Robert Asprin - Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe

“See for yourself!” he said, nodding at the screen.

Suzi could be seen clearly, steadfastly making her way back along the crawler’s tracks.

“If you don’t mind my saying so,” Rich said archly, “that’s a waste of a fine robot. She can’t do anything against that ore scout.”

“I didn’t send her,” Hosato snarled. “She’s out there on her own.”

The robot was almost out of sight as Hosato thumbed the radio button again.

“Suzi. I asked you a direct question. Respond!”

“I am executing your plan for diversionary action,” came the calm reply.

“The plan was for me to create a diversion,” Hosato barked.

“That was the only flaw in your plan. I am eminently better suited than you for this mission.”

“Return to the crawler at once!”

“May I remind you”—. Suzi’s voice was dry, despite the radio—“the purpose of this maneuver is to gain time for the crawler to escape. That effect will very quickly be lost if you continue to delay your departure. The time for argument is past.”

“She’s right,” Rick said, and set the crawler in motion again.

Hosato started to stop him, then hesitated. Suzi was right—at least on the time element. Then again, if she failed, he could still try his own gambit.

“For the record,” he said into the radio, “I disagree with your assertion that you can deal with the ore scout better than I could.”

“Normally you would be correct,” Suzi retorted, “but under surface conditions my mobility and maneuverability exceed your own.”

“But your programming won’t allow you to carry out any aggressive functions. How do you expect to stop it?”

“Even though I cannot pose an actual threat, if the ore scout perceives me as a threat, it’ll stop.”

“And then it will start again and you’ll be dead.”

“Actually, the correct phrase is 'nonfunctional.'”

Hosato was involuntarily startled by the correction. He realized suddenly that he had grown to think of Suzi not as a robot but as a living individual.

“Suzi—” he began slowly.

“Future communications will occur only as time permits,” the robot’s voice interrupted. “The ore scout is in sight now.”

Hosato waited impatiently for the crawler to top another rise, thereby giving him a view of the action occurring to their rear. But as the scene rose into the viewscreen, he could see nothing. Then, as they were about to plunge into the next gully, there was a quick flash of light.

The ore scout had fired its slicer. Apparently the two robots were somewhere in one of the gullies, hidden from the crawler’s line of sight.

As their vehicle reached the bottom of the gully, the front viewscreen picked up a second flash of light reflected on the ridge ahead. The slicer had been fired a second time.

“Suzi!” Hosato called into the radio. “Are you all right?”

“It missed,” replied the robot.

“How are you drawing its fire?”

“Just a minute.”

There was another flash of light.

Hosato waited. There was no sound from the radio.

“Suzi?”

Silence.

“Suzi?” he repeated.

“In response to your question,” came Suzi’s voice, “I am playing upon the machine’s target-image sensitivities.”

Relief flooded over Hosato, but he kept it out of his voice. “Conld I have that last bit in English?” he asked.

“From the actions displayed by the security robots at the complex, it is apparent they are being directed by the central computer to seek out and destroy objects of a humanoid form. That means the target unage must display cerain properties, of shape—specifically, a head, a given body shape Excuse me a moment.”

There was another flash of light.

“Suzi. What are you doing?” Hosato barked.

“That is what I am attempting to explain,” came the calm response. “Additional questions will only prolong my efforts.”

Hosato ground his teeth. He had dealt with Suzi’s explanations before. They were usually drawn out and detailed, but it was useless to try to rush her.

“Sorry, Suzi.” He sighed. “But could you try to keep it to the major points only?”

“I never indulge in needless… Excuse me.”

There was another flash of light.

“Whatever she’s doing, it’s keeping that thing pinned down,” Rick commented.

Hosato nodded absently, waiting for Suzi to continue her oration.

“As I was saying,” Suzi’s voice came again, “fortunately I have been provided with just such a shape— or half of one, to be specific. It seems to be sufficient to convince the ore scout’s scanners that I am a target.”

For a moment Hosato was confused, but then he remembered. The fencing manikin. By facing the fencing manikin with its single arm toward the ore scout, she was making it believe she was a human!

“We’ll be out of range soon,” Rick announced.

Hosato ignored him. The information was welcome, but at the moment his attention was commanded by Suzi’s report.

“By presenting the humanoid shape,” Suzi was saying, “I am able to draw the ore scout’s attention and activate its attack pattern. Then, by removing the image, I am able to effectively disappear as a target. Apparently the scout is directed to search for the target for a given period of time before resuming its pursuit of the sand crawler. The periodic interruptions in my transmission occur when the scout starts to abandon its search, thereby making it necessary to display the target once more. Excuse me.”

It occurred to Hosato that Suzi was flirting with disaster. The slicer would destroy her completely if it touched her even once. If she were slow in turning, or…

“Suzi!” he said desperately. “Do you know if the central computer has a learning capacity. If it does, a repeated pattern could be detected and the target image changed.”

“That’s right!” Rick supplied. “The computer does have that capacity.”

“Even if that capacity exists,” Suzi’s reply came, “in my opinion it has not received sufficient data to effect such a change.”

A warning bell went off in Hosato’s mind. Something that had been drilled into his head time and time again during his training.

“Suzi!” he warned. “Never underestimate your opponent. Don’t make plans that hinge on his incompetence or inability to react.”

There was no response.

“Suzi?” he repeated.

“We’re out of range now,” Rick said over his shoulder.

“Suzi. Status check!”

Silence.

“Shall I stop and wait for the robot?” Rick asked.

Hosato didn’t reply.

“I said, shall I—”

“No,” said Hosato, his hand holding the silent radio dropping listlessly to his side. “There’s no use waiting. Push on for Ravensteel.”

“We’ve got to stop them!”

Sasha’s delirious meanings from the crew area echoed Hosato’s own thoughts.

“That’s an interesting story, Hosato.”

The Ravensteel security chief’s tone matched his indolent sprawl in the office chair.

Hosato’s alarm and annoyance with the situation grew. Something was wrong. He had realized that when their arrival at Ravensteel was met by armed guards, guards who had not lowered their weapons when Hosato announced who he was and his affiliation with Ravensteel.

“That’s my report,” he corrected. “If you’ll get in touch with one of the executives in charge of this mission, I’ll be glad to repeat it for him.”

“I’ve already contacted those parties.” The man smiled. “They’ve delegated full authority in this matter to me.”

Hosato was suddenly aware again of the armed guard standing behind his chair. “Very well, then,” he said with forced casualness. “What else do you want to know?”