by Isaac Asimov
IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING WILDERNESS SPOOR the title read. Ariel leafed through it quickly. A wildlife guide. She checked through others–CLEANING AND DRESSING OF INJURIES IN THE WILD, CAMPSITE ERGONOMICS AND ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS, PERSONAL HYGIENE IN UNMODIFIED TERRITORY–impressed despite herself at the evident attention to the details of living outside an urban environment.
She followed the line down to the end. On top of each crate one of the pamphlets had been placed in an attached sleeve. Except the last one.
Ariel pried the lid up and found another stack of pamphlets. These contained a picture of Clar Eliton below a banner that declared ELITON FOR TERRA FIRST. She pulled one out and opened it.
Mia reached the first-floor veranda of the main building at the same time as Derec. They sat next to each other below one of the few unlit windows.
“Anything?” he asked.
“No. Where’s Ariel?”
“I don’t know. I thought she was over there.” He pointed toward the west end of the enclave. “This is the last building.”
“That we know about.”
He shrugged.
Mia began crawling along the veranda, keeping below the windows. Derec followed.
The veranda encircled the building. At each window, Mia risked a quick look inside, then continued on. Derec trusted her that she saw nothing important in any of these rooms.
They climbed the stairs to the second floor balcony on all fours.
Immediately, they heard voices.
Mia moved carefully but faster than Derec could match and still keep quiet. He caught up to her beneath a broad window. Voices came from within and when Derec looked up at the opening he, saw that, instead of a solid surface, it was only screened. Mia knelt before it, her head just above the sill so she could see in.
“–a mess. Should’ve stayed arrested–”
“–not my style–”
“Style be damned!”
Derec felt his scalp tingle; he recognized the voice. He raised himself up to Mia’s level.
The room was large and comfortable, with heavy divans and thick armchairs scattered about. Lamps cast conflicting though warm and pleasant shadows over the tables and walls and the three men facing each other in a loose triangle.
Agent Gambel held a glass. Across from him stood Bok Golner, still in his black fatigues, scowling at the man seated before them. Derec’s unease multiplied at the sight of Senator Eliton, sitting in a low chair, a drink at his elbow, dressed in an evening jacket.
“It shouldn’t make any difference at this point,” Gambel said. “We have the robot, the TBI have seized four Spacer warehouses containing contraband, and Phylaxis has been shut down under a warrant based on illegal service to contraband robots. The Spacers are looking worse and worse. All we need to do now is drop the last bit of evidence on Taprin’s desk and there’ll be a general outcry to throw the Aurorans off Earth.”
Eliton sighed wearily. “I don’t know what you think this accomplishes. Anything could undo the whole thing, like finding him” he stabbed a finger at Golner “–here, when he ought to be in jail with the rest of his goons.”
“I don’t do that,” Golner said.
“Do what?” Eliton demanded.
“Serve time in an institution. I already did that once.”
“You should remember how to follow orders,” Gambel said.
Golner’s face reddened. He opened his mouth to speak.
But the door opened behind him, and suddenly Bogard was in the room with them.
“Shit,” Derec hissed.
Several things happened.
Eliton stood abruptly, knocking his drink off the table.
Golner drew a weapon and began to turn. Bogard touched Golner’s hand, but the Managin flinched away, letting the pistol fly. He ducked under Bogard grasp, so fast that Derec almost could not follow his turn as he twisted around Bogard’s left flank and bolted for the door.
Gambel dropped his glass and reached for his sidearm.
Mia threw herself through the screen, weapon drawn. “Bogard!” she cried.
Bogard, reaching for Golner, hesitated.
Eliton dropped to his knees and came up holding Golner’s pistol.
“Thank god!” he shouted and shot Gambel.
Bogard’s entire body seemed to unfold and suddenly refold around Eliton.
Golner staggered from the room.
Mia ran to the doorway, leaned out, and fired twice.
Derec got to his feet.
It all too place in a few seconds.
Derec stepped into the room and went to Gambel. His face was distorted, the eyeballs pulped and oozing–the effects of a heavy stun at nearly pointblank range. Derec looked away.
“Time to leave,” Mia said. “Bogard, do you have the senator secured?”
“Yes, Mia.”
“Don’t let him out unless absolutely necessary and not on his command. Clear?”
“I understand, Mia.”
“Escape route.”
Bogard swept out of the window and down the outside stairs.
“Platoon!” Golner shouted from somewhere below. “Compromise! The perimeter has been compromised!”
“Move,” Mia urged Derec.
They followed Bogard down to the ground and hurried across the enclave. Behind them, people were spilling from two of the barracks.
“Where’s Ariel?” Derec asked.
Ahead, they saw a figure running to intercept them, barely a shadow against larger shadows. She waved and Derec knew it was Ariel.
Bogard stopped at the perimeter. “Please step against me,” it said.
“What–?” Mia began.
“Like this.” Derec pressed himself to Bogard’s side. The amalloy skin warped around him. A few moments later, he felt Bogard begin to move.
Bogard ran directly through the perimeter. The voltage discharged against it, but coursed around the robot and grounded harmlessly. Just within the tree line, the shielding retracted and let Derec, Ariel, and Mia out.
“This way,” Bogard said, and plunged through the underbrush.
The distant, distinct pops of gunfire sounded behind them. The whiz and snap of bullets tearing through leaves and branches overhead made them duck involuntarily.
“The shots are random,” Mia said. “They can’t see us.”
The rate of fire increased.
“Eventually one of them will get lucky,” Ariel complained.
They were running now, arms outstretched to fend off the whipping branches.
Suddenly, Bogard stopped and let them catch up and pass.
“Bogard, what–?” Mia called.
“I cannot accept the level of risk to you. Please take Senator Eliton in your care.”
Derec stopped. Bogard opened up and Eliton stumbled out from within the enshielding. He looked around frantically, eyes wide, still holding Golner’s weapon.
Mia stepped up to him. “Senator,” she said, and deftly took the pistol from him. “This way, please.”
“It’s a miracle you showed up,” Eliton said and looked around, puzzled that he could barely see his rescuers. “Whoever you are.”
“Talk later, move now,” Mia said and took his elbow.
They continued on.
Derec looked back to see what Bogard intended. Bogard followed, but its body seemed to grow even as Derec watched. Bogard had dispensed with its stealth shielding. It was a bright coppery target now, making itself wider and higher. Beyond, the gunfire resumed and Derec heard the bullets impact on Bogard. Then he heard the wash of a blaster.
Bogard’s entire body seemed to shudder and glow.
“Run, Derec,” Bogard ordered.
Derec ran.
They reached the path and sprinted back toward the orientation center. It sounded like a small army attacking Bogard, and Derec winced at the staccato sounds.
Just as the door came into sight, a dozen men poured onto the path, blocking their way, all armed and convergi
ng on them. Derec skidded to a stop and backpedaled.
“Sir!” someone shouted, but Derec did not stop.
He crashed into the woods and tried to find a place to hide. Before him now rose an eerie specter, a sheen of gold through the foliage, rippling and moving. As he stared at the sight, he realized that it was Bogard, stretched out like a blanket between him and the Managins in pursuit. Derec understood the potential for Bogard to manage this, but it still amazed him.
But it was too much. Holes were appearing in the skin. They rehealed almost at once–except in a couple of spots where they were ragged, the edges flapping uselessly. Bogard was losing integrity and could no longer absorb the impacts.
As he watched, Bogard seemed to shred into fragments.
“No!” Derec screamed.
Then the second group caught up to him.
Instead of seizing him, though, they passed him, driving into the woods, and firing at the Managins.
Derec backed away.
Something closed on his neck painfully. He tried to turn, but could not. Then he hit the gravel on his back.
When he looked up, someone knelt on his chest, aiming a pistol at his face.
“Let’s see who we have now,” Golner said and lifted Derec’s veil. “Spacer boy. Great. Are you worth my trouble? Will you get me out of here? It’s a good question, isn’t it?”
Derec swung at Golner, aiming to knock the weapon aside. Golner just held it out of harm’s way, then punched Derec in the sternum–a short, hard blow that knocked the wind from him.
“No chance,” Golner said. “You’ll be more trouble than you’re worth.”
He aimed again.
A coppery tendril snaked around Golner’s body, encircled his wrist, and jerked the gun up. It went off, a loud crack of thunder that set Derec’s ears ringing.
Golner struggled briefly, then tried to turn the pistol in the direction of his assailant. The barrel came around, the wrist still held by Bogard’s tendril. Golner tried to twist so he could see; the barrel of the gun came close to his head. Bogard flexed to turn the weapon away, and it went off again.
Golner’s head burst open in a spray of blood and bone.
Derec screamed and pushed himself away.
People surrounded him, but their guns were aimed at Golner’s corpse.
It lay now, half its head gone, a copper strand wrapped around its waist and wrist. Derec followed the line of the strand into the woods to a shapeless mass of material that glowed dimly in the first vague light of approaching dawn.
“Violation... violation...” The voice was weak and tinny. “First Law violation... unacceptable... vio–vi–violation …”
Gradually the voice faded away, and the forest was still.
Agent Sathen knelt before Derec and offered him a cup.
“I don’t understand,” Derec said.
“It’s coffee,” Sathen said.
Derec shook his head. “I mean you. What are you doing here?”
Sathen gave him a wry grin. “Did you think none of us were doing anything?”
“Does One know you’re here?” Mia asked. She pointed past him. “With TBI agents?”
Sathen looked at her. “Good question for a corpse. No, One doesn’t. Or maybe he does. He’s gone. We moved to arrest him when this phase began.”
Mia nodded as if the answer meant everything.
“–woke up out here, I had no idea what had happened,” Senator Eliton’s voice drifted over to them.
Sathen looked toward the group of agents surrounding the Senator and shook his head. “I’m amazed. I really expected–”
“That he was really dead?” Ariel asked.
“No. But that he’d be off the planet.”
Ariel cocked an eyebrow. “You believe Spacers were behind this?”
“Not all of you. The fake bodies in the. morgue are Spacer biotech–”
“Which can be purchased easily enough,” Ariel said.
Sathen shrugged. “But we have him back.”
“For better or worse,” Ariel said.
Sathen frowned. “I thought you’d be pleased. We found the assassins, shut down their operation, and recovered Senator Eliton. He’s the best friend you people have.”
“Is he really?”
Sathen stared at her for a time, then stood. “Whatever. You politicos can sort it out from here.”
He walked off. Eliton continued to talk, describing his ordeal among the fanatic Managins.
Ariel pulled a pamphlet out of her jacket and passed it to Mia. “You might find this instructive,” she said.
Mia opened it and silently began to read.
Another agent came up to Derec. “Are you Avery?”
“Yes.”
“We gathered up what was left of Bogard. Nothing seems to be working anymore. What do you want us to do with him?”
“Deliver it–him–to Phylaxis.”
The agent nodded and walked away. Derec sat quietly for a moment, staring off into space, Bogard’s last words echoing in his head. He felt numb. Then he suddenly started, his mind clearing.
“Phylaxis,” he muttered, then groaned. “Rana.”
“Don’t worry,” Ariel said. She placed a consoling hand on his shoulder. “We’ll work on getting your people out of confinement in the morning.”
Derec nodded and sat there then, listening to Eliton drone on, and watched the company of agents try to sort out prisoners and bodies and logistics. He drank his coffee and tried not to think.
After a while, Mia stood and walked over to Eliton. Derec heard her speaking, but could make out none of the words. Then she held out the pamphlet Ariel had given her and tossed it in the senator’s lap. She walked off. Eliton stared at the pamphlet. The other agents watched Mia.
Epilogue
Record module CF-942 attach log sequencing file “Zealots Inc.” running virtual conference Maui Overlook fill visual fill audio status on
THIS WILL BE our last meeting under these circumstances,” the thick man with amber-tinged white hair announced. Only three others sat around the table. “I’m arranging for another medium, which I will let you all know about in due course. Circumstances have forced me to remove myself from easy access. However, I think we can agree that, in spite of a wrinkle or two we didn’t foresee, things have worked out neatly.”
“A wrinkle or two? We damn near started a war.”
“But we didn’t, did we? We aren’t at war. Yet. The conference ended without a treaty, the Aurorans have been thoroughly compromised, and in six months we can resume traffic with even less interference than we had before now that Risher is out of the way. I already have commitments from two Settler colonies for new bases.”
“What about Eliton? He’s fighting a losing battle.”
“In your opinion. I think he’ll manage to win reelection. Taprin is just not as good a campaigner.”
“But he’s untainted. We might do better to back him. Those files that agent spilled into the public database on his past associations with Mikels and Golner are doing a lot of damage. Even if he wins he may be a spent force.”
The chairman considered that for a time, then nodded. “You have a point. Let’s see how the numbers fallout for a time. If it turns out that people believe all that data, then maybe we should switch to Taprin. Of course, there was that matter of his relationship with that Auroran ambassador.”
“It’s over. He stood on principle, she left him. I have that on very good authority.”
“Usable.”
“What do we do about the Aurorans now?”
“That’s up to the Fifty Worlds. Our friend Ambassador Chassik is making tremendous political capital out of their apparent indiscretions. The damage is done, we just have to wait and see how much. Once Solaria displaces Aurora as de facto head of the Spacer Worlds, then business will be even better. Agreed?”
The three attendees nodded.
“It has been an interesting campaign,” the chairman said.
“We won most of what we wanted. No robotic inspections of Earth transports, no lowering of tariffs here or among the Spacer Worlds, although the easement among the Settler worlds might do some small damage to our prof its. However, that should be offset by the tighter controls that Solaria will propose once they assume the dominant role among the Fifty Worlds. All in all, a good year’s work. You should all congratulate yourselves. You did very well.”
“It cost you quite a bit.”
“Yes, well... I always did consider emigrating.” He paused for a time to let them all think about that. “Anything else?”
“What about Alda? Are we going to leave him in prison?”
“Alda won’t spent any time in prison, I assure you. The charges are circumstantial, the evidence corrupted. This will cost him a little out of pocket, that’s all.”
“And Looms?”
“Yes, well, we missed that one, didn’t we? A pity he won’t even be charged. But maybe next time.” Again, a pause. “No further business? Good. In that case, I’ll be in touch some time in the next ten months with the new arrangements for our meetings. Be careful to purge your files of any hint of this place. Thank you all. I’ll look forward to our next talk.”
One by one the attendees winked out. The chairman went to the transparency and gazed out at the simulation. The ocean, the waterfall, the trees, the beauty. He wondered if where he was going would have anything to compare.
Well, if it did not, then he would simply have to build it. What else was money and power for?
“Flesh, not steel?”
The chairman turned to find a ghostly form standing behind him. He was only mildly surprised.
“I didn’t expect you to chance coming back here,” he said.
“The meeting’s over? I missed it?”
“It’s allover.”
“No, I don’t think so. You’ll resume in some other medium. I just wanted to say good-bye. I couldn’t have done this without your help.”
“No, you couldn’t. But then we’ve been dependent on each other, haven’t we?”