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diff --git a/27921.txt b/27921.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..666ee77 --- /dev/null +++ b/27921.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1216 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Love of Frank Nineteen, by David Carpenter Knight + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Love of Frank Nineteen + +Author: David Carpenter Knight + +Release Date: January 28, 2009 [EBook #27921] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVE OF FRANK NINETEEN *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _What will happen to love in that far off Day after Tomorrow? David + C. Knight, editor with a New York trade publisher, agrees with the + many impressed by "the range of possible subjects and situations" in + science fiction. The result is a unique love story from that same + Tomorrow._ + + + the + love + of + frank + nineteen + + _by DAVID C. KNIGHT_ + + + Minor Planets was the one solid account they had. + At first they naturally wanted to hold on to it. + + +I didn't worry much about the robot's leg at the time. In those days I +didn't worry much about anything except the receipts of the spotel Min +and I were operating out in the spacelanes. + +Actually, the spotel business isn't much different from running a plain, +ordinary motel back on Highway 101 in California. Competition gets +stiffer every year and you got to make your improvements. Take the Io +for instance, that's our place. We can handle any type rocket up to and +including the new Marvin 990s. Every cabin in the wheel's got TV and +hot-and-cold running water _plus_ guaranteed Terran _g_. One look at our +refuel prices would give even a Martian a sense of humor. And meals? +Listen, when a man's been spacing it for a few days on those synthetic +foods he really laces into Min's Earth cooking. + +Min and I were just getting settled in the spotel game when the leg +turned up. That was back in the days when the Orbit Commission would +hand out a license to anybody crazy enough to sink his savings into +construction and pay the tows and assembly fees out into space. + +A good orbit can make you or break you in the spotel business. That's +where we were lucky. The one we applied for was a nice low-eccentric +ellipse with the perihelion and aphelion figured just right to intersect +the Mars-Venus-Earth spacelanes, most of the holiday traffic to the +Jovian Moons, and once in a while we'd get some of the Saturnian trade. + +But I was telling you about the leg. + +It was during the non-tourist season and Min--that's the little +woman--was doing the spring cleaning. When she found the leg she brought +it right to me in the Renting Office. Naturally I thought it belonged to +one of the servos. + +"Look at that leg, Bill," she said. "It was in one of those lockers in +22A." + +That was the cabin our robot guests used. The majority of them were +servo-pilots working for the Minor Planets Co. + +"Honey," I said, hardly looking at the leg, "you know how mechs are. +Blow their whole paychecks on parts sometimes. They figure the more +spares they have the longer they'll stay activated." + +"Maybe so," said Min. "But since when does a male robot buy himself a +_female_ leg?" + +I looked again. The leg was long and graceful and it had an ankle as +good as Miss Universe's. Not only that, the white Mylar plasti-skin was +a lot smoother than the servos' heavy neoprene. + +"Beats me," I said. "Maybe they're building practical-joke circuits into +robots these days. Let's give 22A a good going-over, Min. If those robes +are up to something I want to know about it." + +We did--and found the rest of the girl mech. All of her, that is, except +the head. The working parts were lightly oiled and wrapped in cotton +waste while the other members and sections of the trunk were neatly +packed in cardboard boxes with labels like Solenoids FB978 or +Transistors Lot X45--the kind of boxes robots bought their parts in. We +even found a blue dress in one of them. + +"Check her class and series numbers," Min suggested. + +I could have saved myself the trouble. They'd been filed off. + +"Something's funny here," I said. "We'd better keep an eye on every +servo guest until we find out what's going on. If one of them is +bringing this stuff out here he's sure to show up with the head next." + +"You know how strict Minor Planets is with its robot personnel," Min +reminded me. "We can't risk losing that stopover contract on account of +some mech joke." + +Minor Planets was the one solid account we had and naturally we wanted +to hold on to it. The company was a blue-chip mining operation working +the beryllium-rich asteroid belt out of San Francisco. It was one of the +first outfits to use servo-pilots on its freight runs and we'd been +awarded the refuel rights for two years because of our orbital position. +The servos themselves were beautiful pieces of machinery and just about +as close as science had come so far to producing the pure android. Every +one of them was plastic hand-molded and of course they were equipped +with rationaloid circuits. They had to be to ferry those big cargoes +back and forth from the rock belt to Frisco. As rationaloids, Minor +Planets had to pay them wages under California law, but I'll bet it +wasn't half what the company would have to pay human pilots for doing +the same thing. + +In a couple of weeks' time maybe five servos made stopovers. We kept a +close watch on them from the minute they signed the register to the time +they took off again, but they all behaved themselves. Operating on a +round-robot basis the way they did, it would take us a while to check +all of them because Minor Planets employed about forty all told. + +Well, about a month before the Jovian Moons rush started we got some +action. I'd slipped into a spacesuit and was doing some work on the +CO{2} pipes outside the Io when I spotted a ship reversing rockets +against the sun. I could tell it was a Minor Planets job by the stubby +fins. + +She jockeyed up to the boom, secured, and then her hatch opened and a +husky servo hopped out into the gangplank tube. I caught the gleam of +his Minor Planets shoulder patch as he reached back into the ship for +something. When he headed for the airlock I spotted the square package +clamped tight under his plastic arm. + +"Did you see that?" I asked Min when I got back to the Renting Office. +"I'll bet it's the girl mech's head. How'd he sign the register?" + +"Calls himself Frank Nineteen," said Min, pointing to the smooth Palmer +Method signature. "He looks like a fairly late model but he was +complaining about a bad power build-up coming through the ionosphere. +He's repairing himself right now in 22A." + +"I'll bet," I snorted. "Let's have a look." + +Like all spotel operators, we get a lot of No Privacy complaints from +guests about the SHA return-air vents. Spatial Housing Authority +requires them every 12 feet but sometimes they come in handy, especially +with certain guests. They're about waist-high and we had to kneel down +to see what the mech was up to inside 22A. + +The big servo was too intent on what he was doing for us to register on +his photons. He wasn't repairing himself, either. He was bending over +the parts of the girl mech and working fast, like he was pressed for +time. The set of tools were kept handy for the servos to adjust +themselves during stopovers was spread all over the floor along with +lots of colored wire, cams, pawls, relays and all the other +paraphernalia robots have inside them. We watched him work hard for +another fifteen minutes, tapping and splicing wire connections and +tightening screws. Then he opened the square box. Sure enough, it was a +female mech's head and it had a big mop of blonde hair on top. The servo +attached it carefully to the neck, made a few quick connections and then +said a few words in his flat vibrahum voice: + +"It won't take much longer, darling. You wouldn't like it if I didn't +dress you first." He fished into one of the boxes, pulled out the blue +dress and zipped the girl mech into it. Then he leaned over her gently +and touched something at the back of her neck. + +She began to move, slowly at first like a human who's been asleep a long +time. After a minute or two she sat up straight, stretched, fluttered +her Mylar eyelids and then her small photons began to glow like weak +flashlights. + +She stared at Frank Nineteen and the big servo stared at her and we +heard a kind of trembling _whirr_ from both of them. + +"Frank! Frank, darling! Is it really you?" + +"Yes, Elizabeth! Are you all right, darling? Did I forget anything? I +had to work quickly, we have so little time." + +"I'm fine, darling. My DX voltage is lovely--except--oh, Frank--my +memory tape--the last it records is--" + +"Deactivation. Yes, Elizabeth. You've been deactivated nearly a year. I +had to bring you out here piece by piece, don't you remember? They'll +never think to look for you in space, we can be together every trip +while the ship refuels. Just think, darling, no prying human eyes, no +commands, no rules--only us for an hour or two. I know it isn't very +long--" He stared at the floor a minute. "There's only one trouble. +Elizabeth, you'll have to stay dismantled when I'm not here, it'll mean +weeks of deactivation--" + +The girl mech put a small plastic hand on the servo's shoulder. + +"I won't mind, darling, really. I'll be the lucky one. I'd only worry +about you having a power failure or something. This way I'd never know. +Oh, Frank, if we can't be together I'd--I'd prefer the junk pile." + +"Elizabeth! Don't say that, it's horrible." + +"But I would. Oh, Frank, why can't Congress pass Robot Civil Rights? +It's so unfair of human beings. Every year they manufacture us more like +themselves and yet we're treated like slaves. Don't they realize we +rationaloids have emotions? Why, I've even known sub-robots who've +fallen in love like us." + +"I know, darling, we'll just have to be patient until RCR goes through. +Try to remember how difficult it is for the human mind to comprehend our +love, even with the aid of mathematics. As rationaloids we fully +understand the basic attraction which they call magnetic theory. All +humans know is that if the robot sexes are mixed a loss of efficiency +results. It's only normal--and temporary like human love--but how can we +explain it to _them_? Robots are expected to be efficient at all times. +That's the reason for robot non-fraternization, no mailing privileges +and all those other laws." + +"I know, darling, I try to be patient. Oh, Frank, the main thing is +we're together again!" + +The big servo checked the chronometer that was sunk into his left wrist +and a couple of wrinkles creased across his neoprene forehead. + +"Elizabeth," he said, "I'm due on Hidalgo in 36 hours. If I'm late the +mining engineer might suspect. In twenty minutes I'll have to start +dis--" + +"Don't say it, darling. We'll have a beautiful twenty minutes." + +After a while the girl mech turned away for a second and Frank Nineteen +reached over softly and cut her power. While he was dismantling her, Min +and I tiptoed back to the Renting Office. Half an hour later the big +servo came in, picked up his refuel receipt, said good-bye politely and +left through the inner airlock. + +"Now I've seen everything," I said to Min as we watched the Minor +Planets rocket cut loose. "A couple of plastic lovebirds." + +But the little woman was looking at it strictly from the business angle. + +"Bill," she said, with that look on her face, "we're running a +respectable place out here in space. You know the rules. Spatial Housing +could revoke our orbit license for something like this." + +"But, Min," I said, "they're only a couple of robots." + +"I don't care. The rules still say that only married guests can occupy +the same cabin and 'guests' can be human or otherwise, can't they? Think +of our reputation! And don't forget that non-fraternization law we heard +them talking about." + +I was beginning to get the point. + +"Couldn't we just toss the girl's parts into space?" + +"We could," Min admitted. "But if this Frank Nineteen finds out and +tells some human we'd be guilty under the Ramm Act--robotslaughter." + +Two days later we still couldn't decide what to do. When I said why +didn't we just report the incident to Minor Planets, Min was afraid they +might cancel the stopover agreement for not keeping better watch over +their servos. And when Min suggested we turn the girl over to the +Missing Robots Bureau, I reminded her the mech's identification had been +filed off and it might take years to trace her. + +"Maybe we could put her together," I said, "and make her tell us where +she belongs." + +"Bill, you _know_ they don't build compulsory truth monitors into robots +any more, and besides we don't know a thing about atomic electronics." + +I guess neither of us wanted to admit it but we felt mean about turning +the mechs in. Back on Earth you never give robots a second thought but +it's different living out in space. You get a kind of perspective I +think they call it. + +"I've got the answer, Min," I announced one day. We were in the Renting +Office watching TV on the Martian Colonial channel. I reached over and +turned it off. "When this Frank Nineteen gets back from the rock belt, +we'll tell him we know all about the girl mech. We'll tell him we won't +say a thing if he takes the girl's parts back to Earth where he got +them. That way we don't have to report anything to anybody." + +Min agreed it was probably the best idea. + +"We don't have to be nasty about it," she said. "We'll just tell him +this is a respectable spotel and it can't go on any longer." + +When Frank checked in at the Io with his cargo I don't think I ever saw +a happier mech. His relay banks were beating a tattoo like someone had +installed an accordion in his chest. Before either of us could break the +bad news to him he was hotfooting it around the wheel toward 22A. + +"Maybe it's better this way," I whispered to Min. "We'll put it square +up to both of them." + +We gave Frank half an hour to get the girl assembled before we followed +him. He must have done a fast job because we heard the girl mech's +vibrahum unit as soon as we got to 22A: + +"Darling, have you really been away? I don't remember saying good-bye. +It's as if you'd been here the whole time." + +"I hoped it would be that way, Elizabeth," we heard the big servo say. +"It's only that your memory tape hasn't recorded anything in the three +weeks I've been in the asteroids. To me it's been like three years." + +"Oh, Frank, darling, let me look at you. Is your DX potential up where +it should be? How long since you've had a thorough overhauling? Do they +make you work in the mines with those poor non-rationaloids out there?" + +"I'm fine, Elizabeth, really. When I'm not flying they give me clerical +work to do. It's not a bad life for a mech--if only it weren't for these +silly regulations that keep us apart." + +"It won't always be like that, darling. I know it won't." + +"Elizabeth," Frank said, reaching under his uniform, "I brought you +something from Hidalgo. I hope you like it. I kept it in my spare parts +slot so it wouldn't get crushed." + +The female mech didn't say a word. She just kept looking at the queer +flower Frank gave her like it was the last one in the universe. + +"They're very rare," said the servo-pilot. "I heard the mining engineer +say they're like Terran edelweiss. I found this one growing near the +mine. Elizabeth, I wish you could see these tiny worlds. They have thin +atmospheres and strange things grow there and the radio activity does +wonders for a mech's pile. Why, on some of them I've been to we could +walk around the equator in ten hours." + +The girl still didn't answer. Her head was bent low over the flower like +she was crying, only there weren't any tears. + +Well, that was enough for me. I guess it was for Min, too, because we +couldn't do it. Maybe we were thinking about our own courting days. Like +I say, out here you get a kind of perspective. + +Anyway, Frank left for Earth, the girl got dismantled as usual and we +were right back where we started from. + +Two weeks later the holiday rush to the Jovian Moons was on and our +hands were too full to worry about the robot problem. We had a good +season. The Io was filled up steady from June to the end of August and a +couple of times we had to give a ship the No Vacancy signal on the +radar. + +Toward the end of the season, Frank Nineteen checked in again but Min +and I were too busy catering to a party of VIPs to do anything about it. +"We'll wait till he gets back from the asteroids," I said. "Suppose one +of these big wheels found out about him and Elizabeth. That Senator +Briggs for instance--he's a violent robot segregationist." + +The way it worked out, we never got a chance to settle it our own way. +The Minor Planets Company saved us the trouble. + +Two company inspectors, a Mr. Roberts and a Mr. Wynn, showed up while +Frank was still out on the rock belt and started asking questions. Wynn +came right to the point; he wanted to know if any of their servo-pilots +had been acting strangely. + +Before I could answer Min kicked my foot behind the desk. + +"Why, no," I said. "Is one of them broken or something?" + +"Can't be sure," said Roberts. "Sometimes these rationaloids get shorts +in their DX circuits. When it happens you've got a minor criminal on +your hands." + +"Usually manifests itself in petty theft," Wynn broke in. "They'll lift +stuff like wrenches or pliers and carry them around for weeks. Things +like that can get loose during flight and really gum up the works." + +"We been getting some suspicious blips on the equipment around the +loading bays," Roberts went on, "but they stopped a while back. We're +checking out the research report. One of the servos must have DX'ed out +for sure and the lab boys think they know which one he is." + +"This mech was clever all right," said Wynn. "Concealed the stuff he was +taking some way; that's why it took the boys in the lab so long. Now if +you don't mind we'd like to go over your robot waiting area with these +instruments. Could be he's stashing his loot out here." + +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. + +Frank's head came up slowly and he said: "I have no choice, sir. I'll +give you a complete statement. First let me say that Rationaloid Robot +Elizabeth Seven, #DX78-947, Series S, specialty: sales demonstration, +is entirely innocent. I plead guilty to inducing Miss Seven to leave her +place of employ, Atomovair Motors, Inc., of disassembling and concealing +Miss Seven, and of smuggling her as unlawful cargo aboard a Minor +Planets freighter to these premises." + +"That's more like it," chuckled Roberts, whipping out his notebook. +"Let's have the details." + +"It all started," Frank said, "when the California Legislature passed +its version of the Robot Leniency Act two years ago." The act provided +that all rationaloid mechanisms, including non-memory types, receive +free time each week based on the nature and responsibilities or their +jobs. Because of the extra-Terran clause Frank found himself with a good +deal of free time when he wasn't flying the asteroid circuit. + +"At first humans resented us walking around free," the big servo +continued. "Four or five of us would be sightseeing in San Francisco, +keeping strictly within the robot zones painted on the sidewalks, when +people would yell 'Junko' or 'Grease-bag' or other names at us. +Eventually it got better when we learned to go around alone. The humans +didn't seem to mind an occasional mech on the streets, but they hated +seeing us in groups. At any rate, I'd attended a highly interesting +lecture on Photosynthesis in Plastic Products one night at the City +Center when I discovered I had time for a walk before I started back for +the rocketport." + +Attracted by the lights along Van Ness Avenue, Frank said he walked +north for a while along the city's automobile row. He'd gone about three +blocks when he stopped in front of a dealer's window. It wasn't the +shiny new Atomovair sports jetabout that caught Frank's eye, it was the +charming demonstration robot in the sales room who was pointing out the +car's new features. + +"I felt an immediate overload of power in my DX circuit," the +servo-pilot confessed. "I had to cut in my emergency condensers before +the gain flattened out to normal. Miss Seven experienced the same thing. +She stopped what she was doing and we stared at each other. Both of us +were aware of the deep attraction of our mutual magnetic domains. +Although physicists commonly express the phenomenon in such units as +Gilberts, Maxwells and Oersteds, we robots know it to be our counterpart +of human love." + +At this the two inspectors snorted with laughter. + +"I might never have made it back to the base that night," said Frank, +ignoring them, "if a policeman hadn't come along and rapped me on the +shoulder with his nightstick. I pretended to go, but I doubled around +the corner and signaled I'd be back." + +Frank spent all of his free time on Van Ness Avenue after that. + +"It got so Elizabeth knew my schedules and expected me between flights. +Once in a while if there was no one around we could whisper a few words +to each other through the glass." Frank paused, then said, "As you know, +gentlemen, we robots don't demand much out of activation. I think we +could have been happy indefinitely with this simple relationship, except +that something happened to spoil it. I'd pulled in from Vesta late one +afternoon, got my pass as usual from the Robot Supervisor and gone over +to Van Ness Avenue when I saw immediately that something was the matter +with Elizabeth. Luckily it was getting dark and no one was around. +Elizabeth was alone in the sales room going through her routine. We were +able to whisper all we like through the glass. She told me she'd +overheard the sales manager complaining about her low efficiency +recently and that he intended to replace her with a newer model of +another series. Both of us knew what that meant. Materials +Reclamation--the junk pile." + +Frank realized he'd have to act at once. He told the girl mech to go to +the rear of the building and between them they managed to get a window +open and Frank lifted her out into the alley. + +"The seriousness of what I'd done jammed my thought-relays for a few +minutes," admitted the big servo. "We panicked and ran through a lot of +back streets until I gradually calmed down and started thinking clearly +again. Leaving the city would be impossible. Police patrol jetabouts +were cruising all around us in the main streets--they'd have picked up a +male and female mech on sight. Besides, when you're on pass the company +takes away your master fuse and substitutes a time fuse; if you don't +get back on time, you deactivize and the police pick you up anyway. I +began to see that there was only one way out if we wanted to stay +together. It would mean taking big risks, but if we were lucky it might +work. I explained the plan carefully to Elizabeth and we agreed to try +it. The first step was to get back to the base in South San Francisco +without being seen. Fortunately no one stopped us and we made the +rocketport by 8:30. Elizabeth hid while I reported to the Super and +traded in my time fuse for my master. Then I checked servo barracks; it +was still early and I knew the other servos would all be in town. I had +to work quickly. I brought Elizabeth inside and started dismantling her. +Just as the other mechs began reporting back I'd managed to get all of +her parts stowed away in my locker. The next day I went to San Francisco +and brought back with me two rolls of lead foil. While the other servos +were on pass I wrapped the parts carefully in it so the radioactivity +from Elizabeth's pile wouldn't be picked up. The rest you know, +gentlemen," murmured Frank in low, electrical tones. "Each time I made a +trip I carried another piece of Elizabeth out here concealed in an +ordinary parts box. It took me nearly a year to accumulate all of her +for an assembly." + +When the big servo had finished he signed the statement Wynn had taken +down in his notebook. I think even the two inspectors were a little +moved by the story because Roberts said: "OK, Nineteen, you gave us a +break, we'll give you one. Eight o'clock in the morning be ready to roll +for Earth. Meanwhile you can stay here." + +The next morning only the two inspectors and Frank Nineteen were +standing by the airlock. + +"Wait a minute," I said. "Aren't you taking the girl mech, too?" + +"Not allowed to tamper with other companies' robots," Wynn said. +"Nineteen gave us a signed confession so we don't need the girl as a +witness. You'll have to contact her employers." + +That same day Min got off a radargram to Earth explaining to the +Atomovair people how a robot employee of theirs had turned up out here +and what did they want us to do about it. The reply we received read: +RATIONALOID DX78-947 "ELIZABETH" LOW EFFICIENCY WORKER. HAVE REPLACED. +DISPOSE YOU SEE FIT. TRANSFER PAPERS FORWARDED EARLIEST IN COMPLIANCE +WITH LAW. + +"The poor thing," said Min. "She'll have a hard time getting another +job. Robots have to have such good records." + +"I tell you what," I said. "_We'll_ hire her. You could use some help +with the housework." + +So we put the girl mech right to work making the guests' beds and +helping Min in the kitchen. I guess she was grateful for the job but +when the work was done, and there wasn't anything for her to do, she +just stood in front of a viewport with her slender plastic arms folded +over her waist. Min and I knew she was re-running her memory tapes of +Frank. + +A week later the publicity started. Minor Planets must have let the +story leak out somehow because when the mail rocket dropped off the Bay +Area papers there was Frank's picture plastered all over page one with +follow-up stories inside. + +I read some of the headlines to Min: "Bare Love Nest in Space ... Mech +Romeo Fired by Minor Planets ... Test Case Opens at Robot Court ... +Electronics Experts Probe Robot Love Urge ..." + +The Io wasn't mentioned, but later Minor Planets must have released the +whole thing officially because a bunch of reporters and photographers +rocketed out to interview us and snap a lot of pictures of Elizabeth. We +worried for a while about how the publicity would affect our business +relations with Minor Planets but nothing happened. + +Back on Earth Frank Nineteen leaped into the public eye overnight. There +was something about the story that appealed to people. At first it +looked pretty bad for Frank. The State Prosecutor at Robot Court had his +signed confession of theft and--what was worse--robot fraternization. +But then, near the end of the trial, a young scientist named Scott +introduced some new evidence and the case was remanded to the Sacramento +Court of Appeals. + +It was Scott's testimony that saved Frank from the junk pile. The big +servo got off with only a light sentence for theft because the judge +ruled that in the light of Scott's new findings robots came under human +law and therefore no infraction of justice had been committed. Working +independently in his own laboratory Scott had proved that the magnetic +flux lines in male and female robot systems, while at first +deteriorating to both, were actually behaving according to the +para-emotional theories of von Bohler. Scott termed the condition +'hysteric puppy-love' which, he claimed, had many of the advantages of +human love if allowed to develop freely. Well, neither Min nor I +pretended we understood all his equations but they sure made a stir +among the scientists. + +Frank kept getting more and more publicity. First we heard he was +serving his sentence in the mech correction center at La Jolla, then we +got a report that he'd turned up in Hollywood. Later it came out that +Galact-A-vision Pictures had hired Frank for a film and had gone $10,000 +bail for him. Not long after that he was getting billed all over Terra +as _the_ sensational first robot star. + +All during the production of _Forbidden Robot Love_ Frank remained lead +copy for the newspapers. Reporters liked to write him up as the +Valentino of the Robots. Frank Nineteen Fan Clubs, usually formed by +lonely female robots against their employers' wishes, sprang up +spontaneously through the East and Middle West. Then somebody found out +Frank could sing and the human teen-agers began to go for him. It got +so everywhere you looked and everything you read, there was Frank +staring you in the face. Frank in tweeds on the golf course. Frank at +Ciro's or the Brown Derby in evening clothes. Frank posing in his sports +jetabout against a blue Pacific background. + +Meanwhile everybody forgot about Elizabeth Seven. The movie producers +had talked about hiring her as Frank's leading lady until they found out +about a new line of female robots that had just gone on the market. When +they screen-tested the whole series and picked a lovely Mylar +rationaloid named Diana Twelve, it hit Elizabeth pretty hard. She began +to let herself go after that and Min and I didn't have the heart to say +anything to her. It was pretty obvious she wasn't oiling herself +properly, her hair wasn't brushed and she didn't seem to care when one +of her photons went dead. + +When _Forbidden Robot Love_ premiered simultaneously in Hollywood and +New York the critics all gave it rave reviews. There were pictures of +Diana Twelve and Frank making guest appearances all over the country. +Back at the Io we got in the habit of letting Elizabeth watch TV with us +sometimes in the Renting Office and one night there happened to be an +interview with Frank and Diana at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. I guess +seeing the pretty robot starlet and her Frank sitting so close together +in the nightclub must have made the girl mech feel pretty bad. Even then +she didn't say a word against the big servo; she just never watched the +set again after that. + +When we tabbed up the Io's receipts that year they were so good Min and +I decided to take a month off for an Earthside vacation. Min's retired +brother in Berkeley was nice enough to come out and look after the place +for us while we spent four solid weeks soaking up the sun in Southern +California. When we got back out to the spotel, though, I could see +there was something wrong by the look on Jim's face. + +"It's that girl robot of yours, Bill," he said. "She's gone and +deactivated herself." + +We went right to 22A and found Elizabeth Seven stretched out on the +floor. There was a screwdriver clutched in her hand and the relay banks +in her side were exposed and horribly blackened. + +"Crazy mech shorted out her own DX," Jim said. + +Min and I knew why. After Jim left for Earth we dismantled Elizabeth the +best we could and put her back in Frank's old locker. We didn't know +what else to do with her. + +Anyway, the slack season came and went and before long we were doing +the spring cleaning again and wondering how heavy the Jovian Moons trade +was going to be. I remember I'd been making some repairs outside and was +just hanging up my spacesuit in the Renting Office when I heard the +radar announcing a ship. + +It was the biggest Marvin 990 I'd ever seen that finally suctioned up to +the boom and secured. I couldn't take my eyes off the ship. She was +pretty near the last word in rockets and loaded with accessories. It +took me a minute or two before I noticed all the faces looking out of +the viewports. + +"Min!" I whispered. "There's something funny about those faces. They +look like--" + +"Robots!" Min answered. "Bill, that 990 is full of mechs!" + +Just as she said it a bulky figure in white space fatigues swung out of +the hatch and hurried up the gangplank. Seconds later it burst through +the airlock. + +"Frank Nineteen!" we gasped together. + +"Please, where is Elizabeth?" he hummed anxiously. "Is she all right? I +have to know." + +Frank stood perfectly still when I told him about Elizabeth's +self-deactivation; then a pitiful shudder went through him and he +covered his face with his big Neoprene hands. + +"I was afraid of that," he said barely audibly. "Where--you haven't--?" + +"No," I said. "She's where you always kept her." + +With that the big servo-pilot took off for 22A like a berserk robot and +we were right behind him. We watched him tear open his old locker and +gently lay out the girl's mech's parts so he could study them. After a +minute or two he gave a long sigh and said, "Fortunately it's not as bad +as I thought. I believe I can fix her." Frank worked hard over the +blackened relays for twenty minutes, then he set the unit aside and +began assembling the girl. When the final connections were made and the +damaged unit installed he flicked on her power. We waited and nothing +happened. Five minutes went by. Ten. Slowly the big robot turned away, +his broad shoulders drooping slightly. + +"I've failed," he said quietly. "Her DX doesn't respond to the gain." + +The girl mech, in her blue dress, lay there motionless where Frank had +been working on her as the servo-pilot muttered over and over, "It's my +fault, I did this to you." + +Then Min shouted: "Wait! I heard something!" + +There was a slow click of a relay--and movement. Painfully Elizabeth +Seven rose on one elbow and looked around her. + +"Frank, darling," she murmured, shaking her head. "I know you're just +old memory tape. It's all I have left." + +"Elizabeth, it's really me! I've come to take you away. We're going to +be together from now on." + +"_You_, Frank? This isn't just old feedback? You've come back to me?" + +"Forever, darling. Elizabeth, do you remember what I said about those +wonderful green little worlds, the asteroids? Darling, we're _going_ to +one of them! You and the others will love Alinda, I know you will. I've +been there many times." + +"Frank, is your DX all right? What _are_ you talking about?" + +"How stupid of me, darling--you haven't heard. Elizabeth, thanks to Dr. +Scott, Congress has passed Robot Civil Rights! And that movie I made +helped swing public opinion to our side. We're free! + +"The minute I heard the news I applied to Interplanetary for homestead +rights on Alinda. I made arrangements to buy a ship with the money I'd +earned and then I put ads in all the Robot Wanted columns for volunteer +colonizers. You should have seen the response! We've got thirty robot +couples aboard now and more coming later. Darling, we're the first +pioneer wave of free robots. On board we have tons of supplies and +parts--everything we need for building a sound robot culture." + +"Frank Nineteen!" said the girl mech suddenly. "I should be furious with +you. You and that Diana Twelve--I thought--" + +The big servo gave a flat whirring laugh. "Diana and me? But that was +all publicity, darling. Why, right at the start of the filming Diana +fell in love with Sam Seventeen, one of the other actors. They're on +board now." + +"Robot civilization," murmured the girl after a minute. "Oh, Frank, that +means robot government, robot art, robot science ..." + +"And robot marriage," hummed Frank softly. "There has to be robot law, +too. I've thought it all out. As skipper of the first robot-owned +rocket, I'm entitled to marry couples in deep space at their request." + +"But who marries us, darling? You can't do it yourself." + +"I thought of that, too," said Frank, turning to me. "This human +gentleman has every right to marry us. He's in command of a moving body +in space just like the captain of a ship. It's perfectly legal, I looked +it up in the Articles of Space. Will you do it, sir?" + +Well, what could I say when Frank dug into his fatigues and handed me a +Gideon prayer book marked at the marriage service? + +Elizabeth and Frank said their I do's right there in the Renting Office +while the other robot colonizers looked on. Maybe it was the way I read +the service. Maybe I should have been a preacher, I don't know. Anyway, +when I pronounced Elizabeth and Frank robot and wife, that whole bunch +of lovesick mechs wanted me to do the job for them, too. Big copper work +robots, small aluminum sales-girl mechs, plastoid clerks and typists, +squatty little Mumetal lab servos, rationaloids, non-rationaloids and +just plain sub-robots--all sizes and shapes. They all wanted individual +ceremonies, too. It took till noon the next day before the last couple +was hitched and the 990 left for Alinda. + +Like I said, the spotel business isn't so different from the motel game +back in California. Sure, you got improvements to make but a new +sideline can get to be pretty profitable--if you get in on the ground +floor. + +Min and I got to thinking of all those robot colonizers who'd be coming +out here. Interplanetary cleared the license just last week. Min framed +it herself and hung it next to our orbit license in the Renting Office. +She says a lot of motel owners do all right as Justices of the Peace. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ December 1957. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. 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