In addition, when the component robots or their material remains reached the approximate time they had left, they exploded with nuclear force. As Hunter prepared to go back with his team to find MC 6, he also was monitoring the news broadcasts of a mysterious nuclear explosion in south-central England. Only his team members knew that it had been caused by MC 6 exploding.
Now Wayne had a robot named R. Ishihara helping him. Originally, Hunter had instructed Ishihara to apprehend Wayne if he returned from the past to the time travel sphere in Room F-12 of the Bohung Institute. Somehow, the roboticist had used an argument involving the Three Laws of Robotics to induce Ishihara to cooperate with him.
On five separate missions, Hunter had led his team of humans in pursuit of the other five component robots. All five had been caught. Now they were here in the office of MC Governor, where they stood merged and shut down, waiting for the last component robot in order to complete MC Governor again. Once he had been put back together, the Oversight Committee would investigate why the other Governors had shut down and why MC Governor had divided and fled.
Hunter had reported to the Governor Robot Oversight Committee on his progress after each mission. However, he felt that the existence of time travel held incalculable potential harm for all humans. For that reason, he had kept it a secret from all except the humans and robots whose help he required.
Certainly if the scientists on the Oversight committee learned of the time travel, it would never remain a secret. The discovery would be too valuable for a committee of scientists to ignore. Wayne Nystrom had discovered MC Governor’s development of time travel on his own, before Hunter had learned of it. Hunter could not do anything about that.
“Hunter, city computer calling. The Governor Robot Oversight Committee is ready for your conference call.”
“Thank you. Please connect me.”
As before, the faces of the four committee members appeared on Hunter’s internal video screen in split portrait shots from their various locations. Everyone exchanged greetings. Then Hunter began his report.
“The first five component robots are in custody and merged,” said Hunter.
“That’s great,” said Dr. Redfield, the tall blonde. “I suppose this has been an easy assignment for you. You began less than two weeks ago.”
“I must repeat once again that past success does not predict the difficulty of the final mission,” said Hunter. “As always, I cannot promise that the remainder of my work will be completed within a similar period of time.”
“Where did this mission take place?” Dr. Chin asked. “Previously, you have reported quite a wide range of locations around the world.”
“In northern China,” said Hunter. “On the border of Mongolia.” He remained deliberately vague in his reports. So far, his reserve had forestalled persistent questioning from the committee members.
“Northern China.” Professor Post nodded, idly stroking his black beard for a moment. “Well, that’s interesting. Do you have a lead on MC 6?”
“I must investigate the British Isles,” said Hunter. “This is preliminary information.”
“Which one?” Dr. Chin asked.
“I shall begin in England. On previous missions, a certain amount of travel has been involved.”
“Wait a minute,” said Dr. Chin. “Haven’t you heard about the big explosion? Won’t that interfere with your search?”
“I will take it into account as I make my plans,” said Hunter.
“Do you think MC 6 may have been destroyed in the explosion?” Professor Post asked calmly.
“It is an inescapable consideration,” said Hunter. “However, I can only proceed and find what i may.”
“I am not surprised,” said Dr. Khanna, in his Hindi accent. “However, your work has been completed very quickly to date. We are all impressed.”
“I must repeat that I can make no guarantee of my schedule to come,” said Hunter.
“Yes, I heard you the first time,” said Dr. Khanna, with a trace of annoyance in his tone. “You repeat that warning in every report. However, you continue to complete each mission in the same length of time. What would make this final mission any different?”
“The explosion, and its after-effects,” said Dr. Redfield. “He may have a harder time now.”
“My original point remains valid,” said Hunter. “I have no prediction about the challenges that my team will face. Anything can happen.” Hunter realized that he had made a mistake. Before, he had never told the committee members that he was going to an area where a nuclear explosion had occurred.
“We note your caution,” said Dr. Chin. “And as always, we wish you good luck.”
“That will be fine, Hunter,” said Dr. Redfield. “I suggest we allow you to get to work.”
“Thank you,” said Hunter. “I am ready to begin. Do you have any final questions?”
No one did.
“Good luck,” said Dr. Chin.
“Thank you. Good-bye.” Hunter broke the connection and turned to Steve, speaking aloud. “Report completed.”
“Good!” Steve glanced impatiently at the closed door of the office. “So where’s our historian?”
“I expect her at any time.”
“All right, all right. What do we do in the meantime? Do we know what MC 6’s specialty was, within MC Governor’s responsibilities? Jane always seemed to think that was important.”
“I have that information,” said Hunter. “The data the committee originally gave me about MC Governor provides the original divisions of expertise among the gestalt robots. Since Jane correctly identified the specialties of the first five component robots, I know by process of elimination that MC 6 is the portion of MC Governor that specialized in maintaining social stability among humans.”
“Yeah? What does that mean, exactly?”
“In Mojave Center, that meant keeping track of various human needs, not only for survival and protection from harm, but for emotional satisfaction: leisure pursuits, choices of education and career, and career organization to encourage challenges and accomplishments.”
“Okay. But Jane also used to guess that a component robot’s choice of where to hide related to his specialty in Mojave Center.”
“Yes, I remember. Using the same sort of logic Jane expressed prior to earlier missions, I surmise that MC 6 therefore deliberately fled with the question of social instability in mind. However, England is an unusual case; since 1066, it has had a relatively high degree of stability for an Old World nation, despite some occasional turbulence. However, I calculate that MC 6 will return to his full human size from miniaturization in the late fifth century, in a time of extreme social turmoil and political instability. Since he did not plan that, the timing is ironic, to say the least.”
Steve started to answer. When he heard footsteps approaching the office, he stopped and glanced at Hunter, who nodded. Steve opened the door.