Dictator

16

The next morning, Steve sat with Judy and Jane in their corner of the warehouse with their bowls of hot gruel.

“What are we going to do?” Jane asked. “Are we joining the work brigade today, or what?”

“It’s the best way to blend in,” said Steve. “If we leave, we might not be welcome back. Judy, what do you think?”

“What’s the point of joining the work brigade? Just to wait till Hunter comes back?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Steve paused to eat. “If we start running around Moscow on our own, it’ll be even harder for him to find us.”

“You could…you know.” Jane tapped her lapel pin. “If we call him after we leave here, it won’t endanger these people again.”

.”But we’ll be stuck with nowhere to go tonight,” said Steve. “I think our best bet now is to stay with the work brigade and wait for Hunter to come back.”

“I’m afraid we’ll wait forever,” said Judy. “What if something permanent happens to him? We’ll just be sitting around.”

“Let’s give him another day, at least,” said Steve. “That’s not very long.”

“I agree,” said Jane. “If he has to sneak away instead of break out, a day isn’t too long to wait.”

“So I’m outvoted,” said Judy, with a sigh. “All right. I guess it won’t hurt a historian to go out with a work brigade and dig ditches for a day. Maybe I’ll learn something useful out there.”

Ishihara lay motionless on the hard, cold floor, conserving his energy. Wayne slept soundly, using his cloak for padding. In the morning, the sounds of other people rising and talking awakened Wayne. Stretching, he looked around and then sat up.

“Are you well?” Ishihara asked quietly. He sat up, also.

“Uh, yeah. It was kind of a short night, though. How long was I asleep?”

“Six hours and four minutes. Well short of the eight hours recommended for ideal human rest.”

“It’ll do.”

“I see some people in the front are preparing large vats of hot cereal. We shall be fed.”

“Good. I’m hungry.” Wayne looked around. “What kind of a place is this?”

Ishihara glanced about the room. “If you look carefully, you can see disconnected cables and holes in the floor where machinery was once bolted down.”

“Yeah, I see. What does that mean?”

“I believe this was previously a factory. Now all the industrial machinery has been hauled away.”

“Why? Something to do with the war?”

“Yes. I think they carried it away from the advancing Germans.”

“In case Moscow is captured?”

“Yes, and also to avoid having it bombed.”

Ishihara looked around at the crowd, which consisted mostly of women and children. A small number of elderly men were scattered through it. Some people were getting in line for the rest rooms and for breakfast.

“What do they all do in the daytime?” Wayne asked. “Do they have jobs to go to?”

“I have been listening to people talk. This is a work brigade. After breakfast, trucks will take everyone outside Moscow to dig ditches.”

“We don’t want to waste any time doing that.”

“No. However, before we leave, I suggest you eat. We may have trouble finding other food today.”

“Yeah.”

Ishihara waited where he was as Wayne got in line for the rest room. By the time he had joined the line for breakfast, most people already had their food. He brought his back to Ishihara and started eating.

“I have continued to monitor the NKVD radio traffic,” said Ishihara.

“I guess the car must have been reported stolen by now,” said Wayne.

“No, not yet,” said Ishihara. “Not yet?”

“We still have some time in which we can use the car,” said Ishihara. “At least as long as it still has fuel. We should use it while we can.”

“We’ll use it in more than one way,” said Wayne. “It will lend us an air of authority, won’t it? Maybe we can get some information from the guys up at the front table.”

“I think I understand what you mean,” said Ishihara. “More play-acting?”

“Right,” said Wayne. “But you’ll have to do the talking, of course. And you’ll have to explain why a couple of important people came begging for places to sleep in the middle of the night.”

When Wayne had finished eating, he rolled up his cloak and walked with Ishihara up to the front. Ishihara observed the women ladling out hot cereal and the two men standing by the door and decided to approach the men. He stood up straight and assumed a confident demeanor.

“Who is in charge here?” Ishihara asked.

The two men glanced at him in surprise.

“I am the commissar of this facility,” said one. He was a blond man of medium height, about thirty years old. “I have not seen you before, comrades. When did you arrive?”

“We came in late last night,” said Ishihara. “We are in pursuit of an enemy agent.”

The commissar’s eyes widened. “You are? Here?”

“No, no. I have not seen him here.” Ishihara described MC 4. “Have you seen anyone of this description?”

“No,” said the commissar thoughtfully. “Of course, many people are coming and going these days.” He glanced at his partner, who also shook his head. Then the commissar looked back and forth between Wayne and Ishihara. “You are…NKVD?”

“We are working in cooperation with them,” Ishihara said carefully.

“In cooperation with them? What does this mean? May we see your badges?”

Ishihara had worried about this moment. No one had demanded the real agents’ badges, but they had expressed their authority with guns and bluster. Ishihara drew himself up stiffly, hoping to bluff the commissar. “You question our authority?”

“Well…meaning no disrespect.” The commissar hesitated. “I am Boris Popov, comrade. Who are you?”

“We must be on our way, comrade.” Ishihara turned abruptly and walked past him, out the door. His hearing detected Wayne’s footsteps right behind him. However, he also heard the commissar and his partner following Wayne out the door.

Ishihara did not look back, feeling that his bluff would work better if he showed no concern over the commissar’s attention. He led Wayne at a brisk stride down the sidewalk in the morning light and turned at the alley. The commissar’s footsteps stopped uncertainly just outside the door.

In the alley, out of sight, Ishihara got into the driver’s side. He closed the door and quickly leaned down to pull some of the wires under the dashboard out where he could see them.

“Aren’t we going to start the car the same way?” Wayne asked. “I can steer while you push, but I can’t push as hard as you can if you’re the one who’s steering.”

“We cannot convince anyone this car is ours if they see us start the engine that way,” said Ishihara. “Get in on the passenger side.”

“Okay-but what are you doing?”

“The key to the ignition must allow some sort of electrical connection to be made that starts the engine. If I select the correct wires, then I can make the same connection. I think I have them. Please get in.”

“Yeah, okay, okay.” Wayne hurried around to the other side and slid inside, slamming the door.

Ishihara had carefully stripped the insulation from a couple of wires. He touched the bare metal together and heard the starter whine. When he gave the engine gas, it started up. He shut his own door and backed out of the alley.

“Wow, not bad,” said Wayne. “I understand how a robot works, but figuring out these primitive machines at a glance, without a design to go by-forget it.”

“Thank you,” said Ishihara, stopping in the street and shifting into first gear. “Now we must drive past the commissar so that he can see us driving away.”

Ishihara kept his head straight as he drove past the front door of the converted factory, still pretending to have no concern over the commissar and his partner. His peripheral vision, however, told him that both men were still standing there watching them. They did not react outwardly.

“What do you think?” Wayne asked. “Did we bluff them or are they suspicious?”

“I do not know,” said Ishihara. “Cars appear to be fairly rare here, so our possession of one is a powerful symbol. However, they are probably still somewhat suspicious.”

“Well-you still haven’t heard any NKVD alert for finding this car?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s great. Maybe we can close in on MC 4 before they do. Where shall we look?”

“I suggest factories and military posts. The First Law will drive him to participate with the local people in ways that might help them.”

“Okay. How do we find places like that?”

“Big smokestacks can take us to factories that are still functioning.”

“For the military, I guess we have to drive back out to the front, if we have enough fuel.”

“Yes.”

“You’re driving. Take us where you think we’ll have the best chance to find him.”

Hunter remained locked in the room in darkness. His internal clock kept him aware of the passing time. The sounds of voices and footsteps down the hall told him when the day shift arrived for work. He waited patiently, uncertain of what he wanted to do.

Just before noon, two uniformed guards came into the room. Without a word, they took his arms and escorted him out into the hall. At the end of the hall, they took him down a staircase. In the basement of the building, they placed him in a large barred cell with a crowd of other prisoners.

As the metal door clanged shut behind him, he turned to look at the other prisoners. He estimated that he was sharing space with about sixty other grown men of varying ages. Most sat on the cold floor; some had stretched out and a few remained on their feet, leaning against the walls or the bars in the front of the cell. They were dressed in ordinary street clothes. As they looked back at him cautiously, no one spoke.

Hunter knew that the NKVD was primarily concerned with security risks right now, not petty criminals. His companions down here were almost certainly political prisoners on their way to labor camps in Siberia. He felt an immediate urge from the First Law to help them, to save them somehow. Of course, he knew he could not without risking a significant change to history.

Also, he knew that enough contradictory pressure from the First Law could neutralize him completely.

Wayne noticed that Ishihara was pulling the car over to the curb. They had just spoken to their fourth factory commissar. Each one seemed to realize that their car signified government power; they had all been very cooperative. However, neither Wayne nor Ishihara had seen any sign of MC 4, nor had anyone they questioned.

“Why are we stopping?” Wayne asked.

“The car theft has finally been reported,” said Ishihara. “We must decide what to do now.”

Wayne grabbed the door handle. “Well, let’s get going! Come on!”

“Immediate flight is not necessary,” said Ishihara calmly. “The description of the car and the plate number have been announced to agents at large over the NKVD radio band, but so far no one has actually reported sighting us.”

“Let’s keep it that way,” said Wayne, grinning nervously. “I mean, why stay in this car until they do?”

“I am not suggesting we should. However, I judge that we have some time left to us. The NKVD does not seem to have reported the car theft to the regular city police.”

“Well-maybe they reported by phone. That’s why you didn’t hear it on their radio band.”

“I can monitor the city police band, as well. They still have not reported this theft.”

“Yeah, I see. What do you think-maybe the NKVD doesn’t want to admit it could happen to them?”

“I believe this is the case. They will want to maintain the image of the NKVD as all-powerful.”

“What do you suggest we do now?”

“Maybe we should approach a military installation-” Ishihara stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong?”

Ishihara held up his hand for Wayne to wait.

Relieved that Ishihara had not malfunctioned in some way, Wayne waited, watching him.

Ishihara turned to him. “The NKVD has report ed a sighting of someone of MC 4’s description.” Ishihara pulled the car away from the curb and drove down the street.

“Oh, yeah! I forgot-Raskov and Konev are still looking for him, too. Where is he?”

“He was originally reported sleeping in a schoolhouse that had been used for housing displaced citizens. Everyone there is in a work brigade that digs ditches every day.”

“You know where?”

“Yes. I have the same directions that were just given to the other NKVD agents.”

“Raskov and Konev might be there. They’ll recognize us when we drive up.”

“As we approach, we can decide how to proceed. In the meantime, I shall continue to monitor the radio band. They will not be able to communicate over it without letting us hear the message, too.”

“We’re driving right into the lion’s den,” said Wayne. “But if that’s where MC 4 is, that’s where we have to go.”