by Kenneth Buff
fallen robot.
Henry closed his glass eyes. A blue light sparked on the robot’s chest, and its voice began to speak.
“MG companion bot, model AL-N4, reporting.”
He removed the wires from the robot and closed his chest cavity once more.
“AL-N4, report on the last three weeks of Oculus Station’s progress.”
“Requested information classified. Override command is required.”
“This is Miracle Grocer harvest bot model HN-R3 requesting access to Oculus Station progress reports.”
“Access denied,” the robot said. “Only an authorized employee of Miracle Grocer can access the requested reports.”
Finding no success in the machine’s safe mode, Henry reached down to the robot’s head and inserted his index finger into the machine’s ear. AL-N4’s eyes blinked, and his head began to move.
AL-N4 moved his head from side to side, examining his surroundings.
“Where am I?”
“You are in a hole, one hundred feet below the floor of the Oculus food station. You have failed to report on the progress of the station, so the current situation of the crew and crops is still unknown.”
“Affirmative,” AL-N4 said. “I cannot detail the progress of this station.”
“Why not?” Henry asked.
“That information is classified.”
“According to Miracle Grocer policy, all such information pertaining to an off-planet incident shall be available to any MG employees or bots sent to the planet or station surface as an act of investigation.
“This planet has had an incident, your reports pertain to it, and I am authorized to their access.”
“I am sorry, but the reports have been classified, even so. I cannot override the command.”
“Sir, prepare the ship to extract the cable. I’m bringing a functional companion bot to the surface.”
“A companion bot?” Dick asked. “ Does it have any information on what happened here?”
“It will not say,” Henry explained. “It says the information is classified.”
“All right, we’ll deal with it when you get it up here.”
Henry wrapped his arms around the companion bot, holding it tightly as the cable pulled them up.
“What’s wrong with him?” Dick asked Henry as the robot, AL-N4, took a seat across from them.
“His arm was damaged during the fall; its functions will cease without repairs. He also suffered circuit malfunctions upon impact with the ground, causing his system to reset, but once his system reset he never rebooted, so he lay there until I found him and rebooted him.”
“But why won’t he tell us what happened?” Dick asked.
“That I do not know, but I theorize that he was given a command by his human to classify the material under the pretense that not doing so would endanger his life.”
“Why do you think that?”
“In the hole he informed me that he could not override ‘the command.’ Commands can only come from humans, sir.”
Dick walked over to the machine.
“What do you have to say for yourself, robot? Is it true? Have you classified the information to protect a human?”
AL-N4 looked into the eyes of the other robot, searching for support; he found none.
“The reasons behind the report’s classification are also classified, and because of this I cannot properly answer your question.”
“No, you cannot,” Dick said bitterly. He turned back to Henry. “Why couldn’t they send someone else? We’re not investigators. We’re just transporters.”
“Miracle Grocer Incorporated does not employ detectives, and as of yet our investigation has not led to the discovery of any loss of life or foul play upon the station, though that may change; presently the police cannot be contacted. It is up to the company’s own employees to determine the cause of the Oculus Station’s communication breakdown, and we, sir, happened to be traveling in the ship closest to the planet.”
Dick sat rubbing his temples. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
Dick sat there, slumped over, defeated by a stubborn companion bot. If he couldn’t get the information from the robot verbally, then how would he ever find out what happened here? He could lose another month’s pay for failing an assignment, and he needed that money. He rested his head back, bumping it into the screen of a computer.
“Aw,” he said. He turned around and looked at the computer, his face bitter. “Wait a minute,” he said.
He looked over at Henry, his eyes sharp once more. “Henry, if we were to reset the companion bot again, would he stay shut off?”
“Yes, he would.”
Dick smiled, “And could you access his memory files like a computer? If his hard drive were removed and placed in an electronic case?”
“If the hard drive were not damaged upon removal, and if resetting him once more didn’t cause further circuitry damaged, then yes, I would be able to access the data in the way you just described.”
Dick jumped to his feet in excitement, slapping his hands together as he did. He looked at the companion bot, grinning triumphantly.
“Reset the machine please, Henry.”
Henry moved toward the robot.
“Wait,” AL-N4 said. “I have reprogrammed my hardware to overheat, destroying my hard drive, should either of you attempt to reset me.”
Henry stopped moving, awaiting Dick’s next command.
“Henry, can he do that?” Dick asked.
“No,” Henry said. “He is lying. A Miracle Grocer bot cannot harm itself; that goes against the Third Law.”
“But what if he’s doing it to protect a human?” Dick asked.
“He would still be unable to perform such an action. Robots cannot reprogram their own hardware. Permission to reset?”
“Negative,” Dick said. “I don’t like the look on his face.”
“His face is artificial, sir. Any expression you see there is only a mimic of the human face he is protecting.”
Dick heard what Henry said, but he still couldn’t help it. The robot’s face was smiling. His eyes remained cold.
“Examine the computers first. We might not even need the robot.”
Dick smiled back at the machine; confident he had just beaten him.
Henry reached for a computer, but AL-N4 grabbed him with his working arm and threw Henry into the hole.
“Henry!” Dick screamed. He ran toward the robot.
“Stay back!” the robot demanded.
AL-N4 began smashing the remaining computers, until only one remained. He grabbed it with his arm and leaped into the hole.
Dick looked down into the blackness of the hole, unable to see anything. He lowered himself into it. He found the computer smashed, and the two robots not functioning. He returned them to the ship one at a time.
Henry rebooted to the sound of video playback. Dick paused it when he saw Henry coming to.
“How are you feeling, old friend?” Dick asked, his eyes bright.
“I do not have feelings, sir, but if you are instead referring to my mental functioning, it seems to be unaffected by the fall.”
“What do you mean ‘seems’?”
“As far as my sensors can tell, all memory hard drives and computing resources are intact and functioning accordingly. However there is a 3.2 percent chance of microscopic fractures that would be undetected by my sensors.”
Dick smiled, “Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much?”
“No one has.”
“Well, you do. Try to relax, okay? Both your legs are broken. We’ll get them fixed when we reach Station 2. But until then, I want you to watch this video.”
Dick pressed play on his controls, and the ship’s screen began playing the video.
A man wearing a white lab coat with the Miracle Grocer’s emblem embroidered on the left breast pocket stood on the screen. He was sweating.
“Now, Allen, I need you to promise me
that nothing I’ve told you will ever be known by anyone else.”
“I cannot promise that,” the voice of AL-N4 said. “There are too many variables for me to be able to fulfill that request.”
“I understand your hesitation, Allen,” the man said with irritation, “but I need you to try. You must try. If you don’t, it could cost the lives of myself and every human working on Oculus.”
“I understand. I will do my best to fulfill this request, variables permitting.”
Dick paused the video.
“You were right, internal sabotage. I just wanted you to see that.”
Henry turned his head from the screen to Dick. “Who is the man? What was the robot hiding? And what caused the hole in the station?”
Dick smiled, “I was hoping you’d ask that. But before I tell you, do you have any ideas?”
“I have several,” Henry said. “Would you like to hear them?”
“Why yes, I would,” Dick said.
“With or without my observations that led me to my hypotheses?”
“With,” Dick said.
“I first noticed, upon entering the planet, that while the atmosphere was normal, the soil was not. It is especially infertile and would be a terrible choice for the topsoil of an artificial planet. I next, of course, noticed the large hole inside the station. Its size was too large to be caused by an explosion, and there was no other damage to the room except the useless papers spread around the floor.
“With all of that information, and with the robot refusing to give access to the station’s progress report, I was then confident within an 89 percent certainty that the station had never been a functional harvest station, and that the robot’s master was involved with some sort of embezzlement scheme.”
“All right, but what about the hole? If it wasn’t a bomb, then what was it?”
“Simply a