The expendable said nothing, but now, at the other end of the bridge, the door in the side of the ship opened.
Umbo almost stepped onto the bridge. Then he stopped. “Are you planning to kill me when I step onto the bridge?”
The expendable said, “I do not kill human beings.” It sounded as if Odinex were proud of not having killed his Ram Odin.
Again, Umbo almost stepped onto the bridge, but caught himself. “Odinex, am I a human being?”
“No,” said Odinex.
“So if you kill me, you will not be killing a human being.”
“Correct.”
“Odinex, I am a human being.”
The expendable said nothing.
“What is your definition of a human being?” asked Umbo.
“An organism compliant with the standard human genome, with the normal range of variation.”
“What is my variation from standard?”
“You are genetically more different from human beings than a chimpanzee is.”
“Is that true of all the humans of Odinfold?”
“No,” said the expendable. “You have their variations, plus the variations from Ramfold.”
“Are any of the people of Garden human, as you define that?”
“No,” said the expendable.
“And by your definition, I’m even less human than everyone else.”
“It is the definition programmed into me on Earth,” said Odinex.
“Now let me ask you again. Will you let me cross this bridge safely, enter the ship, and then leave safely when I’ve finished my work?”
Odinex gave no answer. It was as if the question had not been asked.
Umbo had studied enough of the programming of the ship’s computers and the expendables that he understood what was happening. “You can’t make a prediction because you don’t know what I intend to do.”
“Correct.”
“Can you tell me what to avoid doing in order to keep you from needing to kill me?”
“Giving you a list of forbidden actions will only make it easier for you to act in a forbidden way.”
“But not giving me the list makes it impossible for me to avoid doing a forbidden thing.”
“You can avoid doing a forbidden thing by not entering the starship.”
“So if you push me off the bridge and I fall and you don’t rescue me, I can’t violate the ship.”
“That would be one solution.”
“Is it the one you’re planning to use?”