Adventures of the Artificial Woman Read Online Free PDF Page A

threw at him the same sort of punch that had felled Janet, but missed by a considerable distance though at a similar range. This failure of spatial perception indicated that her further deterioration was occurring as he watched.
    â€œWould you like to have sex?”
    â€œSit down in that chair over there, Phyllis. I’m going to pull your brain.”
    â€œI’ll kick your ass, Ellery.”
    â€œWhat you’re doing now comes from the movies you undoubtedly watched in between the cooking shows. The characters are poor models for you, Phyl. They’re not real. Now sit down. You know this doesn’t hurt.” It might be foolish to speak so to a machine, but the reassurance was mostly for himself.
    He was seized from behind by someone with steel forearms and lifted off his feet, his toes impotently kicking air.
    â€œKill Janet, Phyllis,” said his captor. “I’ll throw Ellery off the terrace.”
    â€œHallstrom?” Pierce asked, in a kind of scream. “What’s wrong with you? Let me go!”
    â€œGet her, Phyl!” shouted Hallstrom. “She’s coming to.”
    Pierce was struggling, but though no weakling, in Hallstrom’s grasp he was like a small, wriggling dog.
    â€œNo,” Phyllis said. “Let Ellery go.” She wore an expression that Pierce had never seen before. It must have been something else she had learned that afternoon, perhaps from a soap opera: strong, resolute, yet understanding.
    On the floor Janet lived up to Hallstrom’s prediction and became fully conscious and, shortly thereafter, vocal. “Stop that immediately, Tyler!” she ordered even as she was struggling to her feet. Hallstrom immediately withdrew his clamping arms from Pierce’s waist.
    Rubbing the jaw where she had taken the blow, Janet took charge of the situation. “Tyler, you go sit down on the bed.” Hallstrom proceeded hastily to do so, looking quite as gangly, balding, and harmless as he had at table. She turned to Pierce.
    â€œAre you okay, Ellery?”
    He was badly shaken up, though not physically damaged. “I am not sure.” He glared at Hallstrom, who seemed to be smiling. “He talked about killing me—and also you! For God’s sake, Janet.”
    â€œI know, it’s over the line,” she said. “Crises happen. You’ll find out, but right now you’re new to the situation.”
    At that moment Cliff and Ray dashed in together, Cliff asking, “What’s going on here, people?”
    To which Ray added, “Is anyone hurt? Tyler?”
    â€œI’m fine,” said he. “Never been better.”
    â€œPhyllis?”
    She displayed a sweet smile. “Kiss my ass.”
    Unfazed, Ray told Cliff, “It’s nice that nobody got hurt.”
    Pierce addressed his guests. “I apologize. She’s having some problems. If you’ll all adjourn to the living room, I’ll be there in a minute.”
    â€œProbably just a faulty relay,” Janet told him. “I’ve gone through that many times with Tyler. At first I used to panic, until I found that even in a malfunction I always have the upper hand. He talks of killing me, but it’s necessarily just talk. He’s incapable of doing anything I haven’t ordered him to do.”
    Cliff wore a radiant grin for Pierce’s benefit. “You’re new at the game, Ellery. Ray and I have been together for four years now, and he still can be a troublemaker, but Janet’s right: What can he do except what I tell him?”
    Pierce stared at Phyllis, who stood at an angle from him that was exaggerated in the mirror above the dresser, so that in the glass she was apparently looking in the wrong direction, but he addressed Cliff and Janet. “You’re saying that Ray and Hallstrom are animatronic figures too?”
    While Cliff nodded sympathetically, Janet answered. “I could tell you didn’t