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* FTLTestBlunder: Early tests of Hyper Base's new hyperspace drive reduce the transmitted matter to fine powder. After this issue is resolved it is tested on animals and while the animals are physically unharmed they come back completely mindless and unresponsive. Even worse, when they try a robot-piloted ship, the drive fails to engage at all. A human engineer has to board the ship and identify the malfunction so they can disable the hyperdrive, knowing that at any second the drive could engage and destroy his mind. [[spoiler:It turns out that the robot had simply broken the control lever by pulling it too hard.]]
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* PressureSensitiveInterface: {{Subverted}}. An experimental hyperdrive fails to work because the robot at the controls, having been ordered to pull the activation lever "firmly", pulls it so hard that it bends out of shape.
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* TinmanTypist: It turns out that the reason why the ship didn't launch is because the robot pilot pulled too hard on the starter lever and bent it.
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* LiteralMinded: A robot pilot is set to test a hyperspace drive and is given instructions to "Pull [the control] toward you firmly. Firmly!" until the drive engages. However, [[AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker the drive doesn't engage, so the robot is stuck in that position]] and its human operators have to try to get it to stop but it just won't stop pulling because the drive hasn't engaged because the robot pulled back "firmly" with its full strength, damaging the control.
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* LiteralMinded: A robot pilot is set to test a hyperspace drive and is given instructions to "Pull [the control] toward you firmly. Firmly!" until the drive engages. However, [[AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker the drive doesn't engage, so the robot is stuck in that position]] and its human operators have to try to get it to stop but it just won't stop pulling because the drive hasn't engaged because the robot pulled back "firmly" with its full strength, [[BrokenLeverOfDoom damaging the control.control]].
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* AccidentalAstronaut: Defied by Black. After he enters the ''Parsec'' and sees what went wrong, he smashes the ship's computers to make sure the thing won't launch with him (quite unwillingly) in it.
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* WrittenInAbsence: Schloss had been out on sick leave during the events of "Literature/LitteLostRobot", which is why he was not present in that story.
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* WrittenInAbsence: Schloss had been out on sick leave during the events of "Literature/LitteLostRobot", "Literature/LittleLostRobot", which is why he was not present in that story.
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First published in ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' (May 1955 issue), by Creator/IsaacAsimov, and republished in the October 1955 issue of their UK branch. This {{Novelette}} is a {{Sequel}} to the events of "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
Gerald Black, the etherics engineer responsible for causing the NS-2 model to "get lost" in the previous story, is watching the next stage of [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] testing. Hyper Base has developed an [[NewTechIsNotCheap expensive prototype]] spaceship with a built-in hyperdrive, called ''Parsec'', which is expected to travel out to [[UsefulNotes/LocalStars Sirius]] and return.
When the countdown ends, however, the ship doesn't leave and nobody knows why. Black is selected to board the ship and determine what went wrong and prevent the hyperdrive from activating before they lose their prototype hyperdrive ship.
"Risk" has been republished twice; ''Literature/TheRestOfTheRobots'' (1964) and ''Literature/TheCompleteRobot'' (1982).
----
!!"Risk" contains examples of:
* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: One of the U.S. Robots is tasked with piloting a prototype [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace drive]], but when the drive doesn't engage, the robot is stuck in that position. One of the characters believes that even [[ThreeLawsCompliant the First Law]] won't stop its current actions because it is in the middle of completing the order.
* AndroidsArePeopleToo: Black is convinced that Dr Calvin believes the preserving robot "lives" is more important than preserving human lives. In reality, she did it [[FlawExploitation because she knows he hates robots and her]], and was hoping that his hatred would overcome his fear, making him better at analyzing the situation than a robot could. She explains this to him at the end of the story, a rare case of her demonstrating that robots are inferior to humans in some respect.
--> "You're telling me-you're saying you want me to go instead of a robot because I'm more expendable."\\
"It comes to that, yes."
* AsYouKnow: The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
* CapitalLettersAreMagic: The asteroid orbiting Hyper Base is technically called H937, but everyone on Hyper Base says "it" instead, and eventually the impersonal pronoun achieved the dignity of capitalization.
* CrewOfOne: The ''Parsec'', an experimental [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]], is designed to respond to only one control, operated by a positronic robot.
* FateWorseThanDeath: One of the problems with the experimental spacecraft is that any animal that goes through [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] loses all higher cognitive functions, sitting in their own waste and refusing to take any action, even eating. Gerald Black, who is chosen to [[TheNamesake risk this fate]], is terrified of it.
* FlawExploitation: After Black has returned from the ''Parsec'', Dr Calvin reveals that she had specifically chosen him because he hated robots, something that had been relevant in [[Literature/LittleLostRobot the previous story]]. She was counting on his hatred of being seen as inferior to robots to help him overcome his fear of [[FateWorseThanDeath being rendered a nearly-catatonic idiot]] as a result of the [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]] accidentally activating while he's aboard.
* LaserBlade: Black's internal narration mentions a "force knife", implied to be a knife made from [[DeflectorShields force fields]], but used [[GarnishingTheStory to more firmly establish the advanced technology of the setting]].
* LiteralMinded: A robot pilot is set to test a hyperspace drive and is given instructions to "Pull [the control] toward you firmly. Firmly!" until the drive engages. However, [[AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker the drive doesn't engage, so the robot is stuck in that position]] and its human operators have to try to get it to stop but it just won't stop pulling because the drive hasn't engaged because the robot pulled back "firmly" with its full strength, damaging the control.
* TheNamesake: This story revolves around risks, the risk of [[FateWorseThanDeath losing all higher cognitive abilities]], the risk of losing [[NewTechIsNotCheap an expensive experimental spaceship]], and the risk of danger to robots. Dr Calvin, [[IronLady coldly analytical robopsychologist of US Robotics]], has determined that the risk of losing another robot is too high, and tells Black that he must take the risk instead.
* NewTechIsNotCheap: After the ''Parsec'', an experimental [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]] ship, doesn't go into hyperspace like it is supposed to, the people in charge quickly grow worried, as the ship itself was very expensive to construct and losing it might mean the cancellation of the entire project for more profitable research.
-->Susan Calvin nodded. "The situation then is that if the ship disappears, as it may do at any moment, a few billion dollars of the taxpayers' money may be irretrievably gone, and-it will be said-through bungling."
* OneWordTitle
* SubspaceOrHyperspace: Hyper Base continues its experiments from "Literature/LittleLostRobot", having advanced to sending small animals and now building ships that are capable of travelling through hyperspace. The only negative? The creatures return completely mindless and Hyper Base has no understanding of why.
* ThreeLawsCompliant: While Dr Asimov's robots are important in this story, the main character tries to imagine what Dr Calvin's "Three Laws" might be as [[IronLady she is often compared to the robots that she represents]]. It demonstrates how he is stewing in his hatred of her.
-->What were her three laws, he wondered. First Law: Thou shalt protect the robot with all thy might and all thy heart and all thy soul. Second Law: Thou shalt hold the interests of U. S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation holy provided it interfereth not with the First Law. Third Law: Thou shalt give passing consideration to a human being provided it interfereth not with the First and Second laws.\\
Had she ever been young, he wondered savagely? Had she ever felt one honest emotion?
* WrittenInAbsence: Schloss had been out on sick leave during the events of "Literature/LitteLostRobot", which is why he was not present in that story.
----
Gerald Black, the etherics engineer responsible for causing the NS-2 model to "get lost" in the previous story, is watching the next stage of [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] testing. Hyper Base has developed an [[NewTechIsNotCheap expensive prototype]] spaceship with a built-in hyperdrive, called ''Parsec'', which is expected to travel out to [[UsefulNotes/LocalStars Sirius]] and return.
When the countdown ends, however, the ship doesn't leave and nobody knows why. Black is selected to board the ship and determine what went wrong and prevent the hyperdrive from activating before they lose their prototype hyperdrive ship.
"Risk" has been republished twice; ''Literature/TheRestOfTheRobots'' (1964) and ''Literature/TheCompleteRobot'' (1982).
----
!!"Risk" contains examples of:
* AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker: One of the U.S. Robots is tasked with piloting a prototype [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace drive]], but when the drive doesn't engage, the robot is stuck in that position. One of the characters believes that even [[ThreeLawsCompliant the First Law]] won't stop its current actions because it is in the middle of completing the order.
* AndroidsArePeopleToo: Black is convinced that Dr Calvin believes the preserving robot "lives" is more important than preserving human lives. In reality, she did it [[FlawExploitation because she knows he hates robots and her]], and was hoping that his hatred would overcome his fear, making him better at analyzing the situation than a robot could. She explains this to him at the end of the story, a rare case of her demonstrating that robots are inferior to humans in some respect.
--> "You're telling me-you're saying you want me to go instead of a robot because I'm more expendable."\\
"It comes to that, yes."
* AsYouKnow: The reporter, Nigel Ronson, describes to Black three people that he already knows, in rather unflattering tones. General Kallner is a military idiot, Dr Calvin is [[IronLady so aloof]] that she could travel through the sun and come out frozen in ice, and Director Schloss is too egotistical to give a decent answer to his questions. It works to summarize the people if the audience hadn't read "Literature/LittleLostRobot".
* CapitalLettersAreMagic: The asteroid orbiting Hyper Base is technically called H937, but everyone on Hyper Base says "it" instead, and eventually the impersonal pronoun achieved the dignity of capitalization.
* CrewOfOne: The ''Parsec'', an experimental [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]], is designed to respond to only one control, operated by a positronic robot.
* FateWorseThanDeath: One of the problems with the experimental spacecraft is that any animal that goes through [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperspace]] loses all higher cognitive functions, sitting in their own waste and refusing to take any action, even eating. Gerald Black, who is chosen to [[TheNamesake risk this fate]], is terrified of it.
* FlawExploitation: After Black has returned from the ''Parsec'', Dr Calvin reveals that she had specifically chosen him because he hated robots, something that had been relevant in [[Literature/LittleLostRobot the previous story]]. She was counting on his hatred of being seen as inferior to robots to help him overcome his fear of [[FateWorseThanDeath being rendered a nearly-catatonic idiot]] as a result of the [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]] accidentally activating while he's aboard.
* LaserBlade: Black's internal narration mentions a "force knife", implied to be a knife made from [[DeflectorShields force fields]], but used [[GarnishingTheStory to more firmly establish the advanced technology of the setting]].
* LiteralMinded: A robot pilot is set to test a hyperspace drive and is given instructions to "Pull [the control] toward you firmly. Firmly!" until the drive engages. However, [[AbsurdlyDedicatedWorker the drive doesn't engage, so the robot is stuck in that position]] and its human operators have to try to get it to stop but it just won't stop pulling because the drive hasn't engaged because the robot pulled back "firmly" with its full strength, damaging the control.
* TheNamesake: This story revolves around risks, the risk of [[FateWorseThanDeath losing all higher cognitive abilities]], the risk of losing [[NewTechIsNotCheap an expensive experimental spaceship]], and the risk of danger to robots. Dr Calvin, [[IronLady coldly analytical robopsychologist of US Robotics]], has determined that the risk of losing another robot is too high, and tells Black that he must take the risk instead.
* NewTechIsNotCheap: After the ''Parsec'', an experimental [[SubspaceOrHyperspace hyperdrive]] ship, doesn't go into hyperspace like it is supposed to, the people in charge quickly grow worried, as the ship itself was very expensive to construct and losing it might mean the cancellation of the entire project for more profitable research.
-->Susan Calvin nodded. "The situation then is that if the ship disappears, as it may do at any moment, a few billion dollars of the taxpayers' money may be irretrievably gone, and-it will be said-through bungling."
* OneWordTitle
* SubspaceOrHyperspace: Hyper Base continues its experiments from "Literature/LittleLostRobot", having advanced to sending small animals and now building ships that are capable of travelling through hyperspace. The only negative? The creatures return completely mindless and Hyper Base has no understanding of why.
* ThreeLawsCompliant: While Dr Asimov's robots are important in this story, the main character tries to imagine what Dr Calvin's "Three Laws" might be as [[IronLady she is often compared to the robots that she represents]]. It demonstrates how he is stewing in his hatred of her.
-->What were her three laws, he wondered. First Law: Thou shalt protect the robot with all thy might and all thy heart and all thy soul. Second Law: Thou shalt hold the interests of U. S. Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation holy provided it interfereth not with the First Law. Third Law: Thou shalt give passing consideration to a human being provided it interfereth not with the First and Second laws.\\
Had she ever been young, he wondered savagely? Had she ever felt one honest emotion?
* WrittenInAbsence: Schloss had been out on sick leave during the events of "Literature/LitteLostRobot", which is why he was not present in that story.
----
