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.Fitzsimmons is running this plant in perfect order and turning out nothing but Threes and a group or two of Fours.""Why? Stop beating the subject to death and tell , my why.""Class Three Matrices don't ask for freedom.They do what they are told to do, nothing more.Which is why they're all Fitzsimmons is making.And since you seem to be playing right along with him, I think Roarchik's days as a first-class android factory are limited."" I'm working for Fitzsimmons? What about all the fanny patting you two were doing in his office? Are you trying to tell me you don't play it the company way? Fitzsimmons made it quite clear what you are." Andros glared at her, and she felt as though he were stripping her in public and wasn't too interested in buying what he saw."Is Fitzsimmons' brand on your body, or did Fressli get there first?" The cold contempt in his voice hit hard.She hated what had been necessary for her to do to stay alive.Miranda turned her back on him, gripping the railing until her knuckles turned white."I am one of the few Super-Matrices left.The rest have been killed or are in hiding.I wanted to live—I saw my friends die, and a laser bolt isn't a pleasant way to go." She turned to face him."I've done many things I'm ashamed of, but I could do nothing for my people if I were dead.And as for you—you fake! You'll be lucky if Fitzsimmons lets you out of here alive." She almost hoped Fitzsimmons would kill him—that would put an end to his smug superiority."He'll find I'm not that easy to kill.It's been tried before and didn't work.Now, if you're through playing 'confession,' you can give me the situation straight.Why should I believe you're a Super? Your face says Matrix-One.""It was one of the conditions for staying alive.Fitzsimmons could have made me a Four, but since I do a lot of his office work it would have caused some confusion.I am a Super.You'll have to accept that.There isn't any easy way to prove it.""You could start by telling me the truth about Roarchik's.I'm not some dumb kid Fitzsimmons can pat on the head and tell to run along and enjoy himself.I'm tired of being treated like a fool by him or anyone else.And that particularly includes you.I don't care why you don't like me, or what your gripe is, but if you think I'm going to take any more lip from a plastic doll who thinks she's a Super, you'd better think again.Now, are you going to answer my questions, or do I go looking for some of those Supers you say are in hiding around here?""You wouldn't be able to find them in a millennium.Fitzsimmons couldn't; why do you think you're any different?""Because I'm Roarchik, and you've made it very clear how important that name is.I think if I went to Bleydeaux and let it be known I was looking for Father's Supers, I'd get results."Miranda nodded her head reluctantly.The idea was a sound one.It could bring out the Sons of Vat or the Racers, too, but it might net him a Super."Your game," she conceded."What do you want to know?""Why is Fitzsimmons making only Threes and Fours? They're hardly more than robots.""Correction: they're cheaper to make than a 'bot.Toss in the right chemicals, wait awhile, and presto, a Three just waiting to do your every command.Come on, we've covered all there is to see here.Let's try the baby racks, and I can explain as we go along."Some of the pipes from the main room led into a room filled with rows of shelves.Smaller tubes led down from the main pipes and connected to racks on the shelves containing sac-like membranes, each one holding one liter of dark, murkish fluid.There were at least two hundred sacs to a set of the ceiling-high shelves, and more rows of shelves than Andros could quickly count."Embryo chambers," explained Miranda."This is where our DNA soup is tickled with chemicals and a drop of radiation to start the process of cell change and growth that begins an android.These sacs are like wombs, the pipes are a form of placenta.Any questions yet?""Yes, the radiation can be a problem—doesn't it change the basic gene pattern and give mutations?""Yes and no." Miranda was pleased he was beginning to show some interest."Some mutation is useful and very natural.The human female is bombarded daily by low grade radiation from the sun alone, and some of it does affect her unborn child.We watch for any true abnormalities, and the radiation is carefully controlled.Its primary purpose is to speed up the growth process.Remember, we turn out a fully-finished android in six months instead of twenty years like humans do.""But a Roarchik android takes from one to two years…""Ah ha! But that's when you're turning out Matrices-One or -Two
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