«This is just an idea,» said Ben. «Maybe she could have left if we had stayed out of sight. But when we showed up, the order that a robot must not harm a human may have become operative again. A sort of out of sight, out of mind proposition.»
She was still squatting where she’d landed. She hadn’t tried to move again. Looking at her, I thought maybe Ben was right. If so, it had been a lucky thing that we’d headed back exactly when we did.
We started going through the supplies Lulu had left for us. She had done right well by us. Not only had she forgotten nothing we needed, but had stenciled careful instructions and even some advice on many of the boxes.
Near the signboard, lying by themselves, were two boxes. One was labeled TOOLS and the top was loosely nailed so we could pry it off. The other was labeled WEAPONS and had a further stenciclass="underline" Open immediately and always keep at hand.
We opened both the boxes. In the weapons box, we found the newest type of planet-busters—a sort of shotgun deal, a general-purpose weapon that put out everything from bullets to a wide range of vibratory charges. In between these two extremes were a flame-thrower, acid, gas, poisoned darts, explosive warheads and knockout pellets. You merely twirled a dial to choose your ammunition. The guns were heavy and awkward to handle and they were brutes to operate, but they were just the ticket for a planet where you never knew what you might run into next.
We turned our attention to the rest of the stuff and started to get it sorted out. There were boxes of protein and carbohydrate foods. There were cartons of vitamins and minerals. There was clothing and a tent, lanterns and dishes—all the stuff you’d need on a high-priced camping trip.
Lulu hadn’t forgotten a single item.
«She had it all planned out,» said Jimmy bitterly. «She spent a long time making this stuff. She had to synthesize every bit of it. All she needed then was to find a planet where a man could live. And that took some doing.»
«It was tougher than you think,» I added. «Not only a planet where a man could live, but one that smelled like Earth and looked and felt like Earth. Because, you see, we had to be encouraged to run away from her. If we hadn’t, she couldn’t have marooned us. She had the problem of her conscience and—»
Ben spat viciously. «Marooned!» he said. «Marooned by a love-sick robot!»
«Maybe not entirely robot.» I told them about the old maid I had conjured up and they hooted at me and that made us all feel better.
But Ben admitted that my idea needn’t be entirely crazy. «She was twenty years in building and a lot of funny stuff must have gone into her.»
Dawn was breaking and now, for the first time, we really saw the land. It was a pleasant place, as pleasant as any man might wish. But we failed to appreciate it much.
The sea was so blue that it made you think of a blue-eyed girl and the beach ran white and straight and, from the beach, the land ran back into rolling hills with the faint whiteness of distant mountains frosting the horizon. And to the west was the forest.
Jimmy and I went down to the beach to collect some driftwood for a fire while Ben made ready to get breakfast.
We had our arms full of wood and were starting back when something came charging over the hill and down upon the camp. It was about rhinoceros size and shaped somewhat like a beetle and it shone dully in the morning light. It made no sound, but it was traveling fast and it looked like something hard to stop.
And, of course, we’d left our guns behind.
I dropped my wood and yelled at Ben and started running up the slope.
Ben had already seen the charging monster and had grabbed a rifle. The beast swerved straight for him and he brought up his gun. There was a flash of fire and then the bright gout of an exploding warhead and, for an instant, the scene was fogged with smoke and shrieking bits of metal and flying dust.
It was exactly as if one had been watching a film and the film had jumped. One moment there was the blaze of fire; then the thing had plunged past Ben and was coming down the slope of the beach, heading for Jimmy and myself.
«Scatter!» I yelled at Jimmy and didn’t think till later how silly it must have sounded to yell for just the two of us to scatter.
But it wasn’t any time or place for fine points of semantics and, anyhow, Jimmy caught on to what I meant. He went one way down the beach and I went the other and the monster wheeled around, hesitating for a moment, apparently to decide which one of us to take.
And, as you might have known, he took after me.
I figured I was a goner. That beach was just plain naked, with not a place to hide, and I knew I had no chance at all of outrunning my pursuer. I might be able to dodge a time or two, but even so, that thing was pretty shifty on the turns and I knew in the end I’d lose.
Out of the tail of my eye, I saw Ben running and sliding down the slope to cut off the beast. He yelled something at me, but I didn’t catch the words.
Then the air shook with the blast of another exploding warhead and I sneaked a quick look back.
Ben was legging it up the slope and the thing was chasing him, so I spun around and sprinted for the camp. Jimmy, I saw, was almost there and I put on some extra speed. If we only could get three guns going, I felt sure we could make it.
Ben was running straight toward Lulu, apparently figuring that he could race around her bulk and elude the beast. I saw that his dash would be a nip-and-tuck affair.
Jimmy had reached the camp and grabbed a gun. He had it firing before he got it to his shoulder and little splashes of liquid were flying all over the running beast.
I tried to yell at Jimmy, but had no breath to do it—the damn fool was firing knockout pellets and they were hitting that tough hide and bursting without penetrating.
Within arm’s reach of Lulu, Ben stumbled. The gun flew from his hand.
His body struck the ground doubled up and he rolled, trying to get under the curve of Lulu’s side. The rhinoceros-thing lunged forward viciously.
Then it happened—quicker than the eye could follow, much quicker than it can be told.
Lulu grew an arm, a long, ropelike tentacle that snaked out of the top of her. It lashed downward and had the beast about the middle and was lifting him.
I stopped dead still and watched. The instant of the lifting of the beast seemed to stretch out into long minutes as my mind scrambled at top speed to see what kind of thing it was. The first thing I saw was that it had wheels instead of feet.
The dull luster of the hide could be nothing but metal and I could see the dents where the warheads had exploded. Drops of liquid spotted the hide—what was left of the knockout drops Jimmy had been firing.
Lulu raised the monster high above the ground and began swinging it around and around. It went so fast, it was just a blur. Then she let go and it sailed out above the sea. It went tumbling end over end in an awkward arc and plunged into the water. When it hit, it raised a pretty geyser.
Ben picked himself up and got his gun. Jimmy came over and I walked up to Lulu. The three of us stood and looked out to sea, watching the spot where the creature had kerplunked.
Finally Ben turned around and rapped on Lulu’s side with his rifle barrel.
«Thanks a heap,» he said.
Lulu grew another tentacle, shorter this time, and there was a face on it. It had a lenslike eye and an audio and speaker.
«Go chase yourselves,» Lulu remarked.
«What’s eating you?» I asked.
«Men!» she spat, and pulled her face in again.
We rapped on her three or four times more, but there was no reply. Lulu was sulking.
So Jimmy and I started down to pick up the wood that we had dropped.
We had just gotten it picked up when Ben let out a yelp from up by the camp and we spun around. There was our rhinoceros friend wheeling out of the water.