"Harry Harrison - SSR 01 - The Stainless Steel Rat" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

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The Stainless Steel Rat

By Harry Harrison

Posted by someone in 2000
OCR cleanup 12/2000 by scg


Chapter 1

When the office door opened suddenly I knew the game was up. It had been a money-maker - but
it was all over. As the cop walked in I sat back in the chair and put on a happy grin. He had the
same somber expression and heavy foot that they all have - and the same lack of humor. I almost
knew to the word what he was going to say before he uttered a syllable.
"James Bolivar diGriz I arrest you on the charge - "
I was waiting for the word charge, I thought it made a nice touch that way. As he said it I
pressed the button that set off the charge of black powder in the ceiling, the crossbeam buckled
and the three ton safe dropped through right on the top of the cop's head. He squashed very
nicely, thank you. The cloud of plaster dust settled and all I could see of him was one hand,
slightly crumpled. It twitched a bit and the index finger pointed at me[?] accusingly. His voice
was a little muffled by the safe and sounded a bit annoyed. In fact he repeated himself a bit.
". . . On the charge of illegal entry, theft, forgery - "
He ran on like that for a while, it was an impressive list but I had heard it all before. I
didn't let it interfere with my stuffing all the money from the desk drawers into my suitcase. The
list ended with a new charge and I would swear on a stack of thousand credit notes that high that
there was a hurt tone in his voice.
"In addition the charge of assaulting a police robot will be added to your record. This was
foolish since my brain and larynx are armored and in my midsection - "
"That I know well, George, but your little two-way radio is in the top of your pointed head
and I don't want you reporting to your friends just yet."
One good kick knocked the escape panel out of the wall and gave access to the steps to the
basement. As I skirted the rubble on the floor the robot's fingers snapped out at my leg, but I
had been waiting for that and they closed about two inches short. I have been followed by enough
police robots to know by now how indestructible they are. You can blow them up or knock them down
and they keep coming after you; dragging themselves by one good finger and spouting saccharine
morality all the while. That's what this one was doing. Give up my life of crime and pay my debt
to society and such. I could still hear his voice echoing down the stairwell as I reached the
basement.
Every second was timed now. I had about three minutes before they would be on my tail, and it
would take me exactly one minute and eight seconds to get clear of the building. That wasn't much
of a lead and I would need all of it. Another kick panel opened out into the label-removing room.
None of the robots looked up as I moved down the aisle - I would have been surprised if they had.
They were all low-grade M types, short on brains and good only for simple, repetitive work. That
was why I hired them. They had no curiosity as to why they were taking the labels off the filled
cans of azote fruits, or what was at the other end of the moving belt that brought the cans
through the wall. They didn't even look up when I unlocked the Door That Was Never Unlocked that
led through the wall. I left it open behind me as I had no more secrets now.