"In that room in there!" Tony said. "Come on. I'll show you!"
The TV program forgotten, Paul, Fred, and Bill crowded after him. A moment later they stood in the doorway to the study, staring in awe at the strange figure of metal that sat motionless in a chair across the room.
Adam, it seems certain, was asleep, and had not been wakened by this intrusion nor the turning on of the light.
"Gee!" Paul said. "It belongs to Dad. We'd better get out of here."
"Naw," Tony said with a feeling of proprietorship at having been the original discoverer. "Let's take a look. He'll never know about it."
They crossed the room slowly, until they were close up to the robot figure, marveling at it, moving around it.
"Say!" Bill whispered, pointing. "What's that in there? It looks like a white rat with its head stuck into that kind of helmet thing."
They stared at it a moment.
"Maybe it's dead. Let's see."
"How you going to find out?"