Page 54 - Like No Business I Know

Get in the POOL!

FRANCINE: I told you I needed a Mark Five. He can do all sorts of
wonderful things!
RALPH: I’ll bet. Well, he’s going right back to the factory.

FRANCINE: Just a minute, Ralph McGeddin! I’m in charge of the
household, and we can easily afford it now that you’re working again.

RALPH (sighs): That’s the problem, Francine: I’m not working.
FRANCINE: But you just started today! What happened?

RALPH: It’s a long story. Can I have a drink?
SERVOTECH: Here it is, sir.

RALPH (clinks ice cubes, drinks, exhales): Ah, that’s good! This one
really knows how to mix a gin and tonic—and fast. I’ll miss you,
Mark Five.
FRANCINE: Don’t get so comfortable, Ralph. You owe me an
explanation.

RALPH: All right, all right. But let me start at the beginning, when I
went to Cheerful Robots’ headquarters this morning. A Servotech
took me right to your brother’s office—it’s on the only floor with
windows. People don’t work anywhere else in the building. Anyway,
Fred handed me off to another Servotech. It led me to a small room
where it asked me the usual sort of questions about my background
and current situation. It was a little unnerving: we get used to asking
the questions of these machines rather than the other way around.
That was the interview, and I can’t imagine it counted for much other
than to prove I could speak and understand Reduced English.
FRANCINE: Yes, you’re one of the lucky ones who went to school
before they passed the language laws to protect the Servotechs from
confusing slang.
RALPH: You know, I don’t think I can remember many of those old
words and phrases. I guess we really didn’t need them. But I’m trying
to tell you what happened to me today.
FRANCINE: Sorry. Go ahead.

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