by Isaac Asimov
MC 2 got out and stood motionless next to Hunter, waiting for further instructions.
Ishihara was still standing in the room. “Welcome back, Hunter. You were successful, I see.”
Yes. Dr. Nystrom is not here?”
“No.”
“You were instructed to stop him.”
“He has not come here during the two minutes since you left,” said Ishihara.
“Really?” Steve looked at Hunter. “Maybe he’s timing his return for quite a while later.”
“He may have guessed I would have someone waiting here now,” said Hunter. “But this could be a problem.”
“Let’s get MC 2 safely joined up with MC 1 in your office,” said Steve. “Then we can worry about Wayne Nystrom.”
“Good idea,” said Hunter.
“We’ll change out of our period costumes first,” said Jane.
As before, they changed clothes in turn in the other room. Hunter called for a Security detail to drive them to MC Governor’s office. The trip was uneventful. Hunter closed the office door behind them and then turned to MC 2.
“You know MC 1 of course,” said Hunter.
“Of course.”
“Jane, please give them Second Law instructions to control them.”
“You will both do as Hunter says,” said Jane.
“Acknowledged,” said MC 2.
“Stand with MC 1.”
MC 2 did so.
“Well, that’s two of them,” said Steve. “Now what?”
“I’d like to say something,” said Rita.
“Go ahead,” said Hunter.
“I apologize for running off and fouling up everything. I wanted to see the sights and I didn’t think I would cause any trouble. But I romanticized my history — as a historian, I should never have done that. I was so excited about being back in that time and place that I … forgot myself. And I fell for Roland, I must admit. But in the end, he reminded me: he was just another cutthroat buccaneer, the product of a nasty, violent life. I guess my history has really come alive. Books can’t really do that. I thought they could, but they can’t.” She sighed, then shrugged helplessly.
“You still helped,” said Jane.
“That is true,” said Hunter. “And we were ultimately successful.”
“You and Jane saved me from Roland’s sword,” said Steve. “Don’t forget about that. Thanks — to both of you.”
“Well — you’re welcome.” Rita smiled awkwardly. “I think my role here is finished, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “Thank you. Your fee will be paid in full.”
“Now, wait — I’m not sure I deserve it.”
“I will arrange it,” said Hunter. “If you and Jane had not saved Steve, we might all be back there even now.”
“Well — thanks. Goodbye.” Rita slipped out, closing the door behind her.
“Hunter,” said Jane. “Have you accessed the news again, like you did after our first mission? What happened to the nuclear explosion in Jamaica that occurred shortly before we left?”
“I have been monitoring the news,” said Hunter. “No mention has been made of any such event.”
“Ha! We did it!” Steve grinned.
“We have a new problem, however,” Hunter said soberly.
“What is it?” Jane looked at him in alarm. “Another one?”
“In the fifteen minutes since we returned, I have picked up preliminary reports of a nuclear explosion in Germany.”
“Oh, no,” said Jane.
“I have the coordinates that were used by all the component robots still at large,” said Hunter. “However, I feel we should take the German mission next. Explosions at other sites have not occurred yet.”
“Is this one in Germany more important?” Steve asked skeptically.
“All such explosions are very important, of course,” said Hunter. “However, the trouble may spread very quickly from this one. It has taken place in western Germany, just east of the Rhine, in a heavily populated area with advanced industry. Over the past centuries, a great deal of international animosity developed there, much of it leading to war. Right now, a few news analysts are concerned that terrorists may be attempting to disrupt world peace.”
“And because of the destruction, the First Law is pressuring you to handle this one now,” said Jane.
“Yes,” said Hunter. “As before, however, I must search for a historian familiar with the culture we will visit. In the meantime, I suggest that you two have a good dinner and a good night’s sleep.”
“Good idea,” said Jane. “Back in 1668, it was evening. That’s why I’m ready for dinner.”
“Me, too,” said Steve. “But drop the suspense, Hunter, and tell us — where do we go next? And when?”
“A place called Teutoburger Forest,” said Hunter. “In A.D. 9, during the golden age of the Roman Empire.”
Warrior
2140 A.D.
1
STEVE CHANG FOLLOWED Jane Maynard into the office of Mojave Center Governor, the gestalt robot who was supposed to be running the underground city of Mojave Center. Now the office was temporarily occupied by R. Hunter, the robot who had been specifically designed and built to lead the search for the missing Governor Robot.
“Good morning,” said Hunter. “I trust your breakfast was good.” He was already standing, six and a half brawny feet of humaniform robot in a northern European physiognomy now, with short blond hair and blue eyes, though he could change his shape and appearance at will. “Steve, Jane — this is Professor Gene Titus, our historian on the team for this mission.”
“Pleased to meet you both.” Gene was a tall, pleasant-looking man, only a little older than Steve, with bushy brown hair. He smiled broadly as he shook hands with them. “I’m a specialist in Roman history, especially the early imperial period. From what Hunter tells me, this trip we’re about to take should be quite an experience.”
“We’ve done two of them already,” said Jane. “There’s nothing like it.”
“Hi,” said Steve. He hung back a little, waiting to see what sort of guy Gene would turn out to be.
“So Hunter was telling me.” Gene turned to the weird object standing against the wall. “So these are two of the six gestalt robots we’re looking for?”
Steve said nothing. This was Jane’s specialty.
“That’s right,” said Jane. “Mojave Center Governor split into his six component robots and these are the two we have brought back from the past so far.”
“And so what is this, exactly?”
“This thing in front of us is what MC 1 and 2 look like, physically merged and shut down. If we get the other four back here to merge with them, we’ll have MC Governor put back together again. At that point, he’ll actually be humaniform.”
“Not ‘if’ we bring them back,” said Hunter soberly. “When we bring them back.”
Steve grinned. “That’s the right spirit. But, if you don’t mind my asking …”
“Yes?”
“You look kind of young to be a professor.”
“I just received my first position this year. My doctoral degree is so new, the ink’s wet.” He winked.
Jane laughed.
“I see.” Steve smiled too, pleased at Gene’s casual attitude. He had expected Gene to be a little more stuffy in his manner.
Gene turned to Jane. “Hunter has only started to brief me. You’re the roboticist?”
“That’s right.”
“Then I guess you can explain something to me. The Laws of Robotics must be dictating the robots’ behavior somehow, but I don’t quite see the connection.”
“Hunter, do you want to finish the briefing? Or does it matter?”
“Go ahead,” said Hunter. His manner was serious and direct, telling Steve that he did not want to waste time with unnecessary talk.
“The Third Law of Robotics says, ‘A robot must protect his own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with
the First or Second Law,’ “said Jane.
“What about it?” Gene asked.
“MC Governor is one of a small number of experimental Governor Robots that were being tested recently. All the others have malfunctioned. The Governor Robot Oversight Committee, for whom Hunter is working, needs to get hold of MC Governor to find out what may have happened to them all. MC Governor has split into his component robots and fled. Without interviewing him, I can only surmise his reasons, but I believe that under the Third Law, he split to avoid experiencing the same malfunction as the other Governor Robots. Also under the same Law, I think he fled in order to avoid being dismantled during a study of the problem.”
“I see. So that’s why they fled to different times in history.” Gene nodded soberly. “I’ve already given Hunter my promise to keep the existence of time travel confidential. If time travel became widespread, history would be very vulnerable to all the people who might change it. But do the other Laws apply to the robots’ decision to flee?”
“Oh, yes. The component robots miniaturized themselves to microscopic size when they used the time travel device. Their intention was to avoid receiving any instructions from humans — in the case of MC 1, who went back to the dinosaur age, he was anticipating survival into the human era. The Second Law of Robotics says, ‘A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.’”
“And if humans couldn’t see the robots, they wouldn’t give them any orders.”
“That’s the idea,” said Steve.
“Then what’s the problem?” Gene looked back and forth between Jane and Hunter.
“There are two problems,” said Hunter. “The first is that the miniaturization process was flawed. All the component robots return to full size at some point back in history, without their desire or control. When they do this, they begin to interact with humans. Since they have to obey human orders, they may change history. Even worse, their obedience to the First Law of Robotics might even guarantee that they will make certain changes.”
“The First Law says, ‘A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm,’ “said Jane.
“Yes, I see the connection,” said Gene.
“I arranged hypnotic sleep courses in Latin and ancient German for Steve and Jane,” said Hunter. “In the case of German, we had to use a probable reconstruction of the language based on what our finest linguist robots could surmise. I assume it went well?”
“Adfirmo,” said Jane, smiling. “I affirm.”
“We won’t really know until we try speaking to the natives,” said Steve.
“Gene, were you able to use the lesson packages I sent you when we made our arrangements?” Hunter asked.
“Yes. I used them while I slept on the plane on my way here. The flight wasn’t as long as a good night’s sleep, but I concentrated on the German since I already had to learn Latin as part of my education.”
“Excellent. I have accessed these languages thoroughly myself. Now, then. I have arranged for a Security detail to take all of us to Room F-12 of the Bohung Institute. I left your clothing and lapel pin radios there during the night, after I received them from the robots who made them.”
“You still want me to review them for authenticity?” Gene asked. “You mentioned that when you first contacted me.”
“Definitely,” said Hunter. “Let us go.”
Hunter was deliberately keeping the tension he felt from the humans. The First Law imperative was driving him hard to get back into the past as fast as possible, but of course he knew that all of the team’s preparations had to be made first. Now, as he led the humans out of the office to the waiting Security vehicle, he opened his internal communication link to the city computer.
“Please contact all the members of the Governor Robot Oversight Committee in a conference call.”
“Acknowledged,” said the city computer.
Hunter felt that his responsibilities to the committee required that he report on the progress of his missions. However, he had not shared with them the fact that time travel was involved. If the ability to travel through time were to become widely known and used, the potential harm to humans would be immense. His judgment of how to follow the First Law in this matter therefore prevented him from explaining the details to the Committee. He also wanted to confer with them alone, so that the human members of his team would not mistakenly reveal the existence of time travel.
The team rode the electric cart silently down the broad, clean thoroughfares of Mojave Center. Around them, robots and humans pursued their daily routines, unaware that in the Bohung Institute, the first and only device for time travel was among them. The underground city, beneath the Mojave Desert in California, remained calm and safe.
“Have you briefed Gene about Wayne Nystrom?” Steve asked Hunter.
“Not yet,” said Hunter.
“That name is familiar to me,” said Gene. “Has he been in the news or something?”
“Not lately,” said Jane. “But from time to time, he has appeared in the scientific news because of his advances in robotics. He invented the Governor Robots.”
“Is he going to be joining the team?” Gene asked.
“I wish.” Steve grinned and shook his head. “He’s operating on his own, trying to get the component robots away from us. He wants to conduct his own investigation of their malfunction, without us.”
“His own? Is he able to go back in time, too?”
“Up to now,” said Steve.
“What do you mean?”
Steve looked at Hunter. “You know the technicalities better than I do.”
“I do not know all the particulars myself,” said Hunter. “However, Dr. Nystrom has appeared in the past during both of our previous missions.”
“Does he have a second time travel device?”
“No,” said Hunter. “The device we have all used was initially created by MC Governor, accomplished by modifying an existing piece of research equipment. The component robots all used it, and Wayne Nystrom followed them, preceding us. We were the last to use it.”
“You didn’t get hold of him when he returned to this time?” Gene was puzzled.
“No. On our first mission, I did not realize he was a factor in this project,” said Hunter.
“May I ask what happened, or is that prying?” Gene glanced at all three of the others, uncertainly.
“Of course you may ask,” said Hunter. “You are part of the team. I had Security robots guard the Institute and stationed a robot just outside the door. Wayne apparently returned from the Late Cretaceous to Room F-12 and quickly reprogrammed the console to send him back to the time of Captain Henry Morgan. That’s where we became aware of him next.”
“And now?”
“When we returned, I moved a robot named Ishihara to the inside of the room with orders to apprehend Wayne and to report to me when he appeared.”
“But Nystrom hasn’t come back?”
“No,” said Hunter.
“What about that, Hunter?” Steve asked. “Do you think he’s still back in Morgan’s time, in the 1600s? Now that we have MC 2 safely here, maybe we should go after Wayne.”
“He has no reason to remain there,” said Hunter. “And from what I can tell, our history has not been changed except in regard to the explosions. I believe he may have some other plan in mind that is beyond my anticipation for now. So our best plan of action is to continue our mission to recover MC 3, as planned.”
“Explosions?” Gene eyed Hunter carefully. “I caught a news item on my way here about a mysterious explosion in Germany — come to think of it, in the general area we’re about to visit. Is there a connection?”
“That is correct,” said Hunter. “When the component robots reach the approximate time from which they first journeyed back into the past — in other words, about now — they explode with nuclear force. This is caused by the instabil
ity in their atomic structure caused by the flawed miniaturization. The destruction to human life acts as a First Law imperative on me.”
“I get it,” Gene said grimly. “We have to go back and get that one right now. That’s MC 3?”
“You are correct again,” said Hunter.
All night, while he had prepared the clothing and new communicators for the team, he had monitored the news. Millions were dead in northwestern Germany, just east of the Ems River and the Weser River r in a heavily populated industrial area. The radiation was beginning to spread over most of Europe. Worst of all, some news analysts were concerned that terrorists might be attempting to disrupt world peace. Hunter feared that old, mutual fears and accusations by different nations could cause additional violence. The First Law required that he eliminate the cause of the explosion without delay.
The Security vehicle pulled up in front of the Bohung Institute. Hunter led the team silently inside the building, through the robot Security detail guarding it. He had arranged to shut down the Institute as soon as he had realized the importance of the experimental time travel device that MC Governor had created.
Inside, Hunter took his team to Room F-12 and introduced Gene to Ishihara. This large room housed an opaque sphere about fifteen meters in diameter. The remainder of the room was lined with countertops, most of them occupied with computers, monitors, a communications console, and miscellaneous office items. Clothing was stacked on one counter near the door to an adjacent room.
Ishihara passed out oral vaccines to the humans, which Hunter had chosen and requisitioned during the night. These vaccines could not guarantee protection from disease, because the modern microbes had mutated considerably in the millennia that had passed since Roman times, but Hunter knew they would improve the humans’ chances of avoiding serious illness. The humans took them immediately.
Ishihara waited impassively by the door. Everyone turned to Hunter for instructions. He pointed to the stack of clothing he had left earlier.