"But it will tell what it saw."
"Don't be a fool! That blarsted machine's not smart enough to talk—not unless somebody questions it."
"But they will question it. Miss Babs will ask it if it saw anyone at the safe."
"Not until she finds out the necklace is gone, and she won't find out until she goes to that party Friday night. Gives me three days to shut up that damn machine. You'll see."
"Gil, I'm scared. It could even be listening to us now! It's down there in the foyer, and I heard Miss Babs say once that when it's on guard-command it can hear better than any dog."
The voices softened a little. Toory's eye-beams swung idly around the foyer as he listened to the human voices, and the baying dog down the hill and the creaking weathercock. It was very simple being on guard-command. There was no danger here. Miss Babs was safe. He could remember how the Instructor had given him the permanent-order to guard Miss Babs. The human voices went on droning.
"So it's listenin' to us now? So what? A machine can't say, or do anything on its own. You have to give it an order. And I tell you I got everything figured out. Nobody's going to question a machine to find out what's on its memory-tapes. I'm not that much of a fool."
"Gil! What you going to do?"
"Smash it, that's what. I'm going to take it out tomorrow night and smash it to smithereens."
"Gil! You're crazy. You wouldn't dare go near it. It's got the strength of fifty men—"