by Isaac Asimov
Wayne grinned. “Well, we are.”
“True. However, I dare not respond. Instead of confirming to him that we are the fugitives, I shall wait for him to figure it out.” Ishihara turned off the car speaker again.
“What are we going to do about them?”
“I shall just keep driving. We have a good lead. Once we find a way around the ditch, we shall take off west across the open steppe.”
“Okay.” Wayne looked back again. The other car seemed to be just a little closer.
Steve felt the same familiar time shift as before. The team suddenly found itself jammed together in the dark, curved bottom of the sphere they used to travel in time. It opened and he could see Hunter climbing out.
“Please remain where you are,” said Hunter. “I shall program the console and rejoin you immediately.”
“Hold it, Hunter,” said Steve. “There’s no need to hurry right back, is there? I mean, we can go back to whatever moment we want whether we leave now or in a couple of hours, right?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Well, look. We’re all tired and we could use some good food for a change. You’re low on energy, and ought to recharge. Then we can return to the German lines in the morning, with our sleep schedule matching their time zone.”
“Sounds great to me,” said Judy. “Especially about getting a really nice dinner. Something with dessert.”
“Yeah, Hunter,” said Jane. “We can split up for now and come back fresh.”
“I agree that we should take some time here,” said Hunter, as he helped Judy get out of the sphere. “However, I do not want us to leave the Institute. I am concerned that unexpected distractions and unpredictable problems might arise.”
Steve jumped out and unbuttoned his coat. “You want us to sleep here? We can do that. What about food?”
“I can help, of course.” R. Daladier, the security robot who had been left here originally, was still standing motionless by the door that opened onto the hall.
“I will arrange for Daladier to bring whatever food or personal items you wish from anywhere in Mojave Center,” said Hunter. “Steve, after dinner, I suggest you sleep on the couch here. I shall help Judy and Jane find another room with couches elsewhere in the building.”
“Sounds okay to me,” said Jane, shrugging. “Go ahead and plug into the building’s power system to recharge, Hunter.”
“I shall do so,” said Hunter. “It will not take long. Then I shall arrange different costumes for all of us. We should not wear Soviet clothes to visit the Germans.”
“Now, then,” said Steve. “What are the choices for dinner?”
Wayne stared forward into darkness as Ishihara drove over rough, frozen ground at the southern end of the antitank ditches. From now on, Wayne knew, they had no road to follow. The car bounced hard, jarring him, and he grabbed the back of his seat to steady himself.
“Are they turning back?” Wayne asked.
“See for yourself,” said Ishihara.
Wayne looked back. Now four sets of headlights were following them. The NKVD car that Ishihara had refused to answer over the radio had obviously figured out that they were the fugitives. Other cars had been called and they had converged on the trail.
The chase continued over the open steppe. The car bounced and veered hard; at times Ishihara had to slow down to keep control.
After a while, Wayne looked back again. The pursuers were slowly gaining. Their headlights, too, jumped and jerked in the darkness.
“Why aren’t we gaining? When you drove over open ground last time, you left them behind.”
“This car has sustained damage from the hard use we have given it. I have to drive more slowly now or else it may not last for the entire distance. The cars behind us have apparently not suffered as much. However, their gain on us has been very gradual.”
“Well … how far do we have to go?”
“We have covered seven of the approximately eighteen kilometers to the German lines.”
“How about this — radio forward to the Germans. They still believe we’re German spies, so they should help. What do you think? We can tell them that we’re bringing back important information.”
“We have none.”
“I know, but … it might help. We’ll think of something when the time comes.”
“We still cannot risk precipitating a battle.”
“That isn’t the Soviet military behind us; it’s a bunch of civilian cars. And German patrols must be out this way already.”
“I agree. I shall call.”
Wayne watched him in silence for several minutes.
“I have made contact,” Ishihara said finally. “I explained our dilemma and approximate position to the German radio operator who responded. I also told him we have spoken with Major Bach, whose name may help us.”
“You told him we have critical military information about the Soviets, right? What did he say?”
“Yes, I told him. I have been instructed to stand by.”
Wayne looked back again. The headlights behind them looked a little bigger than before. “Do you think we’re going to make it?”
“I do not know. As I said before, the First Law will require me to take you to another time and place before I allow you to be taken by the NKVD.”
“I don’t want them to get me, either. But maybe we could just jump forward a few hours. And behind German lines? Not so far into the future that Hunter will grab MC 4 in the meantime.”
“It is possible, but we would again have much explaining to do. They would want to know how we got back there, especially without their sentries noticing. We shall have a considerable challenge already in giving them any information about the Soviet military important enough to impress them but unimportant enough so that it will not alter the course of history.”
“Yeah. Just don’t make any move unless we just can’t get away from the NKVD any other way.”
“I agree. Further, I have good news. The German operator has just radioed back. He called the German patrol on duty in this sector. An armored car is coming out to meet us.”
“Great!” Wayne glanced again at the headlights behind them. They were closer than ever. “I hope they get here in time.”
“I suspect that only our claim to have military information has caused anyone to go to this much effort for us.”
“Yeah, well, whatever it takes.” Wayne grinned.
“I fear your history is poor. You do not realize just how horrible the Nazi regime was. We run the risk of angering them.”
21
THE RACE ACROSS the frozen neutral zone continued. Wayne turned in his seat and watched in horrified fascination as the four NKVD cars behind them narrowed the gap. Slowly, but inexorably, their headlights grew larger. Soon they had closed within three or four car lengths. Then they began to spread out.
“Ishihara — they’re surrounding us. They’re going to close in.”
“I see,” said Ishihara. “However, look forward again.”
Wayne swiveled. He saw two tiny lights ahead in the distance, bounding over the horizon. “Ishihara! Is that the German patrol?”
“Yes. I have just made contact. It is Leutnant Mohr’s patrol again.”
“How close are we to the other side?”
“Not very. I estimate we are near the twelvekilometer mark of the total eighteen.”
Suddenly a loud, staccato popping sounded in the distance.
“Hey — are they shooting at us?” Wayne slid down in his seat. “What’s wrong with them?”
“Leutnant Mohr has ordered his machine gun to be fired high over all of us,” said Ishihara. “I acknowledged this without objection. It is merely a warning.”
“Yeah?” Staying low, Wayne turned again to look at the pursuit. All four cars were veering away from them in sudden turns. “Hey, that’s great. They aren’t going to challenge outright military power, are they?”
“No.”
Wayne grinned
. “Wow. That was close.”
“Yes. It was. Now we shall follow the patrol back to German lines.”
“Do we have enough fuel?”
“I believe so. Just barely.”
Wayne sat up, weak with the sudden release of tension. He could see the armored car waiting for them up ahead. As they drew near, it turned and led them back to the west.
After that excitement, Wayne felt profound relief. The remaining six kilometers or so seemed very short now that no one was chasing them. Finally, the armored car led them back through the front lines to a place among the tents.
Ishihara stopped behind the armored car. As the soldiers jumped out of the back, Wayne and Ishihara got out of the car. Leutnant Mohr hurried to meet them, the fur cloak swirling about him in the wind as he spoke quickly in German to Ishihara.
Wayne waited while they spoke. The soldiers in the patrol were attentive, but not hostile. When Leutnant Mohr gestured to a small command tent, Ishihara nodded and turned to Wayne.
“He wants to talk to us himself. I think he is worried about getting into trouble for coming to get us.”
Wayne nodded and followed Ishihara into the tent while the rest of the patrol remained outside. Inside, a soldier sat at a small wooden table in front of a large metal box. Only the antenna told Wayne that it was their crude field radio; the rest of the unit was unrecognizable to him. The tent was a rather meager communications center.
He watched Leutnant Mohr and Ishihara speak in German. As the discussion progressed, Leutnant Mohr became more agitated. Ishihara kept talking, calmly but quickly. Suddenly Leutnant Mohr shouted and the soldiers in his patrol swarmed into the tent to surround Ishihara and Wayne at gunpoint.
Leutnant Mohr gave one more command and the patrol marched out their new prisoners.
Wayne was mystified. Ishihara did not speak, however. They were herded onto the back of the armored car again. This time, the patrol drove them through the lines of gaunt, hollow-eyed soldiers huddling together to the rear. There, they were ordered into a makeshift holding pen.
The pen offered no shelter, being merely a circle of open steppe surrounded by barbed wire guarded by sentries. A crowd of bearded men in ragged and dirty Soviet military uniforms lay huddled on the ground, their only protection from the winter wind coming from each other’s bodies. After Leutnant Mohr’s men had marched back to their armored car, Ishihara squatted and spoke quietly in Russian for a moment to another prisoner. The other man responded briefly and Ishihara stood up again.
Wayne followed Ishihara a short distance away so they could speak English without being overheard.
“What happened with Leutnant Mohr?” Wayne asked.
“I told Leutnant Mohr about the placement of the antitank ditches. I also told him about the width of the neutral zone between the armies and roughly where I believe the Red Army is placed. I felt I could risk telling him that much, because it will not change the coming battle. Unfortunately, the Leutnant knows that this is worthless information.”
“And he got mad.”
“Leutnant Mohr feels that we tricked him, which, of course, is actually true. Now the Leutnant has to save himself from Major Bach’s anger. I think he is hoping that treating us as prisoners will look good to his superior.”
Wayne glanced at the cold, spiritless men in the pen with them. “I would have thought the Germans would have more prisoners than this.”
“The man I spoke to here told me that this is just a holding pen for paws. The vast majority of prisoners have already been marched far to the rear. This pen simply holds those who have been captured since the others left. Apparently, the Germans have a bunch of these small pens up and down the rear of their lines.”
Wayne nodded. “Leutnant Mohr overreacted. Don’t you think Major Bach will let us out again?”
“Predicting is difficult. Leutnant Mohr is protecting himself when in doubt.”
“Well … he didn’t take my fur cloak away. Last time we saw him, he wanted it.”
“Maybe he is simply distracted by larger issues at the moment. I suggest that the time has come to go to another time and place. We could give up on MC 4 and attempt to apprehend one of the other component robots.”
“No, not yet. We can always go at the last minute — on the point of death.”
“I cannot allow the risk of harm to come that close to you.”
“We haven’t reached that point yet. Look, you know I haven’t done very well. I only need to get my hands on one of the component robots — but I’m desperate for one! I don’t dare give up this easily.”
“All right. Until more immediate danger threatens, the Second Law still applies.”
Wayne nodded, tightening his fur cloak around him. “It’s going to be a long, cold night out here.”
Steve found breakfast waiting when Hunter woke him. The team ate, showered down the hall, and dressed in the new costumes Hunter had waiting. These clothes looked similar to the previous ones to Steve, but Hunter assured him that the differences in style would be noticeable to the Germans. Then they gathered in Room F-12, wearing new overcoats in anticipation of returning to the Russian winter.
“I see we’re all ready,” said Judy. “Any final briefing, Hunter?”
“Only that we shall go back to the area behind German lines, at dawn the morning after we left.”
“I was thinking about that,” said Steve. “Can’t you calculate where MC 4 would be earlier in the night, while he’s crossing the neutral zone alone? We could trap him out on the open steppe, without any local witnesses.”
“I considered it,” said Hunter. “That move sounds easy but it would actually be difficult. For instance, we cannot afford to go back at a time when we were already there; appearing there twice at the same time would risk time paradoxes that could bring about incalculable problems.”
“Your internal clock will tell you exactly when we left,” said Jane. “You can take us back an hour later. MC 4 would still be out in the middle of nowhere.”
“I have no way to predict his precise route. He will probably take some evasive measures, and may alter his path even more as he draws close enough to see or hear soldiers on the German lines. Remember, he cannot just walk up to them without violating the Third Law by getting shot. So as he sneaks up on the Germans, his moves become unpredictable.”
“You could still make an educated guess,” said Steve. “I like the idea of nabbing him all alone out in the open.”
“If I fail to take us within sight of him, we will have accomplished nothing,” said Hunter. “We could not risk following him to the German lines.”
“I’m with Hunter,” said Judy. “We’re going back to December 5, 1941. The Soviet army moves on the Germans at dawn. If we’re standing between the two armies when it does, we’re in big trouble.”
“We would have to come back here again,” said Hunter. “And go to the German rear anyway.”
“Okay,” said Steve. “I’m convinced.”
Jane nodded.
“Then we shall go directly to the rear of the German lines,” said Hunter. “I shall set the console.”
Steve helped Jane and Judy climb into the sphere and then followed them. As always, Hunter joined them last and closed it. Steve only hoped they could avoid the dangers of combat once the battle began.
As soon as the team arrived safely on the cold ground, Hunter stood up and looked west in the pale early light. He could not see any sign of the German lines, but when he raised his aural sensitivity, he heard the sounds of vehicles, voices, and marching feet. Then a series of thunderous booms reached them.
“Soviet artillery,” said Judy. “The Germans will be moving quickly to prepare for the Soviet advance.”
“I do not want to waste any time,” said Hunter. “I shall radio in German for help.”
Hunter sent out a call in German, identifying himself as a Swiss national whose team was involved with German intelligence. After a brief delay, the radio oper
ator responded that a German patrol would be sent to pick them up. Hunter gave his location as well as he could and signed off.
Soon Hunter could hear the roar of a loud, powerful engine coming toward them.
“I believe the patrol is on the way,” said Hunter.
“Probably an armored car,” said Judy. “Carrying troops in the back.”
“Yes,” Hunter said, magnifying his vision and focusing on a speck that had just come over the horizon. “I see it now.”
The armored car rumbled over the rough ground as the sound of artillery grew more intense. As soon as it pulled up in front of the team, the soldiers in the back leaped to the ground and fanned out around them, leveling their weapons. One young officer stepped out of the passenger side of the car.
“Hands up! Now!” He was excited, his voice tense. “Who is in charge here?”
Hunter raised his hands and saw that his team also complied. “I am,” he said in German as fluent as the officer’s. “This man is Japanese; the rest of us are Swiss. We are no threat to you.”
“Frisk them!” The officer pointed to two of his men.
As they slung their rifles over their shoulders and trotted forward, Hunter looked at the officer in surprise. “Who are you? What is wrong?”
“I am Leutnant Mohr.” He walked up in front of Hunter, studying him carefully as artillery pounded even faster, shaking the ground. “What is your business with German intelligence?”
“We are on the trail of an enemy agent. We believe he may have infiltrated German lines here.”
“What does he look like?”
Hunter described MC 4. He was startled to see Leutnant Mohr’s face tighten suspiciously. One of the soldiers frisked Hunter and then stepped back.
“They are not armed,” he said.
“Take them into the back,” said Leutnant Mohr. He turned and walked back to the cab of the armored car.
The other soldiers kept the team covered and herded them into the back. In a few minutes, the armored car was bouncing in a tight circle to return to the lines. No one spoke.