Love stories; Robots -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
In 22A they unpacked a suitcase full of meters and began flashing them
around and taking readings. Suddenly Wynn bent close over one of them
and shouted:
"Wait a sec, Roberts. I'm getting something. Yeah! This reading checks
with the lab's. Sounds like the blips're coming from those lockers back
there."
Roberts rummaged around awhile, then shouted: "Hey, Wynn, look! A lot of
parts. Well I'll be--hey--it's a female mech!"
"A what?"
"A female mech. Look for yourself."
Min and I had to act surprised too. It wasn't easy. The way they were
slamming Elizabeth's parts around made us kind of sick.
"It's a stolen robot!" Roberts announced. "Look, the identification's
been filed off. This is serious, Wynn. It's got all the earmarks of a
mech fraternization case."
"Yeah. The boys in the lab were dead right, too. No two robots ever
register the same on the meters. The contraband blips check perfectly.
It's _got_ to be this Frank Nineteen. Wait a minute, _this_ proves it.
Here's a suit of space fatigues with Nineteen's number stenciled
inside."
Inspector Roberts took a notebook out of his pocket and consulted it.
"Let's see, Nineteen's got Flight 180, he's due here at the spotel
tomorrow. Well, we'll be here too, only Nineteen won't know it. We'll
let Romeo put his plastic Juliet together and catch him
red-handed--right in the middle of the balcony scene."
Wynn laughed and picked up the girl's head.
"Be a real doll if she was human, Roberts, a real doll."
Min and I played gin rummy that night but we kept forgetting to mark
down the score. We kept thinking of _Frank_ falling away from the
asteroids and counting the minutes until he saw his mech girl friend.
Around noon the next day the big servo checked in, signed the register
and headed straight for 22A. The two Minor Planets inspectors kept out
of sight until Frank shut the door, then they watched through the SHA
vents until Frank had the assembly job finished.
"You two better be witnesses," Roberts said to us. "Wynn, keep your gun
ready. You know what to do if they get violent."
Roberts counted three and kicked the door open.
"Freeze you mechs! We got you in the act, Nineteen. Violation of company
rules twelve and twenty-one. Carrying of Contraband Cargo, and Robot
Fraternization."
"This finishes you at Minor Planets, Nineteen," growled Wynn. "Come
clean now and we might put in a word for you at Robot Court. If you
don't we can recommend a verdict of Materials Reclamation--the junk pile
to you."
Frank acted as if someone had cut his power. Long creases appeared in
his big neoprene chest as he slumped hopelessly in his chair. The
frightened girl robot just clung to his arm and stared at us.
"I'm so sorry, Elizabeth," the big servo said softly. "I'd hoped we'd
have longer. It couldn't last forever."
"Quit stalling, Nineteen," said Wynn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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