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He turned his back on the man and walked away.
Hey! Come back here!
But the lessons of the night before were Burned deeply into Caliban s brain.
He determinedly ignored the man and walked on. Suddenly there was a hand
around his arm. The man was grabbing at him, trying to restrain him.
Caliban pulled himself free. The man reached out to grab him again, but
Caliban sidestepped him. At last he decided to run. There was much he did not
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understand, but he knew he did not want to be in this place any longer than
necessary.
Without a backwards glance, Caliban stepped into the street, lengthened his
stride into a smooth, steady run, and took off down the avenue.
CENTOR Pallichan watched in astonishment as the big red robot ran away.
Pallichan was utterly flabbergasted and more than a little unnerved. The robot
had refused a direct order, and shaken loose from Centor s grip in the
bargain! That was tantamount to violent behavior, violence against a human
being, and refusal of orders to boot. With trembling fingers, not even
entirely sure what he was doing, Pallichan pulled his pocketphone out, flipped
it open, and punched in the police emergency code.
He put the little phone to his ear. There was a half moment s silence, and
then the robot operator came on. Sheriff s Department Emergency Line.
Please state the nature of your difficulty. It was a smooth, calm, perfectly
modulated voice. It soothed Pallichan s agitated mind, helped him think
clearly, as no doubt it was meant to do.
I wish to report a major robot malfunction. A robot, a big metallic-red
robot, has just refused my direct order, and then shook me off when I took him
by the arm. He ran away.
I see. Now establishing lock on your present location. Sir, what direction
was he moving when he ran away?
Ah, oh, let s see. Pallichan had to think for a moment and get his
bearings. He forced himself to think clearly, struggling to keep from getting
flustered. North, he said at last. Due north from here, heading up Aurora
Boulevard.
That would be in the direction of Government Tower? the deferential robot
voice asked.
Pallichan looked up the avenue and saw the tower. Yes, yes, that s right.
The dispatch robot must have consulted a map system and located an obvious
landmark Pallichan could use to confirm position and direction. Damned clever
of the police to have the robots verify things that way.
Thank you for your report, sir. A top-priority rapid-response aircar is now
being dispatched to investigate. Good day to you.
The line went dead, and Centor Pallichan snapped his phone shut. He dropped it
back in his pocket with a proud feeling of civic-mindedness. He led his robot,
still patiently carrying his packages, back toward his aircar and managed to
get everything packed away without help from any other robots.
Some minutes later, when his robot had taken the controls and lifted toward
home, it dawned on him to wonder why the police had been so willing to listen
to him. Why had they believed something as mad as a report of a rogue robot?
Why hadn t the dispatcher tried to confirm what should have sounded like a
completely lunatic report?
It was, he realized with a chill of fear, almost as if the dispatch robot had
been waiting for a rogue-robot call. Pallichan did not even wish to consider
the implications of that thought. No, no, far better to force the entire thing
from his mind. A quiet life for him. Dealing with the police was distasteful
enough.
INCOMING priority! The words were out of Senior Deputy Meldor s mouth almost
before he was aware that the alert light had come on. That was what training
could do for you, he told himself. It let you act, and act properly,
before you were even quite sure what was happening. He scanned the text of the
incoming message, allowing Junior Deputy Lusser to keep her full attention on
flying the car, picking out the data she would need to get them to the target.
No need to distract her with needless details at the precise moment she was
called upon to do some intricate flying.
What is it, Tansaw? Mirta Lusser demanded.
Rogue-robot call, subject reported proceeding northward on Aurora from the
intersection of Aurora and Solaria. Meldor checked his vectors and location.
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Come to heading 045, he said.
But the aircar was already banking, veering toward the northeast. She had
worked it out in her head. Lusser was a good pilot, Meldor decided, one who
always knew where she was over the city and how to get anywhere else.
Damn it, Meldor, a rogue robot? Does this mean the damn rumors are real?
Unless the cops aren t the only ones hearing the rumors, Meldor said grimly.
If the civilians have heard the same scuttlebutt we have, some of them might
get plenty jumpy, and I wouldn t blame them. People are going to start seeing
things.
Wonderful, Mirta said. That s not going to make our job any easier.
Hang on, over target location in ten seconds.
CENTOR Pallichan could not quite believe what had happened. He had seen-
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