Asimov's Future History Volume 3

by Isaac Asimov

  “Then you think of something,” Wayne growled angrily. “This project has to work somehow. And we haven’t had many chances to get MC 6 while Hunter is too far away to interfere. Can’t we take advantage of this somehow?”

  “The only arrangement I can accept is one that keeps you and Jane away from the camp. If I approach MC 6 without you, I will have the force of the Second Law to order him to come with me as long as he believes I am human. I can tell him to follow me unless he detects that I am a robot.”

  “If he turns up his hearing and actually listens, he’ll hear that you don’t have a human heartbeat,” said Wayne. “If he studies your skin under magnification, he might see your microscopic solar cells. But all that depends on whether or not he bothers. Since he isn’t expecting a robot to approach him in this time period, he may not have his sensitivity turned up to the point where he’ll notice.”

  “In any case, I suggest we wait until after the baggage train stops to make camp before we execute our attempt.”

  Wayne sighed. “Yeah, all right.”

  Jane decided not to say anything. She wanted to think of as many objections as she could to pressure Ishihara with the Laws of Robotics. Instead of talking spontaneously, she would think up some arguments now and present them when Ishihara was about to go after MC 6.

  Late in the afternoon, Jane could see men riding toward the column from different directions, sometimes along small paths or intersecting roads and sometimes overland. Some rode singly or in small groups; others arrived in large troops, lined up in a military column themselves. The new arrivals moved onto the road ahead of the baggage train.

  The baggage train finally reached the spot where the rest of the column had stopped to make camp, in a forest just past a wide stretch of open country. Other troops whom Jane had not seen had also arrived at this rendezvous point, making the camp much larger than it had been the night before. Ishihara led Wayne into the forest and stopped where they could see the baggage train through the trees.

  “Have you seen Hunter?” Wayne asked quietly.

  “Not yet. The visibility is poor, of course, here in the forest.” Ishihara helped Jane down.

  Wayne dismounted. “That’s good. Hunter will have trouble seeing us, too.”

  “That is true,” said Ishihara. “We must decide exactly what our move will be.”

  Jane knew that the men in the baggage train could hear her clearly enough if she shouted for help again.

  However, she had no way of knowing where Hunter was, or if he could hear her. He might be so far up the column that her voice would be drowned out by the sounds of men setting up the camp, yelling orders, and by the hoofbeats of hundreds of horses hobbled for the night. Hunter’s failure to respond last night worried her. She decided not to anger Wayne any further by another shout unless she really had reason to think Hunter could help.

  17

  “ALL RIGHT, ISHIHARA,” Wayne said firmly. “The chance we’ve waited for is coming up. No more delays.

  We have to find a way to get MC 6 now.”

  “Then what will we do with him?” Ishihara asked. “We must plan our approach based on our escape.”

  “We’ll jump a safe distance away — maybe back to the hills near Emrys’s hut, early tomorrow morning. I can open up MC 6 and finally start my investigation into what went wrong. As we’ve discussed during past missions, I can’t go back to Mojave Center until I have information that will work to my advantage with the Oversight Committee.”

  “I understand. We will simply have to apologize to Emrys for losing the mule.”

  “Yeah. But when we talked about what to do before, you said you could approach MC 6 alone. Go ahead and see if you can find him. We’ll wait right here.”

  “Don’t leave us,” Jane said quickly.

  “Shut up,” said Wayne. “She’s just trying to interfere with your thinking, Ishihara.”

  “The camp followers are coming up behind the baggage train again,” said Jane. “If you can’t take us to the baggage train, you can’t risk leaving us here. If those scavengers come toward us, Wayne can’t protect us.”

  “Nonsense,” said Wayne. “Why would they bother us? We don’t have anything of value. Go on, Ishihara.”

  “We have the mule,” said Jane. “They could ride it or eat it.”

  “She has a point,” said Ishihara. “In addition, she may escape from you.”

  “Not if you’ll tie her. You refused before. How about just tying her to a tree trunk for a few minutes?”

  “I cannot. The First Law —”

  “All right, all right. I know what it says.” Wayne paced angrily among the trees. “Then all three of us can go look for him. You can protect us.”

  “Among all those men? Even a robot could be overwhelmed,” said Jane.

  “That is true,” said Ishihara.

  “Then you stay here with her,” said Wayne impatiently. “I can go find MC 6 on my own, without the mule. Nobody will have any reason to bother me.”

  “I cannot allow that under the First Law, either,” said Ishihara.

  “Why not?” Wayne demanded.

  “When Hunter approached the baggage train twenty-four hours ago, he was stopped by a group of men willing to commit violence. I cannot allow you to risk that.”

  “That’s true,” said Jane. “That’s another risk.”

  “Shut up, “Wayne repeated. “Ishihara, I instruct you to suggest a plan that you can accept. At this point, even a fairly low chance of success is better than total inaction. Think of something!”

  “Maybe there is no safe way to do this,” said Jane. “Too much risk is involved, Ishihara. How about a new approach? Talk to Hunter about working together.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Ishihara,” said Wayne. “I gave you an instruction.”

  “I have a plan,” said Ishihara.

  “Yeah? What is it?” Wayne folded his arms. “This better be good.”

  “You take Jane in a slow but deliberate ride on the mule away from the camp and the road. If any riders approach you, ride slowly away from them, but do not appear to flee or they may pursue you to find out why, You can outdistance any camp followers who approach you on foot, so they probably will not try.

  At the slightest sign of danger to you, shout for me and ride back in my direction. I should be able to reach you quickly. If no trouble develops, then keep riding away from the camp. I will catch up to you, with or without MC 6.”

  “Exactly what are you going to do?”

  “I will attempt to solicit MC 6’s aid through a ruse. However, my use of the Second Law depends entirely on his belief that I am human. As we discussed, if he detects that I am a robot, he will not only refuse to obey, but he will flee, alerted to our pursuit.”

  “You can’t leave us like that,” Jane insisted. “We’ll still be in potential danger.”

  “This will be acceptable,” said Ishihara. “In the event of immediate danger, I will use the belt unit to take us away from here.”

  “You won’t have time to set it,” said Jane. “If we’re riding away from someone and you’re running to meet us, we won’t have much time.”

  “I will set it now.” Ishihara reached inside his tunic, opened his abdomen, and brought out the unit. He looked around in the distance, then changed the settings. “In the event we have to use it, we will jump only a few hours into the future, after dark, to a spot half a kilometer away. That will be close enough for us to consider future moves.”

  Jane could not think of any more arguments. Ishihara, after all, made the final interpretation of what he could accept under the First Law. She sighed and looked at Wayne.

  “Mount up,” said Wayne.

  Ishihara waited until Wayne and Jane had ridden twenty meters away from the camp, out of the trees into open country. Because Ishihara could see they were alone there, he felt he could leave them for a short time. He walked through the trees toward the baggage train.

  Moving slowly
, Ishihara studied the wagons as he approached them. Because Artorius had stopped to make camp in a forested area, the wagons remained lined up on the road or just off of it, where space permitted. Last night, the wagons had bunched together at the rear of the camp, and the wagon crews had mixed together freely. Now the crews were strung out along the road as they unloaded their wagons.

  Ishihara saw that he could approach most of the wagons without attracting the attention of the wagonmaster. In fact, because of the trees, visibility was limited for everyone. That, too, would work to Ishihara’s advantage.

  He considered his story as he searched for MC 6. Finally, he saw MC 6 standing on the ground near a wagon, unharnessing a team of horses. Ishihara walked up to him.

  “I need help,” Ishihara said to MC 6 in Briton. “Can you help me?”

  MC 6 turned and looked at him. He shrugged, gesturing that he could not understand. Then he turned back to the horses he was tending.

  Ishihara looked at another man, standing in the wagon moving small kegs around. “I need help. Can you spare this man for a moment?”

  “Eh? Who are you?”

  “I drove a wagon behind one of the veteran troops. We just arrived in camp.”

  “You know this man?”

  “No.”

  “Well, we teamsters should stick together. Hey, you.” The man waved his arms to get MC 6’s attention.

  “He’s a real cooperative little fellow, but no one can figure out what language he understands.”

  MC 6 glanced up at the man in the wagon.

  “Go with him. Help him.” The man in the wagon pointed from MC 6 to Ishihara.

  MC 6 nodded.

  “Thank you.” Ishihara nodded to MC 6 and walked away from the wagon. MC 6 walked with him.

  Ishihara could only hope that MC 6 would not think to magnify his hearing or sight and examine Ishihara closely.

  Hunter had located Artorius at the head of his column with no trouble. Artorius had responded to Hunter’s scouting report by choosing to follow Bedwyr’s route for the day. Hunter and Steve rode with him at the head of the column to point out the way.

  Late in the day, Bedwyr spotted them and led his patrol back to meet the column. He recommended a place to camp and Hunter and Steve rejoined the scouting patrol. The day had remained uneventful for the scouts, as well as for the main column.

  As the other riders dismounted and tended their horses, Steve spoke quietly to Hunter from the saddle.

  “Before we dismount, can’t we do something about our mission? I enjoyed today’s ride, but we don’t want to keep this up all summer.”

  “I agree. However, we have earned some greater respect today, and we are considered more a part of the troop now. Perhaps we can approach the baggage train again and complete our task.”

  “You told me this morning you heard Jane last night. Can we look for her somehow?”

  “I doubt that she remains nearby. Wayne and Ishihara almost certainly have kept their distance since she revealed her presence. First I suggest we attempt to reach MC 6 again. Then we will look for a sign of Jane’s presence.”

  “All right. Got any ideas about how to avoid that Gaius again?”

  “Yes. In this forest, I expect the wagons will have to stop in a line alone the road. We should ride parallel to the road on horseback, keeping our distance from the baggage train. I will look and listen for Gaius and for MC 6, as well.”

  “Sounds good to me. Lead the way.”

  Hunter reined his mount around the road away from the camp, through the trees, ducking under branches. He heard the hoofbeats of Steve’s mount following him. Hunter selected a route that would carry them down the line of the column, close enough for him to hear and see the men at the wagons through the trees but far enough to avoid immediate notice by the wagonmaster.

  Jane sat behind Wayne on the mule, riding at a walk away from the camp and the road. At first, they did not bother to turn around as they wove through the trees. They did not run across anyone else, nor did anyone behind them show any interest in where they were going.

  After a while, Wayne turned the mule so they could look behind them. By this time, the trees hid the camp from view, though they could hear men shouting orders and horses walking. Without a word, Wayne turned and continued riding away.

  As they rode Jane looked back over her shoulder several times, but saw no one. If Ishihara was bringing MC 6, the two robots would have to catch up after Wayne decided to stop and wait. She decided not to do anything until she learned whether or not Ishihara succeeded.

  Wayne, following Ishihara’s plan, kept the mule moving through the forest. He glanced back over his shoulder every so often, but neither of them spoke. In order to avoid riding directly into tree branches, Wayne had to face forward most of the time.

  Jane realized that she had an advantage in riding behind him; she could turn her head and look back without Wayne knowing. The motion of Wayne’s shoulders when he turned told her when he was looking behind them even if she had already looked back. She turned her head and continued to look back, despite the awkward angle, as they rode.

  As the mule plodded on, Jane finally saw a motion through the trees behind them. Ishihara was jogging after them, closely followed by MC 6. The forest was so dense here that they had come close without being seen; on the damp earth, their footsteps had not been loud enough for her to hear.

  If Ishihara had induced MC 6 to come with him somehow, instead of grabbing him and bringing him by force, Jane figured that MC 6 had his hearing turned on. That meant she could call to him in English.

  Suddenly encouraged, she looked for a soft spot on the ground among the trees.

  Suddenly Jane slipped off the mule, pretending to lose her balance. She allowed herself to fall on the ground, where she judged she could land safely. Startled, Wayne reined in and looked back at her.

  “Ishihara, help me!” Jane shouted. Then, as Ishihara ran toward her, she looked at the other robot. “MC 6, run! They’re going to dismantle you!”

  The small component robot instantly darted to one side and ran through the trees. He took off at an angle away from both them and the column to their rear. His actions were driven by the Second Law to obey her instruction to run and by the Third Law to protect himself.

  “Hey!” Wayne shouted, finally seeing MC 6 for the first time. “Stop! I order you! Stop, robot!” He wheeled the mule around and rode after MC 6, leaning low to avoid tree branches. “Halt! I need you under the First Law!”

  MC 6 did not seem to believe that. Jane did not see him come back. He might have turned off his hearing once he understood the danger present to him.

  Jane had not been sure her ruse would work; MC 6 might have felt required by the First Law to come forward with Ishihara to help her. However, he had apparently judged that Ishihara would take care of her adequately. She had gambled on that. If she had told MC 6 that she was unharmed, Ishihara would also have been freed of the need to help her and he might have captured MC 6.

  Instead, Ishihara now hesitated where he stood. He was momentarily undecided between the immediate need to care for Jane and the First Law issue requiring him to capture MC 6 for Wayne’s long-term welfare. Every moment helped MC 6 escape.

  “Help me up, Ishihara,” said Jane, to stall him further. She remained on the ground.

  Ishihara hurried toward her and knelt down. “Are you injured?”

  Jane decided that telling extreme lies would be a mistake; teaching him not to trust her could backfire if she was in real trouble. Stalling, on the other hand, seemed safe enough. she said nothing. Behind Ishihara, Wayne came riding back, scowling. MC 6 had escaped him.

  “Ishihara! Go get him!” Wayne yelled.

  “Are you injured?” Ishihara repeated.

  “Not seriously. Please help me up.”

  “Of course.”

  “Ishihara, she’s faking!” Wayne dismounted near them. “Track that robot now, before he gets back to the wagons! I
couldn’t ride fast enough in this stupid forest to keep up, but he hasn’t gone far.”

  Jane remained passive as Ishihara put one arm under her shoulders and raised her up. Then he shifted his position and helped her stand. She took a deep breath and leaned on Ishihara’s shoulder.

  “I’ll take care of her!” Wayne yelled. “Ishihara, go get him!”

  “You seem unharmed,” Ishihara said to Jane.

  “Yes, I’ll be all right.”

  “Now!” Wayne grabbed Ishihara’s arm and pushed after MC 6. “I’ll watch her!”

  Ishihara finally turned and jogged in the direction MC 6 had gone.

  Wayne watched him go.

  18

  AS SOON AS Wayne turned away, Jane ducked under a branch and ran.

  “Hey!” Wayne yelled behind her. “Oh, no, you don’t! Come back here!”

  Jane darted around a sapling and bent down to avoid another low-hanging branch, but she felt Wayne grab her hair from behind. He yanked, pulling her head back. She threw her arms around the branch and hung on, but could not move her head.

  “Ishihara!” Jane yelled. Then she let out a loud, long, scream, much more exaggerated than the situation really warranted.

  “Shut up!” Wayne put his other hand over her mouth and tried to pull her away from the tree branch.

  Jane struggled, but she was not really angry or scared. She was still deliberately provoking Wayne and forcing Ishihara to protect her instead of catching MC 6. She bent her knees, dropping to the ground as she thrashed in his grasp. Wayne had to fall, too, in order to hang onto her.

  Neither of them spoke. Jane let go of the branch, but tried to pull his hand away from her mouth. In a moment, she heard footsteps running toward them. Then suddenly Wayne released her. She let herself fall back onto the grass, looking up.