Robert Pirx, sitting in his office in Freeport 5 and drinking morning coffee, read messages.
- Nothing interesting, only spam ' he said to himself.
- Max! - Robert shouted. The shining RT-525 robot appeared in the doorway. Robert was satisfied, that he had employed these robots. Actually he bought them, but it is completely irrelevant for them.
- Yes Sir - robot answered, entering.
- Max, I am getting back home to the Gran Canaria. I can't stay here, I feel like a deer cornered by wolves.
- But Sir, nothing here is threatening you, Senor Fernandes ensured '¦
- Yes, I know - Robert interrupted robot's speech - he is a sensible man, but ... who knows what these Corsairs think. First, they demand conversations and supplies, and now suddenly are forbidding the docking. I don't understand them. If they want supplies ' no problem, if they don't want - no harm. It is only business. If not here, then somewhere else. Strange... - he broke off for a moment. Robot stood motionless, expecting orders.
- It must be some sort of game - Robert said after a while - I don't like to be a pawn in the game, which I don't understand. You know Max, these days people are unpredictable...
- If you think so, Sir.
- Max, you will stay here in case Fernandes may speak and need something. Redirect all messages to me immediately.
- Yes Sir.
- Meanwhile, you and BQ-880 will care about supply of the station - water, food, fuel, pharmaceuticals. Everybody needs it.
- Yes Sir, can we sell it to Corsairs?
- Of course. They are our main customers.
- I understand, Sir.
Robert rose from the armchair and set off to the exit.
- Max.
- Yes Sir.
- I leave for you a patrol Drone CX-355. Patrol the system regularly. This is dangerous place, and times are uncertain. I wouldn't like to lose any of my ship. Of course it is about you too.
- Yes Sir, we thank you Sir.
Robert left the office and moved towards docks, where has waited, ready for the launch, his gunboat - "Conference".
....... Robert was reading the latest news about the situation in Omicrons. Core's ultimatum is just a smokescreen, everything was decided already, war will come anyway. One war less or more, it makes no difference, chaos engulfed the entire Sirius, people went crazy. The end of human universe is near, Robert had no doubt about that.
Robot BQ-880 came into the room suddenly.
- Sir, I have bad news - said Robot
- What happened, Bob? - Robert looked at the Robot. He was not particularly worried. It could not be anything worse than what is going on at present.
- Sir, RT-525 was destroyed.
- Dam... it, how did it happen? - Robert had not expected that. This message was really bad.
- Sir, the last message came from Omega 11. RT-525 was en route to Stuttgart for Food Rations. He met strange ships - Gunboat with Keeper ID and Battleship with Wild ID.
- Shi... he could not hit worse... And what was next? - Robert asked.
- Sir, they stopped the RT-525 and asked what he is, he replied that he is a Robot. This one from the Battleship said that RT is flawed and must be fixed, and he started shooting.
- Didn't RT-525 try to flee?
- No Sir, he considered the probability of success too low and in accordance to your instructions, he started transmitting his memory to the station.
- He succeeded?
- Yes, the transfer was complete. Before the destruction he sent a message that he thinks, he is fine.
- That's good - The memory of the robot was most important. Ship and robot body can be replaced but experiences, consciousness were priceless.
- Please send the record to Gammu, let them prepare a new body with RT-525 memory. - Robert ordered.
- Yes Sir, thank you Sir, RT-525 was a good companion.
- I liked him too, I hope that new RT-525 will be as successful as former one. Send to the insurer an information, that we have lost the ship. We have to order a new one and send it to Gammu, to synchronize the ship computer with the new RT-525.
- Yes Sir, I do it as soon as possible. - after these words, BQ-880 came out.
Robert sunk in reverie. He lost one of his ships and the robot. Insurance company will cover most of losses, but dozens millions of credits went up in smoke and for some time he will have only one ship.
.......