"You unlock this door with the key of imagination." "Beyond it is another dimension- a dimension of sound... a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind." "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas." "You've just crossed over into the twilight zone." "Couple of beers, honey, huh?" "Man, listen to that squeak." "What do you expect?" "Well, when we get paid off, he'll get all the oil paste he needs." "If we can find any." "Well, why shouldn't we?" "Because they don't make it anymore." "That's crazy, there's plenty of b2's around." "Name five." "Will he be all right?" "If he don't get hit." "Well, it's no use glaring at me you know he's shot." "That ain't true, he just needs a little work." "Yeah, a little $3,000, 4,000 overhaul with parts they don't make anymore." "Thanks." "The way you tell it, pole, you'd think he was ready for the scrapheap." "Ain't he?" "No, he ain't." "There's plenty of fight left in maxo." "Well, is he going to be all right?" "Steel, i don't know." "He needs work- you know that." "The trigger springs in his left arm has been rewired so many times, it's just about had it." "He's got no protection on that side." "The eye lens is cracked." "The leg cables are worn- they got no tension." "Even his gyro is off." "Not to mention the oil paste he ain't got." "We'll get him some." "Yeah, afterthe fight." "What aboutduring the fight?" "He'll be creaking around that ring like a steam shovel." "It'll be a miracle if he goes two rounds." "It's not that bad, pole." "It's worse- wait till that crowd gets a load of battling maxo from philadelphia." "We'll be lucky to get our car fare home much less 500 bucks." "They can't back out of the contract." "The contract is for battling maxo- not this steam shovel here." "Maxo's going to do all right." "Against a b7?" "It's a starter b7- don't even have the kinks worked out yet." "Aw... battling maxo- one-round maxo the battling steam shovel." "Will you shut up?" "What are you always knocking him for?" "He's been doing all right for five years." "He'll keep doing okay." "Okay, so he needs a little work, a little oil paste." "We get the 500 bucks, we'll get him that stuff- new trigger spring, oil paste, eye lens, everything." "Yeah, you'll do okay, boy." "You'll do okay." "Sports item, circa 1974:" "Battling maxo, b2, heavyweight, accompanied by his manager and handler, arrives in maynard, kansas, for a scheduled six-round bout." "Battling maxo is a robot, or, to be exact, an android, an automaton resembling a human being." "Only these automatons have been permitted in the ring since prizefighting was legally abolished in 1968." "This is the story of that scheduled six-round bout." "More specifically, the story of two men shortly to face that remorseless truth:" "That no law can be passed which will abolish cruelty or desperate need, nor, for that matter, blind animal courage." "Location for the facing of said truth a small, smoke-filled arena just this side of the twilight zone." "Oh, for... tip him, huh." "What's the use?" "Tip him!" "Okay." "You know, i don't get you, pole." "After seven months, we finally get a bout and all you can do is complain." "Some bout- maynard, kansas, the prizefighting center of the nation." "It's a start, ain't it?" "What we earn here, we can put maxo back in shape." "Huh, if he wins." "Hah!" "You know, i don't get you, pole." "He's our fighter." "Now, why do you keep writing him off?" "I'm a class-a mechanic, steel, not a daydreaming kid." "We got us a piece of dead iron here." "Shh." "Somebody will hear you." "Simple mechanics- maxo will be lucky to get out of the ring with his head on." "Wrong." "It's a starter b7, full of kinks." "Just full of them." "Sure, sure." "Come in." "Mr. Nolan?" "No, maxwell." "Nolan will be back in a couple of minutes." "I'm, uh..." "i'm kelly." "Battling maxo's manager." "Oh, yeah." "And this is pole, my mechanic." "Sit down." "Nolan will be right back." "Oh, thanks, thanks." "Uh... maybe you heard about my fighter, mr." "Maxwell." "Hmm?" "You heard of my fighter?" "Nope." "Oh, he was almost the world's heavyweight champion once." "I... i used to be a heavyweight myself." "Before the law was passed, of course." "Yeah, i used to box under the name of "steel" kelly." "They called me that because i never got knocked down." "Not... not once." "Well, going to be a great fight tonight, huh?" "My boy took dimsey the rock back in '71." "You remember that." "Nope." "It was all over the east coast newspapers- boston, new york, philly." "Well, that's where we're from- philly." "Yeah, biggest upset of the year- made the headlines." "Mr. Nolan?" "Hmm?" "Kelly." "I was wondering if you'd make it." "Your fighter in shape?" "Oh, yes, sir, my mechanic here took him apart and put him back together before we left philly." "You're lucky to get a bout." "We ain't used nothing less than b4's in almost two years." "Fighter we had got ruined in a car wreck, though." "Oh, you got nothing to worry about, mr." "Nolan." "My fighther's in top shape." "Hey, you know, he took dimsey the rock back in '71." "I just want a good fight." "Oh, you'll get it, mr." "Nolan." "You'll get it." "Oh, uh, do you have a ready room that we can use?" "I like to give him a last-minute check." "Number five, down the hall." "And your bout's at 9:00." "Yes, sir." "Oh, mr." "Nolan, uh... i, uh... you'll get your money after you deliver a fight." "Yes, sir." "Okay, see you then." "Mr. Maxwell." "Oh, boy." "Five." "I want you to check him over good, now." "What for?" "Did you hear me?" "Yeah." "He's going to take that lousy b7." "Sure he is, with his teeth." "I wish we'd have gotten that oil paste." "I told you they wouldn't sell any here- why should they?" "Maxo is probably the only b2 in a thousand miles." "I hear morley's coming out with a b9 this year." "Hypertrigger in both arms and legs." "All steeled aluminum, triple gyro, triple- twisted wiring." "Say it'll be able to stand up after knockdowns, too." "Well, is he okay?" "Sure, he's great." "If this doesn't blow." "Well, why should it?" "It's subpar, i told you that eight months ago." "Well, we'll get another one after the bout." "Yeah, another 75 bucks down the drain." "Look, he's earning us $500, ain't he?" "Go easy on that left." "If it don't work now, it won't work tonight." "Save it." "Okay, set him so he don't counterpunch." "Oh, they'll hear him in the back row." "All right, try the rest." "He'll get more than two punches thrown at his head." "Try the rest, i said." "Okay, put him on automatic." "Oh, he's beautiful, just beautiful." "We got to put him on defense." "He'll get chopped to pieces if we let him move in." "No." "Oh, for... he's a b2, steel, a b2!" "He's going to get slaughtered anyway we might as well save the... but the contract calls for him to be on offensive." "Ah, what's the use?" "Come on, let's test him some more." "What for, he's... will you just do like i say?" "What'd you do?" "I told you not to mess with that left." "So help you if you broke it." "Ifibroke it!" "Listen, this heap's been going on borrowed time for the past three years." "Don't you talk to me about breakages!" "Open him up." "Sure, sure." "You just find another mechanic who could have kept this steam shovel going these last few years- you just find one." "Fix it." "Steel, i... fix it." "Steel, i can't." "Look, you broke it, now you fix it!" "Let go of me." "It's got to be fixed." "It needs a new spring." "Then get one." "They don't have them here, don't you understand?" "They don't make them anymore." "Well, if they don't watch the fights... what?" "If nolan and maxwell don't watch the bouts." "What are you talk... what are you, crazy?" "You're out of your mind." "You can't do that." "We deliver a fight or we don't get paid." "Come on, steel, they'll never let you." "You can't make them believe that... listen, you can't do it." "Nobody knows what maxo looks like." "Only those two guys in the office saw me, and if nolan and maxwell don't watch the bouts, well, why should the crowd know?" "Steel!" "Well, the b2's bleed just like any of the new ones, and bruise and the whole thing." "Look, i can wire my sister." "She'll send us the dough to get back east." "Steel, i know a guy in philly wants to sell a b5 cheap." "We can scurry up the cash with it." "Steel, use your head, will you?" "It's a b7- you'll get mangled." "I'm not going to let you do it, i... you're going to help me or i'm going to beat your brains out." "You'll get killed, steel." "Then i will." "Hey." "You're late." "Where's the owner?" "In the audience." "I should've told him." "I would've killed you if you had." "You'll have to towel me off between rounds." "Between what round?" "You won't last even one." "What do you think you're going up against, another fighter?" "You're going against a machine, you big, dumb... just do like i say, huh?" "If i towel you off, they'll know, won't they?" "Look, they ain't seen a b2 around here in years." "Nolan said so." "Anybody asks, just tell them it's an oil leak." "Sure, sure." "Well, if it ain't battling' maxo!" "Scrap iron, scrap iron!" "Scrap iron, scrap iron!" "Ladies and gentlemen!" "The fifth contest of the evening- a six-round heavyweight bout featuring, from philadelphia, a b2, battling maxo!" "Get that pile of junk out of here!" "Rattlin' maxo, you mean!" "And his opponent, our own b7, the maynard flash." "This is your last chance." "Get out." "Stay away from him, then." "Get that tanker a bicycle!" "Get that junk pile out of there!" "Don't do it." "Kill him, kill him, kill him!" "Kill him!" "No." "What a fighterheis!" "Can you get up?" "Steel, can you get up?" "All right, hold it, now." "Hold it." "The robe." "What?" "Get the robe." "Hold it down, that's enough, now." "Ladies and gentlemen, the winner, in two minutes and 20 seconds of the first round, the maynard flash!" "Get that pile of tin out of here!" "Rusty pile of junk!" "Get out of here!" "You big, dumb... what?" "Go get the money." "But... now." "Oh, you get the money, huh?" "Did you get the money?" "Half of it." "What do you mean?" "He wouldn't pay five c's for a one-rounder." "Are you kidding?" "Steel, steel, there's nothing we can do about it." "He's got a bunch of toughs in there." "We're lucky he didn't run us out of town on the rails." "Okay." "We'll take the bus back." "We'll take the bus back all the way." "That'll cost us about 60, 70 bucks." "That'll leave us 200 almost." "We can get a new lens plate, trigger springs, oil paste." "Yeah, lots of oil paste." "Maxo will be good as new, huh?" "We'll get some good bouts, maxo, huh?" "That's all he needs is a little overhaul- oil paste, trigger springs, eye lens." "Yeah, maxo's going to be all right." "We'll show 'em what a good b2 can do huh, maxo, right?" "Right." "Right, pole, huh?" "Huh?" "Sure, steel." "Portrait of a losing side, proof positive that you can't outpunch machinery." "Proof also of something else:" "That no matter what the future brings, man's capacity to rise to the occasion will remain unaltered." "His potential for tenacity and optimism continues, as always, to outfight, outpoint and outlive any and all changes made by his society, for which three cheers and a unanimous decision rendered from the twilight zone."