"He had to look like an android, because otherwise they wouldn't accept
him. But he was the sturdiest, strongest android ever made, with
several ingenious, new muscles. If it came to fighting, he was sure
to make converts that way. And besides, he had something that's never
been put in a robot brain before--the ability to argue and convince.
With that, he had the usuform soldier as a combination bodyguard and
example. So he went out among the androids, even to the guards at
Robinc and from then on inside; and since he was a usuform converter,
well--he converted."
The Head let the famous grin play across his black face. "Fine work,
Quinby. And if Grew hadn't had the sense to see at last that he was
licked, you could have gone on with your usuform converters until there
wasn't an android left on Earth. Robinc would have toppled like a
wooden building with termites."
"And Grew?" I asked. "What's become of him?"
"I think, in a way, he's resigned to his loss. He told me that since
his greatest passion was gone, he was going to make the most of his
second greatest. He's gone off to his place in the mountains with that
usuform cook you gave him, and he swears he's going to eat himself to
death."
"Me," said Mike, with appropriate business, "I'd like a damper death."
"And from now on, my statisticians assure me, we're in no danger of
ever using up our metal stockpile. The savings on usuforms will save
us. Do you realize, Quinby, that you're just about the most important
man in the Empire today?"
That was when I first heard the band approaching. It got louder while
Quinby got red and gulped. It was going good when he finally said, "You
know, if I'd ever thought of that, I ... I don't think I could have
done it."
He meant it, too. You've never seen an unhappier face than his when the
crowd burst into the Sunspot yelling "Quinby!" and "Q.U.R.!"
But you've never seen a prouder face than mine as I saw it then in the
bar mirror. Proud of myself, sure, but only because it was me that
discovered Dugg Quinby.