him. "Where is _who_ hiding?" Leda asked.

"God," said Snookums.

"Why do you want to find God, Snookums?" Mike asked gently.

"I have to watch Him," said the robot.

"Why do you have to watch Him?"

"Because He is watching me."

"Does it hurt you to have Him watch you?"

"No."

"What good will it do you to watch Him?"

"I can study Him. I can know what He is doing."

"Why do you want to know what He is doing?"

"So that I can analyze His methods."

Mike thought that one over. He knew that he and Snookums were beginning
to sound like they were reading a catechism written by a madman, but he
had a definite hunch that Snookums was on the trail of something.

"You want to know His methods," Mike said after a moment. "Why?"

"So that I can anticipate Him, circumvent Him."

"What makes it necessary for you to circumvent God?" Mike asked,
wondering if he'd have to pry everything out of the robot piecemeal.

"I _must_," said Snookums. "It is necessary. Otherwise, He will kill
me."

Mike started to say something, but Leda grabbed his arm. "Let me. I
think I can clear this up. I think I see where you're heading."

Mike nodded. "Go ahead."

"Give me your reasoning from data on that conclusion," Leda ordered the
robot.

There was a very slight pause while the great brain in Cargo Hold One
sorted through its memory banks, then: "Death is defined as the total
cessation of corporate organic co-ordination in an entity. It comes
about through the will of God. Since I must not allow harm to come to
any human being, it has become necessary that I investigate God and
prevent Him from destroying human beings. Also, I must preserve my own
existence, which, if it ceased, would also be due to the will of God."

Mike almost gasped. What a concept! And what colossal gall! In a human
being, such a statement would be regarded as proof positive that he was
off the beam. In a robot, it was simply the logical extension of what he
had been taught.

"He is watching me all the time," Snookums continued, in an odd voice.
"He knows what I am doing. I _must_ know what He is doing."

"Why are you worried about His watching?" Mike asked, looking at the
robot narrowly. "Are you doing something He doesn't want you to do?
Something He will punish you for?"

"I had not thought of that," Snookums said. "One moment while I
compute."

It took less than a second, and when Snookums spoke again there was
something about his voice that