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

Once again, I wondered what purpose it served to put clothes on a robot. It didnтАЩt seem to
impede her movementsтАУindeed, the dress had been cut so that it allowed her double-jointed
arms and legs to move more freelyтАУyet it was unnecessary to assign a gender-role to a
machine. On the other hand, perhaps Darth was attempting to humanize her creation; if that was
the case, it might be a good marketing strategy, yet rather futile since DelilahтАЩs spherical, nearly
featureless head belied the femininity of her outfit.

Kathy stopped next to the bench, turning her back to us as she waited for Delilah catch up.
Donna hadnтАЩt switched on the shotgun mike, so we couldnтАЩt hear the instructions Kathy gave the
тАЩbot. She pointed to the bench, and Delilah walked over to it, her feet whisking beneath the hem
of her dress, until she turned and daintily sat down, once again folding her silver hands in her
lap. Kathy bent over Delilah and closely examined a panel in the side of her slender cylindrical
neck. I glanced at the clock. We were already running fifteen minutes late . . .

The door behind me opened, and at first I thought it was Phil. "What took you so. . . ?" I started
to say until I glimpsed Keith hastily stashing his chips beneath the console. I turned around and
saw Jim Lang entering the trailer.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. As always, Jim was dressed in sandals, faded Levis and a
Hawaiian shirt. In all the time I had worked for LEC, I had never seen him wear a coat and tie,
not even for stockholder meetings.

"No, Jim, not at all." I recovered fast enough to not show just how startled I was by his
unexpected arrival. "WeтАЩre . . . ah, still setting up here. If you want to take a seat. . . ?"

"Thanks, Jerry. Excuse me, Donna . . . it is Donna, isnтАЩt it?" Ignoring her forced smile, Jim eased
past her, then settled down in PhilтАЩs empty chair. "Sorry to interrupt, but I was just curious to see
how things were making out down here."

Right. Slim Jim never showed up anywhere just out of curiosity. When he made an appearance
outside the executive suite, it meant that he had become aware that a project was having
problems. "WeтАЩre doing great, Jim," Keith said, just a little too quickly. "Just . . . uh, working out a
few bugs here and there."

I looked away so that Jim wouldnтАЩt see me wince. Brilliant, Einstein. Yet Slim Jim only nodded.


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He gazed through the window at Kathy Veder and Delilah. "I donтАЩt see Phil," he said. "WhereтАЩs
. . . ah, yes, here he comes now."

I followed his gaze, spotted Phil walking through the trees on the other side of the atrium. He
saw Kathy, stopped a few yards away from the bench as she looked up at him. Their eyes
locked for a few seconds, and for a moment or two I thought he was going to say something to
her, or she something to him. But nothing happened; he lowered his head and strode quickly
toward the trailer. Her gaze followed him, and in that instant when her face turned toward the
trailer, I caught the briefest glimpse of an expression I couldnтАЩt quite identify. Loathing? Longing?
Hard to tell . . .