here, that's no coat of paint on him. Dik Dryer, meet Jon Venex
an old buddy of mine."

Jon bent over to shake the little mech's hand. His eye shutters dilated
as he realized what he had thought was a coat of paint was a thin layer
of rust that coated Dik's metal body. Alec scratched a shiny path in
the rust with his fingertip. His voice was suddenly serious.

"Dik was designed for operation in the Martian desert. It's as dry as a
fossil bone there so his skinflint company cut corners on the stainless
steel.

"When they went bankrupt he was sold to a firm here in the city. After a
while the rust started to eat in and slow him down, they gave Dik his
contract and threw him out."

The small robot spoke for the first time, his voice grated and
scratched. "Nobody will hire me like this, but I can't get repaired
until I get a job." His arms squeaked and grated as he moved them. "I'm
going by the Robot Free Clinic again today, they said they might be able
to do something."

Alec Diger rumbled in his deep chest. "Don't put too much faith in those
people. They're great at giving out tenth-credit oil capsules or a
little free wire--but don't depend on them for anything important."

It was six now, the robots were pushing through the doors into the
silent streets. They joined the crowd moving out, Jon slowing his stride
so his shorter friends could keep pace. Dik Dryer moved with a jerking,
irregular motion, his voice as uneven as the motion of his body.

"Jon--Venex, I don't recognize your family name. Something to do--with
Venus--perhaps."

"Venus is right, Venus Experimental--there are only twenty-two of us in
the family. We have waterproof, pressure-resistant bodies for working
down on the ocean bottom. The basic idea was all right, we did our part,
only there wasn't enough money in the channel-dredging contract to keep
us all working. I bought out my original contract at half price and
became a free robot."

Dik vibrated his rusted diaphragm. "Being free isn't all it should be. I
some--times wish the Robot Equality Act hadn't been passed. I would just
l-love to be owned by a nice rich company with a machine shop and
a--mountain of replacement parts."

"You don't really mean that, Dik," Alec Diger clamped a heavy black arm
across his shoulders. "Things aren't perfect now, we know that, but it's
certainly a lot better than the old days, we were just hunks of
machinery then. Used twenty-four hours a day until we wer