“I agree,” said MC 4.
Jane turned to Daladier, who still stood by the door. “Do not allow MC 4 to leave our custody. If he makes some interpretation of the First Law to justify it, he might still make an attempt to escape.”
“Acknowledged,” said Daladier.
Steve sank onto the couch. His head throbbed painfully, but he could think more clearly now, and followed the conversation around him. “Did we leave right in the middle of everybody?”
“Yes,” said Hunter. “However, I believe that in the crowd and confusion, with the battle coming near, stories of our disappearance will not be taken seriously.”
“The sad truth is, most of those prisoners died soon afterward in captivity,” said Judy. “Their stories about our disappearance, if they told them, had nowhere to go but to each other.”
“The German soldiers and guards may have lived to tell the story,” said Jane. “A few of them, anyway.”
“Some may have survived to talk about it,” said Judy. “Under the Nazi regime, I feel that anyone who said he lost custody of prisoners who vanished magically would not be taken seriously-he might even be punished for offering such a flimsy excuse. In a system that thrives on fear, the soldiers might have chosen not to repeat what they saw.”
“Our concern is a real one,” said Hunter. “If possible, we must not disappear in front of witnesses during future missions.”
“How did we happen to come across MC 4?” Steve muttered, looking up at him.
Jane turned to MC 4. “Tell us how you came to be a prisoner of the Germans.”
“I attempted to sneak up on the German lines and move past them,” said MC 4. “However, dawn was breaking by the time I had crossed the open territory and German sentries saw me. They trained their weapons on me and the Third Law required that I not take risks with them. They put me in a prison pen without interrogation. Then some soldiers came and began emptying each pen. They escorted us with weapons and told us which way to go. We marched from one pen to another down the rear of the lines until we reached the one where you were.”
“Lucky for us,” said Steve.
“Actually, chance factors were quite low,” said Hunter. “Under the pressure of impending combat, the Germans were imprisoning all strangers and marching them together out of the area. We were all caught in the same net. If we had not spotted him when we did, we would have had to return to our own time. However, in a later trip to complete the mission, we would have still have found him in the group marching to the rear.”
“What do you think?” Jane grinned at MC 4.
“I agree.”
“Steve,” said Hunter. “How are you feeling?”
“I think I’ll be okay.”
“With your permission, I shall contact the medical robot again and have him meet us at MC Governor’s office. Are you well enough to ride there?”
“Yeah.”
“Daladier, please remain here and continue to watch for Dr. Wayne Nystrom and R. Ishihara,” said Hunter.
“Of course.”
“Jane, please instruct MC 4,” said Hunter.
“You will remain with us as we move through Mojave Center to the office of MC Governor,” said Jane. “You will still cooperate with us fully and make no attempt to escape us or to interfere with our return to the office.”
“Acknowledged,” said MC 4.
Hunter led his team out. Steve gratefully allowed Jane to take his arm and support him. Hunter had a Security detail waiting to drive them back.
Outside the office of MC Governor, a medical robot was already waiting for them, holding his small black case of equipment.
“I am R. Cushing,” said the medical robot. “My ‘patient is named Steve, I have been told.”
“That’s me.”
Cushing stared at Steve for a long moment. “My specialized vision reveals no fracture. You will be fine.” He took a pressure gun from his black case and held it against the side of Steve’s neck. It popped against his skin. “This is a mild painkiller. My infrared vision tells me that the inflammation is localized and stable. For the swelling, I recommend that you apply ice.”
“Okay,” said Steve. “Thanks.”
“I shall leave you,” said Cushing. “I am permanently on call, so contact me if the situation changes. I do not expect it will.”
“Thank you,” said Hunter.
Cushing departed.
Jane came lip and gave Steve a quick hug. “I always knew you had a hard head.”
Judy walked up on the other side and gave him a hug, too. “That guy clobbered you after you knocked down the one who spit on me. He was about to shoot both of us. I’ll never forget that.”
Steve smiled wryly. “I won’t either.”
“I feel so bad about Ivana, too,” said Judy. “She was totally helpless, and completely innocent. I wonder what happened to her.”
Jane gave Judy a quick hug. “Whatever it was, it happened to her long before we ever went back and met her.”
Judy nodded.
“Those two regimes have disturbed me deeply,” said Hunter. “The earlier societies we have visited were primitive in their values because of their early place in social evolution. However, the Nazi regime and the Soviet Union were barbaric throwbacks. Their values were more primitive than those of many societies which had preceded them. “
“And they had the power of the industrial age to use in their atrocities.” Judy straightened, her voice firm.
“It’s fairly old history now,” said Jane.
“And the obligation of our time is to remember it,” said Judy. “The larger lesson is that technological development does not necessarily mean civilized values-we all have to remain on guard. Humans, unlike robots, have the power to choose how to behave.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Judy shrugged, smiling self-consciously. “Well, end of lecture. Look, I want to clean up. Okay if I excuse myself!”
“Of course,” said Hunter.
“I’ll say good-bye a little later,” said Judy. She slipped out.
“We haven’t asked you about the nuclear explosion yet,” said Jane. “Hunter, I suppose you’ve been monitoring the news since we returned.”
“Yes. No explosion has taken place in Moscow.”
Steve looked up. “I feel better already. That stuff Cushing gave me works fast.”
“I have news of another nuclear explosion, however,” said Hunter. “I checked the sphere console before we left Room F-12 and the information matches. The current unexplained nuclear explosion has eliminated the city of Beijing, the capital of China. Millions have died already.”
“China?” Steve grinned. “On our next mission, I’ll be the one who fits in for a change.”
“What time in history will we visit this time?” Jane asked.
“The time of Kublai Khan, when he was Emperor of China.”