Robot's Bluff
Page 3
sinkhole. The poor soil does not compact well, and is liable to collapse in on itself at almost any time. I knew this to be the case upon examining the hole, when I had you secured to the ship.”
“Thanks for that, Henry, but what about the papers? And why’d he leave the robot?”
“Assuming he simply used the robot to vent his misgivings on the scheme, it being a perfect replica of a human, we can assume the man felt comfortable with it; we can then say that once the floor began to collapse in on itself he saw the perfect opportunity to rid himself of the evidence of his confession. Once the sinkhole swallowed the robot, the man decorated the floor with false reports and evacuated the station.”
“Wow,” Dick said. “I don’t even need to bother playing the rest of the video, you have the whole thing figured out.”
“Thank you, sir. I also have thirteen other theories. Would you like to hear them?”
“No, Henry, that’s okay.”
“Was my initial hypothesis correct?”
“Yes, Henry, almost completely. Only there was also a woman involved. Her name is Maggie Taggert. She was in charge of assigning Oculus staff, and in arranging the soil contract for the planet. That is according to Harold Charring’s confession. He says they planned to use the money that was intended for the planet to buy a home on Earth: every human’s dream.”
Dick looked at the crippled robot, his legs smashed and his face battered. “I’m sorry about your body, Henry,” Dick said. “If the station refuses to make the repairs, I’ll pay for them myself.”
“Thank you, sir, but I did tell you that you could be too careful.”
“What?” Dick asked in surprise.
“When I told you it was impossible for the companion bot to destroy his hard drive, did you believe me?”
“Yes,” Dick said.
“And yet you would not allow me to reset him. That, sir, was too careful.”
Dick smiled at the robot, “I guess you’re right, I’ll try harder next time.”
“Thank you, sir, but do not try too hard, that too can be dangerous. Overexertion is the number one cause of death of humans outside of Earth.”
“I won’t, Henry. Now rest. We have a long flight.”
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Also By Kenneth Buff
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Coming Soon
If you liked Dick and Henry: The Space Saga, then you’ll love Sunborn. Sunborn is a science fiction novel that tells the story of Daniels, a man trapped in an icy future where feuding empires battle for steel cities buried in the ice below.
Sunborn is coming Spring 2015.
About the Author
I was born in Wichita, Kansas, where I learned the love of story telling through the screen of a television and the film of a video cassette. I currently live in Stillwater, Oklahoma with my loving wife. I work by day as a Special Education teacher, and by night as a math tutor. When I’m not doing those things I’m working on my next book, short story, or novella, but even if I am teaching, I am probably mulling the ideas over in my head, while I also teaching a child how to add. This can lead to some unexpected story ideas, such as Robot Wedding, a short story that’s about exactly what it sounds: A robot wedding. The idea came directly from a conversation with a first grader, and it turned out to be a pretty good story. That’s how I work, ideas come from strange places, and hopefully turn into something that’s worth keeping around, I usually think so, those ones that aren’t, they can just stay in that blue folder on my desktop. All the others, I’ll share with you.
Well readers, thanks for taking the time to read a little about me, I’ll see you next time.
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