Predator iarit-1

by William F. Wu

  “Unnecessary advice,” Hunter said patiently.

  “I can’t believe this,” said Wayne, staring at the dinosaurs racing in all directions behind them.

  “Remain calm.” Hunter took Wayne on his own back. “I will save Wayne.” He took off at a run.

  Steve leaned down and spoke to MC 1. “You follow us and stay close. Right?”

  “Right,” said MC 1.

  Jane also turned to the small robot. “After the First Law imperative has passed, you stay with us or join us if we get separated. Ignore all statements from Wayne until we get a chance to talk to you. We have to explain a complex First Law problem that you haven’t had a chance to consider. Acknowledge your agreement under the Second Law.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Then let’s get of here!” Steve yelled to Chad urgently.

  “Look out!” While the triceratops rammed the first tyrannosaurus again, tearing at its insides, the second tyrannosaurus was lumbering through the forest directly toward them, smashing everything in its path underfoot. By now, most of the other dinosaurs had put more distance between themselves and the battling giants. That left the struthiomimus, its riders, and MC 1 as the closest prey it could see.

  Chad yanked on the reins and all three human riders kicked their mount. It took off after Hunter, with MC 1 running along behind. Steve stole another look over his shoulder. The tyrannosaurus was crashing toward them, its eyes fixed on him and its rows of teeth gleaming.

  “Faster!” Steve yelled, though he realized the struthiomimus could hardly run at top speed while carrying the weight of three humans.

  In front of them Hunter was slipping through the bushes with Wayne on his back. Suddenly, as Steve watched, Wayne simply vanished. Steve figured he had activated his version of the device that would take him forward to their own time.

  Steve saw Hunter stop to glance behind him, but the robot obviously reached the same conclusion about Wayne. Hunter looked up and waved for the humans to ride past him. Then he leapt into the air, grabbed a tree branch and pulled himself up.

  “Go back to the camp!” Hunter shouted at Chad, as the struthiomimus rushed below him. At the same time he was still climbing the tree to get above the head of the tyrannosaurus.

  “Right!” Chad shouted back, over his shoulder.

  Hunter shifted to radio communication. “MC 1, climb a tree near me. We must work together to distract this dinosaur from pursuing them.”

  “Agreed.” Now running just a short distance ahead of the roaring tyrannosaurus, MC 1 also found a low-hanging branch within reach. He grabbed it and quickly scrambled up into a tree next to Hunter’s and climbed to a safe height. “What do you suggest?”

  “We will jump on its back,” said Hunter. “Time your jump…now!”

  Using his precise vision, timing, and coordination, Hunter leapt onto the back of the tyrannosaurus’s head, his arms and legs spread-eagled to hang on. As he had calculated, he was barely able to slide down to the dinosaur’s neck, which was just narrow enough for him to catch.

  Startled, the tyrannosaurus stopped and turned, trying to shake the sudden weight off the back of its neck.

  “Prepare for my weight,” MC 1 radioed. In that moment MC 1 dropped from his tree on top of Hunter. Only this time, while Hunter clung to the back of the creature’s neck, MC 1 expertly slid over to one side and down Hunter’s right leg.

  The tyrannosaurus was prancing and jerking madly, trying to shake off its two tormentors. Hunter looked down and saw MC 1 deliberately drop down to and grab one of the short forearms of the tyrannosaurus.

  Now the tyrannosaurus shook his forearms and clawed at MC 1 with his free hand. He could not, however, bend down close enough to snap at MC 1 with his jaws. The dinosaur’s skeletal structure would not let him reach MC 1.

  “I cannot hold this position long,” MC 1 radioed. “He will claw me off in a moment. Do you have further suggestions?”

  “Drop to the ground and run for another tree,” Hunter answered. “Watch carefully. If the tyrannosaurus continues to pursue the humans, we must distract it further. Otherwise, stand by for me to join you.”

  Hunter saw MC 1 release the tyrannosaurus’s forearm and land on his feet. Then MC 1 avoided the big, shuffling feet of the tyrannosaurus and dived behind a big tree trunk. As the tyrannosaurus bent down, snapping its huge jaws just behind MC 1, Hunter snagged a tree branch in one hand and pulled himself up.

  Hunter climbed hand over hand as fast as he could. He drew is legs up to keep them away from the tyrannosaurus. In only a moment he was out of the predator’s reach.

  “I am safe,” Hunter radioed. “Acknowledge.”

  “Safe,” said MC 1. “When the dinosaur straightened up to snap at you, I was able to climb to safety.”

  The tyrannosaurus glared up at Hunter, but knew the robot was out of reach. After a moment, it lumbered away. Hunter watched it go.

  “It seems to have forgotten the humans,” said Hunter. “We will watch it a little longer.”

  The two robots remained motionless and silent as the big predator gradually wandered away. It was clearly hunting, or at least scavenging, but the robots were of no more interest to it than any other prey. Finally Hunter’s senses indicated that the tyrannosaurus was gone.

  “We will move to the ground and join the humans at the camp,” Hunter radioed. “I over heard Steve and Jan, two of the humans, give you Second Law instructions to this effect. Do you have any objection to this?”

  “No,” said MC 1. “I am under the Second Law obligation that you observed.”

  “Let us go,” said Hunter, as he began to climb down. “Since I do not want to leave the humans without our company any longer than necessary, we will run.

  “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 robots 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 a
ided 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.”