70 THE LIE

CHAPTER 70 THE LIE Once again, Roz marched into the light. Crusher watched her approach. But before he could fire his sound cannon, our robot called out to him. "I misspoke earlier," said Roz. "I actually was sent here by the Juggernaut." Roz was lying. She needed to distract Crusher from his work, and her plan was to confuse him with lies. Reader, I don't recommend lying. Telling a lie will almost always lead to more lies, which will lead to more lies, and pretty soon you can't keep track of them all, and then the truth comes out and everybody knows you lied and you feel horrible. Telling the truth makes life much simpler. However, this was one of those rare occasions when lying really was the best course of action. "The station is completely fine," Roz lied. "But it is having communication problems. I was sent here to deliver your new orders. Crusher, you have been ordered to stop all mining activity and await further instructions."

The lie seemed believable enough, and Roz felt something like pride in her scheme—until Crusher's voice rumbled, "What is your command code?" Roz didn't have a command code. She didn't even know how to lie about a command code. How many numbers were in such a code? Or would it be made up of letters? Our robot scrolled through her computer brain but found no helpful information. So she stalled for time. "What is my command code?" she said. "That is an excellent question. I am very glad you asked. I definitely have one. But I am under strict orders not to tell you my command code until you tell me your command code." Crusher was losing his patience. He said, "You have ten seconds to state your command code." "As I explained," said Roz, "if you state yours, I will state mine." "You have five seconds to state your command code." "I am curious," said Roz. "What will happen if I do not provide a code?" Crusher had lost his patience. He lunged at Roz and snatched at her with both claws. As you know, our robot had recently discovered that she could fight, and when Crusher attacked, she defended herself with force, swinging her fists and kicking her feet in a blur of

speed and strength. She pounded the claws with a rapid clang! clang! clang!—but Crusher was just too big. He easily grabbed our robot with one of his giant claws, and then he held her tight. Roz didn't bother trying to break free. She knew the claw wouldn't budge.

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