Creative Story: Deadlock "Bzzz! Bzzz!" The alarm went off, and Susan Calvin rolled over.

t was !:"# in the mornin$, and %o&oTimer' had done its (o& admira&ly, wakin$ her u) to the second of the time that it had &een factory*)ro$rammed. +nfortunately, it hadn,t &een set to the correct date, and when it announced "Saturday, Decem&er -.th! /ood mornin$!" in a load cheery tone, she $roaned out load with the realization that it was Saturday, and after that affair with the hy)erdrive motor, she wanted to slee) in, since it she had (ust come &ack to earth. " hate this stu)id ro&ot!" she yelled out loud, then suddenly closed her mouth. 0or Susan Calvin had (ust remem&ered that her )act with the satans, as she thou$ht of them, known to the ro&otics world as the team of 1owell and Donovan. She stretched, rolled out of &ed, and went downstairs, wra))in$ a ro&e around her as she went, to $et some coffee. "2ell, since ,m already u), mi$ht as well take a look at the rest of those %asss(emani*3uazaric*Smith 45uations and see why they were causin$ all those ro&ots to $o )sycho," she thou$ht. "/ood thin$ that +.S. %o&ots and 6echanical 6en hushed u) that little incident, ,d &e out of a (o& if the whole world, the 7eno)ho&ic and )rimally*fearful lot of them, knew a&out that!" 8s she $ot out and &uttered her toast, she mulled the day ahead of her in her mind. 2eekends were never truly weekends for Susan Calvin, as she was forced to work for most of the weekend, with her only res)ite &ein$ Sunday, which she was allowed to come in an hour late for. 9owever, she usually found herself workin$ late into the ni$ht on Sundays, out of an artificially induced $uilt that she knew was not real, &ut could do nothin$ to correct. 8fter &ein$ driven to work :workin$ for the com)any that )roduced every 6echTa7i' in e7istence did have some )erks after all;, $reetin$ the doorman, and $oin$ u) to her office, Susan Calvin was ready to look at those e5uations! She only needed a small )eriod of time to warm u), and the wakeu)*&reakfast*come to work routine sufficed. 8lmost as soon as she had sat down to work, the 0ounder of +.S. %o&ots

came in and said, " need to s)eak with you, Calvin. There,s &een more re)orts in across the nation of those )sycho ro&ots, all of them with )ositronic &rains &uilt usin$ the %asss(emani*3uazaric*Smith 45uations. 2e will &e ruined, and drawn and 5uartered &y the masses if we don,t start hushin$ this u) a$ain and fi7 that )ro&lem!" Susan smiled at him, with an evil $lint in her eye. "<unk the e5uations. They are o&viously unsta&le. 2hy do you &other me with this= am not even a full*time mathematician! 9ave com)letely new e5uations written u), not those klud$es that the ro&ots have &een runnin$ on since the late nineties almost!" The 0ounder lau$hed, his white &eard and flowin$ locks shakin$ slowly as his chest vi&rated. "That is )ossi&ly the first (oke have heard you crack in the thirty years we have &een at this com)any that founded!" 9e )aused. " t is a (oke, ri$ht=" he whis)ered. 2hen Susan shook her head, he sim)ly stared at her, astonished, with a $rowin$ look of )er)le7ity s)readin$ across his face. ">ou do understand what would &e entailed in the creation of an entirely new set of ro&otic codes, ri$ht= The hackneyed name of the last ones show &y their com)le7ity that it took a $rou) of seven hundred men an entire year to &uild the codes! They are the &uildin$ &locks of everythin$ that we now know of the various fields of %o&otics! >ou, yourself, would &ecome useless, wit all your knowled$e outdated! %asss(emani, 3uazaric, and Smith were only the )rinci)al authors of the code, all of them $eniuses! There are not even three $eniuses in the field of ro&otics alive today!" 9e )aused for &reath after this lon$ e7)osition, and Susan Calvin ste))ed in with some comments of her own. "Calm yourself, man! was (ust offerin$ a su$$estion! have &een makin$ the same ty)e of su$$estions such as those for the last thirty years!" " f you had made su$$estions such as that all the time, you would not &e here after thirty years! >ou must &e losin$ it, Calvin!" " am the chief ro&oticist in the entire field, and you are treatin$ me as if know nothin$ at all of the field!" ">ou are the field, Calvin! Don,t kid yourself, you are the only ro&o)sycholo$ist in the entire world, and a decreasin$ly useful one at that! 2hy do you think there is only one= There is no

need for one even!" "9ah! >ou )athetic 6oses imitator, you don,t fool me, your entire education consists of a /.4.D.! 8nd you were &orn when they still had /.4.D.s! So don,t say ,m useless, ,m not tryin$ to create the ne7t $eneration of mechanical men without a colle$e di)loma!" 8t this the 0ounder left the room, swearin$ ven$eance in his mind a$ainst all ro&o)sycholo$ists, then correctin$ himself and remem&erin$ that there was only one. Susan Calvin sat down, realizin$ that this day mi$ht &e her last with the com)any that she had served so faithfully. Sadly, so called over her ro&otic child, 4ddie, and sat all of his .## )ounds on her la). /roanin$ sli$htly, she told him that she wasn,t $oin$ to &e seein$ him anymore, &ut she would &e &ack someday to see him a$ain. "But 6ommy! ,ll miss you! 8nd what will they do with me once you,re $one= They,ll (unk me! 6ommy, don,t let them hurt me!" 8nd he went on like this for hours, &ut the end of which they were &oth cryin$. "Don,t worry, the only reason ,m leavin$ is &ecause of some stu)id man here who hates me, and won,t listen to reason!" She cried, and thou$ht of all the ha))y times she,d had at the factory? Then she remem&ered. %emem&ered everythin$. 8&out the )act with the satans, and how she had )rayed every day to &e released from her (o&, as that was the only way she could &e free forever. She $ot u), knocked the heavy childish ro&ot aside, )acked u) her desk, and walked out. <ust then, as she was walkin$ home, somethin$ a))eared in front of her. She thou$ht she mi$ht &e hallucinatin$, since it had &een a lon$ stressful day, until she thou$ht of the way that the team of Donovan and 1owell had come to )ro)ose the ill*fated deal to her. She $oaned out "@eave me alone, )lease!" and fell to the $round. The now fully formed $hostly team $rinned at each other, $ra&&ed her, and carried her &ack to her house. Susan re$ained consciousness lyin$ on her couch, to see the two men walkin$ around her livin$ room, criti5uin$ her desi$n taste. "%ather homely desi$nes, don,t you think, 1owell=" "Ah sto) it, you crazy redhead! She hasn,t had anyone over she had to im)ress for the last B# years ,d &et!" Susan reached over, and $ra&&ed the two men from her )osition on the couch my the arms, and

made them come closer. "2ell," she asked, "what is it= 6y )act with you is dissolved, and shall see ro&ots nevermore. /ood&ye." She $ot u) to leave, and was sto))ed firmly &y the hand of 1owell, who reached out while Donovan was still $ettin$ u). "Sit down, the a$reement does not release you that easily! 8s you recall, +.S. %o&ots and 6echanical 6en must release you, you can,t 5uit!" Calvin sat down and &e$an to s)eak. "8fter today, think that as soon as call the office, the first messa$e they will $ive me will &e the date of my official retirement! >ou should have seen that fi$ht had with the 0ounder!" 9owever, here she was cut off. "So, you are sayin$ that you were the one who )rovoked the fi$ht, and therefore you will not &e released from your a$reement!" "This is ridiculous! did nothin$ of the kind!" Susan Calvin took of the helmet, and &reathed a si$h of relief. " am tired of these new virtual reality dream simulators. The )rivate sector may (ust have to own u) that there really is a&solutely no use for mind*readin$ machines in commercial life. 4verythin$ is either an invasion of )rivacy, or it sim)ly scares the customer. 8nd did you see how foolish and emotional was in that=!" She walked away from the machines, her $uides in the factory ar$uin$ heatedly with her, as they showed her the new a))lications for mind*readin$ that they had e7tracted from the data that she had $iven to them from her work on findin$ the cause of the defect in the )ositronic &rain of the mind*readin$ ro&ot that she had worked with so many years a$o, and had thou$ht that she had killed. The 4nd