2 RY was big, just under seven feet. His frozen countenance, with its square-cut contours, and faceted eyes, and his sturdy body-box gave him the aspect of a rough-hewn statue, but was in no way grotesque. His voice, hollow yet with several emotional gradations to it, was soft and pleasing. He could remember that the human voice of the Instructor was very much like his own—gentle and quiet, and beguiling in its infinite patience.
2 RY had been taught just simple things at first. "Toory, come here." He had learned to balance upright the first day. "Come, Toory. Stand here by me." With his great jointed legs swinging, and sometimes clanking because of his untrained awkwardness, Toory would obey.
"Very good, Toory. Now—sit down. Flat—all the way down. That's it, Toory."
How patient the man had remained! "Now—raise your right hand. No, not that one. The right hand, Toory. That's splendid!"
And when he failed to realize he had made a mistake, the question would come again. "You're using your left hand. Do you understand, Toory?"
"Yes," Toory would say.
He could remember every glorious moment of those two years. Outdoors in rainy weather, with the rain dimming his eye-lenses so that he had to learn to polish them with a bit of fabric. And more often in cold weather when all his motions seemed to require more effort. His reactions then would be slower if he did not automatically quicken them. Quite as varied were the many tasks indoors in the training rooms. They were mostly domestic tasks, because Toory had been designed essentially, not for factory or business work, but for the home.
At last he realized that his training was over, and one day soon after that, his prospective purchaser came. His name was Robert Doret. He was a wealthy man and an important one. The faint, red-glowing beams from Toory's eyes, deep-set under his ridged brows, gazed down in apprehension at the man who perhaps might buy him.
"So you're trained to be called 'Toory'?" Robert Doret asked. "Is that correct?"
"Yes," Toory replied, striving to remain calm.