Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe by Asprin Robert

Author:Asprin, Robert
Language: eng
Format: epub

Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe

“Where's Suzi?” he demanded.

“She she told me to unload her,” James stam-​mered.

“But where is she?” Hosato barked.

As if in response, he heard a muffled hiss of com-​pressed airThe outer airlock door had just opened.

Hosato stoqped and rummaged desperately through his gear.

“I didn't know what she was going to do!” the boy insisted“All of a sudden she was gone.”

Hosato finally found what he was looking forThe radio unit he and Suzi sometimes used for communi-​cationsThumbing the unit on, he raised it quickly to his lips.

“Suzi!” he called“What are you doing?”

“What's going on?” Rick called from the cockpit Hosato pushed his way forward again, centering his attention on the rear viewscreen.

“See for yourself!” he said, nodding at the screen.

Suzi could be seen clearly, steadfastly making her way back along the crawler's tracks.

“If you don't mind my saying so,” Rich said archly, “that's a waste of a fine robotShe can't do anything against that ore scout.”

“I didn't send her,” Hosato snarled“She's out there on her own.”

The robot was almost out of sight as Hosato thumbed the radio button again.

“SuziI asked you a direct questionRespond!”

“I am executing your plan for diversionary action,” came the calm reply.

“The plan was for me to create a diversion,” Hosato barked.

“That was the only flaw in your planI am emi-​nently better suited than you for this mission.”

“Return to the crawler at once!”

“May I remind you”-Suzi's voice was dry, despite the radio-“the purpose of this maneuver is to gain time for the crawler to escapeThat effect will very quickly be lost if you continue to delay your depar-​tureThe time for argument is past.”

“She's right,” Rick said, and set the crawler in mo-​tion again.

Hosato started to stop him, then hesitatedSuzi was right-​at least on the time elementThen again, if she failed, he could still try his own gambit.

“For the record,” he said into the radio, “I disagree with your assertion that you can deal with the ore scout better than I could.”

“Normally you would be correct,” Suzi retorted, “but under surface conditions my mobility and ma-​neuverability exceed your own.”

“But your programming won't allow you to carry out any aggressive functionsHow do you expect to stop it?”

“Even though I cannot pose an actual threat, if the ore scout perceives me as a threat, it'll stop.”

“And then it will start again and you'll be dead.”

“Actually, the correct phrase is 'nonfunctional.' ”

Hosato was involuntarily startled by the correctionHe realized suddenly that he had grown to think of Suzi not as a robot but as a living individual.

“Suzi-” he began slowly.

“Future communications will occur only as time permits,” the robot's voice interrupted“The ore scout is in sight now.”

Hosato waited impatiently for the crawler to top another rise, thereby giving him a view of the action occurring to their rearBut as the scene rose into the viewscreen, he could see nothingThen, as they were about to plunge into the next gully, there was a quick flash of light.

The ore scout had fired its slicerApparently the two robots were somewhere in one of the gullies, hid-​den from the crawler's line of sight.

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