Asimov's Future History Volume 2

by Isaac Asimov

  Wayne and Ishihara hiked through the forest without speaking for some time. The rain fell intermittently but Wayne was so well bundled up that he no longer cared about the dampness and the brisk air. They worked their way down a steep slope and soon Wayne glimpsed the river through the trees ahead of them under the gray sky.

  “Wait a minute,” said Wayne quietly. “You think Steve is real close?”

  “Yes. He agreed to wait for Hunter in the spot where he was during their communication.”

  “I instruct you to find him and point him out to me without alerting him to our presence.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t feel I have to answer that.”

  “I must be convinced that your motives are honest,” said Ishihara.

  “Incorrect,” said Wayne. “You must only be convinced that I will not violate the First Law in any way. Do you know of any reason I would harm Steve?”

  “No.”

  “Do you know of any reason that my interaction with Steve here, with no Germans around, could change the future.”

  “No, but I consider your motives suspect.”

  Wayne fought to control his impatience. “I repeat, Ishihara: do you know of any specific reason that my locating Steve without his knowledge would violate the First Law?”

  “No, I know of no specific reason.”

  “Then follow my instructions.”

  “Agreed.” Ishihara moved forward, now taking the time to go quietly.

  Wayne followed him at a short distance. Even before Ishihara said anything, he heard the clop of horse’s hooves. Then Ishihara stopped and pointed through the trees.

  Steve was walking his horse toward the river, where it lowered its head to drink.

  “All right,” Wayne whispered. “Leave the shoulder bag; I’ll take it. Now I want you to go in the other direction, where Hunter will be coming from. Do not contact him or allow him to become aware of your presence in any way. Will you do as I say?”

  “Yes. You have further instructions, I assume?” Ishihara slipped the long thong of the leather bag from his shoulder and lowered it gently to the ground.

  “I sure do,” said Wayne. “On the way, look for any sign of MC 3. If you don’t see any, wait for Hunter to go by. See if MC 3 is with him. If he is, follow them back this way. If not, then look for MC 3’s trail. Track him and apprehend him if you can. Remember, he’s probably the biggest danger to the future under the First Law.”

  “Agreed.”

  “And don’t call me, or some of the locals might hear you. When I’m ready, I’ll call you. But do monitor both Hunter’s frequency and ours. All right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then get going.”

  Ishihara quietly crept away through the underbrush.

  Steve was standing next to his mount at the bank, gazing out across the gray river. His horse seemed to be thirsty; it was still drinking. Steve glanced at the animal, shifted his weight, and idly gave it a pat on the shoulder.

  Wayne pulled open the drawstring on the leather bag and took out a small coil of rope. It was rough, narrow hemp, one centimeter in diameter. He had to wait until Ishihara was out of earshot, because what he planned to do would not pass Ishihara’s interpretation of the First Law.

  While he waited, he unwound the five meters of rope. He tied a large loop in one end of the rope with a slipknot and carefully coiled the remainder. Then he watched Steve in silence.

  When the horse had finally had enough river water, it turned toward the trees. Still holding the reins, Steve let it walk from the bank to the edge of the forest, a short distance from where Wayne squatted in the underbrush. The horse reached up to munch on some leaves.

  Steve leaned forward, his back toward Wayne, to tie the reins to the trunk of a sapling.

  Wayne took a good look at him. Steve was considerably younger and certainly in better condition, but he was shorter, lighter, and totally unprepared for Wayne. This was the best chance Wayne was likely to get. His heart pounding, Wayne stretched the loop behind his hands and suddenly rose up. In a half-crouch, he ran toward Steve through the underbrush. He dodged a couple of trees, ducked under a branch, and raised his arms as Steve whirled around in surprise.

  Before Steve could dodge away, Wayne yanked the loop down over his head and shoulders, pinning his arms against his torso, inside his fur cloak. Steve threw himself to the ground in the direction of the river, pulling away from Wayne and wriggling to loosen the loop.

  Wayne grabbed the long end of the rope and jerked on it, tightening the loop. Then, skipping out of the way of Steve’s kicking legs, he moved down and quickly wound the rope around his booted ankles. Steve kept thrashing, but Wayne pulled the rope tight and quickly looped it around a small tree trunk. Then, with the rope braced there, he tied a half hitch in the rope and leaned against the tree, catching his breath.

  11

  STEVE STOPPED THRASHING around and eyed Wayne coldly. “Well, Dr. Nystrom. I wondered if we’d see you here.”

  “I don’t hurt people,” said Wayne, embarrassed. “All I want is the right to examine my own creation.”

  “I don’t have him.”

  “Hunter might.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “I’m sure you know the First Law of Robotics as well as I do.” Wayne’s breath was coming back now.

  “Meaning what?”

  “Figure it out yourself.”

  Steve hesitated. “So I’m a hostage? You’re going to trade me for MC 3 if Hunter gets him?”

  Wayne shrugged. He didn’t like the term, but it was true. Only now that he had Steve, he had to figure out how to handle him.

  “Well?” Steve demanded.

  Wayne ignored him. He checked the knot, which was tight, and moved away into the brush, picking up the leather bag on his way. When he was out of Steve’s hearing, he unpinned his communicator and made sure he was using the frequency that he and Ishihara had agreed on. Then he carefully pinned it back on again.

  “Wayne calling Ishihara.”

  “Ishihara here.”

  “Have you found Hunter?”

  “Yes, I can hear him talking with two other people in the distance. I am hiding from him in the forest now, as you instructed. He and his party should pass me soon on their way to meet Steve.”

  “Do you know if MC 3 is with him?”

  “According to the discussion I have overheard, they have not located or even seen MC 3 yet. However, they feel that his trail is very fresh.”

  Wayne did not want to try convincing Ishihara that keeping Steve tied up was acceptable under the First Law. It was almost certainly impossible. That meant he could not let Ishihara learn that he was holding Steve captive.

  “Follow your previous instructions,” said Wayne. “Avoid Hunter and pursue MC 3 on your own when you can. I’ll call you again later. Acknowledge.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  Wayne shut off his communicator and returned to Steve. He found that Steve had rolled and wriggled close to the tree to which the free end of the rope was tied, but he had not been able to get up. The rope was too tight around his ankles, and of course his arms were still pinned.

  “Now what?” Steve demanded.

  Wayne decided not to answer. Instead, he walked over to the horse, which was still patiently cropping leaves. Wayne untied its reins and led it back to Steve. Then he loosened the rope from the tree and unwound Steve’s ankles.

  “You can get up and walk with me after I’m on the horse,” said Wayne. Holding the free end of the rope in one hand and the reins in the other, he prepared to mount but stopped when he saw no stirrup.

  “What’s wrong?” Steve’s voice had a lilt of amusement.

  Wayne looked allover the saddle.

  “Something wrong?”

  “What did you do? Where are the stirrups?” Wayne turned to look down at him.

  “It never had any stirrups,” said Steve. “I don’t think the Romans know about them.” He snic
kered. “Kind of a chore to get on board, isn’t it?”

  Wayne still did not want to talk to him any more than necessary. He was not sure whether to trust him, either. However, the saddle clearly had no stirrups.

  “You know, that horse can walk a lot faster than I can. Its legs are too long for me. I won’t be able to keep up for very long.”

  Wayne suddenly realized that was true. “All right, we’ll ride double. You mount up first.”

  “I can’t, with my arms pinned like this.”

  Wayne looked around for a moment and then nodded toward a large rock. “Get up there. I’ll help you. But I’m keeping a good grip on this rope.”

  “So I see.” Steve sat up and awkwardly got to his feet. He walked to the rock and from there, he was high enough to lean on the horse’s back and start swinging his right leg over.

  When Steve started to slip, Wayne steadied his shoulders and made sure he caught his balance. Then Wayne mounted behind him, still holding the reins. The position was very awkward, but it would do.

  Wayne turned the horse downstream and nudged it into a fast walk. Hunter was probably not too close yet, but Wayne wanted to get a good lead on him as soon as possible. If Ishihara could grab MC 3, then Wayne would not need Steve; if Hunter found MC 3 first, Wayne could trade Steve for him. He smiled as they rode through the cold rain.

  As Jane rode with Marcus, the rain grew heavier. She remembered that Gene had told her this was the rainy season, but she was hoping the clouds might break for at least a short time. The sky showed nothing but darkening clouds in every direction.

  Marcus said little, often leading her single file through the dense trees. They finally reached a narrow road, churned to mud by a combination of constant rain and drizzle and thousands of marching feet and the wagon wheels of the baggage train. Long before she could see the Roman army, she could hear the pounding of axes as they chopped trees. Listening to the sound, she realized that calling Steve while she was surrounded by Romans would be difficult.

  “Marcus.”

  “Yes?”

  “I, uh, need a moment in the forest. In private.”

  “We’re only a short distance from the camp. The latrine there will be dry.”

  “I’ll only be a minute.” Not wanting to argue, she turned her mount away into the trees, bending low to avoid branches. When Marcus was out of hearing, she switched on her communicator. “Steve? Jane here. Can you still hear me?”

  When she received no response, she waited a minute or so and tried again. She realized that he might have turned off his lapel pin because some local people were around, but she was worried. When they had separated, she had assumed that Hunter would simply join Steve soon and then the entire team would meet at the Roman fort. Certainly Steve’s veiled comments to her and Marcus had clearly told her that he wanted to wait there, alone if necessary. However, if Steve had been forced to turn off his communicator, that meant something unforeseen had occurred.

  After trying a third time with no response, she turned her communicator off again and rode back to Marcus.

  “Don’t worry,” said Marcus, with a grim smile. “Shelter and a warm fire are waiting for us.”

  “I can’t go on,” said Jane. “I’m worried about Steve. I have to go back for him.”

  “What?” Marcus frowned sternly. “I warned you he should come with us. Now I have to report to the governor that a party of Cherusci was wandering around looking for trouble. I should do that without delay.”

  Jane nodded. She did not want to interfere with Marcus’s normal behavior. “I’ll ride back alone. Our track is clear, so I can’t get lost.”

  “No. You will have to come back to the fort with me. I do not have time to wait and I cannot allow you to take that risk. Your slave will probably be fine.”

  She knew that he was being completely reasonable, at least from his own viewpoint. However, she had already decided that leaving Steve had been a mistake. The more the team separated, the worse everything seemed to get. Without any other argument to offer, she simply turned her mount and kicked him into a canter, back down the muddy road.

  Ishihara had waited motionlessly as he hid in the forest to one side of MC 3’s track. Hunter had not been using his communicator, but Ishihara had heard his party as they hiked through the forest toward him. They had not spoken as they had passed. Ishihara had recognized Hunter and Gene, of course, and had seen that their companion was a local.

  As soon as they had passed, he had followed MC 3’s trail through the forest.

  Woodsmoke trailed low among the trees in the light rain and reached him about the same time as the sounds of children playing. He stopped on the outskirts of a village, not sure what to do next. From another hiding place in the trees and underbrush, he saw the small component robot, wearing a loincloth fashioned of leafy branches and vines, standing in the village gesturing to some laughing villagers. MC 3 apparently could not speak their language.

  Ishihara wanted to confer with Wayne, but his instructions had been clear. He would have to wait until Wayne contacted him. Ishihara turned up his hearing, to stay alert for anyone approaching him, and sat down to wait and watch MC 3. At least he finally had MC 3 in sight.

  Wayne watched the darkening sky uncomfortably as he rode behind Steve. The rain fell in a light but steady gray haze. Wayne clearly did not have time to get MC 3 that night, so he would have to spend another night out in the woods in the rain. This time, at least, he possessed enough clothes and food to be reasonably comfortable.

  Finally Wayne decided he would have to stop and make camp before darkness fell completely. First, however, he dismounted and carefully tied both the reins and the rope holding Steve securely to a tree. Then he moved into the brush, out of Steve’s hearing.

  “Don’t mind me,” Steve shouted derisively after him. “I’ll just wait right here for you.”

  “Ishihara? Wayne here,” he said quietly.

  “Yes, Wayne.”

  “Have you made any progress? And where are you?”

  “Yes. I have located MC 3.”

  “Where?” Wayne’s heart pounded with excitement. “Can you grab him?”

  “Not yet. He has gone into a village and pantomimed for help. The villagers laughed at him, but I think they believe he is crazy or perhaps retarded. Someone tossed him an old tunic to wear and I can see him sitting in the village now. The children are trying to play with him, but he will not respond.”

  “Just go in and snatch him.”

  “I dare not. I would risk harming humans who I believe would try to defend him.”

  “Then go in and claim him as your slave,” Wayne said urgently. “You speak German and he doesn’t. They’ll have to take your word for it.”

  “If they are not persuaded, then I shall have revealed my presence for nothing. That may be unwise.”

  “Well, then how do you want to handle it?”

  “For now, I shall observe him further,” said Ishihara. “I shall act when I am most comfortable under the Laws in doing so.”

  “All right. I can’t argue with that,” Wayne said reluctantly. “Give me some idea of which direction you went. I’m going to make camp for the night near the river. You get hold of MC 3 and we’ll join up tomorrow.”

  “Agreed.” Ishihara described his route after he had left Wayne.

  “Good. Signing off.” Wayne suppressed a smile as he switched off his communicator and returned to Steve. If he had had the help of a robot during his first two missions, he might have succeeded then.

  “Have a nice visit with the underbrush?” Steve sneered.

  Wayne was in a better mood now and ignored his tone. Leaving the rope tied to the tree, he moved cautiously to Steve’s side. He saw that the loop still held Steve’s upper arms tightly against his torso. “I’ll help you down.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Steve swung his leg over the horse and jumped to the ground, where Wayne steadied him. “All right, now what?”

 
“I’m going to see if I can get a fire started for the night, even though everything seems drenched.”

  “Good luck,” Steve said doubtfully. “Look, at least untack the horse and hobble him. He shouldn’t be tied up that way all night.”

  Wayne paused. He didn’t know if Steve could get loose, but he was sure that it was possible somehow unless he was careful. However, unsaddling the horse would make Steve’s escape on horseback less likely, so Wayne did not doubt his motive for making this suggestion.

  “Yeah. That’s true.” Wayne looked at the bridle for a moment. It had an ordinary buckle on the side of the horse’s head. Carefully, he unbuckled it and found that he could slide the bridle easily over the animal’s ears and off its head. Then he studied the strap that ran under the horse’s abdomen to hold the saddle in place.

  “Ignore the wide part,” said Steve. “That’s the girth. Just loosen the cinch — that narrow leather strap up by the bottom edge of the saddle.”

  Wayne found the strap, which had been threaded in and out of a metal ring. When he pried the strap loose, the cinch and girth fell to the ground. Then he grabbed the saddle and pulled it off.

  All afternoon, while riding with Wayne, Steve had flexed his arm muscles and unobtrusively strained against the loop that bound his upper arms. He could actually bend his elbows and move his hands, but that was not enough to loosen the loop now that the rope was soaked through with rain. Hoping to lure Wayne into letting down his guard, he had decided to be cooperative until a good opportunity to escape eventually developed.

  Wayne was not a difficult captor. After hobbling the horse, he untied the free end of the rope holding Steve and let Steve have a moment of privacy in the bushes on the long leash; then he tied that end firmly around the base of a tree, where he sat to guard the knot. Steve sat against another tree, but he had a considerable radius in which he could move, either to sit and lie down or even stand up to stretch his legs. He just couldn’t reach the knot or free his upper arms. The rain lessened to a light drizzle, and under the heavy forest canopy, they were reasonably well sheltered.