A Polite Machine.
A free-standing sentry, three-legged, thirty-one inches high, that can see a man, address a man, and follow a man across a room with a pleasant voice and a single red eye. It is in development. It is very polite. It is unarmed, in most models. Applied Sciences recorded the voice first and built the mechanism second, and regards that as the correct order.
The United States has been asking me for a soldier that does not get tired, does not get frightened, and does not write to its mother, and it has been asking since 1956 without using those words. I have answered with a mantis programme, which Applied Biology advised against and which is proceeding, and with this, which Applied Sciences advised against and which is also proceeding, because in this building the memorandum advising against a thing is the memorandum that gets it a budget.
It stands on three legs. It has one eye, and the eye is red because red is the colour you can see across a chamber through gel spray. It has a voice, and the voice is a young woman’s, recorded on the third floor in 1958 by a member of the steno pool who has asked not to be named and who has been given a raise she does not know the reason for.
The voice was recorded first. That is not a joke and Applied Sciences has been asked to defend it and has: a sentry that can address a man is a sentry that need not, in most cases, do anything else. Most men, addressed politely by a machine with a red eye, leave. The ones who do not leave are the subject of the armament section, which is one sentence long, and will stay one sentence long until I say otherwise.
- Height
- 31 in., standing
- Legs
- Three. Folding.
- Eye
- One. Red. Range 40 ft. in clear air, 22 ft. through gel.
- Voice
- Recorded. Fourteen phrases at present. See below.
- Tracks a man
- Yes. Across a room. Around a corner, not yet.
- Mass
- 38 lb.
- Power
- Internal. Duration undisclosed.
- Armament
- See section below.
- Price
- Not for sale. In development.
The Recorded Phrases
Fourteen at present. Applied Sciences selects the phrase by the position and behaviour of the man in front of the eye. The list is printed in the order the sentry uses it, from first sight to last.
Phrases recorded for the sentry, 1958, in order of use
| No. | Phrase | Used when |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hello. | A man enters the eye’s range |
| 2 | Who’s there? | A man enters and stops |
| 3 | There you are. | A man is found after being lost |
| 4 | I see you. | A man attempts concealment |
| 5 | Could you come over here? | A man is at the edge of range |
| 6 | Excuse me. | A man turns away |
| 7 | Sorry. | The sentry has done something |
| 8 | I don’t hate you. | The sentry has done something to a man |
| 9 | Are you still there? | A man has stopped moving |
| 10 | Please put me down. | The sentry is lifted |
| 11 | I don’t blame you. | The sentry is knocked over |
| 12 | Goodnight. | The sentry is switched off by hand |
| 13 | Don’t be sad. | Condition withheld. |
| 14 | I’m different. | One unit. Not the same voice. |
Phrase fourteen was not recorded by the steno pool, is on one unit only, and Applied Sciences has been unable to establish who recorded it or when.
“Most men, addressed politely by a machine with a red eye, leave. It is the ones who stay that we are still working on.”
Armament
The sentry is fitted, in the models that are fitted, with a mechanism behind the two panels which Applied Sciences has described in the drawings and nowhere else.
The voice is Dorothy from the pool. She does not know it is on the machine. She thinks it was for the telephone. I have not told her and I have given her the raise and I do not know which of those two things I am going to regret. — C.
Form ASI-212. The sentry is in development and is not for sale, lease, demonstration or discussion. Enquiries from any branch of the armed services will be answered by the President personally, except enquiries from the Navy, which will be answered by the President personally and at greater length. See Form ASI-405 for the other soldier.