"'I am known throughout the spheres of space and time as He Who Points The Fickle Finger Of Fate,' the man says, 'and I have come to point the finger at you.' And true to his word, he points at the Settler and says, 'You shall live through the next few moments, but only if you promise never again to drink any sort of alcoholic beverage. Ever. The moment you take a drink, regardless of how many years from now it is, you will die an instant death. Do you understand?'
"'I do, sir,' says the Settler, 'though is it not asking much from a Settler to expect him to forego the delights of alcohol for an entire lifetime?'
"'Perhaps it is,' says He Who, 'but my demand stands nonetheless. I repeat, the instant a liquid containing alcohol touches your lips, you shall die as surely as if you had died in the crash.'
"'Then I agree,' says the Settler reluctantly.
"And He Who points to the Auroran and says, 'You must give up all greed.'
"'I accept!' says the Auroran at once. 'It's a deal!'
"And He Who points to the Solarian and says, 'And last, you must give up all sexual thoughts, except for those you might have strictly for purposes of socially acceptable wedded bliss.'
"'Excuse me, sir,' says the Solarian, 'but that is impossible. Do you not know what we Solarians have been through? Because our centuries of social and personal repression have ended so recently, we have little choice but to think about our new freedoms, and often.'
"He Who frowns and shakes his head. 'That is no concern of mine. The three of you have my terms. Accept them or die.,
"'I accept it,' the Solarian says.
"There is another flash of blinding light, and the three men find themselves standing on the ground as, in the distance, their pod crashes spectacularly into the freighter. They all experience profound relief. The Settler wipes his forehead and says, 'I am ecstatic that this little episode has concluded. Look, yonder is a bar. Join me as I down some spirits by way of celebrating our good fortune.'
"The Auroran and the Solarian agree. They both desire libation, and in addition desire to see what will happen to the Settler.
"Indeed, the very second that the Settler consumes his first drink, he dies on the proverbial spot. 'Leaping galaxies, the strange man was speaking the truth,' says the Auroran. 'We must vacate these premises!'
"The Solarian agrees enthusiastically. But on the way out' the Auroran espies a rare and valuable jewel beneath a deserted table. The Auroran cannot resist. And just as he bends over to pick up the jewel-the Solarian dies!"
Harry ceased talking, and the longer Derec waited for the robot's next words, the more apparent it became that the joke was over. At first he didn't understand and he had to visualize the scene and what must have happened. The Auroran bending over…the Solarian breaking his word…
Derec burst out laughing. "Ha, ha! That's pretty good. Very unpredictable. "
"I understand that, sir," Harry said. "I realize that the narrative leads you to believe the Auroran is next, but I fail to comprehend exactly what the Solarian could possibly have been thinking of. The central computer has thus far been unable to find material that would enlighten me. Would you care to explain?"
"No, no. I really do believe there are some things a robot was not meant to know."
"Do I have your permission to ask Miss Ariel the same question?"
"Not before I ask her something slightly similar." He took Harry by the arm and began leading him toward the door. "Now I've got to get you out of here. Lucius is due, and I'd like to talk to him alone, if you don't mind."
"Sir, how could I possibly do that?" Harry asked.
"Just a figure of speech," said Derec, reaching for the doorknob. But before he had a chance to touch it, the door opened from the other side.
Ariel, her hair dripping wet and her suit clinging to her body, came running into the house. "There you are!" she exclaimed.
"Don't you ever knock?" Derec asked angrily, then calmed down when he realized something serious was the matter. Besides, of course she didn't have to knock. She lived here, too. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, of course. Wolruf and I found, ah…”
“Well? Out with it!" exclaimed Derec.
"I was at the reservoir this morning," she said haltingly. "Uh, I was in the reservoir, and I felt something strange. It was Lucius. His positronic brain had been partially destroyed."
"What did you say?" asked Derec as the room began to spin.
"Lucius has been deliberately sabotaged. To the utmost degree. You might even say he's been murdered."
"Ridiculous," said Harry calmly. "Only an outsider would have committed such a deed, and that's impossible. The city would have responded to an alien presence."
"Not necessarily," said Derec, thinking of Doctor Avery, who kept an office here, and whose arrival surely would not activate the city's automatic warning devices.
"It's no accident," said Ariel firmly. "I think you'll agree. Wolruf is supervising the robots who are bringing the, ah, body over here. Then you'll both see for yourselves."
"One of you must know more," said Harry. "A robot would not willingly harm another robot. Only you two and the alien are suspects."
Derec rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "No, there is no law actually dictating that a robot shall not do violence to another robot. In fact, a robot would have no choice if he truly believed harm would come to a human as a result of his omission of action." He glanced at Ariel. "Where's Mandelbrot? Wolruf?"
"Supervising the robots carrying the body here," she said.
"Harry, please leave immediately. We'll finish our talk later.”
“All right," said the robot, walking through the door. "Though I feel obligated to warn you: You have not perceived my presence for the last time!"
"Is that robot for real?" asked Ariel after it was gone.
"I'm afraid so," Derec replied. "Are you certain that we're dealing with a deliberate case of deactivation here-not an accident of some sort?"
"No-but, Derec, Lucius's face was struck in several places. It certainly looked deliberate to me, as if someone wanted to ensure it couldn't be identified."
"Which is impossible, because most of its parts contain serial numbers, which can be traced."
"Exactly. So whoever did it must have realized that in mid-act and then thrown Lucius in the reservoir in the hope that it wouldn't be found. Or, if it was found, it'd be so rusty that most of the serial numbers would be obscured."
"And unless we've an unidentified intruder-which seems unlikely-a robot was responsible."
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Derec nodded. " Absolutely. What were you doing in the reservoir?"
Ariel blushed, though Derec couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment. "I was taking a swim."
"Fully dressed? Say, you've been losing weight, haven't you?" he asked, looking her over with wide eyes.
"You'll never know. Derec, how can you be flip at a time like this? To lose Lucius-"
"So early in his career, I know. The galaxy has been robbed of a great artist, I fear. Tragic. Simply tragic. I have to laugh, Ariel. It's the only way I can deal with it, and right now I don't care if you understand or not! Now be quiet and let me think!"
Ariel blinked in surprise, and jerked her head back as if he had taken a swipe at her. But she did as he wished.
Derec stared at the wall and tried to remember when he and Mandelbrot had parted company with Lucius. There had been a few hours remaining until the dawn. Had Lucius said anything about where it was going or what it was going to do? Nothing in particular that Derec could recall, just that it was going to close down for a few hours before beginning work on its next project. No, there wouldn't be any clues; Lucius certainly couldn't have predicted or even suspected that it would be murdered.