“Are you sure the main computer can’t take control of this thing?” Hosato asked nervously.
“Impossible,” Rick assured him.
“If you don’t mind my being blunt, that’s what everyone said about the idea of killer robots. Impossible, but it happened anyway.”
Rick sighed. “Look, are you worried about Suzi running amok?”
“No, but—”
“Well, there’s more chance of her being dominated by the computer than there is of this crawler being affected.”
Hosato shot a glance through the low door to the crew area, where James and Suzi were hovering over Sasha.
“Now, I didn’t mean you should get paranoid about Suzi,” Rick chided. “Look, Suzi’s capable of independent action, but she has no capacity for computer direction. And this crawler has no capacity for computer direction, and it isn’t capable of independent action. The only controls for this baby are right here in my hand, so don’t worry.”
Hosato hesitated a moment, but decided the embarrassment of admitting his ignorance was worth the information to be gained. “How does that differ from what happened back at the complex?” he asked.
“The security robots are like most of the robots we use: run by one central computer. They are free-moving, multifunction robots, but the decision-making and function cues were still left in the central computer.”
He stopped talking to concentrate on piloting the vehicle around a rock formation.
“So all the killer robots were being controlled from the central computer?” Hosato prompted, once the obstacle had been cleared.
“That’s right,” Rick confirmed. “Their activities were too complex and unified to be self-directed. The problem isn’t with the individuals units, it’s with the central computer.”
Hosato swore.
“What’s wrong?” his friend asked. “I had a chance to go after the central computer and passed it up. If I could have gotten to it—”
“—you wouldn’t be here,” Rick interrupted. “Sasha could probably tell you more about it than I can, but believe me, that thing’s protected. You don’t just walk up and turn it off. Incidentally, how is she doing back there, anyway?”
“I’ll check,” said Hosato, and ducked back to the crew area.
Sasha was lying on the floor, her eyes open. Her listless thrashing about constantly threatened to displace the blankets they had heaped on her.
“How is she doing?” Hosato asked.
James turned worried eyes up to him. “We’re trying to keep her covered, but she keeps—”
“They’ll burn through!” Sasha moaned suddenly, sitting up. “We need a bigger block. Collapse another twenty feet—”
“It’s all right, Sasha,” Hosato soothed, taking her by her shoulders and easing her back down.
“You don’t understand.” She turned vacant eyes to him. “They’ll burn through. We’ve got to stop them.”
“They’re stopped,” he assured her. “Everything’s all right. Get some rest, now.”
“Hosato?” She blinked at him. “Could you get a doctor. I think my right hand’s hurt. The fingers feel like they’re on fire.”
She tried to raise her right arm to look at it, but Hosato restrained her.
“Just get some rest. Everything will be all right.”
“Hayama. Come up here, quick!”
Hosato was momentarily torn by indecision.
“Take care of her, James,” he said finally, relinquishing his hold to the boy and starting forward.
“We’ve got problems,” Rick announced grimly as Hosato entered the pilot’s booth. “Watch the rear viewscreen there as we hit the top of this next rise.”
Hosato did as he was told. The moon was bright enough to throw shadows as he surveyed the scene in the viewscreen. At first he saw nothing; then something moved in the center of the screen. A blob detached itself from a patch of shadows, then was obscured from sight as their crawler plunged into the next gully.
“What is it?” he asked tensely.
“The central computer’s sent one of the ore scouts after us.”
“What can it do?”
“Well, it’s got an industrial slicer as one of its tools, and an ore crane for another. It can pick us up or cut us apart, depending on its instructions. From what happened back at the complex, my guess is it’ll cut us apart.”
“Hosato!” James called from the back. “Can you give me a hand here?”
“In a minute, James,” Hosato called back.
“Say, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Rick said. “Is it Hayama or Hosato. The kid there keeps—”
“It’s Hosato. Can that thing catch us?”
“It’s faster than we are, but we’re almost out of range of the computer’s control radius.”
“Good.” Hosato sighed.
“Not so fast,” Rick retorted. “I said 'almost.' We’ve got another half-hour’s driving before we’re clear. It’ll be close, but it’ll probably catch us. Even if it doesn’t, it’ll be close enough to use its slicer on us.”
Hosato studied the pursuing vehicle as it came into view again.
“Where are the surface suits?” he asked finally.
“In the tall lockers back in the crew area. Why?”
But Hosato was already gone.
“Hosato—” the boy began, looking up.
“Not now, James,” Hosato mumbled, brushing past him. “We’ve got problems.”
“If I might suggest…” Suzi began, but Hosato ignored the robot.
“If anything happens, James,” he said, dragging the bulky surface suit from the locker and gathering it in his arms, “get in touch with the Hungarian. Suzi can tell you how to find him.”
“But—”
Hosato cut him short, calling ahead to Rick as he started for the cockpit again.
“Stop the crawler in the next gully!”
“What for?” the mechanic called back.
“We haven’t got time to argue,” Hosato growled, joining him in the cockpit. “Just stop this thing and help me get into this suit.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to take a blaster and lay a little ambush for our friend there.”
“You’re nuts,” Rick proclaimed. “You won’t stand a chance out there.”
“If I don’t, none of us have a chance. At least I can create a diversion until the rest of you are out of range. Now, stop this thing.”
The mechanic obediently pulled the vehicle to a halt in the dark shadows of a gully.
“All right,” he said, swiveling in his chair to help Hosato with the suit, “but how will we know to come back and pick you up?”
“You don’t,” Hosato replied, struggling with the suit’s fastenings. “You get out of range and wait. If this works, I’ll follow your tracks and catch up with you. If I’m not there by sunrise, I’m not coming.”
“Well, good luck, Hosato.” Rick slapped him on the back as he headed back to the crew area.
Just through the doorway, he stopped suddenly. His swords, his clothes, were all heaped in the center of the floor next to James. It took him a moment to realize the implications of this fact; then he cast about the area, opening his faceplate.
“Where’s Suzi?” he demanded.
“She she told me to unload her,” James stammered.
“But where is she?” Hosato barked.