Read The Questor Tapes for Free Online

around each other, and Questor could hear the girl’s low laugh. “What’ll they say if they find me in your room?”
    “We can say we’re studying.”
    “They won’t believe that.”
    “Why do we have to say anything?”
    “You always have to say something.”
    The conversation meant nothing to Questor. He turned away, scanning the campus for the building he wanted, and located it two blocks away. He moved away from the tall trees and found his path blocked by a flower bed. Night-blooming jasmine scented the air, and he traced the fragrance to the flowers. His fingers stroked the delicate blossoms lightly, and he cataloged them.
    As he walked around the wide flower bed and emerged on the lawn again, something made him look up. It was of those rare, marvelously clear nights in southern California, and the whole glittering panorama of stars was laid out across the sky. Questor stood for a long moment, I staring up, his eyes sweeping from quadrant to quadrant, studying them all. For the first time a trace of expression moved his face—the faint knitting of his brows, as if something puzzled him. Something he could not catalog. It was not the location of the stars. Their positions as seen from every point on earth had been programmed into him. It was something else, something undefined that had not been programmed but was a part of him anyway.
    A rustling in the shrubbery behind him swiftly drew his attention back to his immediate surroundings. A large black and tan animal confronted him; ears laid back, a low growl rumbling in its throat. Questor tilted his head slightly to the right, trying to classify it. Part of his programming was jumbled and contained gaps.
    This was one of them. “Good ev-e-ning,” Questor said. His voice was flat, expressionless, the words disjointed.
    The Doberman stopped growling and backed up a pace, confused by the android’s strange voice. His nose quivered slightly and he took another step back, beginning to whine.
    “Good ev-e-ning,” Questor said again.
    The Doberman spun around and sprinted away, his dark form disappearing in the shadows. Questor pulled his brows together again. A most curious response. Surely he had said the properly courteous thing. However, there were important matters he had to attend to immediately. He turned his attention from the animal.
    Cal Tech was a stately campus, set like a jewel against the Sierra Madres. Its older buildings had the graceful architecture of a gentler, less frantic world. One of these was the administration building. Questor mounted the short set of stairs to the front doors and stepped into the marbled corridor. A massive set of double doors faced him. A sign beside them identified them as the entrance to the Vaslovik Archives.
    Questor crossed to the doors, took both doorknobs in his hands, and twisted carefully. There was resistance, so he twisted harder. The locking mechanism shattered with a metallic scream; Questor entered, leaving the doors slightly ajar behind him.
    The Vaslovik Archives were sheltered in one large room crammed with shelves of bound papers and locked filing cabinets. There was also a microtape reading setup. All the material stored in the archives had to do with Project Questor exclusively.
    There was no light in the room, but Questor needed none. A slight adjustment of the eye mechanism, done automatically, enabled him to switch to infrared. He went first to the microtape reader. The machine was easy to operate and would provide the most information quickly.
    At the far end of the hall, a light shone in a single office. A shadow moved against the opaque glass of the upper door, and then the light went out. Allison Sample emerged, locked the door, and walked quickly toward the main entrance.
    When she reached the Vaslovik Archives she noticed the slightly open doors, and frowned. The custodians who tended this building had never been careless enough to leave that room open. She went to shut it, then heard the