71

Christopher Stasheff

“That of an advisor.” Magnus worked at keeping his posture loose, not letting the tension show.

“After all, you have a vested interest in d’Armand Automatons, as well as an academic one, do you not?”

“Academic?” Roger frowned. “The family business is just that, young man—they apply proven principles in building their robots; they don’t experiment.”

Magnus looked up at Matilda in surprise that was only partly feigned. “You don’t have a research and development department?”

“Well, of course,” Matilda said, nettled. “They are constantly searching for new ways to apply established knowledge.”

“But not to discover new principles themselves.”

Roger smiled vindictively. “After all, there’s just so much that artificial intelligence can do, and creative thought is really beyond a cybernetic ‘brain.’ ”

“Which means that it is for you to do the primary research,” Magnus interpreted. “Surely you could see that the family has the benefit of that.”

“And the rest of the world! I publish my results, young man!”

“As is only appropriate,” Magnus said smoothly.

“Still, you must verify your results repeatedly before you publish, must you not?”

“Yes.” Roger frowned, not seeing Magnus’s point.

“And if d’Armand Automatons had performed those experiments for you, they would be in a position to investigate applications much more quickly than the rest of the industry.”

Roger looked off into space, mulling the thought.