Robomuggers

They're not chasing us.

Curious. If they were legitimate, they'd at least yell at us to stop.

Now, you. What was going on back there?

A robot must protect its own existence. Production lines change. When you're old enough, the only source of replacement parts is other old robots.

Really? So, how much would you say you're worth? Black market value?

I need to start screaming again, don't I?

Robomuggers

No worries. We're not going to disassemble you.

[!1.2]Really?

[!1.2]Really?

Really. Besides being wrong, neither of us knows how to disassemble you without damaging the parts.

That I can believe.

I suppose removing circuit boards with a chainsaw would hurt the resale value.

Robomuggers

You can dump that guy now, There's stuff we can't do with a witnes… with him around.

We can't leave him. He's damaged. We have to make sure he gets back to his owner.

That would take hours. So what do we do in this situation?

Find a patsy. Florence?

Very good, Helix. The ability to abuse employees is what sets us apart from the lesser animals.

Robomuggers

We could have taken the train.

If they won't give a guy who's missing half his body half off on the ticket, I'd rather walk.

Robomuggers

Florence! We're back!

We found a guy who needed to be fixed up and we thought of you.

It's like being with my room mates back in college. Okay, three options available. Run, fight, or suffer through a bad date.

Robomuggers

DOGGY!

Florence, look what we found! Hey! You did the laundry!

What happened to you?

Two robots tried to disassemble me. Sam and Helix rescued me.

WHAT? Were they mal­fun­cti­on­ing?

It was unusual behavior for them. Helix seemed okay. Sam? It's hard to tell.

Robomuggers

My orange scarf is back and all is right with the world.

New gloves and backpack too!

When you move in the same social circles as the mayor, it's tacky to be seen always wearing the same environment suit combination.

We move faster than most.

Life support gear should be fashionable as well as functional.

Like the i-Pod pacemaker. It has a beat and you can dance to it.

Robomuggers

Sam, did you see the robots who tried to disassemble this one?

Sure did. Hey, notice anything different about me?

*sniff* You rolled in lichen?

NO! Well, yes. But that's not it. Look! New gloves!

Uhm, very nice. Blue?

Yep, blue. No more getting caught red handed for me.

Sam's gloves are coloured #8b8eb4.

Florence can not distinguish between red and green. Using a linear approximation, coulors like the following two and many between them look the same to her.

Robomuggers

Helix, tell her what robots did this.

A Whitton 3/4 ton truck and an Earhart flying probe.

That's what I told her.

That's not right! One was a big tin can robot and the other looked like a bird.

Those models don't have hands. I have to go with Sam's version.

Nuts. The one time someone believes me over eye witnesses and I waste it by telling the truth.

Robomuggers

It's interesting that you and Helix both saw the same thing. What type of robot is Helix?

Medium duty warehouse robot, Serial Number 1890-1938.

You didn't look at him.

No need. His radio transponder told me what and where he is.

So if a robot was using a transponder other than his own…

GREAT TURING'S GHOST! No wonder we can't find these muggers! They're in disguise!

1890-1938 – the years of life of the famous Czech writer Karel Čapek, co-author of the word “robot” (second co-author - his brother Josef)
Alan Turing – A renowned expert in automata theory related to research into artificial intelligence and in particular the distinction between humans and machines (the inverse Turing test, aka “captcha”)