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167
The Status Civilization
·
Robert Sheckley
158
And
what
had
happened
next?
Confusion.
Panic.
A
sensation
of
someone
watching
as
he
stood,
weapon
in
hand,
over
the
corpse.
There,
at
the
end
of
the
street,
was
the
refuge
to
which
he
had
gone.
He
walked
up
to
it,
and
recognized
it
as
a
robot-confessional
booth.
Barrent
entered
the
booth.
It
was
small,
and
there
was
a
faint
odor
of
incense
in
the
air.
The
room
contained
a
single
chair.
Facing
it
was
a
complex,
brilliantly
lighted
panel.
"Good
morning,
Will,"
the
panel
said
to
him.
Barrent
had
a
sudden
sense
of
helplessness
when
he
heard
that
soft
mechanical
voice.
He
remembered
it
now.
The
passionless
voice
knew
all,
understood
all,
and
forgave
nothing.
That
artfully
manufactured
voice
had
spoken
to
him,
had
listened,
and
then
had
judged.
In
his
dream,
he
had
personified
the
robot-confessor
into
the
figure
of
a
human
judge.
"You
remember
me?"
Barrent
asked.
"Of
course,"
said
the
robot-confessor.
"You
were
one
of
my
parishioners
before
you
went
to
Omega."
"You
sent
me
there."
"For
the
crime
of
murder."
"But
I
didn't
commit
the
crime!"
Barrent
said.
"I
didn't
do
it,
and
you
must
have
known
it!"
"Of
course
I
knew
it,"
the
robot-confessor
said.
"But
my
powers
and
duties
are
strictly
defined.
I
sentence
according
to
evidence,
not
intuition.
By
law,
the
robot-confessors
must
weigh
only
the
concrete
evidence
which
is
put
before
them.
They
must,
when
in
doubt,
sentence.
In
fact,
the
mere
presence
of
a
man
before
me
charged
with
murder
must
be
taken
as
a
strong
presumption
of
his
guilt."
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