（外文电子版资料）Larry Niven - Intent to Decieve.doc

INTENT TO DECEIVE Larry Niven A waiter came to meet them as they landed. It crossed the restaurant like a chess pawn come to life, slid to a graceful stop on the carport balcony, hesitated long enough to be sure it had their attention, then moved inside at a slow walking pace. The sound of its motion was a gentle whisper of breeze from under the lip of its ground-effect skirt. It guided them across the floor of the Red Planet, between and around occupied tables, empty tables, tables which displayed decorative meats and bowls of flowers, and other whispering robot waiters. At a table for two on the far side of the room, it deftly removed one chair to accommodate Lucas Garners travel chair. Somehow it had recognized Luke as a paraplegic. I t held the other chair for Lloyd Masney to sit down. The murals on the restaurant walls were dull red and bright silver: a Ray Bradbury Mars, with the silver spires of an ancient Martian city nestling among red sands. A straight canal dwindled into the distance at both sides of the big room. Its silver waters actually crossed the floor and were in turn crossed by bridges. Attenuated, fragile Martians moved through the streets of the mural. Sometimes they looked curiously out at the customers, the human intruders in their make-believe world. Strange place, said Masney. He was a big, compact man with white hair and a bushy white moustache. Luke didnt answer. When Masney glanced up he was startled by his friends malevolent expression. Whats wrong? he asked, and turned to follow Lukes eyes. Luke was glaring his extreme distaste at a target which could only lave been the robot waiter. The waiter was a standard make. Below a blank spherical head was a body cylindrical for most of its length. The arms it had used to adjust Masneys chair for him had already vanished into panels in its torso, to join other specialized arms and hands and interior shelves for carrying food. Like all the other waiters, it had been painted in an abstract pattern