The blue humanoid realized this and was amused. A policeman who approached him to take him to jail as a matter of routine suddenly found himself ill and abruptly hurried to the station. The robot allowed children to follow him, though all eventually grew discouraged because of his long strides. Prof. Ansel Tomlin was reading a colleague's new treatise on psychology on his front porch when he saw the humanoid come down the street and turn in at his walk. He was surprised, but he was not alarmed. When the blue man came up on the porch and sat down in another porch chair, Tomlin closed his book. Prof. Tomlin found himself unexpectedly shocked. The blue figure was obviously not human, yet its eyes were nearly so and they came as close to frightening him as anything had during his thirty-five years of life, for Ansel Tomlin had never seen an actual robot before. The thought that he was looking at one at that moment started an alarm bell ringing inside him, and it kept ringing louder and louder as he realized that what he was seeing was impossible. "Professor Tomlin!" Prof. Tomlin jumped at the sound of the voice. It was not at all mechanical. "I'll be damned!" he gasped. Somewhere in the house a telephone rang. His wife would answer it, he thought. "Yes, you're right," the robot said. "Your wife will answer it. She is walking toward the phone at this moment." "How--" "Professor Tomlin, my name--and I see I must have a name--is, let us say, George. I have examined most of the minds in this community in my walk through it and I find you, a professor of psychology, most nearly what I am looking for. "I am from Zanthar, a world that is quite a distance from Earth, more than you could possibly imagine. I am here to learn all I can about Earth." Prof. Tomlin had recovered his senses enough to venture a token reply when his wife opened the screen door. "Ansel," she said, "Mrs. Phillips next door just called and said the strangest--Oh!" At that moment she saw George. She stood transfixed for a moment, then let the door slam as she retreated inside. "Who is Frankenstein?" George asked. Prof. Tomlin coughed, embarrassed. "Never mind," George said. "I see what you were going to say. Well, to get back, I learn most quickly through proximity. I will live here with you until my mission is complete. I will spend all of your waking hours with you. At night, when you are asleep, I will go through your library. I need nothing. I want nothing. "I seek only to learn." "You seem to have learned a lot already," Prof. Tomlin said. "I have been on your planet for a few hours, so naturally I understand many things. The nature of the facts I have learned are mostly superficial, however. Earth inhabitants capable of thought are of only one type, I see, for which I am grateful. It will make the job easier. Unfortunately, you have such small conscious minds, compared to your unconscious and subconscious.