William Wu - Invader

Wayne and Jane ate a cold breakfast of bread and mutton, the same as dinner the evening before. Very little remained. Ishihara built a small fire and boiled water from the river in it before allowing them to drink it. Afterward, Wayne and Jane mounted the mule and Ishihara jogged with them.

Though Wayne and Ishihara had not discussed any detailed plans in her hearing, Jane understood that they had certain limitations. They would either have to make an aggressive move to reach MC 6 this evening, or else they would have to get more food. Ishihara would not allow either human to go hungry and she doubted he would risk trying to get food from the column itself. Because they did not have the equipment necessary to hunt or fish, they would either have to turn back or else abandon Emrys’s mule and jump through time and space with or without MC 6. Jane hoped she could get Hunter’s attention before Ishihara took one of those choices.

The day passed uneventfully. As before, the riders outpaced the baggage train. Ishihara kept the end of the baggage train within his own sight or hearing, but avoided drawing too close. He also stayed clear of the camp followers.

Once the riders had left the baggage train behind, Wayne turned to Ishihara.

“Hunter must have ridden on ahead by now. If MC 6 is in the baggage train, then Hunter can’t get him. We might be able to get MC 6 on the march.”

“I do not like our chances,” said Ishihara, still jogging next to the mule. “I dare not take Jane too close to the camp followers or near the men in the baggage train. Also, I cannot allow you to approach them alone. The wagon crews will consider all of us simply camp followers and may be hostile. They will probably consider us potential thieves.”

“Then you think of something,” Wayne growled angrily. “This project has to work somehow. And we haven’t had many chances to get MC 6 while Hunter is too far away to interfere. Can’t we take advantage of this somehow?”

“The only arrangement I can accept is one that keeps you and Jane away from the camp. If I approach MC 6 without you, I will have the force of the Second Law to order him to come with me as long as he believes I am human. I can tell him to follow me unless he detects that I am a robot.”

“If he turns up his hearing and actually listens, he’ll hear that you don’t have a human heartbeat,” said Wayne. “If he studies your skin under magnification, he might see your microscopic solar cells. But all that depends on whether or not he bothers. Since he isn’t expecting a robot to approach him in this time period, he may not have his sensitivity turned up to the point where he’ll notice.”

“In any case, I suggest we wait until after the baggage train stops to make camp before we execute our attempt.”

Wayne sighed. “Yeah, all right.”

Jane decided not to say anything. She wanted to think of as many objections as she could to pressure Ishihara with the Laws of Robotics. Instead of talking spontaneously, she would think up some arguments now and present them when Ishihara was about to go after MC 6.

Late in the afternoon, Jane could see men riding toward the column from different directions, sometimes along small paths or intersecting roads and sometimes overland. Some rode singly or in small groups; others arrived in large troops, lined up in a military column themselves. The new arrivals moved onto the road ahead of the baggage train.

The baggage train finally reached the spot where the rest of the column had stopped to make camp, in a forest just past a wide stretch of open country. Other troops whom Jane had not seen had also arrived at this rendezvous point, making the camp much larger than it had been the night before. Ishihara led Wayne into the forest and stopped where they could see the baggage train through the trees.

“Have you seen Hunter?” Wayne asked quietly.

“Not yet. The visibility is poor, of course, here in the forest.” Ishihara helped Jane down.

Wayne dismounted. “That’s good. Hunter will have trouble seeing us, too.”

“That is true,” said Ishihara. “We must decide exactly what our move will be.”

Jane knew that the men in the baggage train could hear her clearly enough if she shouted for help again. However, she had no way of knowing where Hunter was, or if he could hear her. He might be so far up the column that her voice would be drowned out by the sounds of men setting up the camp, yelling orders, and by the hoofbeats of hundreds of horses hobbled for the night. Hunter’s failure to respond last night worried her. She decided not to anger Wayne any further by another shout unless she really had reason to think Hunter could help.

“All right, Ishihara,” Wayne said firmly. “The chance we’ve waited for is coming up. No more delays. We have to find a way to get MC 6 now.”

“Then what will we do with him?” Ishihara asked. “We must plan our approach based on our escape.”

“We’ll jump a safe distance away-maybe back to the hills near Emrys’s hut, early tomorrow morning. I can open up MC 6 and finally start my investigation into what went wrong. As we’ve discussed during past missions, I can’t go back to Mojave Center until I have information that will work to my advantage with the Oversight Committee.”

“I understand. We will simply have to apologize to Emrys for losing the mule.”

“Yeah. But when we talked about what to do before, you said you could approach MC 6 alone. Go ahead and see if you can find him. We’ll wait right here.”

“Don’t leave us,” Jane said quickly.

“Shut up,” said Wayne. “She’s just trying to interfere with your thinking, Ishihara.”

“The camp followers are coming up behind the baggage train again,” said Jane. “If you can’t take us to the baggage train, you can’t risk leaving us here. If those scavengers come toward us, Wayne can’t protect us.”

“Nonsense,” said Wayne. “Why would they bother us? We don’t have anything of value. Go on, Ishihara.”

“We have the mule,” said Jane. “They could ride it or eat it.”

“She has a point,” said Ishihara. “In addition, she may escape from you.”

“Not if you’ll tie her. You refused before. How about just tying her to a tree trunk for a few minutes?”

“I cannot. The First Law-”

“All right, all right. I know what it says.” Wayne paced angrily among the trees. “Then all three of us can go look for him. You can protect us.”

“Among all those men? Even a robot could be overwhelmed,” said Jane.

“That is true,” said Ishihara.

“Then you stay here with her,” said Wayne impatiently. “I can go find MC 6 on my own, without the mule. Nobody will have any reason to bother me.”

“I cannot allow that under the First Law, either,” said Ishihara.

“Why not?” Wayne demanded.

“When Hunter approached the baggage train twenty-four hours ago, he was stopped by a group of men willing to commit violence. I cannot allow you to risk that.”

“That’s true,” said Jane. “That’s another risk.”

“Shut up, “ Wayne repeated. “Ishihara, I instruct you to suggest a plan that you can accept. At this point, even a fairly low chance of success is better than total inaction. Think of something!”

“Maybe there is no safe way to do this,” said Jane. “Too much risk is involved, Ishihara. How about a new approach? Talk to Hunter about working together.”

“Don’t listen to her, Ishihara,” said Wayne. “I gave you an instruction.”

“I have a plan,” said Ishihara.

“Yeah? What is it?” Wayne folded his arms. “This better be good.”

“You take Jane in a slow but deliberate ride on the mule away from the camp and the road. If any riders approach you, ride slowly away from them, but do not appear to flee or they may pursue you to find out why, You can outdistance any camp followers who approach you on foot, so they probably will not try. At the slightest sign of danger to you, shout for me and ride back in my direction. I should be able to reach you quickly. If no trouble develops, then keep riding away from the camp. I will catch up to you, with or without MC 6.”