I watched the service droid’s graceful movements. Dancing from table to table, it poured the coffee and refilled glasses in noiseless, almost ghostlike, intrusions so that the patrons, in their conversations, might not even notice the visitation. I watched, as it were, the thing which was supposed to be nearly invisible move invisibly.
It is something of a habit of mine, to sit quietly and watch, to lose myself in observation. So, I watched with little care, seeing, knowing, but that human part of a soul which judges, that Godlike part which knows right from wrong, sleeping soundly, so soundly I had no sense of approbation for what I saw.
So, I was shocked at a point, though not by any sudden action on the droid’s part. It had done, and I had watched it do, the crime at table after table. My moral sense had just been asleep, as though I were watching a wolf sneaking up upon a lamb or a crow swooping down on a cat. I had been watching the dance with interest when it suddenly occurred to me that I was watching a crime.
The forgotten droid moved a deft arm, and the man’s bracelet lit up a moment, a sign of the processing of a payment. His eyes were on a pretty girl at another table, and when he sipped his coffee, he jerked back a little surprised by the reintroduction of steaming hot coffee to his nearly finished cup.
Tale Told 