a worried, apologetic voice of metallic timbre in his ears.
“Holy smokes, boss; what are you doing here? And what am I doing – I’m so confused -”
“Never mind,” murmured Powell, weakly. “Get me to the shadow of the cliff – and hurry!” There was one last feeling of being lifted into the air and a sensation of rapid motion and burning heat, and he passed out.
He woke with Donovan bending over him and smiling anxiously. “How are you, Greg?”
“Fine!” came the response, “Where’s Speedy?”
“Right here. I sent him out to one of the other selenium pools – with orders to get that selenium at all cost this time. He got it back in forty-two minutes and three seconds. I timed him. He still hasn’t finished apologizing for the runaround he gave us. He’s scared to come near you for fear of what you’ll say.”
“Drag him over,” ordered Powell. “It wasn’t his fault.” He held out a hand and gripped Speedy’s metal paw. “It’s O.K., Speedy.” Then, to Donovan, “You know, Mike, I was just thinking-”
“Yes!”
“Well,” – he rubbed his face – the air was so delightfully cool, “you know that when we get things set up here and Speedy put through his Field Tests, they’re going to send us to the Space Stations next-”
“No!”
“Yes! At least that’s what old lady Calvin told me just before we left, and I didn’t say anything about it, because I was going to fight the whole idea.”
“Fight it?” cried Donovan. “But -”
“I know. It’s all right with me now. Two hundred seventy-three degrees Centigrade below zero. Won’t it be a pleasure?”
“Space Station,” said Donovan, “here I come.”
Evidence
Francis Qui
But, to get out from under what promises to be a dull and complicated begi
And since politics makes strange bedfellows, Alfred La
The fact, if known to Qui
“I assume you know Stephen Byerley, Dr. La
“I have heard of him. So have many people.”
“Yes, so have I. Perhaps you intend voting for him at the next election.”
“I couldn’t say.” There was an unmistakable trace of acidity here. “I have not followed the political currents, so I’m not aware that he is ru
“He may be our next mayor. Of course, he is only a lawyer now, but great oaks-”
“Yes,” interrupted La
“We are at the business at hand, Dr. La
“To my interest? Come!” La
“Well, say then to the interest of the U. S. Robot amp; Mechanical Men Corporation. I come to you as Director Emeritus of Research, because I know that your co
Dr. La
“I am not surprised, Dr. La
“I understand,” said La
“I have had occasion,” continued Qui
Francis Qui
La
“Our district attorney never eats.” The repetition thumped by syllables. “I’ll modify that slightly. He has never been seen to eat or drink. Never! Do you understand the significance of the word? Not rarely, but never!”
“I find that quite incredible. Can you trust your investigators?”
“I can trust my investigators, and I don’t find it incredible at all. Further, our district attorney has never been seen to drink – in the aqueous sense as well as the alcoholic – nor to sleep. There are other factors, but I should think I have made my point.”
La
“But the man is quite inhuman, Dr. La
“If you told me he were Satan in masquerade, there would be a faint chance that I might believe you.”
“I tell you he is a robot, Dr. La
“I tell you it is as impossible a conception as I have ever heard, Mr. Qui
Again the combative silence.
“Nevertheless,” and Qui