bomb, she had to have seen the bomb.”
“The pain had subsided and vanished by the time she opened my chest plates.”
“So the bomb may or may not have been there for her to see?”
“Affirmative. Yes. Why are you frowning again?”
“I’m perplexed.”
“By what?”
“Wondering why you wouldn’t know something extra had been inserted inside you.” A thought erupted that sent her pulse racing. “Henry, could someone have opened you up without your knowing it?”
“I do not believe so. I will check for system and subsystem anomalies.” His eye rims spun until his irises became pinpricks.
Marlee sighed and set her analyzer aside. Clutching her cold hands together, she concentrated on taking calming breaths to steady her nerves. At breath number eight, Henry’s eyes dilated to normal.
“Marlee, I have checked all systems. Every nanosecond of time is registered and accounted for. I have received no data that is inaccessible or encrypted, nor have I found any instructions to shut down or to ignore a specific shutdown sequence. My internal logs confirm Woodridge has done all my downloads and upgrades. No one else.”
Which meant, Woodridge had to know about the bomb. An icy coldness settled in Marlee’s gut. Why would one of the finest techs on the station not report finding a bomb inside Henry?
“Marlee, how much time would it take to install a bomb in me?”
“Depends on the bomber’s skill. My guess would be ten, maybe fifteen minutes or less. Only, come to think of it, to put the bomb in you, the person wouldn’t want to be interrupted or be seen doing it. Is there any chance—”
“Woodridge upgraded my core processor unit three weeks ago. I was out of operation for eighty-four minutes.”
“Upgrades happen all the time.”
“This was different.”
“How?”
“Woodridge told her staff she was not to be disturbed while she made the installations. She sealed the lab doors. She has never done that before when attending to me.”
“She might have closed the doors to make sure people left her alone. Sometimes, I lock my bay doors to keep people from distracting me when I’m working on something sensitive.”
“Affirmative. Yes. It was likely that, and I am reading into the matter what is not in evidence. Why are you frowning again?”
“Because it seems odd why Woodridge, or anyone else, would put a bomb in you. You’re a medical robot, a prototype, not any kind of security robot. You don’t even have access to people or compartments with high security or anything valuable.”
“Affirmative. Yes. That is strange.” His voice changed to one of entreaty. “Marlee, please remove the bomb.”
“Me? Don’t be daft. I’m a robotic-mechatronics tech, not the bomb squad.”
The bomb squad!
“Henry, I have an idea. We call the bomb squad—Wait. Forget that. Bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have clearances for opening you up, and what will they say when they find out you can open yourself?”
A few clicking sounds came from deep inside his chest cavity. Gravely he said, “There is a ninety-two percent likelihood they will conclude I am evolving into an AI. I will be deactivated. I will be crated and shipped to Razl. Disassembled…” His voice became a strangled whisper. “I will cease to exist.”
“Exactly.”
“Marlee, dearest friend, I do not want to perish. How can we get the bomb out of me?”
“We? I just said I can’t help. It’s a bomb, Henry. You need an expert, a bomb expert, and offhand I don’t know any bomb experts.”
“I do!”
“What?”
“His name is Deacon Black. He is a major in the Centauri Space Fleet. He arrived six weeks ago to instruct the bomb squad on new technologies and to certify and re-certify squad members for duty. Five days ago, one of his demonstrations prematurely fired. He received third degree burns on his left forearm, which necessitated treatment in the ER.”
Hope flared and warmed her. “Is he still in
“The pain had subsided and vanished by the time she opened my chest plates.”
“So the bomb may or may not have been there for her to see?”
“Affirmative. Yes. Why are you frowning again?”
“I’m perplexed.”
“By what?”
“Wondering why you wouldn’t know something extra had been inserted inside you.” A thought erupted that sent her pulse racing. “Henry, could someone have opened you up without your knowing it?”
“I do not believe so. I will check for system and subsystem anomalies.” His eye rims spun until his irises became pinpricks.
Marlee sighed and set her analyzer aside. Clutching her cold hands together, she concentrated on taking calming breaths to steady her nerves. At breath number eight, Henry’s eyes dilated to normal.
“Marlee, I have checked all systems. Every nanosecond of time is registered and accounted for. I have received no data that is inaccessible or encrypted, nor have I found any instructions to shut down or to ignore a specific shutdown sequence. My internal logs confirm Woodridge has done all my downloads and upgrades. No one else.”
Which meant, Woodridge had to know about the bomb. An icy coldness settled in Marlee’s gut. Why would one of the finest techs on the station not report finding a bomb inside Henry?
“Marlee, how much time would it take to install a bomb in me?”
“Depends on the bomber’s skill. My guess would be ten, maybe fifteen minutes or less. Only, come to think of it, to put the bomb in you, the person wouldn’t want to be interrupted or be seen doing it. Is there any chance—”
“Woodridge upgraded my core processor unit three weeks ago. I was out of operation for eighty-four minutes.”
“Upgrades happen all the time.”
“This was different.”
“How?”
“Woodridge told her staff she was not to be disturbed while she made the installations. She sealed the lab doors. She has never done that before when attending to me.”
“She might have closed the doors to make sure people left her alone. Sometimes, I lock my bay doors to keep people from distracting me when I’m working on something sensitive.”
“Affirmative. Yes. It was likely that, and I am reading into the matter what is not in evidence. Why are you frowning again?”
“Because it seems odd why Woodridge, or anyone else, would put a bomb in you. You’re a medical robot, a prototype, not any kind of security robot. You don’t even have access to people or compartments with high security or anything valuable.”
“Affirmative. Yes. That is strange.” His voice changed to one of entreaty. “Marlee, please remove the bomb.”
“Me? Don’t be daft. I’m a robotic-mechatronics tech, not the bomb squad.”
The bomb squad!
“Henry, I have an idea. We call the bomb squad—Wait. Forget that. Bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have clearances for opening you up, and what will they say when they find out you can open yourself?”
A few clicking sounds came from deep inside his chest cavity. Gravely he said, “There is a ninety-two percent likelihood they will conclude I am evolving into an AI. I will be deactivated. I will be crated and shipped to Razl. Disassembled…” His voice became a strangled whisper. “I will cease to exist.”
“Exactly.”
“Marlee, dearest friend, I do not want to perish. How can we get the bomb out of me?”
“We? I just said I can’t help. It’s a bomb, Henry. You need an expert, a bomb expert, and offhand I don’t know any bomb experts.”
“I do!”
“What?”
“His name is Deacon Black. He is a major in the Centauri Space Fleet. He arrived six weeks ago to instruct the bomb squad on new technologies and to certify and re-certify squad members for duty. Five days ago, one of his demonstrations prematurely fired. He received third degree burns on his left forearm, which necessitated treatment in the ER.”
Hope flared and warmed her. “Is he still in
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