“We haven’t got time to argue,” Hosato growled, joining him in the cockpit. “Just stop this thing and help me get into this suit.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take a blaster and lay a little ambush for our friend there.”
“You’re nuts,” Rick proclaimed. “You won’t stand a chance out there.”
“If I don’t, none of us have a chance. At least I can create a diversion until the rest of you are out of range. Now, stop this thing.”
The mechanic obediently pulled the vehicle to a halt in the dark shadows of a gully.
“All right,” he said, swiveling in his chair to help Hosato with the suit, “but how will we know to come back and pick you up?”
“You don’t,” Hosato replied, struggling with the suit’s fastenings. “You get out of range and wait. If this works, I’ll follow your tracks and catch up with you. If I’m not there by sunrise, I’m not coming.”
“Well, good luck, Hosato.” Rick slapped him on the back as he headed back to the crew area.
Just through the doorway, he stopped suddenly. His swords, his clothes, were all heaped in the center of the floor next to James. It took him a moment to realize the implications of this fact; then he cast about the area, opening his faceplate.
“Where’s Suzi?” he demanded.
“She she told me to unload her,” James stammered.
“But where is she?” Hosato barked.
As if in response, he heard a muffled hiss of compressed air. The outer airlock door had just opened.
Hosato stoqped and rummaged desperately through his gear.
“I didn’t know what she was going to do!” the boy insisted. “All of a sudden she was gone.”
Hosato finally found what he was looking for. The radio unit he and Suzi sometimes used for communications. Thumbing the unit on, he raised it quickly to his lips.
“Suzi!” he called. “What are you doing?”
“What’s going on?” Rick called from the cockpit Hosato pushed his way forward again, centering his attention on the rear viewscreen.
“See for yourself!” he said, nodding at the screen.
Suzi could be seen clearly, steadfastly making her way back along the crawler’s tracks.
“If you don’t mind my saying so,” Rich said archly, “that’s a waste of a fine robot. She can’t do anything against that ore scout.”
“I didn’t send her,” Hosato snarled. “She’s out there on her own.”
The robot was almost out of sight as Hosato thumbed the radio button again.
“Suzi. I asked you a direct question. Respond!”
“I am executing your plan for diversionary action,” came the calm reply.
“The plan was for me to create a diversion,” Hosato barked.
“That was the only flaw in your plan. I am eminently better suited than you for this mission.”
“Return to the crawler at once!”
“May I remind you”—. Suzi’s voice was dry, despite the radio—“the purpose of this maneuver is to gain time for the crawler to escape. That effect will very quickly be lost if you continue to delay your departure. The time for argument is past.”
“She’s right,” Rick said, and set the crawler in motion again.
Hosato started to stop him, then hesitated. Suzi was right—at least on the time element. Then again, if she failed, he could still try his own gambit.
“For the record,” he said into the radio, “I disagree with your assertion that you can deal with the ore scout better than I could.”
“Normally you would be correct,” Suzi retorted, “but under surface conditions my mobility and maneuverability exceed your own.”
“But your programming won’t allow you to carry out any aggressive functions. How do you expect to stop it?”
“Even though I cannot pose an actual threat, if the ore scout perceives me as a threat, it’ll stop.”
“And then it will start again and you’ll be dead.”
“Actually, the correct phrase is 'nonfunctional.'”
Hosato was involuntarily startled by the correction. He realized suddenly that he had grown to think of Suzi not as a robot but as a living individual.
“Suzi—” he began slowly.
“Future communications will occur only as time permits,” the robot’s voice interrupted. “The ore scout is in sight now.”
Hosato waited impatiently for the crawler to top another rise, thereby giving him a view of the action occurring to their rear. But as the scene rose into the viewscreen, he could see nothing. Then, as they were about to plunge into the next gully, there was a quick flash of light.
The ore scout had fired its slicer. Apparently the two robots were somewhere in one of the gullies, hidden from the crawler’s line of sight.
As their vehicle reached the bottom of the gully, the front viewscreen picked up a second flash of light reflected on the ridge ahead. The slicer had been fired a second time.
“Suzi!” Hosato called into the radio. “Are you all right?”
“It missed,” replied the robot.
“How are you drawing its fire?”
“Just a minute.”
There was another flash of light.
Hosato waited. There was no sound from the radio.
“Suzi?”
Silence.
“Suzi?” he repeated.
“In response to your question,” came Suzi’s voice, “I am playing upon the machine’s target-image sensitivities.”
Relief flooded over Hosato, but he kept it out of his voice. “Conld I have that last bit in English?” he asked.
“From the actions displayed by the security robots at the complex, it is apparent they are being directed by the central computer to seek out and destroy objects of a humanoid form. That means the target unage must display cerain properties, of shape—specifically, a head, a given body shape Excuse me a moment.”
There was another flash of light.
“Suzi. What are you doing?” Hosato barked.
“That is what I am attempting to explain,” came the calm response. “Additional questions will only prolong my efforts.”
Hosato ground his teeth. He had dealt with Suzi’s explanations before. They were usually drawn out and detailed, but it was useless to try to rush her.
“Sorry, Suzi.” He sighed. “But could you try to keep it to the major points only?”
“I never indulge in needless… Excuse me.”
There was another flash of light.
“Whatever she’s doing, it’s keeping that thing pinned down,” Rick commented.
Hosato nodded absently, waiting for Suzi to continue her oration.
“As I was saying,” Suzi’s voice came again, “fortunately I have been provided with just such a shape— or half of one, to be specific. It seems to be sufficient to convince the ore scout’s scanners that I am a target.”
For a moment Hosato was confused, but then he remembered. The fencing manikin. By facing the fencing manikin with its single arm toward the ore scout, she was making it believe she was a human!
“We’ll be out of range soon,” Rick announced.
Hosato ignored him. The information was welcome, but at the moment his attention was commanded by Suzi’s report.
“By presenting the humanoid shape,” Suzi was saying, “I am able to draw the ore scout’s attention and activate its attack pattern. Then, by removing the image, I am able to effectively disappear as a target. Apparently the scout is directed to search for the target for a given period of time before resuming its pursuit of the sand crawler. The periodic interruptions in my transmission occur when the scout starts to abandon its search, thereby making it necessary to display the target once more. Excuse me.”
It occurred to Hosato that Suzi was flirting with disaster. The slicer would destroy her completely if it touched her even once. If she were slow in turning, or…
“Suzi!” he said des
perately. “Do you know if the central computer has a learning capacity. If it does, a repeated pattern could be detected and the target image changed.”
“That’s right!” Rick supplied. “The computer does have that capacity.”
“Even if that capacity exists,” Suzi’s reply came, “in my opinion it has not received sufficient data to effect such a change.”
A warning bell went off in Hosato’s mind. Something that had been drilled into his head time and time again during his training.
“Suzi!” he warned. “Never underestimate your opponent. Don’t make plans that hinge on his incompetence or inability to react.”
There was no response.
“Suzi?” he repeated.
“We’re out of range now,” Rick said over his shoulder.
“Suzi. Status check!”
Silence.
“Shall I stop and wait for the robot?” Rick asked.
Hosato didn’t reply.
“I said, shall I—”
“No,” said Hosato, his hand holding the silent radio dropping listlessly to his side. “There’s no use waiting. Push on for Ravensteel.”
“We’ve got to stop them!”
Sasha’s delirious meanings from the crew area echoed Hosato’s own thoughts.
- * -
“That’s an interesting story, Hosato.”
The Ravensteel security chief’s tone matched his indolent sprawl in the office chair.
Hosato’s alarm and annoyance with the situation grew. Something was wrong. He had realized that when their arrival at Ravensteel was met by armed guards, guards who had not lowered their weapons when Hosato announced who he was and his affiliation with Ravensteel.
“That’s my report,” he corrected. “If you’ll get in touch with one of the executives in charge of this mission, I’ll be glad to repeat it for him.”
“I’ve already contacted those parties.” The man smiled. “They’ve delegated full authority in this matter to me.”
Hosato was suddenly aware again of the armed guard standing behind his chair. “Very well, then,” he said with forced casualness. “What else do you want to know?”
The man, Gedge, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his desk. “You could start by explaining what it is you want from Ravensteel.”
Hosato was stunned by the statement. “I… I don’t understand,” he managed at last.
“Oh, come now, Hosato.” Gedge winked knowingly. “What are you after, really. More money?”
Hosato reminded himself again of the guard and held his temper in check.
“Actually,” he said levelly, “I had the ridiculous idea Ravensteel might be interested in helping. It would be in their best interest, you know.”
Gedge’s gaze never wavered, and neither did his smile.
“Ravensteel is interested only in pleasing its customers and its stockholders,” he recited.
“All of whom are human,” Hosato supplied. “Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear. The robots are killing all humans—women, children, everybody. I don’t see any reason why Ravensteel would be exempted, unless…”
A thought suddenly occurred to him. This man was far too unruffled and sure of himself.
“unless Ravensteel is controlling them,” he finished thoughtfully.
Gedge dropped his eyes and chuckled to himself.
“Hosato,” he said, reestablishing eye contact, “you’re really quite amusing. Now, tell me, what are we supposed to be controlling them to do?”
Hosato’s anger flashed'. Tve been telling you!” he snarled. “To—”
“—run amok and kill people,” Gedge interrupted'. That’s right, I keep forgetting.”
His eyes hardened, and he half-rose from his desk as he glared at Hosato. “I keep forgetting because it isn’t true. Mc. Crae Enterprises is functioning today as normally as it was yesterday and the day before.”
“What?” Hosato exclaimed.
“That’s right, Hosato. We checked your story, ridiculous as it was. Mc. Crae is taking orders, making shipments, and conducting tours just like they always have.”
“But that’s impossible!”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Gedge smiled. “At the very least, it makes a rather substantial contradiction to your story.”
“Wait a minute,” Hosato began excitedly. “It’s the robots. It’s got to be. Has anyone human from Mc. Crae been in contact with the outside world since yesterday?”
“As a matter of fact, we tried. Would you like to see the tapes?”
Gedge keyed a reference number into his desk-robot and swiveled the viewscreen so Hosato could watch. The very human features of a uniformed Mc-. Crae security guard blinked into view.
“Security,” the face said briskly.
“Gedge from Ravensteel here,” came Gedge’s voice. “Let me talk with Sasha.”
“She is unavailable,” the guard responded. “May I be of assistance?”
“Perhaps,” Gedge’s voice continued smoothly. “One of our ore scouts malfunctioned and got away from us. The last time we saw it, it was headed your way. We’d like permission to cross over onto your property and reclaim it.”
“Under no circumstances are Ravensteel personnel allowed on Mc. Crae property,” the guard recited. “We will conduct a search of our own and notify you of the results.”
“I want to talk to Sasha,” Gedge insisted stubbornly. “She’d let us—”
“She is on a priority mission at this time,” the guard interrupted. “Until her return, I am in temporary command. Mc. Crae rules are very specific on the point of trespassers. We will conduct our own search, and if any Ravensteel personnel are found on Mc. Crae property, they will be fired on as saboteurs.”
The screen blinked out as the guard broke the connection.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Hosato insisted. “You know as well as I do, transmissions and displays can be phonied electronically. Hell, Suzi could do that!”
“Who. Oh, yes, your robot. Well, I don’t know much about that. Your people were always better than us at radios and transistors and stuff like that.”
The casual dismissal in his voice gave more impact to the racial slur than would have been gained with sarcasm.
“But what it comes down to, Hosato, is, I don’t believe your cock-and-bull story. More importantly, neither does the executive board. We think you sold out to Mc. Crae.”
A tiny spark of fear replaced Hosato’s anger. He began to wonder if he would be alive at the end of his meeting.
“How am I supposed to have sold out?” he asked quietly.
“You’re good, Hosato. I’ll admit that. A specialist.” Gedge waved a casual hand at Hosato’s gear and weapons arrayed on his desk. “Did you know that any one of a dozen on my team would have tried your mission. For no extra pay. No, you probably wouldn’t. You’re the outside specialist they went to instead.”
Hosato was about to repeat his question, then held his silence.
“Fifteen thousand with no results guaranteed.” Gedge shook his head in mock admiration. “I don’t mind admitting, Hosato, I’d be willing todo nothing for a lot less than that.”
He laughed at his own joke before continuing.
“So there you were, no loyalties to Ravensteel, no career to worry about, nothing to inspire you to finish the mission except more money. Now, the Mc. Crae security system is tight, maybe the best except for ours. There’s no way you could crack that system without risking your life, and with fifteen thousand in your packet, why should you?”
Hosato thought of his family’s generations-long record of successful missions, but kept his silence.
“Now, here’s where I take my hat off to you, Hosato.” Gedge smiled. “Ninety-nine out of a hundred space bums would have taken the money and run, but not you. You saw a way to squeeze a few more credits out of the situation. You reveal yourself to Mc. Crae, and offer to use your position with Ravensteel to get a spy through the door—
not just a spy, but their own chief of security!”
Hosato forced a smile. “I suppose it doesn’t make an impression on anyone that she’s had her arm blown off.”
“That was a nice touch,” Gedge admitted. “It almost worked, until I reminded the board that Sasha would probably let you cut off both her legs to get an inside look at Ravensteel security.”
“I see,” Hosato said thoughtfully.
“So the only question left is, how much did they pay you, or, more important, how much will it cost to get you back on our side?”
Hosato met his eyes and smiled. For a brief moment anger flashed in Gedge’s ice-blue eyes; then it was gone.
“You’re a brassy bastard!” He laughed, shaking his head. “I think it’s safe to say the board will probably go along with it, especially since you brought them a present.”
“How’s that?”
“Sasha, of course.” Gedge winked again. “She was your ace in the hole all along. She has enough data on Mc. Crae security in her head to keep my team busy for a long time. I don’t know how you got her to go along with this, but bringing her with you gives you the leverage you need to change sides again. Sheer brilliance.”
Hosato shrugged modestly and stood up, extending his hand. “Well,” he said, “I tried. It’s good to be working for Ravensteel again.”
Gedge ignored his hand. “When will you be ready to start?” he asked. “As soon as we get the information out of Sasha, I assume.”
“Actually”—. Hosato smiled—. “I won’t have to wait that long. I’ve gotten most of the data I need. Just keep her here and away from Mc. Crae until I’m done. Incidentally”—he shot a glance around the room—“what did you do with the other two. The kid and the mechanic.”
“We’re holding them next door.” Gedge gestured at the door in the wall. “We weren’t sure if we should kick 'em off-planet or just kill them.”
“Keep 'em,” Hosato advised. “They’ll make good hostages.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea,” Gedge admitted. “Say, what is that thing, anyway?”
Hosato had started to pick up his gear from the desk.
“This?” he asked, holding up a six-inch metal rod with a sharp point.
“Yeah. Is it a poison injector or a climbing spike or what?”
Hosato smiled. “Actually, it’s much simpler than that,” he confided. “It works like this.”
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