by Isaac Asimov
“Agreed.”
Steve jumped off the struthiomimus at the camp and paced anxiously, stretching his legs. Jane also dismounted and looked frantically back through the trees for the robots. Chad remained mounted.
“I hope they’re okay,” Jane muttered. “That whole project got out of control.”
“At least we’re okay,” said Chad. “If the robots are okay, then it turned out fine.”
“Wayne disappeared,” said Steve.
“Yeah,” said Chad. “Back to our time, I guess.”
The three of them waited in silence after that. Steve, too nervous to sit still, began straightening up the camp. After a long wait, he heard Jane gasp;
“There! They’re okay!” She ran to meet them.
Steve hurried after her and Chad rode toward them too.
“Are they following you? The tyrannosauruses?” Chad asked. “We can keep moving.”
“Not necessary,” said Hunter. “Their pursuit has ended. Since Wayne appears to have returned to Mojave Center, he is no longer an influence under the Second Law. So MC 1 is now cooperative and will remain under Second Law imperatives from you.”
“Correct,” said MC 1.
The humans paced the robots back to the camp. Chad finally rode to the corral and dismounted. MC 1 waited patiently next to Hunter.
“I think we should all sit down,” said Steve, collapsing on the ground under a tree. “That was enough excitement for me.”
“I haven’t ever been in that much danger before,” said Chad, grinning as he came back from the corral. “So that’s what real life is like out in the wild, huh?”
“That was a crazier ride than I ever had before either,” said Steve. “You handled that real well.”
“I’m glad you were there to make suggestions.” Chad sat down and leaned back against another tree.
“Hunter,” said Jane. “Whenever you’re ready to interview MC 1, just say so.”
“Then the three of you are well?” Hunter asked.
“We’re fine,” said Steve. “Let’s get this under way so we can go home.”
“Very well,” said Hunter.
“MC 1,” said Jane. “I instruct you to answer Hunter’s questions honestly and completely.”
“Agreed,” said MC 1.
“Where are the rest of the components of MC Governor?” Hunter asked.
“I do not know,” said MC 1.
“Are they in this time period?” Hunter asked.
“No.”
“Explain what you do know,” said Jane.
“MC Governor made the decision to split into components and flee investigation,” said MC 1.
“Under an interpretation of the Third Law?” Hunter asked.
“Yes.”
“And you fled into time, as well as using miniaturization to escape detection?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t you know where the others went?” Jane asked. “It seems to me that all of you might need to know, so you could join together again someday.”
“That was never intended,” said MC 1. “We knew that we would never meet again. Our flight was intended to preserve our existence, with the knowledge that survival at microscopic size in different time periods would be the best way for all of us to remain safe from harm.”
“So the component robots chose not to share their destinations in order to handle situations like this?” Hunter asked.
“Yes. Since I am unable to tell you the destinations in time and place of the other components, your catching me does not endanger the others.”
“I believe I can trace them through the equipment in the Bohung Institute,” said Hunter. “However, Wayne will already be on that trail. We will have to deal with him also in apprehending the other component robots.”
“Dr. Nystrom!” Jane’s eyes widened. “Then we should get going! He has a head start as it is.”
“No need to hurry,” said Hunter. “No matter when we leave here, we will return to the Bohung Institute right after we left, which is about the same time that Wayne will return.”
“Wait a minute,” said Steve suddenly. “How do you know that? He can go back to any time he wants, can’t he?”
“He will not risk going back before he left,” said Hunt er. “He might run into himself and he is educated enough to know that such a time paradox is too dangerous to risk. And if he goes — had gone — back just a little before we left, then we would have already run into him back at the Institute. On the other hand, if he goes back much later, we might slip in ahead of him and capture him, so he will try to avoid that. I am certain that he timed his return just after we left to come here,”
“Yeah,” Steve said slowly. “I get it. I think.”
“Before we return, I want to run a diagnostic check on MC 1,” said Hunter. “The miniaturization and subsequent return to full size has certainly caused fundamental changes.”
“I instruct you to cooperate, MC 1,” said Jane.
“Agreed.”
“Remain still,” said Hunter. “I will access the jack at the base of your skull.”
“Do you wish me to shut down?” MC 1 asked.
“That is not necessary at this time.”
Steve watched curiously as Hunter moved behind MC 1. Hunter simply placed an index finger against the back of MC 1‘s head. Both robots stood motionless for only a moment.
“I ran the test twice,” said Hunter, withdrawing his finger. “The time travel and miniaturization have created some critically important instabilities.”
“What kind?” Jane asked.
“None that will cause a problem now that he is in our custody,” said Hunter. “Certain of his atoms have suffered. If he were to remain in this time over the years, without returning with us, his unstable atoms would explode when he reached our own time.”
21
STEVE STARED AT Hunter, who remained impassive. Then he turned to Chad and Jane for their reactions. They in turn looked at him and at each other.
“Explosion?” Steve asked. “Atoms?”
“Each unstable atom that explodes will do so with nuclear energy,” said Hunter. “In each component robot, the first explosion will set off the other unstable atoms. The combination will be of considerable force.”
“Exactly what do you mean by ‘our own time’?” Chad asked. “That’s a vague phrase.”
“I calculate that the explosions will occur within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the time the MC component robots left for the past.”
“Are you saying that if MC 1 goes back with us, he won’t explode?” Jane asked.
“Yes, that is right,” said Hunter, with his usual robotic steadiness. “The problem will be neutralized when MC 1 returns with us in the subatomic particle shower.”
“But we don’t know where the others are,” said Chad. “That’s the problem now, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “Five major nuclear explosions are pending in locations around the world in our own time that no one knows about.”
“Maybe the robots won’t survive that long,” said Chad. “We’re talking about more than sixty million years. A lot can happen in that amount of time.”
“Even at the atomic level?” Jane asked.
“Well, the robot’s atoms could wind up almost anywhere. Think about it. Right now, the land mass that will become North America is attached to Europe. South America is completely detached from any other continent. The western hemisphere doesn’t even exist yet. Neither do mammals or birds as we know them — we’ve talked about this before. Five microscopic robots will have to deal with uncounted generations of hostile microbes. They might not outlast the dinosaurs, or the woolly mammoths, or even early human years, once they reach the time of humans.”
“They will not have to survive in robot form to be a threat,” said Hunter. “If their unstable atoms still exist in any form, the danger of nuclear explosion remains in effect.”
“The microscopic robot
s will have a pretty good chance to survive for most of that time,” said Jane. “They won’t be operating simply by random chance. Their intelligence and stored data will help them make deliberate choices, driven by the Third Law to keep themselves from harm.”
“The other danger, of course, is still to be found when their miniaturization ends,” said Hunter. “Especially if some of them return to full size in the human era, when the Second Law will force them to obey any instructions they receive that do not violate the First Law.”
“But they didn’t explode,” said Steve. “We were still in Mojave Center for a while after MC Governor disappeared from his position. Right?”
“That’s true,” said Jane. “What about that, Hunter?”
“My calculations have a degree of uncertainty,” said Hunter. “The explosions may take place a little later than I calculated, and, I suspect, not all at once. This makes the First Law weigh on me even more heavily than before.”
“The robots could be anywhere in our own time,” said Chad. “Under the ocean, deep under the earth. Anywhere. Nuclear explosions that occur a substantial distance underground may not affect any form of life at all.”
“If the robots are still functioning, they’ll be on the surface,” said Jane. “They would arrange that deliberately as part of their survival under the Third Law.”
“We should return now,” said Hunter. “We can continue these deliberations later.”
“All right,” said Jane. “MC 1, you will continue to cooperate with us in every way. You won’t make any attempt to escape our custody or to avoid further examinations. The First Law requires that you be studied. If Wayne makes contact with you again, you will remember to interpret my instructions under the Second Law in the knowledge that a First Law imperative is behind them.”
“Acknowledged,” said MC 1.
“I’ll start packing up the camp,” said Steve.
The team returned to the Bohung Institute less than a minute after they had left. As soon as Hunter saw that the particle shower had ended and the process was turned off, he immediately rushed out of the unit. Hunter was hoping to catch Wayne in the room, but he was not there.
No one else was either.
Steve climbed out next and helped Jane. MC 1 aided Chad. Meanwhile, apparently at Hunter’s radioed signal, R. Ishihara entered the room. Ishihara had been waiting outside the room for half a minute, as Hunter had instructed before they had left.
“Has anyone left this room?” Hunter asked.
“No,” said Ishihara. “Have you completed your mission?”
“Our trip is over but only partly successful,” said Hunter, with quiet formality. “A new security problem has arisen. Dr. Wayne Nystrom may come into F-12 or attempt to leave. I understand now that you cooperated with him under the Second Law earlier. If at all possible, you must apprehend him and hold him for me under a First Law concern.”
“Acknowledged.” Ishihara walked into the room and waited patiently. “I heard the equipment in use for several seconds twice between the time of your departure and your return. Perhaps that was he, arriving and leaving again.”
Hunter nodded impassively.
Steve started lifting gear out of the big sphere. MC 1 got out and stood motionless. While Steve unpacked the equipment, Hunter accessed the records of the unit’s use that were stored in the control panel.
“Are you finding anything important?” Chad asked Hunter.
“Yes,” said Hunter stiffly. “Wayne has come and gone, as Ishihara suggested. Let me explain. I did not dare time our return any closer to when we left. The First Law prevented me from taking a risk as serious as meeting ourselves. Wayne, as a human, was able to take a greater risk with his own life.”
“You think he got back here ahead of us?” Jane asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Hunter’s voice had a monotone that he had never used before. “The standard records in the control panel say nothing about additional trips into the past. That is why I did not see them before. MC 1, can you, explain this?”
“Yes. I was the last of the components to travel. I erased all the records of the previous trips but could not erase the record of my own. Consequently you were able to track me.”
At the odd sound of his voice, everyone turned to listen to Hunter.
“This time, instead of just reading the control panel, I analyzed power usage and the extent and intensity of the particle showers recorded by the internal monitors of the system. That process has given me enough information to re-create the erased records, using the trips on record to the Late Cretaceous for calibrations.”
“What have you found?” Jane asked softly.
“Nine time trips into the past have been taken. That accounts for the six component robots fleeing, Wayne’s trip back to the Late Cretaceous, and ours … plus one more.”
“So he’s been here and gone,” said Steve. “But you can calculate where each of the component robots went?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “The last trip into the past matches one of the other five trips. It clearly represents Wayne’s pursuit of another component robot.”
“What do we do next?” Steve asked. “We have to make sure that MC 1 is secure,” said Hunter. “Right now, we will all go to MC Governor’s office. I will arrange for a Security escort to meet us on the way.”
“You sound worried,” said Jane. “What is it?”
“No matter how long Wayne remains in the past, he may come back at any time of his choosing. This time I will leave Ishihara here in the room to apprehend Wayne in the expectation that he will come back soon.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Steve.
“Ishihara may catch Wayne,” said Hunter. “However, Wayne may anticipate this plan. He could come back far enough in the future that unpredictable factors will obtain here. I do not dare interfere with the equipment in any way; the First Law will not let me take any risk with his ability to return. At the moment I want to get MC 1 away from this room.”
Ishihara remained on guard in the room. Hunter walked out with MC 1, followed by the three humans. He explained to them that he was radioing the city computer for a Security detail and vehicle. When the vehicle arrived, the detail transported everyone to MC Governor’s office.
Steve saw that a Security robot was on duty there. Hunter greeted him briefly out loud, apparently so that the humans could hear what he was saying. “Horatio, please be on the alert for Dr. Wayne Nystrom. Apprehend him and hold him if you can.”
“Agreed,” said Horatio.
Hunter took his own party inside the office and closed the door.
“Well?” Steve said. “Now what? You’re acting a little strange, Hunter.”
“Maybe you have forgotten the question of whether or not we would change history by even small actions that we took in the past,” said Hunter.
“I did,” Steve admitted. “But I don’t see anything different so far.”
“I don’t, either,” said Jane. “We have come back safely, haven’t we?”
“So far,” Hunter said carefully, “I believe that we have returned to the world just as we left it. That means that none of the changes we caused have brought about noticeable changes.”
“Then the chaos theory applied to time is incorrect,” said Chad.
“Precise calculations may have to be re-examined,” said Hunter. “The degree of accuracy is still in question.”
“Something else is bothering you,” said Jane. “Ever since we got back, your manner has been stiff. What is it?”
“A little while ago, I accessed the news through the city computer to look for changes,” said Hunter. “The networks have just reported an unexplained nuclear explosion of considerable size on the island nation of Jamaica. That is where Wayne went, after another one of the component robots.”
Steve felt a tingling sensation. “A nuclear explosion?”
“It set off tidal waves,” said Hunter. “They have smashed into port
cities allover the Caribbean Sea, including Miami and the Florida coast. The coasts on the Gulf of Mexico will be affected too. Millions of people have died and others are injured and homeless.”
No one spoke for a moment.
“Wait a minute,” said Chad. “We only left here a short time ago. Why didn’t we hear about this before we left?”
“None of us was paying attention to the news,” said Hunter. “I, for one, was focused on preparing for our trip. And the news is very recent.”
“That’s right,” said Steve. “The trip was all we talked about.”
“You feel you have failed under the First Law,” said Jane quietly.
“Correct,” said Hunter. “The only reason that I have not become completely nonfunctional is that I have had to secure MC 1 here and inform the three of you in private. Next I shall report my failure under the First Law to the Governor Robot Oversight Committee, so that they can find another robot to take over my task. After that, I will shut down.”
“Not so fast,” Jane said sharply. “Under the Second Law, I order you to hear me out.”
“What is it?”
“You may still be able to reverse the situation,” said Jane. “You’ve already gathered valuable experience from the first trip. You can do a better job than another robot. Let’s all go after MC 2 in Jamaica back in whatever time he chose.”
“He went back only a few centuries, well into human history.” Hunter looked at her with interest. “You feel I could correct my failures?”
“The Jamaican explosions will never happen if we can get back there and bring MC 2 home again with us,” said Steve. “All those lives will be saved.”
“I see,” said Hunter cautiously. “We can leave MC 1 guarded here in this office, where Wayne cannot reach him. However, I must ask you this. When I hired you three, I thought this trip would require only one quick trip into the past. My calculations failed in that estimate, as well. You would be willing to work with me again, even after I failed the first time?”
“Sure.” Steve shrugged.