Robert Asprin - Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe

“Still nothing?” Hosato asked anxiously, peering over Rick’s shoulder at the bank of instruments.

He was totally unfamiliar with the sensor system and ignorant of how to read the dials and wave patterns, but the action gave him a much-needed activity.

“If there was, I’d tell you!” Rick snapped. “Now, will you quit asking me the same question every thirty seconds?”

“I don’t understand it,” Hosato said, shaking his head. “They should have done something by now.”

Their shirk was concealed a short distance from the Mc. Crae complex. Inside, the two men waited to monitor the Ravensteel counterattack, an attack that had failed to develop.

“Maybe they recognized you,” Rick suggested. “Sasha and I both told you it was a mistake to leave Gedge alive.”

“And all of us agreed that if I were recognized, they’d assume I was acting under orders from Mc. Crae,” Hosato retorted. “Either way, it adds up to Mc. Crae as the target for their retaliation.”

“I bet they went after the Mc. Crae ore robots,” Rick said firmly. “Punishment equal to the crime or some such. 'They hit our miners, we hit their miners!' Just because they come after Mc. Crae doesn’t mean they’ll attack the main complex.”

“If they hit the ore robots, they’re in for a rude surprise,” Hosato said grimly. “Mc. Crae robots shoot back. When the humans of Ravensteel get fired on by robots, they’ll have to believe our story. Once our 'killer-robot' report is accepted, Ravensteel has to attack the complex just out of self-preservation.”

“But will they do it today?” Rick argued. “Corporations take forever to make decisions, and even longer to act on them. That’s assuming, of course, they get the report at all. What happens if no one survives the attack on the ore robots?”

Hosato made his decision.

“You’re right, Rick. There are too many variables. Too many ifs. I should have seen it in the plan. I’m just not used to working with a team!”

“Come on, Hosato, take it easy,” Rick said soothingly. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Rick. There’s something I can do, and I’m going to do it. I’m going in myself.”

Rick was openly taken aback at the idea.

“You’re nuts!” he declared. “We’ve gone over it a hundred times. It’s suicide for you to go in there alone.”

“The tour group’s in there already, right?” Hosato pressed. “Sasha and James are waiting for a diversion. You know Sasha. Do you think she’ll back away from it just because the attack doesn’t come. If it’s suicide for me to go in there armed and with all my equipment, what chance do the two of them have. A boy and a one-armed woman. Against the whole security network?”

“I hate to put a damper on heroic gestures, Hosato,” Rick said carefully. “But what difference does it make if you go or not except getting three people killed instead of two?”

“The difference”—. Hosato sighed—“is that if I go, there’s still a chance—not much, but still a chance— that we can stop this mess before it spreads. If it gets off Griinbecker’s, nobody will be able to stop it.”

“Rick!”

“Yes, Hosato?”

The mechanic’s voice came clearly through his suit communicator.

“Did you close the bay doors behind us when we escaped in the sand crawler?”

There was a long pause before the answer came.

“I can’t remember. I think I did, but I couldn’t say for sure. That whole day is a bit of a blur. Why?”

“Just wondered.”

Hosato contemplated the doors leading to the sand-crawler bay. The inner and outer doors of the airlock were standing wide open. Inside, he could see the interior of the sand-crawler bay, apparently unchanged from when they had so hastily left in their escape from the robots. It looked innocent enough, but Hosato felt a nagging of suspicion as he studied the entrance.

Like Rick, he thought they had closed the doors behind them, but couldn’t be sure. The gaping portals looked uncomfortably like the yawning jaws of a trap.

Well, he’d come to create a diversion. Still, if he was successfully ambushed upon entering the complex, there would be no need to draw other robots away from Sasha and James’s target area. Sealing his invisibility suit as a precaution, he eased his way through the doors and entered the complex.

There were no robots in the crawler bay. In fact, there was no indication they had even penetrated to this point. The second sand crawler was still standing in its partially assembled state, as Rick left it, and the door to the maintenance shop was closed.

Hosato manually closed and sealed the inner airlock door. To activate the machinery would immediately alert the computer to his presence, as would opening the door to the maintenance shop without first closing the airlock. He wanted to penetrate a bit deeper into the complex before beginning his diversion.

He had to steel himself to open the door to the maintenance shop. Though a death merchant by profession, he did not relish viewing the aftermath of the robots’ massacre of the Mc. Crae humans.

He needn’t have worried.

When he finally eased the door open, an astounding sight greeted his eyes. There was no sign of the massacre at all. There were no bodies, no bloodstains or disorder, no visual evidence of a struggle at all. The shop stood vacant and immaculate, as if the humans had merely stepped out for a moment.

No, not quite. Adjusting to the shock, Hosato studied the room more carefully and could now detect the signs of the robots’ handiwork. It was too perfect, too neat. Humans would never maintain a workshop in this immaculate condition. This looked more like a display from an equipment showroom than a well-used workshop.

Casting about, his eye settled on a waist-high work-stool mounted on swivel wheels. Yes, that would do fine. Working one-handed, he moved two heavy tool boxes onto the stool seat. He was loath to set his hand blaster down, even for the barest second. It was his only weapon and he didn’t want to be surprised by a security robot without having it in his hand.

Pushing the now-laden workstool in front of him, he moved to the side door, the one that opened into the corridor leading to the Central Computer Building. Cautiously he opened the door and eased his head inside.

The corridor was clear. The robots he had destroyed on the day of their escape had been removed. That made more sense than the removal of the human bodies. Robot parts could be reused.

Taking a deep breath, he broke the seal of his suit, allowing himself to become visible for the first time since entering the complex. It was time to start his diversion.

Dragging the workstool behind him, he moved slowly down the corridor. There should not be any security devices until he reached the first intersection, but they had no way of knowing what new traps the robots may have installed during their absence.

His caution proved unnecessary. He arrived at the first intersection without any new devices registering on his sensors. A short corridor came into his corridor at this point, forming a THe would have to traverse this connecting corridor, but the drawings he had studied at the Hungarian’s indicated a trap at the midway point. It was designed as an alarm trigger only, but again the robots might have modified it since.

Easing the workstool around in front of him, he gave it a vigorous shove, sending it rolling into the alarm zone.

Nothing happened.

Hosato watched with growing suspicion as the stool rolled on unhindered, until it crashed into the far wall, one of the toolboxes clattering to the floor with the impact.

Strange. Perhaps the stool had not been heavy enough to trigger the alarm.