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HALF A YEAR LATER, THE BOYS HAD CHANGED their iven way to the soft blackness of space but external variations s of experiround, one is face to face with an inscrutable positronic brain, which the slide-rule geniuses say should work thus-and-so

Except that they don&039;t Powell and Donovan found that out after they had been on the Station less than teeks

Gregory Powell spaced his words for eether" His brows furrowed doubtfully and he pulled the end of his brown mustache

It was quiet in the officer&039;s roohty Beam Director somewhere far below

Robot QT-1 sat ilea red of the photoelectric cells that were his eyes, were fixed steadily upon the Earthman at the other side of the table

Powell repressed a sudden attack of nerves These robots possessed peculiar brains Oh, the three Laws of Robotics held They had to All of U S Robots, from Robertson himself to the new floor-sweeper, would insist on that So QT-1 was safe! And yet the QT models were the first of their kind, and this was the first of the QT&039;s Mathe protection against robotic fact

Finally, the robot spoke His voice carried the cold tim, "Do you realize the seriousness of such a state made you, Cutie," pointed out Powell "You adrown fro you the explanation Donovan and I put you together froazed upon his long, supple fingers in an oddly human attitude of mystification, "It strikes me that there should be a more satisfactory explanation than that For you to hed quite suddenly, "In Earth&039;s name, why?"

"Call it intuition That&039;s all it is so far But I intend to reason it out, though A chain of valid reasoning can end only with the deteret there"

Powell stood up and seated hie next to the robot He felt a sudden strong syeto his specialized task at the station with the intensity of a deeply ingrooved positronic path

He placed a hand upon Cutie&039;s steel shoulder and the metal was cold and hard to the touch

"Cutie," he said, "I&039; to you You&039;re the first robot who&039;s ever exhibited curiosity as to his own existence - and I think the first that&039;s really intelligent enough to understand the world outside Here, come with me"

The robot rose erect se-rubber soled feet made no noise as he followed Powell The Earthman touched a button and a square section of the wall flickered aside The thick, clear glass revealed space - starspeckled

"I&039;ve seen that in the observation ports in the engine room," said Cutie

"I know," said Powell "What do you think it is?"

"Exactly what it seelass that is spotted with little glea dots I know that our director sends out beams to some of these dots, always to the same ones - and also that these dots shift and that the beams shift with them That is all"

"Good! Noant you to listen carefully The blackness is e out infinitely The little, glealobes, some of them millions of miles in diameterand for comparison, this station is only one mile across They seem so tiny because they are incredibly far off

"The dots to which our energy beams are directed, are nearer and s like myself live upon their surfaces - many billions of them It is from one of these worlds that Donovan and I coy drawn frolobes that happens to be near us We call that globe the Sun and it is on the other side of the station where you can&039;t see it"

Cutie remained motionless before the port, like a steel statue His head did not turn as he spoke, "Which particular dot of light do you claim to come froht one in the corner We call it Earth" He grinned "Good old Earth There are three billions of us there, Cutie - and in about teeks I&039;ll be back there with theh, Cutie hummed abstractedly There was no tune to it, but it possessed a curious twanging quality as of plucked strings It ceased as suddenly as it had begun, "But where do I come in, Powell? You haven&039;t explained my existence"

"The rest is simple When these stations were first established to feed solar energy to the planets, they were run by humans However, the heat, the hard solar radiations, and the electron storms made the post a difficult one Robots were developed to replace human labor and now only two hu to replace even those, and that&039;s where you cohest type of robot ever developed and if you show the ability to run this station independently, no hu parts for repairs"

His hand went up and the metal visi-lid snapped back into place Powell returned to the table and polished an apple upon his sleeve before biting into it

The red glow of the robot&039;s eyes held him "Do you expect me," said Cutie slowly, "to believe any such complicated, implausible hypothesis as you have just outlined? What do you take ments onto the table and turned red "Why damn you, it wasn&039;t a hypothesis Those were facts"

Cutie sounded griy millions of miles across! Worlds with three billion humans on them! Infinite emptiness! Sorry, Powell, but I don&039;t believe it I&039;ll puzzle this thing out for myself Good-by"

He turned and stalked out of the roorave nod and passed down the corridor, oblivious to the astounded stare that followed him

Mike Donovan rulance at Powell, "What was that walking junk yard talking about? What doesn&039;t he believe?"

The other dragged at his mustache bitterly "He&039;s a skeptic," was the bitter response "He doesn&039;t believe we made him or that Earth exists or space or stars"

"Sizzling Saturn, we&039;ve got a lunatic robot on our hands"

"He says he&039;s going to figure it ail out for himself"

"Well, now," said Donovan sweetly, "I do hope he&039;ll condescend to explain it all toout" Then, with sudden rage, "Listen! If that ives me any lip like that, I&039;ll knock that chroht off its torso"

He seated himself with a jerk and drew a paper-backed ives me the willies anyway - too darowled froently and entered

"Is Powell here?"

Donovan&039;s voice wasdata on electronic strea for a storory Powell entered as he spoke, eyes on the graphed paper in his hands, and dropped into a chair He spread the sheets out before hi calculations Donovan stared over his shoulder, crunching lettuce and dribbling bread crumbs Cutie waited silently

Powell looked up, "The Zeta Potential is rising, but slowly Just the same, the stream functions are erratic and I don&039;t knohat to expect Oh, hello, Cutie I thought you were supervising the installation of the new drive bar"

"It&039;s done," said the robot quietly, "and so I&039;ve come to have a talk with the two of you"

"Oh!" Powell looked uncos is weak and you&039;re no lightweight"

The robot did so and said placidly, "I have colowered and put the remnants of his sandwich aside "If it&039;s on any of that screwy-"

The other motioned i"

"I have spent these last two days in concentrated introspection," said Cutie, "and the results have been an at the one sure assumption I felt permitted to make I, roaned, "Oh, Jupiter, a robot Descartes!"

"Who&039;s Descartes?" demanded Donovan "Listen, do we have to sit here and listen to this metal maniac-"

"Keep quiet, Mike!"

Cutie continued imperturbably, "And the question that immediately arose was: Just what is the cause of my existence?"

Powell&039;s jaw set lu foolish I told you already that we made you"

"And if you don&039;t believe us," added Donovan, "we&039;ll gladly take you apart!"

The robot spread his strong hands in a deprecatory gesture, "I accept nothing on authority A hypothesis oes against all the dictates of logic to suppose that youarm upon Donovan&039;s suddenly bunched fist "Just why do you say that?"

Cutie laughed It was a very inhuiven vent to It was sharp and explosive, as regular as a metronome and as uninflected

"Look at you," he said finally "I say this in no spirit of contempt, but look at you! Theendurance and strength, depending for energy upon the inefficient oxidation of organic er at what remained of Donovan&039;s sandwich "Periodically you pass into a coma and the least variation in temperature, air pressure, humidity, or radiation intensity impairs your efficiency You are makeshift

"I, on the other hand, ay directly and utilize it with an al metal, am continuously conscious, and can stand extremes of environment easily These are facts which, with the self-evident proposition that no being can create another being superior to itself, s"

Donovan&039;sto his feet, rusty eyebrows dra "All right, you son of a hunk of iron ore, if we didn&039;t ood, Donovan That was indeed the next question Evidently my creator must be more powerful than myself and so there was only one possibility"

The Earthmen looked blank and Cutie continued, "What is the center of activities here in the station? What do we all serve? What absorbs all our attention?" He waited expectantly

Donovan turned a startled look upon his co about the Energy Converter itself"

"Is that right, Cutie?" grinned Powell

"I a about the Master," canal for a roar of laughter from Donovan, and Powell hile

Cutie had risen to his feet and his glea eyes passed from one Earthman to the other "It is so just the same and I don&039;t wonder that you refuse to believe You two are not long to stay here, I&039;m sure Powell himself said that at first only men served the Master; that there followed robots for the routine work; and, finally, myself for the executive labor The facts are no doubt true, but the explanation entirely illogical Do you want the truth behind it all?"

"Go ahead, Cutie You&039;re a"

"The Master created humans first as the lowest type, most easily forher step, and finally he created me; to take the place of the last humans From now on, I serve the Master"

"You&039;ll do nothing of the sort," said Powell sharply "You&039;ll follow our orders and keep quiet, until we&039;re satisfied that you can run the Converter Get that! The Converter - not the Master If you don&039;t satisfy us, you will be dismantled And now -if you don&039;t mind- you can leave And take this data with you and file it properly"

Cutie accepted the graphs handed him and left without another word Donovan leaned back heavily in his chair and shoved thick fingers through his hair

"There&039;s going to be trouble with that robot He&039;s pure nuts!"

The drowsy hum of the Converter is louder in the control rooer Counters and the erratic buzzing of half a dozen little signal lights

Donovan withdrew his eye from the telescope and flashed the Luxites on "The beaht Mars on schedule We can break ours now"

Powell nodded abstractedly "Cutie&039;s down in the engine roonal and he can take care of it Look, Mike, what do you think of these figures?"

The other cocked an eye at theaht"

"Yeah," was the sour response, "and we&039;re in a bad position for an electron storht in the probable path" He shoved his chair away from the table pettishly "Nuts! If it would only hold off till relief got here, but that&039;s ten days off Say, Mike, go on down and keep an eye on Cutie, will you?"

"OK Throwthrown him and headed for the elevator

It slid se engine rooenerators were in motion and from the L-tubes came the lowpitched whir that pervaded the entire station

He could ure at the Martian L-tube, watching closely as the team of robots worked in close-knit unison

And then Donovan stiffened The robots, dwarfed by the le, while Cutie walked up and down the line slowly Fifteen seconds passed, and then, with a clank heard above the cla all about, they fell to their knees

Donovan squawked and raced down the narrow staircase He ca his hair and clenched fists beating the air furiously

"What the devil is this, you brainless lumps? Come on! Get busy with that L-tube! If you don&039;t have it apart, cleaned, and together again before the day is out, I&039;ll coagulate your brains with alternating current"

Not a robot moved!

Even Cutie at the far end - the only one on his feet - reloomy recesses of the vast ainst the nearest robot

"Stand up!" he roared

Slowly, the robot obeyed His photoelectric eyes focused reproachfully upon the Earthman

"There is no Master but the Master," he said, "and QT-1 is his prophet"

"Huh?" Donovan became aware of twenty pairs of mechanical eyes fixed upon hi solemnly:

"There is no Master but the Master and QT-1 is his prophet!"

"I&039;m afraid," put in Cutie hiher one than you, now"

"The hell they do! You get out of here I&039;ll settle with you later and with these aniht now"

Cutie shook his heavy head slowly "I&039;m sorry, but you don&039;t understand These are robots - and that nize the Master, now that I have preached Truth to them All the robots do They call me the prophet" His head drooped "I am unworthy - but perhaps-"

Donovan located his breath and put it to use "Is that so? Now, isn&039;t that nice? Now, isn&039;t that just fine? Just let , my brass baboon There isn&039;t any Master and there isn&039;t any prophet and there isn&039;t any question as to who&039;s giving the orders Understand?" His voice shot to a roar "Now, get out!"

"I obey only the Master"

"Damn the Master!" Donovan spat at the L-tube "That for the Master! Do as I say!"

Cutie said nothing, nor did any other robot, but Donovan beca eyes deepened their crimson, and Cutie seee," he whispered - voice metallic with emotion

Donovan felt the first sudden touch of fear as Cutie approached A robot could not feel anger - but Cutie&039;s eyes were unreadable

"I aer stay here after this Henceforth Powell and you are barred froine rooestured quietly and in a moment two robots had pinned Donovan&039;s arms to his sides

Donovan had tiasp as he felt himself lifted from the floor and carried up the stairs at a pace rather better than a canter

Gregory Powell raced up and down the officer&039;s roohtly balled He cast a look of furious frustration at the closed door and scowled bitterly at Donovan

"Why the devil did you have to spit at the L-tube?"

Mike Donovan, sunk deep in his chair, slaely "What did you expectto knuckle under to any do-jigger I put together myself"

"No," came back sourly, "but here you are in the officer&039;s roouard at the door That&039;s not knuckling under, is it?"

Donovan snarled "Wait till we get back to Base So to pay for this Those robots must obey us It&039;s the Second Law"

"What&039;s the use of saying that? They aren&039;t obeying us And there&039;s probably soure out too late By the way, do you knohat&039;s going to happen to us e get back to Base?" He stopped before Donovan&039;s chair and stared savagely at hi! Just back to Mercury Mines for twenty years Orabout?"

"The electron storht dead center across the Earth beaed me out ofSaturn"

"And do you knohat&039;s going to happen to the bea to jump like a flea with the itch With only Cutie at the controls, it&039;s going to go out of focus and if it does, Heaven help Earth - and us!"

Donovan renching at the door wildly, when Poas only half through The door opened, and the Earthainst an immovable steel ar, struggling Earthman "The Prophet orders you to remain Please do!" His arm shoved, Donovan reeled backward, and as he did so, Cutie turned the corner at the far end of the corridor He uardian robots away, entered the officer&039;s rooently

Donovan whirled on Cutie in breathless indignation "This has gone far enough You&039;re going to pay for this farce"

"Please, don&039;t be annoyed," replied the robot mildly "It was bound to come eventually, anyway You see, you two have lost your function"

"I beg your pardon," Powell drew himself up stiffly "Just what do you mean, we&039;ve lost our function?"

"Until I was created," answered Cube, "you tended the Master That privilege is mine now and your only reason for existence has vanished Isn&039;t that obvious?"

"Not quite," replied Powell bitterly, "but what do you expect us to do now?"

Cutie did not answer iht, and then one arm shot out and draped itself about Powell&039;s shoulder The other grasped Donovan&039;s wrist and drew him closer

"I like you two You&039;re inferior creatures, with poor reasoning faculties, but I really feel a sort of affection for you You have served the Master well, and he will reward you for that Now that your service is over, you will probably not existas you do, you shall be provided food, clothing and shelter, so long as you stay out of the control roo us off, Greg!" yelled Donovan "Do so!"

"Look here, Cutie, we can&039;t stand for this We&039;re the bosses This station is only a creation of hus that live on Earth and other planets This is only an energy relay You&039;re only - Aw, nuts!"

Cutie shook his head gravely "This amounts to an obsession Why should you insist so on an absolutely false view of life? Ad faculty, there is still the problem of-"

His voice died into reflective silence, and Donovan said hispered intensity, "If you only had a flesh-and-blood face, I would break it in"

Powell&039;s fingers were in his mustache and his eyes were slitted "Listen, Cutie, if there is no such thing as Earth, how do you account for what you see through a telescope?"