Kendall clung.
“We can’t all be like that. If we were, it would take all the specialness, all the greatness from men and women like Remy.” Susan clutched him tightly. He felt warm and comfortable in her arms. She had never seen him confront vulnerability with anything other than humor, and she liked this strange and different side of him. She whispered, “I couldn’t have shot her, either.”
Kendall pulled away far enough to look at her.
Susan explained. “That was why I refused to take the gun. Even knowing what she was. Even knowing she had murdered before and would eagerly do so again. Even knowing she would have shot me in a heartbeat, I couldn’t have shot her.” She looked directly into his eyes; and, when he avoided her gaze, she followed him until he had no choice but to stare back at her. “It’s no dishonor to be incapable of killing a human being.”
“But —,” Kendall started.
Susan could not allow him to finish. “No ‘buts.’ Not ever.”
Kendall clutched her again, and they both sobbed with raw and terrible grief, as if the world would end.
And when the embrace ended, Susan knew, there would be robots to construct and improve, diagnoses to make, and lives to save. Like a flower budding from a dormant stem, she would learn to laugh again, beginning, almost certainly, with a quip from Kendall Stevens.
“Nice going, Humpty Dumpty.” He waved a hand to indicate the broken state of Susan’s body. “Thanks to Major Medical and professional courtesy, your bill will only be eight hundred million instead of a cool billion.”
Susan doubted all the king’s horses and all the king’s men had fully finished with Kendall, either. At least, they had salvaged his sense of humor, and she suspected they both would need it over the coming years.
Acknowledgments
Editing and creation: Isaac, Janet, and Robyn Asimov, Marty Greenberg, Denise Little, Larry Segriff, and Susan Allison.
Inspiration: Koby Moore, Mark Moore, and Arianne.
Research: All the incredible professionals from Lightfighter (the expertise is theirs, the mistakes my own): Dorsai, 3P051, Sigsshooter, Casket, Naveronski, Borebrush, Dan Kemp, Renee, Ex11A, Murf214, Doctorrich, XGEP, Thekirk, Witch, Rob Frey, Firemission4mortars, Blackfox, CarlosDJackal, K_randomfactor, Mark LaRue, TimW, Mercy, Flynn, MrMurphy, KWG020, 3Humpalot, Eggroll, Fluff puff, and especially Pat.
Also Sue Russell of Mayfair Lane and Mark Moore (again).
About the Author
MICKEY ZUCKER REICHERT is a working physician and author. She lives in Iowa with her husband and two of their children, and divides her time between taking care of her family, writing, practicing medicine, teaching at the local university, and tending the assorted livestock that roam her forty-acre farm.
Copyright
HarperVoyager
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First published in the United States by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., in 2011
First published in Australia in 2011
This edition published in 2011
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Copyright © The Estate of Isaac Asimov, 2011
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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The right of Mickey Zucker Reichert to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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I, Robot: To Protect Book 1 Page 37
