Warrior

14

Wayne had plunged through the forest in a panic to escape Steve when the German warriors distracted him. He had slammed his forehead into a low-hanging branch and fallen several times. Twice he had crashed into bushes and flailed blindly to get free. Finally, lost in the dark and out of breath, he had realized that no one had chased him.

When Wayne heard Steve lead his horse away with the Germans, he returned to his dying fire. He built it up slightly and lay awake in the wet forest for a long time, listening for more trouble. Finally, however, he stretched out and went to sleep again.

At dawn, he awoke stiff with cold but somewhat rested. The sky was gray but the rain had stopped for the moment. The fire had gone out and starting it again was too much work. He pulled a strip of commercially prepared beef jerky from his own time out of his pack and munched on it.

Wayne did not dare linger any longer. Steve could find Hunter and lead him back here. Wayne turned away from the river and began hiking in the general direction Ishihara had taken.

“I hate this,” he muttered out loud to himself. “No matter what I do, something goes wrong.” He reached for his communicator pin to call Ishihara.

After a hearty breakfast, Marcus rode out of the Roman camp with Jane by his side and Gene riding on the far side of her. He had agreed to help them search for Steve and their other lost friend. This time, he had taken one precaution. He had ordered a decury of cavalry, ten legionaries, to ride with them. Marcus did not intend to be caught unprepared again by any German warriors, and with everyone mounted, they would be able to run from a German force of any size.

He sneaked another glance at Jane, who had protested earnestly against his ordering the decury to accompany them.

“I confess you puzzle me,” he said politely. “I should have thought you would be pleased to have a small squadron of cavalry to ride along this morning.”

“You have been very courteous and considerate,” said Jane. “But I really don’t want to interfere with your army business.”

“Oh, I think the Roman legions can manage their business today without us,” Marcus said lightly, smiling at her. “They are still on the march today, and ten fewer cavalrymen will not even be missed.”

Jane smiled tightly and glanced at Gene. “Maybe Gene and I should go out on our own. I would prefer not to trouble you any more than we have already.”

“It would not be a problem,” Gene said.

“Nonsense,” said Marcus. “You are no bother at all. I am happy to accompany you. With good fortune, we may chance across more German warriors today and learn something of their intentions.”

“I hope we don’t meet any of them,” Jane said quietly, exchanging another glance with Gene.

“We have nothing to fear from a small party,” said Marcus. “And a large number of Germans will not be mounted, so we can ride away from them. I assure you both that I will see to your safety.”

“Thank you,” Jane said, with a weak smile. “You’re very…conscientious.”

Ishihara had made very little progress during the night. MC 3 alternately went limp, tried to wrestle away, or grabbed tree trunks with his free arm or even his legs as Ishihara tried to pull him through the dark forest. Ishihara did not have any way to communicate verbally with MC 3, as long as the component robot kept both his communication link and his hearing shut off, nor would he have had the authority of the Second Law over MC 3 in any case. All he could do was push, drag, and pull the smaller robot with him.

At dawn, Ishihara was able to see well enough to avoid colliding with as many bushes and trees as he had been in the darkness. He located his own trail, leading from where he had left Wayne to the German village, and backtracked. By midmorning, however, he had still made only a little progress.

Ishihara considered calling Wayne several times, but could not justify it to himself. The Second Law required that he obey Wayne’s clear instruction not to call him, and Ishihara could not yet make a firm interpretation of a First Law problem that would require him to violate it. Dragging MC 3 through the forest was difficult and time-consuming, but it did not imply any particular danger to humans that Ishihara could see.

Steve had been very relieved to return to the German village late at night. Vicinius’s hut was much drier and warmer than the damp ground next to Wayne’s campfire had been. As he shared breakfast with Vicinius on yet another gray, chilly morning, Hunter walked out of the forest to join them. After they had all exchanged greetings, Hunter politely accepted a bowl of hot gruel.

“You have not found your friends,” said Vicinius. “In fact, since you first came to visit us, you have lost two more of your party.” He grinned. “I have not been much help to you; I can see that.”

“You have been an excellent host,” said Hunter. He turned to Steve. “I am glad to see you well. Do you have a suggestion for finding Jane and Gene today?”

“Well, I might.” Steve understood that Hunter was speaking in a kind of code because Vicinius was with them. He chose his words carefully in return. “I lost a good luck charm last night.” He patted the spot where he usually wore his communicator pin. “ And I was tied up briefly by an old adversary of ours. He took my… charm.”

“You have an enemy in this forest?” Vicinius turned in surprise. “Do not fear. Tell us where to find him. My friends and I will slay him for you.”

“Not a blood enemy,” Hunter said quickly. “He is, uh, a fellow trader. We do not want him killed.” He looked at Steve. “You do mean Dr. Wayne Nystrom?”

“Yes.”

“We would like to tie him up and take him with us, however,” Hunter added.

“Why?” Vicinius looked back and forth between them. “If he is an enemy, you must kill him. If he is a friend, you would not talk about him this way.”

“He might know stuff we want to know,” said Steve quickly. “We might learn something from him.”

“Ah! So you want to torture him for information.” Vicinius nodded his understanding.

“No!” Hunter said sharply. “We…would like to take him back to Gaul with us to discuss business.”

“No, no,” said Vicinius, now shaking his head. “You Gauls are too soft.”

“Maybe we are.” Steve laughed and watched Hunter to see how he would react.

Vicinius caught his look, however. “I will be glad to help you, of course. This man is your concern, not mine.”

“Maybe Flavius can tell you where he and his friends found me last night,” said Steve.

“Your tracks will be easy to find,” said Vicinius. “The rain has let up since yesterday.”

“I have a Roman horse,” Steve said to Hunter. “Vicinius and I can ride while you walk.”

“Excellent,” said Hunter. “When will you be ready?”

“Any time,” said Steve.

“I will get my spear,” said Vicinius.

By midday, Ishihara had not yet reached the spot where he had left Wayne. MC 3’s resistance had slowed him to less than half of his normal speed. The day had otherwise been uneventful. Then he picked up the distant sounds of humans moving on foot through the forest behind him.

Instantly, he shifted his hearing to maximum. The humans seemed to be following his trail. He suspected they were from the village he was fleeing. If they had started trailing him at dawn, they might have needed all morning to draw this close to him.

This was the rationale Ishihara needed to call Wayne. If he lost MC 3, then their mission to save their own timestream would be endangered again. “Ishihara calling Wayne Nystrom. Do you read, sir?”

He was still dragging and half-carrying MC 3 through the brush as he radioed his message repeatedly. When he finally realized that Wayne was not going to answer, he became more concerned, but could do nothing except keep going. Since the humans behind him were slowly gaining ground, he encircled MC 3’s waist with his arms and lifted the smaller robot off the ground.

MC 3 still kicked and struggled, but Ishihara began carrying him, hoping to leave his pursuers behind. However, MC 3 grabbed a tree branch with both hands and hung onto it. Ishihara wrenched him free, but could see that he was not going to be able to move much faster than he had been already. He turned to look behind him, peering through the trees for a sign of the Germans.

“Help!” MC 3 shouted suddenly in modern English. “Help! This way! Over here!”

Ishihara yanked him forward, trying to run. MC 3 could not have heard their pursuit with his hearing shut off, but he had surmised their presence by Ishihara’s actions. Ishihara pulled and shoved MC 3, but did not accomplish much. The smaller robot was as persistent and stubborn as he was, driven by the Third Law of Robotics to protect himself.

Shouts rose up from the men behind them. The German warriors could not have understood MC 3’5 exact words, but they understood his panicked tone. Ishihara heard them calling encouragement as they came crashing through the brush toward him. He recognized the loudest voice as belonging to the warrior who called himself Julius.

Ishihara ran through his limited options. He could continue to wrestle with MC 3 and be surrounded by Julius and his warriors. If he did that, he would have to attempt convincing the Germans that he had the right to carry off MC 3. He judged the likelihood of success to be extremely poor. His other option was to release MC 3, keep away from the Germans himself, and attempt to recapture him later. This second option would allow him freedom to carry out future plans with Wayne Nystrom to help.

Ishihara let go of MC 3, who instantly ran back toward the humans pursuing them.

At the same time, Ishihara turned and ran as fast as he could through the forest. Without the help of a human who could impose the authority of the Three Laws of Robotics on MC 3, capturing him again was probably a waste of time. Finding Wayne again was his top priority.

“Ishihara, come in,” Wayne said quietly, as he hiked through the woods. “You there?”

“Yes, Wayne.”

“Let’s keep it short so we don’t get our messages intercepted. Report on MC 3.”

“I had him in custody for most of the night. When local German warriors approached us, I released him.”

“What?Why?” Wayne was horrified.

“They were about to stop us. MC 3 has befriended them in some way. I could not fight them off without risking violation of the First Law. I judged that rejoining you would give us the opportunity to take him into custody again.”

“Well…I see. Where are you?”

“I am on my way back to where we separated.”

“I’m not far from there,” said Wayne. “I’m working my way toward you. Do you have a reading on my position yet from the radio signal?”

“I have an approximate one. Without being able to triangulate, I need to monitor your signal continuously for maximum efficiency.”

“I can’t risk that. I still don’t want Hunter to chance across our signal. I’ll call you again after a while and let you judge by the strength of the radio signal how much closer we are to each other.”

“Understood.”

“Wayne out.” He indulged in a brief smile, despite the cold and the dampness, and marched on through the forest.

On his first time trip, back to the Late Cretaceous, he had actually got control of Hunter under the second Law for a short time. That had brought him pretty close to gaining control of MC 1, until Hunter’s human team members had interfered. Then on his second trip, back to Jamaica in the 1600s, he had been able to enlist the help of local buccaneers who had actually grabbed MC 2 for a while. He just hadn’t been able to take him back to their own time himself. Now he could see that he had been wise to bring Ishihara, though it had been Ishihara’s idea. A robot was the best help of all.

If Wayne could just avoid having Hunter find out that Ishihara was here and helping him, he would have a real advantage. Steve could only tell him that Wayne was here; he didn’t know about Ishihara. Unless they ran across Ishihara out in the forest by chance, the only way Hunter could learn about Ishihara’s presence would be to intercept their radio messages.

“Hey-am I asleep, or what? I can listen in, too,” Wayne said to himself aloud. He fumbled for the communicator pin he had taken from Steve. It was the same as his own, except that it would already be set for whatever frequency Hunter’s team had been using. He turned it on and pinned it on his shoulder next to his own. All he heard at first was static, but that would change sooner or later, assuming Hunter’s team was in range. “I should have thought of this right away.”

Wayne hiked for quite a long time. Twice, he called Ishihara to check their positions. They were quickly approaching each other.

“Hunter, Jane here.” Her voice came over Steve’s communicator pin.

Wayne stopped where he was, one leg over a fallen log, to listen.

“Yes, Jane.”

“Gene and I are with Marcus, but this morning he ordered an entire decury to ride with us. I’m afraid we’re really changing some people’s lives here.”

“Where are you now?

“We’re riding back down to the spot where we saw you last night. I told the guys I need another private moment in the bushes; as the only woman here, I don’t have to worry about anyone joining me. They’re all very protective.”

“Steve and I met again this morning in the village of Vicinius and Odover,” said Hunter. “But look out. Wayne is here and he tied up Steve for part of last night, till Steve got away.”

“That explains what happened to him. What about MC 3?”

“All we really know is that Wayne did not have him either, as recently as last night. MC 3 is still in the area somewhere.”

“What do you want to do, Hunter? I can’t talk much longer or they’ll worry about me.”

“We should reunite the team,” said Hunter. “We shall move in your direction and try to meet you sometime today.”

Wayne smiled to himself. Hunter was temporarily too distracted even to go after MC 3. He and Ishihara had a good shot at getting him first.