"I am going to attempt to establish the identity of the killer by the unusual procedure of questioning a machine. It will be for later courts to establish the validity of such testimony. Because of the nature of this case and because of the urgent need to get this computer back to its proper work, I am going to ask the questions in a more direct manner than I would ordinarily employ."
MacKinney took his place before Edith. They didn't even trust me to feed the tapes into her under their very eyes.
"Mr. Thompson, I object to the use of this delicate piece of equipment in—"
They ignored me, and MacKinney punched out the questions the coroner asked:
"Do you know who murdered Dr. Ballard?"
There was a pause. Edith blinked several times. I was shaking with apprehension for her. A mind so delicate and noble should not be faced with such a dilemma.
Yes, she typed back.
"Did you witness the murder?"
There was a longer pause this time. "You must answer the question," MacKinney reminded her.
I was here.