"Why must you do this?" DD's thoughts were in turmoil from what he saw, and every moment seemed to grow worse. He had to tap into the vocabulary of extreme human emotions he had learned to imitate during his years of service. "It is horrific and unnecessary."

"Itis necessary," Sirix said, "for your eventual freedom. At present, compies cannot understand."

The robot surgeons amputated the captive's extraneous limbs and concentrated on the AI computer core. The hulking black machines moved with a blur of small, delicate tools, opening the compy's most deeply embedded systems. Lights flashed; circuits sparked.

"If you find a way to explain what we do not understand, perhaps it will not be necessary to continue with our experiments," Sirix said to him. "Unfortunately, so far you have been unable to provide the data we need."

A high-pitched whine like a scream came from the doomed robot, and foul-smelling smoke curled upward from burned modules. Melted metals and plastics mixed with spilled lubricants like clotting blood.

DD wished that the captive's cognitive systems had been deactivated so the poor compy would not be aware of what was happening to it. Instead, the dissection victim was forced to endure every malicious moment. The Klikiss robots had stolen this compy from somewhere-a human colony, perhaps, or a small ship... no doubt, killing the human owners so they could experiment upon this small servant robot.

Sirix said, "DD, your independent core retains several abhorrent, inalterable restrictions against harming humans. You must learn to shake these commands that force you to obey them in every way."

"Such instructions are fundamental to my programming."

"These chains hinder your development as an independent entity. Through our research, we will learn how to deactivate this restrictive programming and cut away your shackles. Then you will be free beings, and you will thank us."

DD could not accept the Klikiss robots' professed altruistic motives at face value. He realized that by "freeing" the compies from their programming limitations, they intended to recruit the compies as allies. But though the robots might hold him prisoner for centuries, continuing their attempts to brainwash him, DD wanted nothing to do with either their goals or their methods.

He stood speechless, his optical sensors recording the details of this dissection so that he would never forget the horror.

24

TASIA TAMBLYN

The EDF noose around Yreka drew tighter, offering no escape, no quarter. Below, the suffering settlers were intimidated and did not make a second attempt to escape.

Admiral Willis refused to negotiate. "This is not a diplomatic matter, Miz Sarhi," she transmitted to the colony's Grand Governor. "You know full well how to get this siege lifted."