Donovan’s suspicions again stem from this fear of what the robots might be doing, and the worry that the humans may be losing control of them. But this is an unfounded fear, as robots are fundamentally unable to harm human beings. There is also an additional irony in Powell’s statement that robots can’t knowingly lie, because in the next story, “Liar,” a robot does just that. It’s interesting that Powell compares Dave to a rabbit here, since characterizing the robot as a sort of animal they must exert control over situates Dave as inherently inferior to them. Whereas Donovan seems to be overestimating Dave’s intelligence and agency, Powell is underestimating it.