ine ever made. I have a rather unique history, too. Ages ago, humans
on Zanthar made the first robots. Crude affairs--we class them as First
Order robots; the simple things are still used to some extent for menial
tasks.

"Improvements were made. Robots were designed for many specialized
tasks, but still these Second and Third Order machines did not satisfy.
Finally a Fourth Order humanoid was evolved that performed every
function demanded of it with great perfection. But it did not feel
emotion. It did not know anger, love, nor was it able to handle any
problem in which these played an important part.

"Built into the first Fourth Order robots were circuits which prohibited
harming a human being--a rather ridiculous thing in view of the fact
that sometimes such a thing might, from a logical viewpoint, be
necessary for the preservation of the race or even an individual. It
was, roughly, a shunt which came into use when logic demanded action
that might be harmful to a human being."

"You are a Fourth Order robot, then?" the professor asked.

"No, I am a Seventh Order humanoid, an enormous improvement over all the
others, since I have what amounts to an endocrine balance created
electronically. It is not necessary for me to have a built-in
'no-harm-to-humans' circuit because I can weigh the factors involved far
better than any human can.

"You will become aware of the fact that I am superior to you and the
rest of your race because I do not need oxygen, I never am ill, I need
no sleep, and every experience is indelibly recorded on circuits and
instantly available. I am telekinetic, practically omniscient and
control my environment to a large extent. I have a great many more
senses than you and all are more highly developed. My kind performs no
work, but is given to study and the wise use of full-time leisure. You,
for example, are comparable to a Fifth Order robot."

"Are there still humans on Zanthar?"

The robot shook his head. "Unfortunately the race died out through the
years. The planet is very similar to yours, though."

"But why did they die out?"

The robot gave a mechanical equivalent of a sigh. "When the Seventh
Order humanoids started coming through, we were naturally proud of
ourselves and wanted to perpetuate and increase our numbers. But the
humans were jealous of us, of our superior brains, our immunity to
disease, our independence of them, of sleep, of air."

"Who created you?"

"They did. Ye