"E. E. Doc Smith - D' Alembert 9 - The Omicron Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith E. E. Doc)

The trio followed Lady A to her groundcar and climbed in. Lady A set the computer for their
destination and leaned back in her seat. The three agents sat a bit more uncomfortably.

After an awkward silence, Yvette spoke up boldly. "I suppose you know this was not our choice
of assignments."

"Of course," Lady A said evenly. "It was mine. I believe in picking the best people for the job, no
matter how distasteful or disagreeable they are."

She smiled wickedly and added, "I have no immediate intention of stabbing you in your sleep, but
I suppose you'll want to sleep in shifts anyway."

"The precaution had occurred to us," Jules said, "especially when we're dealing with a woman
who'd coldbloodedly kill her own granddaughter."

The shot hit home. Lady A closed her eyes and took a deep breath for a sigh, even though her
robot body didn't really need to breathe. "It was her own willful disobedience and stupidity that killed her.
I drilled it into her head over and over that if she obeyed my commands without question or hesitation, she
would end up well off. I asked for absolute faith and she did not give it. Instead, she doubted me and took
matters into her own hands. She paid the price for that. The booby-trapped escape ship was meant for you.
If she'd trusted me, she'd be alive today and you would be dead."

"You say that so coldly," Yvette said. "Don't you feel anything?"

"How can I? I've got a machine body and a computer mind on which my mental pattern has been
impressed. I have no hormones or other chemicals drifting through my bloodstream interfering with the
purity of my thoughts. I had emotions once. I remember what they are. As an actress, I can even fake them
most convincingly. On an intellectual level I know what I would have felt if I were still in a mortal body.
Tanya was my granddaughter, my last remaining descendant. I will have no more biological progeny, no
one else to pass on my spark of life. As an old woman I would have wept great tears at that tragedy.

"But in my present form, all that's superfluous. I don't need to dilute myself genetically until a
paler form like Tanya emerges. My mind can go on forever. If this body wears out, I can have more built.
It gives me a patience and a perspective you mortals can never match; that's why I'm bound to win our
little struggle."

"Dr Loxner thought he was immortal, too," Fortier pointed out.

"Loxner was a foolish genius," Lady A said. "He tied his mind up in a cumbersome form that
could neither escape nor defend itself adequately. I tried to talk him out of it, but he kept telling me what
greater scope his super computer asteroid gave him. He didn't leave himself any back door. That's the key
to any success, of course—a back door, a way out if things fall apart around you."
 "In other words," Yvette said sarcastically, "you abandon your colleagues when the going gets
rough and save your own skin. That's nice to know as we head into a working relationship with you where
our lives may depend on you—and yours will depend on us."

If Lady A was perturbed by the criticism, she refused to show it. "In this case, the success of the
mission is more important than any of us," she said. "If the choice is to save you or get back to Earth with
vital information, I'd sacrifice you without a moment's hesitation. I assume you've been trained well
enough to hold the same values."