"Martha Soukup - Things Not Seen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Soukup Martha)

"What in the world was he working on? Why did he even need a guard robot?"

"Forget that, missy. It's classified."

"It might help me know who was after him."

"That's none of your business. Your business is to figure out what's wrong with the stupid robot. Period.
So do it."

Finally she ran the robot's memory forward through its entire futile attempt to keep Herrera alive. Drobish
squirmed and left before the playback reached his arrival at the scene. Ginnie had the little office back to
herself.

She stretched, sighed, and told the robot, "Let's take it from the top. Eleven P.M.. Friday night."



Four hours later she hadn't gotten anywhere. Interrogating the robot and examining its visual memory
gave her the same result: a headache. She leaned on the desk, flexing her tired wrists.

"When did the last person leave the lab besides Herrera?"

"Eight forty-six P.M., seventeen seconds," said the robot.

"That was Jane Yonamura?" "Yes."

"No one besides Dr. Herrera was in the lab between then and when Drobisch arrived at eleven
twenty-six?"

"That is correct."

"Did Herrera look nervous?" "Please contextually define 'nervous.' "

"Did he do anything unusual during that period?"

"He died."

Ginnie smiled. Literal-minded program. Others might anthropomorphize the robot, despite its
resemblance to a large garbage can bristling with mechanical limbs and extrusions. She knew it was a
sophisticated computer program housed in a wheeled mechanism. Real artificial intelligence was still
down the road.

"Did he do anything unusual during the last period he was alone, before he died?"

"He spent 87 percent of that period in the bathroom. These percentages are in the normal range for Dr.
Herrera's late-night activities since I was assigned to guard him."

"Why were you assigned to guard him?"

"That information is classified."