William Wu - Emperor

“What’s what?” Another asked.

“Voices.”

“I hear them, too,” said a man near Jane’s left shoulder. “Voices from the air. No-from her!” He released his grip suddenly and she began to fall.

“Let her down! Let her down!”

Jane felt herself lowered; at least they had the decency to set her on her feet. When she found her footing, she looked up and saw all the men slowly backing away from her in the moonlight. Then another pointed past her, down the road.

“Look! Someone’s coming! Who are they?” He spoke in a hushed, worried voice.

“Maybe it’s the big spirit,” yelled a third, “coming back for her!”

With a roar of frightened shouts, every man who had carried Jane to this spot suddenly turned and ran back up the road. Puzzled, she glanced down the road to see if Hunter had somehow gotten free. Instead, two other figures were running up the slope toward her.

At first she had no idea who they were. Then, even in the moonlight and shadows, she recognized Wayne and Ishihara. Xiao Li, mounted on his donkey and holding the reins of a horse, waited without moving behind them.

She had to choose between dealing with them, following the others back up the slope, or running into the forest. She did not really want to face Wayne and Ishihara without Hunter. However, she knew that their company would certainly be safer than that of her recent captors.

After all, no matter what argument Wayne had used to bring Ishihara under his control, the First Law would still require the robot to protect her from actual harm. If she could convince Ishihara to drop Wayne, then she would have accomplished something important, too. So she waited for them to come running up to her, checking to make sure that her lapel pin was still on.

She did not want to speak directly to Hunter now, while Ishihara could hear her. If Hunter could hear them through the lapel pin, he might find a way to help. In that case, he would want the element of surprise.

“ Nowshut off your hearing,” Wayne ordered Ishihara, as they drew near. “And don’t read her lips, either.”

“I already told you I cannot do that,” said Ishihara. He stopped in front of Jane.

“That was when she was a captive,” said Wayne. “Now she’s okay.”

“Jane, are you harmed?” Ishihara asked.

“No,” Jane said sternly. “I’m not. But I don’t owe any thanks to you for that.”

“I had nothing to do with your being kidnapped,” said Ishihara, his voice conveying just a hint of urgency. “Neither did Dr. Nystrom. I have not violated the First Law.”

“No?” Jane put her hands on her hips, assuming the tone of schoolteacher challenging a naughty child. “What are you doing cooperating with him at all? Hunter told you that his missions are driven by a First Law imperative.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Wayne insisted. “I told you that Hunter’s argument is full of holes.”

“Ishihara, take custody of Wayne on behalf of Hunter’s First Law duties,” said Jane. ‘ Then, still hoping that Hunter was listening, she tried to help give their location. “Since we’re only a short distance down the slope from the inn, the rest of my team is not far.”

“I cannot. The imperatives under the First Law are not clear to me on either side. I wish to convince you, however, that your kidnapping was never part of our plan. The guests at the inn acted on their own.”

“Well, I sort of guessed that,” said Jane. “But you must have told them something that set it up.”

“That is true,” said Ishihara. “I am relieved that you are well.”

Xiao Li, who was still leading a horse, joined them on his donkey, but did not speak…

“Look,” said Wayne. “We have to talk, but not here. Ishihara, take her lapel pin and shut it off.”

“No!” Jane ordered, stepping back. “Stop. This will harm me.”

“I will not allow harm to come to you,” said Ishihara. He reached out and took her lapel pin.

Jane did not bother trying to wrestle with the robot. “What do you want with me, Wayne?”

“Ishihara, we have to get away from here before her team comes after her. Bring her.”

“Hey! You can’t do that.” Jane backpedaled again, but she knew she could not outrun Ishihara any more than she could wrestle with him. Her only chance was to argue. “Ishihara, this constitutes harm. I need sleep and I need to rejoin my team. You must see that.”

“I cannot harm you.” Ishihara gently took hold of her arm. “Further talk in private will not harm you.”

“Say,” said Wayne suddenly, “Steve is marching around here somewhere looking for Hunter. He probably has their historian with him. Can you grab them, too?”

“No,” said Ishihara. “I could not keep control of three humans without risking harm to them.”

“Well, all right, then,” said Wayne, glancing up and down the road anxiously. “Let’s get off the road and into the brush. Fast.”

Steve led Marcia down the side of the road, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Since they had kept their lapel pins on, he and Marcia had overheard the reaction of Jane’s captors to his last conversation with Hunter. A moment later, they’d also listened to Jane’s exchange with Wayne and Ishihara, up to the moment her lapel pin had been suddenly switched off.

“Jane’s in serious trouble now, isn’t she?” Marcia asked quietly.

“Well, at least she’s safe with a robot,” said Steve. “Hey, look up ahead.”

Steve saw the growing shadow of a large group of people down the road. They were running up the slope toward Steve and Marcia. Quickly, he grabbed Marcia’s arm and pulled her into the trees, then crouched with her in the underbrush.

“Quiet,” he whispered.

She nodded.

The group of frightened men, breathing hard from the exertion of running up the mountain road, pounded past without seeing them. In another moment, they had rounded the next bend back toward the inn. Steve stood up, pulling Marcia with him, and returned to the road.

“Well, I think Jane’s in trouble,” Marcia whispered. “We have to rescue her, don’t we?”

“We have to get Hunter first.”

“Do we have time? What are these other two going to do with her?”

“Ishihara can’t violate the First Law any more than Hunter can, so Jane won’t be harmed. But he must be following Wayne’s instructions, which means that he won’t let us just take her away, either.”

“How can you be surer ’

“Because Jane wants me to get Hunter, too.”

“Oh, come on. She didn’t say that.”

“She couldn’t say it plainly without giving away the message to Wayne and Ishihara.”

“So what makes you think you heard it?”

“She knew her lapel pin was on, until one of them took it. If she had wanted us to come running, she could have yelled for us. Since she didn’t, she was telling me she was okay for now.”

“But how do you know that?”

Steve sighed. “Because I’ve worked with her long enough now to know how she thinks.”

Marcia finally fell silent again.

As they walked, Steve tried to figure out what Wayne would want to do now. He had no way of knowing exactly where Steve and Marcia were, though of course Ishihara would have picked up his recent conversation with Hunter. So they knew Steve and Marcia were out here looking around.

Wayne might be hustling Jane farther down the mountain road, going south, or taking her out into the forest itself. Then again, he could have ordered Ishihara to grab Steve and Marcia, too, though Steve doubted that a single robot could hold all three humans captive at once. Most likely, Wayne and Ishihara were running away with Jane while they had the chance.