ned confession of theft and--what was worse--robot fraternization.
But then, near the end of the trial, a young scientist named Scott
introduced some new evidence and the case was remanded to the Sacramento
Court of Appeals.
It was Scott's testimony that saved Frank from the junk pile. The big
servo got off with only a light sentence for theft because the judge
ruled that in the light of Scott's new findings robots came under human
law and therefore no infraction of justice had been committed. Working
independently in his own laboratory Scott had proved that the magnetic
flux lines in male and female robot systems, while at first
deteriorating to both, were actually behaving according to the
para-emotional theories of von Bohler. Scott termed the condition
'hysteric puppy-love' which, he claimed, had many of the advantages of
human love if allowed to develop freely. Well, neither Min nor I
pretended we understood all his equations but they sure made a stir
among the scientists.
Frank kept getting more and more publicity. First we heard he was
serving his sentence in the mech correction center at La Jolla, then we
got a report that he'd turned up in Hollywood. Later it came out that
Galact-A-vision Pictures had hired Frank for a film and had gone $10,000
bail for him. Not long after that he was getting billed all over Terra
as _the_ sensational first robot star.
All during the production of _Forbidden Robot Love_ Frank remained lead
copy for the newspapers. Reporters liked to write him up as the
Valentino of the Robots. Frank Nineteen Fan Clubs, usually formed by
lonely female robots against their employers' wishes, sprang up
spontaneously through the East and Middle West. Then somebody found out
Frank could sing and the human teen-agers began to go for him. It got
so everywhere you looked and everything you read, there was Frank
staring you in the face. Frank in tweeds on the golf course. Frank at
Ciro's or the Brown Derby in evening clothes. Frank posing in his sports
jetabout against a blue Pacific background.
Meanwhile everybody forgot about Elizabeth Seven. The movie producers
had talked about hiring her as Frank's leading lady until they found out
about a new line of female robots that had just gone on the market. When
they screen-tested the whole series and picked a lovely Mylar
rationaloid named Diana Twelve, it hit Elizabeth pretty hard. She began
to let herself go after that and Min and I didn't have th
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