William Wu - Dictator

“I believe we are halfway to enemy lines,” Leutnant Mohr said quietly. He did not slow down or turn, but his voice sounded oddly tight

“We have made excellent progress,” said Ishihara. His tone was calm.

Wayne picked up the meaning of his delivery. Ishihara was monitoring the Soviet radio traffic and knew that the Red Army had not noticed them. Leutnant Mohr was getting nervous, though, knowing that they were drawing closer to the enemy than to the safety of his own lines.

They rode in silence for a while longer. Finally, however, Leutnant Mohr came to a stop. Wayne saw nothing in the darkness around them.

“What is wrong?” Ishihara asked.

“We are within five to seven kilometers of enemy lines,” said Leutnant Mohr. In the reflected light from the headlights, his face was pale and tense.

“That is still a long walk for us,” said Ishihara. “We have had no sign of the enemy.”

“This is as far as I dare go,” said Leutnant Mohr. “We are certain to attract Soviet patrols in the next few miles. And if they open up with artillery, I will not be able to go back to my own lines quietly, either. I could be blamed for starting an unplanned action.”

“But five to seven kilometers,” Wayne started. “In this cold, we could-”

“Very well,” Ishihara interrupted, speaking more loudly than usual to drown out Wayne. “Your arguments are sound, Leutnant. We thank you for your cooperation.”

“I wish you good luck,” said Leutnant Mohr.

Wayne and Ishihara got out into the cold night air. The armored car jerked and rumbled away in a large turn. In a moment, it was bouncing over the frozen ground back to the west. Wayne and Ishihara were alone.

“Why didn’t you argue a little harder?” Wayne asked, pulling his cloak snugly around him.

The now-famous prototype of the highly successful “Hunter” class robot first demonstrated his remarkable abilities in the Mojave Center Governor case. The following images are drawn from the Robot City archives of Derec Avery, the eminent historian on robotics.

HUNTER IN MOSCOW.R. Hunter’s ability to shift his shape to match local conditions proved invaluable on many of his missions. Here Hunter has adopted the disguise of a Russian citizen during World War II.

MOJAVE CENTER.In an ambitious attempt to reclaim unusable land and take advantage of readily available solar and wind power, a number of underground cities were built. The state-of-the-art facility under the Mojave Desert, known for its university and famous sculpture gardens, was perhaps the most successful.

WAYNE AND ISHIHARA PURSUED BY THE SECRET POLICE.Even in wartime the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police, were everywhere, willing to kill anyone even suspected of being a danger to the Soviet Union.

MEDICAL ROBOT.This is a view of the head of a general-purpose medical robot in R. Hunter’s time. Robots of this class staffed all of Mojave Center’s medical facilities, and performed most medical functions short of major surgery.

MEDICAL ROBOT CLOSEUP.The diagnostic equipment located on the medical robot’s face can identify symptoms of any known human disease. Among other functions, the medical robots diagnostic scanners can scan individual cells for abnormalities.

THE REFUGEE WAREHOUSE.Civilian refugees are crowded into massive empty warehouses after fleeing from the German army. These refugees are in danger from the Soviet secret police as well as the German army.

R. HUNTER FACIAL STRUCTURE.Shown here is an analysis of R. Hunter’s neural net flow after he has shifted his form to match local environmental conditions.

MC ROBOTS MERGED.Three of MC Governor’s six independent component robots are shown here. After capturing them in the remote past, R. Hunter merged and deactivated the robots temporarily.

RIDING TO THE FRONT.In the morning, Soviet war refugees are trucked to the outskirts of Moscow to dig miles of trenches in front of the advancing German army. Although the final attack on Moscow never came, the terrified civilians expected it every day.

HUNTER DISGUISED.Here is another of R. Hunter’s many disguises. As long as his mass remained constant, R. Hunter could shift is face and surface skin structure in nearly limitless ways.

“We cannot risk having Leutnant Mohr start a battle prematurely. It could change world history in a manner very destructive to our own time.”

Wayne sighed. “Freezing to death will be destructive to me, personally.”

“I cannot allow harm to come to you, either. You are already aware of that.”

“For that matter, what about you?” Wayne looked at him. “Your energy storage has a limit, too. How long can you manage out here without your cloak?”

“I can pursue normal activity without a problem until dawn, at which time even the weak winter sun will begin to recharge the solar collectors built into my skin surface. Unusually extreme activity tonight could drain me prematurely, but I do not foresee that happening.”

“So, we just start walking? I’m not sure I can make it that distance.”

“I am certain you cannot,” said Ishihara. “I have another plan to propose.”

“Good.”

“I warn you that considerable risk is involved in this suggestion, too. However, I feel it is less risky to your welfare than simply trying to walk from here would be.”

“All right, all right. Get to the point, will you? I’m freezing while we stand here.”

“I can radio ahead to the Soviets on my internal system and ask for help.”

“Uh-what would you say?”

“We will have to discuss that and come to agreement on our story, just as we did with the Germans. In this case, we should have plenty of time, since the Soviets so far remain unaware of us.”

“Well, we managed with the Germans. I guess we could come up with a better story this time.”

“If someone comes to get us, they may wonder where our radio is. Obviously, I cannot reveal that I am a robot with an internal system.”

“What do you want to tell them?”