virgin of the rocks

As the night cold came creeping over the sand and up his legs, he brushed thegrit from his trousers and descended into the garage. Maybe working on the 'droidswould bury some of the remorse a little deeper in his mind. A quick survey of thechamber showed no movement. Neither of the new machines was in sight.Frowning slightly, Luke took a small control box from his belt and activated a coupleof switches set into the plastic. A low him came from the box. The caller produced the taller of the two robots,Threepio. In fact, he gave a yell of surprise as he jumped up behind the skyhopper. Luke started toward him, openly puzzled. "What are you hiding back therefor?" The robot came stumbling around the prow of the craft, he attitude one ofdesperation. It occurred to Luke then that despite his activating the caller, the Artoounit was still nowhere to be seen. The reason for his absence—or something related to it—came pouring unbiddenfrom Threepio. "It wasn't my fault," the robot begged frantically. "Please don'tdeactivate me! I told him not to go, but he's faulty. He must be malfunctioning.Something has totally boiled his logic circuits. He kept babbling on about some sortof mission, sir. I never heard a robot with delusions of grandeur before. Suchthings shouldn't even be within the cogitative theory units of one that's as basic as anArtoo unit, and…" "You mean…?" Luke started to gape. "Yes, sir…he's gone." "And I removed his restraining coupling myself," Luke muttered slowly.Already he could visualize his uncle's face. The last of their savings tied up inthese 'droids, he had said.