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"At its best, SF is the medium in which our miserable certainty that tomorrow will be different from today in ways we can't predict, can be transmuted to a sense of excitement and anticipation, occasionally evolving into awe."
- John Brunner
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| Rolov | ||
| A specialized robot for the bedroom. |
Maryn was advised by her mother to make sure to use the rolov if young Jackson Mellibant VII wanted more than coffee after their date.
| Maryn slid into the bedroom and pulled back the covers. There on the sheets as a reminder was the small flat black box that controlled the rolov. Maryn stabbed one of the buttons, and the discreetly hidden door by the bed opened up. Out rumbled the life-like rolov, and Maryn sat it on the bed, swung its feet off the travel platform, and slid the platform back into the closet. She closed the closet door, and worked the controls so that the rolov clumsily got into bed and lay down on its side. This part of the rolov's repertoire was not automatic, and took a certain amount of facility with the control box. Maryn, seeing how awkwardly the rolov got into bed, was grateful she did not have to make it walk anywhere. She stood looking at this model of her present appearance and had to admit that, except for the eyes, it looked lifelike. She laid her hand on its shoulder. It was cold as an oyster. |
| Technovelgy from Roll Out the Rolov!,
by Christopher Anvil. Published by Imagination in 1953 Additional resources -
|
Not to spoil your experience of reading the story, but it turns out that Melligant VII sent a similar device into the bedroom. When Maryn discovers it, she has a higher opinion of him.
A more chaste version of this story was used in Manly Wade Wellman's 1938 short story The Robot and the Lady; see the article on the tele operated robot surrogate.
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'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'
'the robot-boss was busy at the lip of the new lode instructing and egging the men on to greater speed...'
'He rode the bike with an intense lack of physical grace...'
