Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE LEVER AND THE FULCRUM “IT wished to make you King.” “To that I can again ask, why ?” “I think you may become a great king.” *“‘Again a third time, I ask, why? Do you care for me so very much?” “If you mean, do I care for you in the manner of human persons who have an affection for each other, then the an- swer is that I do not. If you ask whether I have a purpose in doing what I have done, then I answer that this must now be obvious to you. But I shall not tell you yet what my purpose is, for you would not understand.” “If, now that you have made me king, I began to fear you and tried to destroy you, what then?” “I am, of course, a material Organism, and can be des- troyed, but not easily. A blast gun, for example, will not harm me. To destroy me you would have to be very clever, and very swift.” *“*Tell me, at least, who you are. “I have no name,’ James said, as he had said once before. “‘I had a number once. That is all.” *“You were never made to any human design. No robot, 47 not even a modern robot, has one tenth of your capacities.” “T made myself,” the robot declared. This was one of his strange and compelling state- ments, that made me look at him with a new vision, and see afresh his dark, powerful structure. . “Will you tell me how?” “Yes,” he agreed. I knew he would not do this merely to satsify my curiosity, or to make casual conversation. He must, therefore, consider that to disclose this information at this particular moment would further his purposes. “IT was made on Mars, 3,593 years ago, in the Orm Heights Factory. I was one of a batch of mass production, general utility jobs. The brain supplied was a macro-crystal- line type, with memory banks and analyser operating on the basis of inter molecular link- ages and electrical tensions, rather in the same way as the human brain operates by way of linkages between cells. This type of brain was con- sidered unsatisfactory, and ceased to be used, and very few robots of my type were actually manufactured. The real cause of the apparent unsuitability of the brain was the time-length required to absorb sufficient information comicloooks.cohn — k As ot Set Oe “ Fy oe eat Le ee ee eV ho? BOOS Lem, ae ee ee a PS BE ea ath