William Wu - Dictator

Before planning his actions, he considered the complex of First Law imperatives weighing on him. Most importantly, he could not interfere with the NKVD’s historical actions. He could not knowingly create any changes in the course of history. Of almost equal importance, he had to protect Judy from harm. As he had discussed with his team in the briefing before this mission, however, he now understood that the historical process would clearly accept some small level of involvement from him.

Three approaches seemed open to him. The first, direct confrontation, risked violence against Judy and precipitating a change of actions by the NKVD toward Ivana, so he discarded that. The second was stealth, but he worried that sneaking into the building would take too long, since the NKVD might act quickly against its two new prisoners. That left a simple bluff as the most direct and least violent course of action.

As Steve had sometimes reminded him, improvising could be very useful. Hunter prepared himself to try it as he walked up to the front entrance, assuming a casual, confident walk. The front door was locked, but he heard the metal pins rattle inside the knob. They sounded simple and primitive. In all likelihood, they would break easily.

He grasped the knob and forced it to turn. The insides of the lock snapped and ground as he broke them. However, a second lock held a metal bolt in place and he had no way to grab hold of it.

Hunter fingered the doorjamb. The wood was old and fairly solid, but it could be broken. Doing so would make noise and attract attention inside the building. He decided that he would have to take that risk.

Bracing himself with his legs, he crouched and positioned himself to spring forward. Then he slammed his entire weight against the door at the point where it would apply the most force against the bolt. The bolt tore through the wooden doorjamb with a splintering sound as the door opened.

Then he walked inside and calmly closed the door behind him.

At this late hour, no one sat behind the front counter. The lobby was dark, though a light was on in a main hallway. A burly man in a plain gray business suit was bending over a coffee percolator on a small wooden table about halfway down the hall. He looked up in surprise and then walked forward, frowning.

“Who are you, comrade? This office is closed. What do you want here?”

At the sound of his voice, another door opened and two more men, dressed in similar suits, followed the first man toward Hunter.

“Where are the new prisoners?” Hunter demanded. “I must see them immediately.”

“Are you with the agency?” The first man spoke more cautiously. “We have not met. My name is-”

Hunter pushed past him. “Stop interfering! I shall have you all on report! Where are they?” The radio signal was very strong, telling him that Judy was in a room right down the hall in front of him.

“We must see your identification,” another man protested. “Please, comrade. We can all cooperate after procedures have been followed.”

Hunter glared into the man’s eyes, gambling that the system of intimidation in this society also operated within this agency itself. “I cannot be bothered right now with the whining of subordinates. If you will not show me the prisoners, I shall find them myself!”

He shoved this man, also, but the third reached up to grab his upper arm.

Instead of resisting, Hunter looked down at this man’s face, as well. “I hear the weather is very cold out at the front. Since you have so much energy, they could use you there. Or perhaps you would prefer an assignment to Vladivostok, where the Siberian wind will keep you safe from German tanks.”

Suddenly uncertain, the other man stepped back, glancing at his two companions, and released Hunter.

Carrying the bluff forward, Hunter strode past the third man and moved toward the room from which the radio signal came.

Earlier that night, Dr. Wayne Nystrom had landed with a thump on hard ground. He looked at his companion, the humaniform robot R. Ishihara. They seemed to have arrived in their new time and place safely.

“You okay, Ishihara?”

“Yes,” the robot said calmly.

Wayne surveyed the dry, frozen rolling plains around them. The sky was clear but the sun was red in the west, low over the horizon. “Well, it looks right so far. If I calculated correctly, we’re on the Russian steppe just to the rear of the German lines west of Moscow in December of 1941. It looks like the steppe in December, I think, but I don’t see anyone. Good for us that there’s no snow.”

“I hear the sounds of primitive machinery faintly in the distance,” said Ishihara. “To the east of us. I expect we have arrived where you intended.”

“What kind of machines?”

“Rough internal combustion engines, I believe. A few small vehicles. I hear nothing to suggest that large-scale movement or violence is occurring at this moment.”

“Good.” Wayne tugged his long fur cloak tighter around the knee-length tunic he wore. “The only trouble with coming directly here from Germany in A.D. 9 is that we’re still wearing these clothes.”

“We shall be warm, at least,” Ishihara observed. He was dressed similarly. “Unless we find shelter, that is very important.”

“Yeah. I’m sure we can get contemporary clothes from someone, somehow. I wonder what the Germans of this time will make of us when they see us.” Wayne grinned wryly. “They certainly won’t believe that we just arrived after visiting their distant ancestors.”

“No.” Ishihara looked at the weak sun, low in the sky to the west. “Night is falling. Even colder temperatures are imminent. I suggest we start walking.”

“All right. Where to?”

“Well, I have begun monitoring the German radio traffic. Itis heavy, coming from the east of us in the same area as the machine sounds.”

“You can understand German?”

“Yes. And I remind you that we dare not speak English in front of them, since the British and Americans are enemies of the Germans. Do you speak any Russian or German?”

“No Russian,” said Wayne. “I studied German, but only to read technical research. I never spoke it much. What about you?”

“As a researcher at the Bohung Institute, I took all the necessary data for modern German and Russian a long time ago in order to read technical documents; also Japanese. So I shall be able to communicate here in those languages, though they will have evolved some in the forms I know.”

“I still have my radio pin, but for now I’ll let you handle this,” said Wayne. “In fact, I have an extra; I kept the one I took from Steve in Germany. Anyhow, just lead the way to the closest people you can find.”

Ishihara began to walk. Wayne fell into step with him. The open ground was uneven and hard and the wind whipped across them from the northwest. Nothing was visible across the barren, flat farmland.

“What is our long-range plan?” Ishihara asked. “Where do we expect to find that MC 4 has returned to his full size?”

“Well, I’m trying something a little different this time,” said Wayne. “Actually, from the information I was able to obtain from the console on the sphere, I expect his miniaturization will end in Moscow, behind the Soviet lines.”

“You do? Why did you bring us here, behind the German lines, then?”

“I’ve come after three of the component robots now, and every time, they have been adept at avoiding Hunter and his team when they first return to full size. He has been able to run them down eventually, but never right away.”

“Do you expect MC 4 to come here somehow?”

“Yes. I have been considering the effect of the First Law on MC 4 when he analyzes the situation he has entered here. With a war going on, he will want to stop the violence by interfering with the aggressor.”