e heart to say
anything to her. It was pretty obvious she wasn't oiling herself
properly, her hair wasn't brushed and she didn't seem to care when one
of her photons went dead.

When _Forbidden Robot Love_ premiered simultaneously in Hollywood and
New York the critics all gave it rave reviews. There were pictures of
Diana Twelve and Frank making guest appearances all over the country.
Back at the Io we got in the habit of letting Elizabeth watch TV with us
sometimes in the Renting Office and one night there happened to be an
interview with Frank and Diana at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. I guess
seeing the pretty robot starlet and her Frank sitting so close together
in the nightclub must have made the girl mech feel pretty bad. Even then
she didn't say a word against the big servo; she just never watched the
set again after that.

When we tabbed up the Io's receipts that year they were so good Min and
I decided to take a month off for an Earthside vacation. Min's retired
brother in Berkeley was nice enough to come out and look after the place
for us while we spent four solid weeks soaking up the sun in Southern
California. When we got back out to the spotel, though, I could see
there was something wrong by the look on Jim's face.

"It's that girl robot of yours, Bill," he said. "She's gone and
deactivated herself."

We went right to 22A and found Elizabeth Seven stretched out on the
floor. There was a screwdriver clutched in her hand and the relay banks
in her side were exposed and horribly blackened.

"Crazy mech shorted out her own DX," Jim said.

Min and I knew why. After Jim left for Earth we dismantled Elizabeth the
best we could and put her back in Frank's old locker. We didn't know
what else to do with her.

Anyway, the slack season came and went and before long we were doing
the spring cleaning again and wondering how heavy the Jovian Moons trade
was going to be. I remember I'd been making some repairs outside and was
just hanging up my spacesuit in the Renting Office when I heard the
radar announcing a ship.

It was the biggest Marvin 990 I'd ever seen that finally suctioned up to
the boom and secured. I couldn't take my eyes off the ship. She was
pretty near the last word in rockets and loaded with accessories. It
took me a minute or two before I noticed all the faces looking out of
the viewports.

"Min!" I whispered. "There's something funny about those faces. They
look like--"

"Robots!" Min an