Into the Slave Nebula Read Online Free PDF

explained that he was looking for Dordy’s office.
    Reproachfully the robot pointed out that he had only to ask, and Dordy would come to his suite at the earliest possible opportunity.
    “I know what I’m doing!” Horn snapped. “Where is his office, anyway?”
    Programmed not to interfere with humans’ decisions, no matter how apparently irrational, unless lives were being endangered, the robot gave up. “Third door on the right, sir,” it said. “But at present I do not believe he is there.”
    Correct; the room was empty. Horn went in and sat down in a hard plain chair, struck a smokehale andprepared himself for a long wait. In fact, only a few minutes had gone by when the door slid back again and Dordy entered, betraying no surprise on seeing that he had a visitor.
    “I’m sorry you had to wait,” he said. “I only just now saw the last of the lawforce androids off the premises. They were, as I think you realized, a little more thorough than Coolin.”
    “You sound—” Horn had to fumble for a word. “You sound defiant, Dordy!”
    At that, the android did look surprised, and perhaps a trifle relieved. Shutting the door, he moved briskly to a chair facing Horn’s.
    “Yes, sir. ‘Defiant’ fits the case precisely. I suppose you refer to my use of unprefixed names for humans, for example ‘Coolin’ for ‘Superintendent Coolin?”
    “I don’t give a damn what you call him.” Horn grunted. “I want to know more about
this.”
He lifted the woven-metal wallet. “You intended me to come and ask questions about it, didn’t you? I don’t see any other reason for giving it to me.”
    Dordy nodded. “As I told you, sir, I reached a conclusion about you on very slender evidence. But sometimes one has to gamble. There are so many things a human can do which an android could—but can’t. If you follow me.”
    Something in his tone made Horn want to apologize, but he had no idea why. He said gruffly, “Well, first off: I assume this is some kind of pass, or identity document. But I never heard of anyone being made a citizen of the galaxy before! What’s it supposed to mean?”
    “Such documents aren’t recognized here,” Dordy shrugged. “Earth is a curiously parochial world in some ways. But there’s a lot more to the inhabited galaxy than just this one planet, as you’ll have been reminded by theimpressive array of entry and exit stamps in the back of that booklet.”
    “Yes, of course! I mean, one studies galactography in school, and gets to recognize the stars with inhabited planets in the sky at night. And there are imported luxuries and so on. Only … only it doesn’t mean very much to most people, I guess.”
    “Apparently not, sir.”
    Was there sarcasm in the tone? If so, why? Horn felt a depressing sense of being at a loss, confronted with this blue-skinned inferior, and sternly reminded himself that after all Dordy wasn’t even a naturally born man but only a facsimile grown from a programmed solution of organics in some elaborate fashion he did not know the details of. Men had invented the android process! Without human genius Dordy could never have come into existence.
    It must have something to do with the universal phenomenon someone had once summed up by saying that no man is a hero to his valet. In Dordy’s position there must be ample exposure to the foibles of humanity—more than enough to make him cynical and a little discourteous. No matter; a man, a real man, had died overhead a short while ago, and Derry Horn was not going to allow mere androids to display more concern over the death of one of their kind than humans did over the murder of one of theirs!
    Determinedly, he plowed on with the questions he had had in mind when he left Talibrand’s suite.
    “How did you come to get hold of this—this certificate?”
    ‘Talibrand gave it to me on his arrival,” said Dordy. “It was the most precious thing he had, except his life. He could only part with it because he