And immediately the light from another robot struck her face. They had seen her. Alice dashed along the shore, twisting away from the extended hands, from the stones the metal soldiers threw at her, fortunately not very skillfully. But the ring was tightening.
“Take it alive!” The robot General shouted almost in her ear, and Alice felt, rather than saw, the hand that stretched toward her head. Alice jumped back, struck her nose against something hard, ran a few steps, and turned.
The General was running after Alice, but it stumbled, and with a loud crash, rolled away from her on the stones.
About twenty meters from the shore the nose of the half sunken barge on which the robots had come to this island stuck out of the water. It was the only place to hide. Alice went into the water, holding the bag with the mielophone high over her head, and as soon as the water reached her chest, kicked off the stony bottom and swam with one hand, trying not to make any noise. The bag was heavy, and she really wanted to throw it into the water, but Alice knew the mielophone was an expensive instrument and she had to hang on to it.
Alice was an excellent swimmer and even now, tired and bruised, she reached the black nose in about three minutes, climbed on board, and sat in one corner of the cabin, where it submerged into the water.
The robots shouted at each other and ran back and forth, stamping over the island, searching for Alice. Then one of them ran right up to the edge of the surf opposite the barge, and illuminated the sand with its searchlight, looking for tracks. Alice was cold and wanted to jump up and down to get warm, but she made herself sit huddled in the barge without moving.
The buzzing of a flyer was audible nearly over her head. The flyer turned on its search light and let it roam over the island. The robots froze in place and were silent. The light crawled along the shore, over the barge, but Alice was too frightened to come out of hiding and wave or jump up and down to get the pilot’s attention. That would tell the robots that she had hidden herself so close to them and they could get to the barge faster than help could!
Now, Alice did not doubt that the flyer had been sent by her friends. They were searching for her, and they would certainly find her. But now there was something far more important than being found; she had to warn the people on the coast that the robots were, at this instant, planning to attack them. None of the people there, the tourists and campers, even suspected robots that could attack human beings even existed. And if the robots caught them unawares they might kill or wound someone. Alice was sorry she hadn’t been able to find where they had hidden their boat, although, as the general had said, the boat would have been defended.
“There’s no choice.” Alice decided. “I’ll have to swim to shore. Maybe I won’t drown, and then I’ll make it there before the robots. But I will have to do it without being seen. I’ll have to wait for them to stop looking for me.”
The flyer departed, and the robots, using their own lights, searched the water, thinking, certainly, that Alice had tried to swim away from the island, and had not been able to swim very far.
“The human might be hidden on the barge.” One scratchy voice on the shore suddenly said.
“But we are wasting time. It is time to march.”
“First we kill the human. Check the barge.”
The robots’s steps vanished into the distance along the shore.
Alice realized she could wait no longer. She hid the bag with the mielophone in the bilge of the boat, hoping the robots would be in too much of a hurry to find it. Then she put her feet over the side, pushed with her hands and jumped overboard, and immediately felt water foam and bubble around her. She dove and swam toward the distant shore. Alice had never been able to dry out and it had been cold in the wind, and now the water seemed like it had been warmed especially for her, at least for the first few moments.
How far was it to the shore? Less than a kilometer. Now they would never find her…
At that moment a bright light struck her eyes.
Alice was hoping so much that her friends would find her that she raised her arms out of the water and shouted:
“I’m here! Help me!”
What came in answer was the scratchy laugh of the rusty Field Marshal.
More and more lights flashed on Alice’s face.
It turned out that the robots had not been as stupid as she had hoped. They had gotten the inflatable boat into the water and even used its noiseless motor, so Alice had not noticed their approach.
Alice tried to dive, but here again the robots had out-thought her.
As soon as her head again showed itself above the water a robot hand grasped her by the hair and dragged her to the boat.
Alice tried to recover her breath. The iron hand clamped down on her chest and Alice thought the robot was now trying to crush her. It was very difficult to breath.
“One-Two-Three-Four!” The robot commanded.
The boat rocked back and forth. Around Alice there was an enormous commotion.
Then everything was silent.
The Field Marshal jerked at Alice’s arm and seated her beside him, and said:
“Look and be amazed, human spy!”
Alice looked around, and what she saw really did amaze her. The boat was empty.
Only she and the robot General sat in the boat; the general had an iron harpoon on his lap.
“But what happened to all the others?” Alice asked.
The robot laughed. The robot’s laugh was like slamming a hammer against a piece of steel.
“Do you see this?” It asked; it pointed to the minimizer. The suitcase lay at his feet, closed, black, peaceful.
“I am no fool.” The robot said. “I examined this bag back at headquarters. I looked inside. I saw many small things that lay inside it. When I took them out the things became big. It is a very clever military tool. I like it very much.”
“It’s not at all a military tool.” Alice said.
“Do not contradict me! It is the ideal attack mans. I understood everything. For this I awarded myself the next rank. You may now refer to me as Lord Field-Marshal.”
Not letting go of Alice’s arm the robot Field-Marshal opened the minimizer and allowed Alice to glance inside. At the same time he shone the light from his forehead lamp into the minimizer.
Alice gasped in horror; inside the minimizer stood a line of rusty robots. Tiny, like toys, each of them smaller than her finger.
“Now, we shall have victory!” It said.
The robot field-marshal slammed the minimizer shut.
“Now you will be defeated.” It said. “I can hardly imagine how this came about.”
“But why are you telling me all this?”
“I need you.” The robot said. “In order to carry out a deception of the coast’s defenders.”
It pulled the old man-film robot’s straw hat from the bottom of the boat and put it on it own head.
“Now you and I are merely peaceful villagers sailing in a boat. And if someone should catch sight of us he will never guess that a great invasion is about to begin. If you, young human, will behave yourself and obey all my commands, I will release you alive and, perhaps, even award you with a medal. But if you attempt to deceive me you will not live another second!”
And suddenly Alice was very frightened indeed. She realized that with every minute they were drawing closer to a shore filled with thousands of unsuspecting tourists and vacationers. These people were getting ready to go to bed, out watching the stars, rocking children to sleep, and not one of them suspected that truly merciless killers were approaching.
“Okay.” Alice said. “I’ll help you. Just let go of my arm. It hurts.”
“That I will not do.” The robot said. “I do not believe you. I believe no one. I do not even believe myself.”
“But there’s no where for me to swim to!” Alice insisted. “Doesn’t your boat sail faster than I can swim? There’s no way I can run away from you.”