"Asimov, Isaac - Robot City 05 - Refuge - Robert Chilson 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asimov Isaac)

"The light comes from all sides," Ariel said, thoughtfully. "Yes," said Derec, also thoughtful. "I hadn't thought of that. Well, much remains mysterious. It would take a small ship to explore this place."

In any case, they could do nothing now.

"We might as well get on with it," said Ariel, bored once the first interest had worn off. She made a face at the thought of Robot City, but Derec was heartened. She hadn't had that much spirit last night.

Derec repeated the keying motions and pressed the button. Gravity slapped their feet and light slapped their eyes. They looked around in shock. Walls surrounded them--obviously the walls of an apartment. But this wasn't an apartment designed by Avery robots. They weren't on Robot City.

They had no idea where they were.


3. WEBSTER GROVES

The apartment was small, cramped, mean. It had not been lived in--there were no human touches, no pictures of relatives, no flowers or personalized decorations. It was very clean, but the flooring looked worn--no carpets--and the door handles looked dulled from use. A silly-looking robot stood against one wall.

This room was perhaps three meters by five and had a chair and a small couch that might seat two--three if they didn't mind contact. There was a curious blank space against one wall; a control panel was near one closed door. An open door led into what seemed to be a bedroom. A third door was closed and smaller than the others. In the bedroom, Derec saw when he took a step, was another closed door. It was side by side with the closed door in this room, and he judged that they were both closets. Also in that wall, in both rooms, were drawer pulls--drawers built into the wall. A faint mechanical hum permeated the apartment.

And that was it.

"Just two rooms," he said in disbelief.

"No bathroom I" said Ariel.

"No. And no kitchen or dining room."

They looked at each other. The only thing Derec could think of was a prison, but that wasn't right; there'd be a bathroom, at least. And this was too small and sterile for a prison, anyway. "I wonder if that robot is functional," said Ariel, frowning at it.

It didn't look functional. It had a rigid, silly grin on a plastic face, unlike any robot Derec had seen or heard of. Now that he looked at it critically, its joints and the associated drive mechanisms looked large and clumsy. His training in robotics had dealt primarily with the brains, but the bodies, too, had been covered. It seemed to be looking at them, but it hadn't moved, of course.

"Robot, are you functional?" Derec asked.

"Yes, master," it said obsequiously, not moving, that fatuous grin never altering.

Robots should not have phoney human faces, Derec thought in irritation; one kept wanting to respond, but there

was no emotion there to respond to.

"What is your name?"

"My name is R. David, master."

Ariel looked questioningly at him. Derec shook his head. Robots often had human names, if they attended humans. Ariel had told him that as a child she had named her nurse robot Guggles, though her parents had named the robot Katherine. Nowhere, though, had he heard of a robot with a

prefix to its name. R. David7 Or had he heard--

"R. David, what planet is this?" Ariel asked.

"This is Earth, Miss Avery," the robot said respectfully. Startled--staggered, in fact--they looked at each other. Of course! The rooms were so small, so cramped and mean, because Earth was immensely overpopulated. It had more people than all fifty Spacer worlds put together. The robot was crude because Earthmen were backward in robotics and in fact had a strong prejudice against them.