Planet Of No Return

14: Machines That Murder

A small red light that had been blinking on the rear of the holocamera changed to green, indicating that the development cycle was complete. Brion took out the roll of film and slipped it into the holder of the projector. When he switched it on a jagged wall of metal instantly appeared in the opening between the trees. It floated there, against all reason, a holographic projection indistinguishable from the real thing.

“This is a shot of the outside of the tank,” Brion said, pressing the actuator button. “And here is what I saw when I first looked in.”

The projected image vanished and another took its place; the interior of the ruined tank. Flying shrapnel had cut up the apparatus, but the units were still identifiable. Brion pointed to the jumble of cables and circuit boxes.

“This is the view facing forward. You’ll notice that there are no seats or controls for human operators. Just these inputs and microprocessors. The whole interior is so cramped that it must have been designed solely for robot control. See that metal tube? That’s the ammunition feed for the re-coilless canon. It goes right across the interior, right through the space where a human gunner or driver would sit. But there is more than enough space to site the control units for robot operation.”

“I don’t understand. How can this be possible?” Lea said. “I thought that robots were incapable of injuring people? There are the robotic laws …”

“Perhaps on Earth, but they were never applied out at the fringes of the old Earth Empire. You are forgetting that robots are machines, nothing more. They are not human so we shouldn’t be anthropomorphic about them. They do whatever they are programmed to do — and do it without emotional reactions of any kind. They have been used in combat ever since technological warfare began. To aim bombs, warn of approaching aircraft, guide missiles, fire guns, a hundred different tasks. And what they do they do faster and better than a human being. Add to this the fact that they are far more rugged in every way, and you will understand why the military like them. You’ll find that the history of the wars during the Breakdown is filled with references to battles that were almost fully automated. They were tremendously wasteful — but at least they were not deadly to human beings. Only when one side was defeated, or ran out of material, did the human populations suffer. But once the mechanized defences were breached the defeated side usually surrendered quite quickly.”

“Then the war robots didn’t mind killing people …”

“They couldn’t mind because they are incapable of emotions. They simply obey instructions. That robot tank had been programmed to look for people — then destroy them. We saw how good it was at its task.”

“But people must have programmed it. So they are morally responsible for the killing, aren’t they?”

“Absolutely. They are the real criminals who should be brought to justice.”

Lea watched with growing distaste as the images of the shattered war machine flickered and changed. “At least this killer-robot has been destroyed. Perhaps that is what is going on out there, what this war is all about. The pilots of those aircraft were trying to stop these robots.”

“They were — but how do you know that there were pilots in the jets? They could have been robots too.”

“That’s crazy. A war of robots fighting robots on a virtually uninhabited planet, and incidentally shooting up the surviving people at the same time. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It may not make sense to us — but it’s happening out there, you can’t deny that. Those war machines must come from some place on this planet.”

“Underground factories?”

“Perhaps. We’ve chewed that one over before. We are just going to have to keep looking for the Place With No Name.”

“I’m not going to lie and say that I miss him, but isn’t that going to be difficult with Ravn dead?”

“Difficult, but not impossible. We’ll just keep pushing north, staying under cover of the forest as much as we can. We have just had evidence of what could happen to us if we are seen.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to travel at night?”

“No. We’re safer by daylight. Whatever kind of detection equipment the machines use, radio location, infrared, heat monitors, anything, the devices will work just as well in the dark. While we have to depend upon vision alone. My empathetic sense will enable us to avoid the tribesmen, but is no good in detecting the machines. So we’ll move by day to enable us to keep our eyes open for the war machines, to see them before they spot us.”

Although the tension and the danger were still there, the journey was easier without the venomous presence of Ravn. He had died while trying to betray them; he would not be missed. Their course was almost due north now, with the great inland sea off to their right at all times. They stayed among the trees and paralleled the open plain. As the days passed they saw fewer and fewer animals grazing there, perhaps because the military presence was now much greater. Aircraft passed over at least once a day, swinging in wide circles as though searching for something. One night there was a battle of some kind over the horizon; distant explosions shook the ground and they could see the flare of explosions against the clouds.

It was a day later that the war column passed. They saw the clouds of dust clearly building up to the north, quickly billowing even higher. At first it resembled a sandstorm — but this was grassy plain, not desert, and there was nothing natural about this steady advance.

“Up among the trees, quickly,” Brion said, leading the way with ground-eating strides. “There’s a ridge up there. We want to be behind it — with solid stone between us and their detection equipment if that’s what I think it is.”

He threw the bundle down among the rocks, then helped Lea the rest of the way up the hill. There were great jumbled boulders here, and they wormed their way into the space under one of the largest, completely concealing themselves. Brion pushed the bundle with the metal apparatus even further down to make it as undetectable as possible. Then he piled up the flatter rocks into a rough shelter, leaving thin openings through which they could peer out.

“I can hear them now,” Lea said.” All that rumbling and rattling. Here they come!”

Dark masses were visible now, running in front of the dust clouds, growing larger and ever larger as they came on. Massive forms, heavily armoured and armed weapons of war. Smaller and more agile machines were soon visible, darting back and forth, flanking them on all sides. These covering forces were everywhere, spreading out and nosing along the lake shore and even up to the hillside. Lea cringed down in their hiding place as a flight of jets roared low over their heads; the trailing explosion of their supersonic flight crashed down upon the stone shelter. As the armada advanced the plain became black with fighting machines. As far as they could see it was thickly covered with the engines of war. Their ears ached with the metallic roar.

It was late afternoon before the main body of the armoured column had passed, but squads of the smaller and faster tanks still coursed about in their wake.

“That was quite a display,” Lea said. “An inhuman one. Out there was nothing but machines. Programmed machines. If there had been human operators driving those things I would have sensed their massed emotions, even at this distance. But there was absolutely nothing.”

“Couldn’t there have been a few people there, somewhere among the machines? In control?”

“Very possible, I wouldn’t have detected their presence. But even if there were a handful of human beings guiding that column I would say that ninety-five, ninety-eight percent of the machines had to be robot operated.”

“It’s frightening …”

“Everything about this operation is frightening. And deadly. We’re going to stay here until morning. I want those machines to get as far away from us as possible before we move on. One good thing about this, at least we know which way we have to go now.”

“What do you mean?”

Brion pointed out the great scars that had been ground into the plain by the passing of the mechanized army. “They left a trail that we could follow blindfolded. We are going to backtrack them — find out where they came from.”

“We can’t! There may be still more of them coming from the same direction.”

“We will stay well out of their way. Those tracks can be seen for miles so we won’t have to keep too close to them. We’ll move with caution as we have been doing. But we are going to follow their tracks for as long as we have to. We are not going to stop until we find where those machines came from.”

For the first few days there were no problems. But after that the tracking became more and more difficult to do. Once the Central Lake had disappeared from view behind them, the nature of the countryside began to gradually change. There was no longer the continuous sequence of mountains, wooded foothills and grassy plain. The terrain became more broken and mountainous with the hills cut through by valleys and gorges. Brion stopped on the steep hillside, looking out at the sharp-cut tracks dug into the plain. They were still clearly visible on the plain below, but disappearing from sight where they vanished into the mouth of a steep-sided gorge.

“What do we do now?” Lea said.

“Have something to eat while we do some serious thinking. I suppose it might just be possible to take to the hills and follow along above the track.”

She looked up at the towering cliff and sniffed. “A lot easier said then done.” She broke out a ration pack then held out the almost empty container. “And if you will notice — we are also running out of food. Whatever happens, we are going to have to turn back fairly soon, or send for the lifeship so we can resupply.”

“I don’t like either choice. We’ve come this far and we are still on their trail. We must go on. We can’t resupply because we don’t dare risk landing the ship in an area with so many fighting machines about. Which leaves a single option open …”

“Don’t say it. Just open the mouth to put in food. And then we will follow my plan. We will go back to the plain, bring the ship down and get back into orbit where we know we will be safe. We have plenty to report. After that we sit tight and wait for them to send the troops in…"

Brion shook his head in a firm no. “We are the troops. And we can’t leave until we find out just what is happening here. So that leaves us with a single remaining course open. Into the canyon.”

“You’re out of your mind. That is certain suicide.”

“I don’t think so. I see it more as a fifty-fifty chance. A fast move, in and out before any more machines come this way.”

“And I can just see what is coming next. This is going to be a one-man crash operation, isn’t it? With you on foot wearing your running shoes and waving your big transparent dagger. While I sit it out here with all the metallic equipment, waiting patiently for your return.”

“That’s the sort of scenario I had in mind. Can you find anything wrong with it?”

“Just one thing. Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to simply blow your own brains out and save yourself all that trouble?”

He took her small hand in his large one, clearly sensing the worry and fear behind her harsh words. “I know what you are thinking and feeling, and I can’t blame you for it. But at this moment in time we don’t really have a choice. It’s either turn back and start the whole operation over again. Or finish it now. I’ve think we’ve come too far, been involved in too much violence and bloodshed to drop it all now. I can take care of myself. And I need to see this thing right through to the end.”

There was no point in arguing, Lea understood that and was possessed by a sensation of dark resignation. They packed the bag in silence and moved deeper into the hills, away from the canyon, until they found a suitable campsite. It had a sheltered overhang of stone and was just above a rushing mountain stream.

“You’ll be safe here,” Brion said, handing her the rapid-fire pistol. “Keep this near you at all times. If you see anything at all you must shoot first and investigate later. There is nothing friendly out here, animals, machines — or men. I’ll give you plenty of warning when I get back, so don’t worry about shooting me.”

The night was cool, for the first time, here in the hills. They shared the sleeping bag for warmth. Brion fell asleep instantly, years of training had taught him to do that, but sleep did not come that easily for her. She lay awake far into the night, staring up through the canopy of the trees at the alien, star-filled heavens, so different from the sky of Earth. She was such a long way from home.

Lea woke to a touch on her shoulder to find that it was light. Brion stood over her, securing his knife into place.

“In the last report I am sure that we recorded everything of importance that we have learned so far, so you will be able to keep radio silence. And you must stay under cover at all times. This is day one — and I’ll be back at the very latest by the evening of day four. I promise to return no matter what I find in there. If I’m not back at the promised time you must not wait for me. And I’m sure that you realize what folly it would be to follow me. Whether I’m here or not you must start back on day five. Bring down the lifeship as soon as you reach the plain — then get off of this planet. Fast. There are other agents who can crack this nut if we fail.”

“But contingency…”

“Don’t concern yourself with these plans. I’ll see you here in four days.”

He turned on his heel and was gone. Quickly, before she could say a thing. It was obvious that he preferred it that way. She watched his great form lope easily away down the bank of the stream, growing smaller and smaller until he dropped over a ledge and was gone from sight.