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    Arm of the Law
    Arm of the Law
    Arm of the Law
    Ebook26 pages24 minutes

    Arm of the Law

    By Harry Harrison

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    An experiment in robotic law enforcement goes awry in this thought-provoking read from the golden age of science fiction.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStart Publishing LLC
    Release dateFeb 1, 2016
    ISBN9781682991633
    Author

    Harry Harrison

    HARRY HARRISON (1925-2012) was the Hugo Award-nominated, Nebula Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Stainless Steel Rat, Deathworld, and West of Eden series, as well as Make Room! Make Room! which was turned into the cult classic movie, Soylent Green starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson. In 2009 Harrison was awarded the Damon Knight SF Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

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    • 2/5
      A police robot is sent to an out-of-the-way post for testing, and quickly cleans up the town. Gritty, fast-paced, short story, with the robot always having exactly what's needed to do the job - he's a Superman without the need of a secret identity.
    • 4/5
      A great and quite amusing little tale
    • 4/5
      A well-written story about the consequences of sending a straight-arrow robot to be a cop in a crooked Martian town.
    • 3/5
      I liked seeing Harrison's early voice, but this story about a police robot helping to shake up a (space) colonial corrupt police department didn't really do anything interesting.

    Book preview

    Arm of the Law - Harry Harrison

    Arm of the Law

    by Harry Harrison

    Start Publishing LLC

    Copyright © 2015 by Start Publishing LLC

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

    First Start Publishing eBook edition July 2015

    Start Publishing is a registered trademark of Start Publishing LLC

    Manufactured in the United States of America

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    ISBN 13: 978-1-68299-163-3

    It was a big, coffin-shaped plywood box that looked like it weighed a ton. This brawny type just dumped it through the door of the police station and started away. I looked up from the blotter and shouted at the trucker’s vanishing back.

    What the hell is that?

    How should I know? he said as he swung up into the cab. I just deliver, I don’t X-ray ‘em. It came on the morning rocket from earth is all I know. He gunned the truck more than he had to and threw up a billowing cloud of red dust.

    Jokers, I growled to myself. Mars is full of jokers.

    When I went over to look at the box I could feel the dust grate between my teeth. Chief Craig must have heard the racket because he came out of his office and helped me stand and look at the box.

    Think it’s a bomb? he asked in a bored voice.

    Why would anyone bother—particularly with a thing this size? And all the way from earth.

    He nodded agreement and walked around to look at the other end. There was no sender’s address anywhere on the outside. Finally we had to dig out the crowbar and I went to work on the top. After some prying it pulled free and fell off.

    That was when we had our first look at Ned. We all would have been a lot happier if it had been our last look as well. If we had

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