The Six Silver Legs

An exhibition hall in Los Angeles on a March evening, white spotlights from a high black ceiling onto a pale parquet floor, a six-legged walking robot, a cylindrical drum of brushed metal crowned by a clear glass dome holding an antenna rod and a small dark box, beneath it six silver many-jointed aluminium legs with bracing struts, five planted wide apart, one slid under the rear bumper of a red pickup truck and lifting its back wheels off the floor, the tailgate plain smooth red, the plate holder bare, smooth black tyres, behind a plain dark blue curtain, a hand at the edge holding a small grey control box with blank keys.