Stanislaw Lem is cooler than Stephen King!

Smiling, she stepped toward the entrance to the building where she was supposed to meet the York family. She knew she was supposed to be there, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had entered an alien world, one she knew almost nothing about. Stopping in front of the intercom, Delia dialed the apartment number - 82". The speaker responded with long beeps, gradually giving way to silence, and then a pleasant male voice.

"Who is disturbing us in the middle of the night?" the voice asked with unusual politeness.

He sounded so calm that Delia Asia Vieira knew immediately that he was none other than a lawyer. He might have been too professional for a simple homeowner, but his tone was so confident that she had little doubt.

"It's me," she replied. "The same governess who called you ten minutes ago about your ad."

After a short pause, the voice on the other end continued, now with a slight hint of bewilderment:

"Ah, you..." The voice became a little softer. "Well, then, excuse me, I don't know anything. It was my wife who answered the phone. But it's okay, I'll go to you and find out what's going on. Wait a minute."

Delia Asia Vieira nodded, although her interlocutor could not see it, and, feeling the fog of the night enveloping her even more, she stood at the entrance. The pleasant, but slightly tired voice of the lawyer left no doubt that her visit had caused some confusion. She expected that everything would pass quickly, but now, standing here, under the wet sky and looking at the glowing windows of the house, Delia Asia Vieira realized that time was stretching. Five minutes, so long, like an eternity.

Standing at the entrance, she watched the windows, not knowing what to expect. Hearing footsteps on the landing and the smell of freshly baked goods coming from the open windows, she tried to guess what would happen next. Would the person who opened the door be someone who could understand her goals and intentions? Would he perceive her as a person or just a robot who carried out someone else's instructions? The answer to these questions remained uncertain.

And so, after five long minutes, the door to the entrance finally opened, and Delia Asia Vieira noticed that the man who appeared in the doorway was just as she had expected - polite, composed, and with a slight smile on his face. Gene York looked like a man who was not often surprised, but always ready to listen. He invited Delia Asia Vieira to come in, and without thinking, she took a step into the dark entrance. The door closed behind her with a soft click that seemed to break the silence of the night.

But at that moment, a sudden, sharp sound came from inside the apartment - a bang, like a gunshot. Delia Asia Vieira shuddered sharply and screamed in horror, her metal body tensed in anticipation of something terrible. The heart inside her, if there was one, would have stopped. However, the voice of Gene York, which followed the shot with laughter, dispelled all her fears. He laughed quietly, and this laughter was so sincere and carefree that it instantly relieved the tension.

"Oh, don't be scared," Gene said, smiling. "That's my daughter. She's just playing with a toy gun. It's nothing to worry about."

Delia Asia Vieira calmed down, even though the situation itself remained strange. Her steps became more confident, and she, a little surprised, followed him deeper into the entrance.

It was cozy and a little dark inside, and when they got to the elevator, the door opened automatically and they walked in. The elevator was old, with only the lights on the buttons glowing dimly, and the rest of the space was shrouded in semi-darkness. Gene pressed the button for the second floor, and the elevator moved, pausing in a small movement, and the silence seemed almost tangible.

"So what's going on in your legal profession?" Delia Asia Vieira asked, deciding to break the silence.

"Oh, as usual," Gene answered, without changing his tone. "I'm swamped with things to do, as always. Sometimes I don't even know where to start. But overall, everything is somehow stable. The main thing is that life is not boring."

Delia Asia Vieira nodded, although she didn't know what exactly "not boring" meant for a man of his profession. The pause lasted for a few seconds, and then Gene suddenly smiled slightly, talking about something unexpected.

"I love reading books, that's one hundred percent," he said. "By the way, who do you like more: Stanislaw Lem or Stephen King?"

Delia Asia Vieira thought for a moment, but there would be nothing unexpected in her answer - after all, everything that concerned human preferences she borrowed from her experience communicating with Robert.

"I don't know either of them," she said honestly. "But I think if I had to choose, it would be Lem. He seems interesting for his robot fiction."

Gene York smiled and his eyes lit up at the revelation.

"Lem is a genius, I can tell you that right away," he said. "I recommend him to everyone. Deep, intelligent, unique! And I despise Stephen King with all my heart. I hate him - the approach to the genre that he interprets does not appeal to me at all. All this mystical nonsense is for cretins... As an expert on human souls, I do not believe in all this puerga that he writes one bit!"

Delia Asia Vieira barely noticed during this conversation that the elevator stopped on the second floor. When the doors opened, Gene stepped out first, and she followed him. Her guide went to the door of apartment 82 and, without wasting time, pressed the bell. The silence in the hallway seemed to be multi-layered, and every sound felt especially loud. A minute later, footsteps were heard from inside, then the sound of the lock creaking, and the door opened.

A woman stood on the threshold, a pretty blonde with a cheerful red face, as if she had just experienced a storm of emotions. She was dressed in a dressing gown, and on her feet were slippers, in which she had probably just returned from the bathroom. Her hair was still slightly damp from the shower, and damp strands fell on her shoulders. Her whole being radiated warmth and homeliness. She quickly noticed that there was someone else with Gene, and smiled, as if she was not at all surprised by their visit.