Александр Чечитов
Asso
At midnight, Earth time, the ship's main engine stopped. Landing on the surface of Mars seemed to Ridge to be something incredibly significant. To his great regret, he did not feel particularly enthusiastic. Yes, this flight will surely leave his name on the pages of the confusing, little-true history of the earth, and yet he was sad. The preparation of the crew for the first interplanetary flight took four long, exhausting years. And he, Ridge Powers, was offered a place on the team only a week before departure. For him, the choice was not great. Stay on earth and continue research in the field of robotics, or see a tiny part of the vast universe. Become a pioneer. Ridge himself believed that the lack of any communication with his family, where over the past few years he had become an absolute stranger, was a sufficient reason to escape into space.
"To forget a little," Ridge sometimes repeated to himself. The ex-wife regularly called the police, and at any attempt, Ridge would approach their house. The girl flatly refused to allow them to see their common daughter.
An old acquaintance of Ridge, Matthew Heavy, whom they had known since university, led a project to explore Mars. By the time they met at the graduation party, Matt had been divorced twice. Over the past ten years, he has managed to become a father to six offspring and naturally belongs to them. The latter was the least of Matthew's worries. He considered space flights to be his main brainchild.
Three days after meeting at the party, Matt came to see Ridge.
"You've got a good laboratory, old man," Matthew whistled, looking at the spacious room for experiments. "Probably, no more than you, testing workshops." Ridge shrugged his shoulders dispassionately in response. He was sitting a little hunched, half sideways to the guest, quickly unscrewing parts from the metal body of the robot. He was pleased with Matt's attention, but he didn't want to be distracted either.
Of course, you can't argue with that." Matt grinned. What are you working on, old man?
It is more correct to say what I would like to end. But shouldn't you do the opposite? Mat, interested, pulled a plastic chair towards him and sat down a meter away from Ridge. It is.
But I can't solve the crash problem in any way. And what is the question? Ridge tilted his head to the side and said, "I was sure I knew what I was doing. The development of previous models took much less time. They are effective and practical for a long period of time. I understand. We wasted millions while solving the fuel problem for the flight to Mars.
— No! Ridge's voice sounded strained. Then he stood up abruptly, straightening up like a branch freed from the piled snow. Ridge walked from one corner to the other for a while. Then he turned and walked quickly over to Matt. It's not about money at all, — said Ridge in a broken voice. Asso.
Is, five years of life, and hard work. It doesn't work at all. The thing is that the car is incredibly powerful! Day by day, I managed to pump information into it as well as improve the motor part. And it bore fruit. Not exactly what I might have expected, of course. Stop tormenting me, Matt smiled.
By God, tell me more. What's the matter? The fact that Asso, is a walking mystery. There is a power outage every day. Although the built-in solar battery is duplicated by excellent, powerful batteries, Asso.
Can, be charged from the network, but it doesn't do any good. The conversational program also fails. And the worst thing is that I am not able to change or understand something. Perhaps I should just take it apart and send it to be melted down. Matthew shrugged his shoulders. His dry, sinewy hand stopped in the air. He froze for a few seconds. Matthew enjoyed taking pauses before the next speech.
"We recently lost our chief robot engineer," Heavy began"
And, now I can only rely on your goodwill to become part of the crew. The Federation Council of Flights approved only three people for the first flight to Mars. When, as robots, these restrictions do not apply. Therefore, we need a competent person to be able to service these machines. Don't worry about the pilots; from start to finish, the computer regulates all processes. Only specialists fly to Mars!
"I'd still like to sort out the problem," Ridge said distantly, taking a quick look at the robot.
Take him with you. There, you can finish working on it. Well, as a last resort, you won't need an Earth license to get rid of it. Believe me, we've already had enough of this. Indeed, the manufacture and disposal of robots of any generation require obtaining a license. The expedition to Mars was an exceptional case where this law lost all force. The only effective way to get rid of sadness, Ridge considered, was work. Upon his arrival on Mars, according to the contract, he was engaged in servicing robots. The simplest models, designed for drilling and transportation tasks, almost did not break. The third member of the crew, Matt, while still on earth, appointed Paula. Ridge knew practically nothing about her. Matthew described her as an irreplaceable specialist in geology. The girl herself practically did not speak. Together with Matthew, they went daily to explore the surface of the orange planet. Leaving, yourself, time only for eating and relaxing. This greatly facilitated the task of Ridge, who, almost without distraction, after three weeks finished repairing the Asso.
One evening, arriving from a distant sector, Matt and Paula were met by two figures of almost the same height.
Next to the proud and straightened Ridge Now the robot obeyed commands without question and could even maintain a light conversation. This amused the small team of Earth astronauts very much. Of course, no one had yet written the rules for the duration of his stay on Mars, and, consequently, Matthew could not be forced to return to earth as soon as possible. Moreover, he and Paula found the remains of the ruins of ancient buildings. Matt delayed this news until the last, but when opening the lower layers, a drilling machine broke down near the dilapidated wall. On the morning of the twenty-fifth day of the expedition, while having breakfast, Ridge learned from Matthew about this dizzying discovery. Now he had to repair the device with them, which could allow him to learn even more significant secrets.
Well, can you manage here without us?
Ridge turned with a smile to the Asso, standing, at the table.
"Whatever Dr. Ree says," the chrome robot replied in a monotone tone. Iron hands began to remove used dishes from the table. Fast, silent, and flawless. Having finished with the preparations, the team of researchers went to the excavation site on light all-terrain vehicles.
Ridge, I couldn't wait to see the ancient Martian ruins with my own eyes. The road took about half an hour, and soon the stone skeletons appeared before the earthlings. About half a meter thick, the walls formed the semicircular contours of once-huge buildings. Hundreds of thousands of tiny holes were visible on the outer and inner parts of most of the visible remnants of the premises.
What do you think, Ridge? What could it be? Matt asked, pointing to the walls.
— I think the holes were made at the construction stage; they are very symmetrically executed. I would even say it looks like decor. Something resembling the likeness of a drawing but, of course, this is just a guess.
"Then we'll try to find out more," Matt said briskly. After a brief inspection,
Ridge found an empty tank for supplying hydraulic fluid to the working units.
Very strange, — said Ridgey, thoughtfully. All the adjacent equipment is completely serviceable and sealed.
Can we fix it? Matt said it impatiently.
Definitely, you just need to bring a few cans of hydraulics. Then let's not waste time. Let's go! Matt Heavy commanded. Ridge wanted to understand how the car he was servicing had failed for no apparent reason, and he thought about it all the way back. When they reached the landing site, the people stopped their all-terrain vehicles. Paula, Matt, and Ridge stared in horror at the melted Martian soil. This was almost all that reminded them of the ship they had left a few hours ago. The red-hot pieces of the spaceship's shattered skin turned into a shapeless mass. The first interplanetary ship turned into the first and only landfill on Mars. A little further away, where there were traces of metal feet, Ridge read the inscription.