Asimov's Future History V. 10 by Isaac Asimov

Author:Isaac Asimov [Asimov, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Dead^Man March, 2011
Published: 2011-03-08T05:00:00+00:00

He drifted awake, this time uncertain whether he was dead. His head still hurt, but there was a covering on his body and a low light coming from somewhere. Masid opened his eyes and saw familiar objects: bedside monitor, bland art on light green walls, edge of a pillow. So that’s it, he thought. A hospital. Good sign.

Then in a blaze of adrenalin, he remembered the robot. Kynig Parapoyos was alive, had tried to kill him, and sure as Masid had a broken cheekbone would try again if Masid hadn’t killed him last night.

Had it been last night?

Masid fumbled along both sides of the bed until he found the call button. After a minute or so, a nurse came into his room. His eyes were figuring out how to focus at greater distances again, and he took that as a hint that maybe he could sit up.

He could, but the change in altitude didn’t do his head much good.

Masid screwed his eyes shut and rode out the initial wave of pain.

“You need to lie down, Mr. Vorian,” the nurse said.

“What I need is to know what happened to that robot,” he said.

She looked confused. “What robot?”

Masid sensed that he was headed down the wrong path. “I can sit up,” he said. “I promise I won’t do anything else if you go and find whatever police officer is investigating what happened to me. Okay?”

The nurse glanced at the readouts on his monitors. “Don’t move, Mr. Vorian. There’s a detective waiting downstairs.”

Three minutes later, the detective walked in. She was young, Terran by the look of her, and if Masid was any judge of body language she didn’t much like being involved with whatever was going on. “Mr.

Vorian,” she said. “Detective Linsi.”

They shook hands and Linsi pulled a chair up next to his bed. “Are you feeling up to some questions?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you anything you want to know, as long as you tell me one thing first,” Masid said.

“What’s that?”

“I need you to describe what you found in my office. Other than me.” He smiled at his own weak joke, and regretted it instantly when the smile pulled at the muscles attached to his cheekbone.

“That’s not the way things are done,” Linsi said. “You know that as well as anyone.”

“Listen, Detective. If you’re worried about prompting me, don’t. I know exactly what happened to me, and I’m pretty sure I know why, but I’m not going to tell you either unless you tell me first what you found when you walked in my door.”

She didn’t like it, but after a brief pause Detective Linsi nodded.

“A building alarm went off when a window was broken at twenty-four minutes past midnight,” she said. “That’s about thirty-six hours ago, if you’re curious. They kept you out for a while to seal up the fractures in your head. Arriving on the scene, officers discovered you lying unconscious and supine on your desk, your office window broken, and a recently fired energy weapon on the floor next to your desk.

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