"Allen Steele - Agape Among The Robots" - читать интересную книгу автора (Steele Allen)

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Allen Steele: Agape Among the Robots
Art necessarily reflects
the artistтАУsometimes in surprising ways.

Then Samson met Delilah, the first thing he did was crush an apple against her head. Delilah
didnтАЩt react in any way; she sat calmly on the park bench, her hands folded primly in the lap of
her long purple dress, staring straight ahead as wet pulp ran down her face and into the neckline
of her lace collar. She didnтАЩt even look up as Samson walked around the front of the bench,
bowed from the waist, and gallantly offered his hand.

In the Samson Team control van, though, we were either cracking up or gaping at our monitors
in dumb surprise. All except Phil Burton; glaring through the one-way glass window, almost
apoplectic with rage, his mouth opened and closed several times before he finally managed to
give utterance to his thoughts.

"W-w-w-what t-t-t-the . . . what the hell was that?" he demanded. "W-w-who pr-pr-programmed
th-th-th-tha-that. . . ?"

"Nobody programmed it, Phil," I said. I had been worked with him long enough to intuit what he
meant when his speech impediment got in the way. He looked sharply my way, and I hastily
coughed into my hand to hide my grin. Phil had a tendency to think people were laughing at him
even when something else funny was going on. "Honest. I checked SamsonтАЩs routine myself.
That wasnтАЩt supposed to happen."

"I-I-I know th-th-th-th. . . ." Phil shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and silently counted to ten.
While he was counting, I glanced past him at Keith DтАЩAmico; although he was still chuckling, he
had already checked out his own screen. He caught my eye and shook his head. No, he didnтАЩt
have a clue as to what went wrong either.

"Phil, Jerry . . . IтАЩve put Samson in standby mode." This from Donna Raitt, seated at the console
on the other side of me. Unlike Keith and me, she hadnтАЩt lost it when Samson had assaulted
Delilah with a deadly fruit; she was watching her screen, her hand cupped over her headset
mike. "It looks like D-team has done the same," she added quietly. "I havenтАЩt heard from Dr.
VederтАЩs group yet."

"Oh, but you will . . . you will." Keith was doing his Yoda impression again. "Beware the dark
side, Luke . . ."

"Knock it off." Phil had managed to get control of his stutter. He glared at Keith, then turned back
to me. "Okay, I believe you. ItтАЩs a glitch, thatтАЩs all." He glanced out the window, taking a moment
to study the two robots frozen in the wooded atrium. "Access his memory buffer from the
beginning of the test up to when Donna put him on standby."

"Death Star in range within ten seconds," Keith murmured.

If Phil heard thatтАУand judging from the annoyed expression which briefly crossed his face, he