The maintenance robot continued on its way without apparently noting his activities at all.

Hosato waited a moment, then swung his legs and dropped back onto the catwalk below. He glared after the machine as he waited for his heart to resume its normal rhythm. Strange. Usually heavy, mobile robots had built-in sensors that would not allow them to approach a human at speeds like that. Maybe since these robots were being used in a manufacturing area where no humans were present, those sensors had been deactivated. If so, Hosato didn’t like it. It was dangerous.

Had he been a little less agile, the robot would have killed him.

He was suddenly eager to get back among other humans. His mission here was over, anyway. Suzi had been right. He was going to have to hit the main computer and power-source building if he wanted to successfully complete his mission. That would take considerable preparation.

Returning to the floor level, he was heading for the door back for the access corridor when another door caught his eye. It was clearly labeled “Prototype Room.”

That stopped him. He fought a silent inner battle for a moment; then curiosity won out over caution. With any luck, he might get an advance peek at Turner’s new security robots, or at least get an idea of what direction their development was taking.

Resealing his hood to reactivate the Ninja suit, he opened the door a crack and peeked inside. It was a room not unlike the one he was currently in; smaller, no assembly lines, and more important, no humans or cameras.

Thus assured, he entered the room for a closer look. There were no formal lines, but tables of various sizes with half-built robots on them. Small bins of components lined the walls, and the designer robots moved between the bins and the tables, gathering parts and adding them to the prototypes they were working on.

Hosato stepped to the first table and studied the work in progress there. Though he was no technician, he had enough general knowledge to understand some of what he was seeing.

The robot under construction would be humanoid in appearance, though noticeably larger than an average man. It would have four cameras or sensory inputs of some kind mounted on its head, giving it a 360-degree field of coverage without turning. It would probably be fast enough to…

Something caught Hosato’s eye. A chill ran through him as he focused on the half-assembled arm lying on the table in front of him. Forgetting himself for the moment, he unsealed his right hand and picked the arm up for closer examination. It looked like there was a blaster being built into the…

The designer robot nearest him suddenly extended a telescoping screwdriver arm straight at his chest. Without thinking, Hosato parried the advancing point with the prototype arm he was holding. In the same motion, he stepped in close and riposted, smashing his improvised weapon across the designer robot’s face.

There was a brief flare of sparks, and the designer robot stopped, its lights dying and its gauges dropping to zero.

Hosato tossed the prototype arm back on the table and sprinted for the door, resealing his suit as he went.

That did it. Damn his fencing reflexes anyway. If the breakdown of a designer robot didn’t bring someone into the area, nothing would. It wouldn’t take a genius to realize someone had helped the robot to malfunction. He had to clear out and establish his presence elsewhere fast.

As he ran, however, a thought occurred to him. He had almost been killed twice by robots in this mission. It would seem the robots were malfunctioning, and that could be dangerous.

The problem was, he couldn’t report it to anyone without admitting he had been in an area he had no business being in!

“There is no record of the transaction you are referencing.”

The impersonal monotone of the desk-robot was infuriating, but Hosato kept his temper. The last thing he wanted to do was to cause a scene or draw attention to himself. In fact, that’s why he was here in the Accounting Office, to try to avoid suspicion.

There had been no overt reaction to his abortive scouting mission yesterday. He had successfully withdrawn from the manufacturing area, finding no indication of alarm or other alert as he did so. Still, he was sure—and Suzi confirmed his feelings—that somewhere someone had noted the results of his activities and was hard at work trying to uncover the culprit.

Hopefully, it would be regarded as the result of the interoffice rivalries Turner had mentioned, though there would doubtless be a great deal of curiosity as to how the alarm floor and camera were bypassed. Still, the bloodhounds would be looking for any unusual behavior, which was why he was here.

“Look,” he said firmly to the robot. “It was last Wednesday night. I fed the card into the waiter robot myself. I know the charge was made, so why wasn’t it shown on my pay stub?”

“There is no record of the transaction you are referencing. I have rechecked the records each time you asked,” the robot replied without rancor. “However, as this is the fifth time you have repeated the same question or a close variant thereof, I must assume you find my answer unsatisfactory. If you wish additional clarification, so indicate and I will summon a human to deal with your problem.”

“Please.” Hosato sighed.

“That phrase is unclear. Do you wish—?”

“Please summon a human,” Hosato amended.

“Your request is being processed. There will be a short delay.”

The desk-robot lapsed into silence. Hosato sank back in his chair to wait. He was beginning to wonder if he was really pursuing the right course in this matter. Maybe…

“Oh, hi!”

He swiveled his head toward the source of the voice. The same petite redhead who had first welcomed him to Mc. Crae Enterprises had just entered the room.

“Are you the one with the problem?” she asked.

“Yes.” He smiled. “I must say that was quick. Were you waiting outside, or what?”

She made a face at him. “Mc. Crae employees are always eager to serve your every need,” she recited. “Besides, it’s not like I was busy. This is the second problem I’ve had to deal with this month. What’s your gripe?”

“Well, actually it’s more of an accounting problem than a personnel problem.”

“That’s okay,” she insisted. “I handle both. Shows you how many problems we normally get, doesn’t it. I tell you, the machines are doing everything these days.”

“Yes, well, it’s nothing, really. I charged a meal onto my account last Wednesday night, and it didn’t show on my pay stub as a deduction. I just wanted to be sure my records were accurate, that’s all.”

She cocked her head at him. “You know, you’re a strange one. Most people wouldn’t even notice what was or wasn’t charged to them, and the ones that did sure wouldn’t complain if a meal got charged to somebody else.”

She stepped to the desk computer and started keying in data. “What’s your employee number?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Actually, if it’s too much trouble—”

“Too late to change your mind now.” She grinned. “Now that you’ve confessed, we’re going to see this through. Come on, this is probably going to be the high point of my week.”

He gave her the number, and she keyed it into the robot.

“No,” she said thoughtfully, scanning the view-screen. “There’s no record of that transaction.”

Hosato shut his eyes for a moment as he fought back a sarcastic comment. “Look,” he said finally, “I was there. I personally fed my card into the waiter robot. I know the charge exists somewhere.”

“Don’t get panicky,” the girl assured him. “We’ll find it. Could you give me a few details?”

“Well, Sasha and I had dinner at the mall restaurant.”

“Sasha. Well, well.” She smiled at him and bent over the robot once more. “Here it is.”

“Where was it?” he asked.