“I believe I can convey that idea,” said Ishihara. “But I cannot identify Hunter’s human team as evil spirits. Doing so might endanger them too much.”
“Then tell them that Hunter, the evil spirit, has duped certain innocent humans into helping him, and they should not be hurt. Is that acceptable?”
“I will tell them that Hunter is a good spirit who is temporarily misguided.”
“Yeah, okay.” Ishihara turned to the elderly couple and switched to Chinese. He spoke to them for several minutes, sometimes shaking his head. Finally he turned to Wayne again. “I think I have conveyed my point.”
“Are they willing to help?”
“Most of the villagers have to work in the fields. However, some of them are going to the city market with produce to sell. They have no work animal, so they have to pull and push their cart on the road themselves. We can go with them and they will help.”
Wayne smiled, nodding approval to their hosts. “Thank you.”
Several of them nodded back, also smiling. They seemed to understand his meaning just tine.
Hunter walked through the streets with his team members after they had finished breakfast, with Jane beside him. Steve and Marcia actually led, to maintain the appearance of being the hosts, but Hunter quietly told them when and where to turn. His calculations indicated that MC 5 would probably return to full size somewhere within several particular blocks, rather than on the street, but the margin of error was too large to be certain. These blocks were similar to the ones near the inn-full of small shops and open-air eateries, with peddlers pushing carts up and down the street.
“ Jane.” Hunter spoke in English. Since they were masquerading as foreigners anyway, being overheard here would not matter. “How do you think MC 5 might have behaved here if he has already returned to full size?”
“Well, these shops have all kinds of stuff, including clothes. He may find something to wear without too much trouble.After that, I don’t know. I know that his specialty in Mojave Center was administration of the city.”
“Do you think he might move toward the center of government administration here?”
“It would be a logical move for him,” said Jane. “But I don’t know exactly what that would mean in this society. He’d have to figure that out, too.”
“Marcia.” Hunter stopped walking. Steve and Marcia turned and joined Jane. “Do I understand that the center of government here is ultimately Kublai Khan himself?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” said Marcia. “He is surrounded by a huge Chinese bureaucracy, but he is the final authority. In fact-”
“Jane,” Hunter interrupted, turning to her. “ Jane, would the imperatives of the Laws of Robotics impel MC 5 to seek out Kublai Khan?”
“That’s hard to say,” Jane said thoughtfully. “Well, let me think out loud for a moment. I was thinking that his own programming as a specialist in city administration would draw him in that direction. But of course, his underlying motive under the First Law would be to lessen the harm to humanity by improving the quality of government.”
“What else might he do?” Hunter asked.
“Well, he could get caught up in more mundane First Law activities, I suppose.”
“Huh? Like what?” Steve asked.
“Such as helping laborers avoid accidents. Or stopping fights he happens to see. Any sort of individual incident that might attract his attention.”
“Sounds to me like we should start spreading the word, like I suggested before,” said Steve. “Once we’ve offered a small reward to anyone who leads us to MC 5, we can just take casual strolls up and down the streets.”
“I agree,” said Hunter. “You and Marcia will pick the people to approach.”
Steve glanced at Marcia. “Let’s get started.”
“Excellent,” said Marcia. “I suggest we offer a graduated system of rewards. To most people on the street, a single copper is worth enough to get their attention. Suppose we offer one copper for someone who reports a sighting of MC 5, two for someone who can lead us to him, and three for someone who brings him to us. If they bring him soon-”
“Hold it, will you?” Steve demanded. “Why do you have to make it so complicated? We can just-”
“Make it up as we go along?” Marcia raised one eyebrow haughtily. “Maybe you’re offended that I’m developing your own precious idea.”
Startled, Steve fumbled for something to say.
“Please proceed,” said Hunter. “Both of you.”
6
The villagers had already postponed their normal routine in order to visit the good spirits who had graced their village. Wayne urged Ishihara to explain that they wanted to dress as fellow villagers for their walk into Khanbaliq. The villagers seemed amused and honored by this request.
Two men agreed to work in the fields bare to the waist so their guests could wear their shirts and hats. After some consultation, a couple of women reluctantly brought out some old, tattered pants that had been discarded even by the peasants. Ishihara assured them that these clothes were sufficient, and the two of them changed clothes in their room.
Wayne was willing to go barefoot like the peasants, but Ishihara refused to allow this under the First Law. Instead, Ishihara borrowed a knife and cut both pairs of boots he had prepared for Roman Germany down into a sort of makeshift shoes. Then they joined the small group of peasants making the journey into the city. The strongest and healthiest men and women of the village returned to work in the fields for the day.
Lao Li, the village elder in whose house they had stayed, led the others to Khanbaliq. Most of the other peasants who accompanied them were elderly, too, except for Lao Li’s twelve-year-old grandson, Xiao Li. Ishihara told Wayne that “Lao,” which meant “old,” and “Xiao,” meaning “little,” were common honorific nicknames.
Wayne walked in silence, of course, since no one but Ishihara could understand him. The robot talked with the villagers, often with everyone waving, gesturing, and sometimes laughing as they tried to communicate. Ishihara was learning the language as fast as he could.
As they finally drew near the walls of the city, Ishihara turned to Wayne. “I am making good progress now. One of the villagers has told me that in many of their old fairy tales, good spirits come to earth like this in human form to travel in secret among people.”
“That means we fit right in.”
“Yes. I am very relieved that we are not, in fact, introducing new ideas to this culture but simply demonstrating existing ones.”
“Well, that helps explain why they’ve been so cooperative, too.”
“Still, we must remain very alert to the possibility that we may truly interfere historically with these peasants in some significant way.”
“I don’t think we have much to worry about,” said Wayne. “They’re going to market like they do every day, aren’t they? We’re just tagging along.”
By mid-morning, Hunter had led his team up and down every street in the foreign quarter. They passed more Turks and Arabs in colorful, embroidered Chinese gowns, Koreans wearing their topknots and with slightly different embroidery on their gowns, and stocky Mongol soldiers wearing their armor, swords, and daggers. Chinese citizens owned and worked in most of the shops, however, and they were the people most likely to cooperate.