From behind, in the next compartment, came the labored sounds of the robot. Then there was another sound and it didn't come from the robot. I looked in. The farmer sat up, gazed around, understood some or little of what he saw. That understanding was enough for him. He collapsed. He was still breathing, though; in spasmodic gasps.
The revivification was a complete success. I decided to keep the man in mind. He was an important source of reserve strength.
My hopes leapt high when I saw the planet. It was something less than the size of Saturn, but much larger than Earth. It was large enough to support a tremendous population. I hadn't bargained for anything so good.
I had only a vague plan to go by. I had made the journey in complete safety, and that was most important. My next move would depend on circumstances. I could dematerialize myself off the ship, and onto the planet. With an extreme expenditure of energy I could even take the remainder of my food supply with me.
But it didn't seem worth the effort. I had done all right so far by remaining quiet, and letting events occur as they would. I decided to see it through on the same basis. I stayed in the ship, and let it land.
That was not my first mistake, landing with the ship. If anything, the error began a thousand years earlier, in my infancy, the first night I saw the light of the moon. No one asked me to come. I did it voluntarily, for reasons my total personality found acceptable. In my own mind I added up the advantages in leaving Earth, and then schemed until I found a way to do it.
I had been dissatisfied with the way things were going among men. I objected to blood spilled uselessly. And so I had contrived an escape. Greener pastures? Not exactly. I don't like salads. Still the saying conveys something of the way I felt. Long before the ship landed it was too late, though I didn't know it.
The robot scurried about the saucer, chirruping mechanically and creaking. When it finished the duties it picked up the farmer, and carried him out. The man was still unconscious, but he began to scream.
Soon after it left, other robots came into the ship. Slightly different from the kind I had seen, they must have been repair robots. They went about tasks that were unfamiliar to me, and they talked.