this chair. It is possible with robot arms to get my dinner and feed myself. I can pick up things and examine them. In special rooms with special equipment sensors can be attached to allow the computers to move my muscles, give me a minimal flexibility. God has been very good to me."
"I don't know if I could be in your place and say that."
"But he has! He has put me here as an example to all those now wasting away or thinking of suicide or going mad in their self-pity! We only got out one step ahead of the newsmen as it was.
Eventually I will leave this island and return, and I will be, like it or not, a public figure. I intend to be an example to everyone. I will be— Oh! It is so beautiful !"
They had come to the meadow with its strange altar stone.
"We believe it started here," MacDonald told her grimly, breaking her mood. "We believe that your father was lured to this spot by some bait we don't yet know, and waiting here was the mechanism to kill him."
"But—he died on the beach! Is it not so?"
"He did, but it started here."
" What was here?"
"I don't know, and 1 don't know if we'll ever find it. Whatever it was, it was made to look as if it appeared at the altar stone—that big rock over there. He saw it, and ran down that trail over there. Even then, they took a big chance, or the ... thing ... or whoever did this, was overconfident, because he almost escaped. I'm sure they didn't think he'd make the beach. The trail forks down there, one going to the beach, the other back to the road. If he'd taken the one to the road they would have had him, and it was the most logical route to take. The beach trail isn't used much and it's not in good condition. Whatever was chasing him had more of a problem with it than a man on foot. It slowed it down and also made it expose itself. It was blind chance that nobody was on that beach or in a boat out past the breakers. Would you like to see the beach?"
"Yes, I would." A thought suddenly struck her. " Monsieur MacDonald— pardon, Greg—you are quite charming and very light and flip and irreverent, if that is the word for it. I think this masks a very serious man below your surface. You acquiesced far too easily to my foolish trip in the heat. You would not, by any chance, be attempting to discover if this chair of mine can make it to the beach?"
He grinned sheepishly. "Unmasked and exposed to the roaring mobs! "Yes, I will admit that the thought had crossed my mind. Don't tell the others, though—they think I'm a half-witted has-been."
She laughed, then grew suddenly serious, almost somber. "You think, then, that some sort of mechanical device was used? A robot or something?"
He was really impressed with her. "You are indeed your father's daughter. You're gonna do just fine, lady. The old boys who run the corporation think they're gonna control and devour you, but I think they've got a real shock coming. Yes, I think it was done that way because it's the only way it could be done, and you yourself just told me that the technology's there."
"But that was to help people!"
"So was atomic energy, but they made a bomb first. I once investigated a case in which the murder weapon was an egg beater. Old laws of history. First, anything and everything can be misused and perverted. Second, anything that can be misused and perverted someday will be.
Somebody had the thing built, either here or somewhere else and then transported here, and then they ordered the computer to do it. Then they ordered it all erased from the computer's memory, so there's no record, while their device is out there in the sea someplace, although that was probably an afterthought or a contingency. End result: Sir Robert killed by unknown monster, another mystery of the islands. We needn't go on now, you know. It's not really necessary."
"Perhaps it is. It is for me, anyway. Please—lead me onward."
He did so, and when they came to the fork in the trail she did hesitate, but then ordered the chair
"I don't know if I could be in your place and say that."
"But he has! He has put me here as an example to all those now wasting away or thinking of suicide or going mad in their self-pity! We only got out one step ahead of the newsmen as it was.
Eventually I will leave this island and return, and I will be, like it or not, a public figure. I intend to be an example to everyone. I will be— Oh! It is so beautiful !"
They had come to the meadow with its strange altar stone.
"We believe it started here," MacDonald told her grimly, breaking her mood. "We believe that your father was lured to this spot by some bait we don't yet know, and waiting here was the mechanism to kill him."
"But—he died on the beach! Is it not so?"
"He did, but it started here."
" What was here?"
"I don't know, and 1 don't know if we'll ever find it. Whatever it was, it was made to look as if it appeared at the altar stone—that big rock over there. He saw it, and ran down that trail over there. Even then, they took a big chance, or the ... thing ... or whoever did this, was overconfident, because he almost escaped. I'm sure they didn't think he'd make the beach. The trail forks down there, one going to the beach, the other back to the road. If he'd taken the one to the road they would have had him, and it was the most logical route to take. The beach trail isn't used much and it's not in good condition. Whatever was chasing him had more of a problem with it than a man on foot. It slowed it down and also made it expose itself. It was blind chance that nobody was on that beach or in a boat out past the breakers. Would you like to see the beach?"
"Yes, I would." A thought suddenly struck her. " Monsieur MacDonald— pardon, Greg—you are quite charming and very light and flip and irreverent, if that is the word for it. I think this masks a very serious man below your surface. You acquiesced far too easily to my foolish trip in the heat. You would not, by any chance, be attempting to discover if this chair of mine can make it to the beach?"
He grinned sheepishly. "Unmasked and exposed to the roaring mobs! "Yes, I will admit that the thought had crossed my mind. Don't tell the others, though—they think I'm a half-witted has-been."
She laughed, then grew suddenly serious, almost somber. "You think, then, that some sort of mechanical device was used? A robot or something?"
He was really impressed with her. "You are indeed your father's daughter. You're gonna do just fine, lady. The old boys who run the corporation think they're gonna control and devour you, but I think they've got a real shock coming. Yes, I think it was done that way because it's the only way it could be done, and you yourself just told me that the technology's there."
"But that was to help people!"
"So was atomic energy, but they made a bomb first. I once investigated a case in which the murder weapon was an egg beater. Old laws of history. First, anything and everything can be misused and perverted. Second, anything that can be misused and perverted someday will be.
Somebody had the thing built, either here or somewhere else and then transported here, and then they ordered the computer to do it. Then they ordered it all erased from the computer's memory, so there's no record, while their device is out there in the sea someplace, although that was probably an afterthought or a contingency. End result: Sir Robert killed by unknown monster, another mystery of the islands. We needn't go on now, you know. It's not really necessary."
"Perhaps it is. It is for me, anyway. Please—lead me onward."
He did so, and when they came to the fork in the trail she did hesitate, but then ordered the chair
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