Derec nodded, folding his arms and rubbing them. “But Can Head must have reported the mugged robot to the central computer, probably right after he left us.”
“As to where we are,” said Ariel, “Can Head let us down through the valley floor, kind of zigzagging, and partway up the far slope. I think we’re in a wheat field.”
Derec reluctantly let Jeff pull him to his feet. His whole body seemed to ache. He leaned against Jeff’s shoulder, breathing hard, trying to gain his balance.
“We woke you up because we have to keep going,” said Ariel. “The Hunters aren’t going to stop for the night.”
“Have you got any more ideas, Derec?” Jeff asked. “Avery should have heard about the mugging by now.”
Derec shook his head, still trying to wake up. “I don’t know what to expect. I don’t know how long that news will take to have an effect, either.” He straightened up. “I meant to ask Can Head about the migration. Do you know where his assembly point is?”
“Not really,” said Jeff. “He went sideways across the slope when he left, but I imagine he was heading back to that one thoroughfare they were all using.”
“We don’t dare try that,” Derec muttered to himself.
Ariel suddenly clutched his arm. She nodded toward something over his shoulder without speaking.
Derec and Jeff turned to look. Far across the same slope, a humanoid figure was just barely distinguishable in the distance, coming toward them.
“Let’s go,” Derec said, feeling a faint surge of excitement. “It’s not on the migration route, so it must be a Hunter, and it’s sure to have seen us. I’m afraid it won’t be long now.”
The three of them started along the row in the opposite direction, but Derec was just barely stumbling along. As before, the others each supported one of his arms across their shoulders. Derec realized with frustration that he was now too far gone for even the adrenaline in his system to make much difference.
When they reached an intersecting row between the wheat field and a field of some low, bushy plants he could not recognize, Jeff stopped and lowered Derec’s arm.
“Look, we’ll have to split up.” He looked back at the Hunter, which was still distant but visibly closer.
“Why bother?” Derec said wearily.
“Maybe I can divert it somehow. And if they get me first, I’m probably in the least danger from Avery. He doesn’t have any business with me.”
“He’s crazy,” Ariel said sharply. “You can’t expect rational behavior from him.”
“Well, maybe not. But splitting up is the best chance to keep Derec away from him a little longer. Maybe Avery will show himself in that extra time.”
Derec looked up to study his face. “You sure you want to take this much risk?”
Jeff grinned at him and shrugged. “Hey, I said lowed you a favor, didn’t I?”
Derec gripped his arm for a moment in thanks, then turned and started up the slope. Ariel threw her arms around Jeff in a brief hug and then hurried after Derec. Jeff moved a few meters down the slope and then got down on all fours to crawl through the low bushes of the adjacent crop field.
Derec leaned on Ariel for support as they plodded slowly up the furrow between the fields. In a moment, the tall green Auroran-bred wheat had hidden them from immediate view of the Hunter, but it would have noted the trio’s movements and communicated them to the other Hunters, wherever they were.
Mandelbrot stood at the opening of one of the passes into the valley, looking out over the agricultural park. It was dimly lit and he could just barely see, with his superior robot vision, tiny figures moving in the distance. He paused to study the entire valley.
Some of the taller and thicker crops blocked his sight, but he could see a couple of humanoid robots moving straight up a row on the far slope. They were not behaving like Hunters, and he suspected that they were migrating. Down in the valley floor, he saw two large robots moving systematically among the rows of the crops and was sure that they were Hunters.
Then, at another spot on the opposite slope, he saw a human figure crawling through one of the fields. As he watched helplessly, a lone Hunter ran up behind him and lifted the human off the ground. From the lively struggle he saw he knew the human was not Derec and he judged that Ariel was smaller.
Above the struggle a short distance, he located Derec and Ariel moving painfully and slowly as they wove their way among some short trees.
Mandelbrot’s programming and his understanding of the dangers posed by Dr. Avery placed Derec at the highest of his priorities. While the Hunters were programmed with a narrow definition of duty that allowed them to detain humans without harming them, Mandelbrot had a larger perspective and saw detention by the Hunters as a first step toward virtually certain harm. At the moment, he would have to ignore Jeff’s capture and help Derec and Ariel if he could. He noted the positions and current movements of the Hunters he could see, and started quickly down the slope.
Derec and Ariel stumbled out of the far side of the fruit orchard onto a well-traveled footpath headed straight up and down the slope.
“I’m totally lost,” Derec wheezed. He stopped, bending forward to lean on his knees. “But this must be the migration route again. Look at all the robot footprints. This valley can’t have very much foot traffic. And if it did, they would have paved this.”
Ariel nodded and prodded him up the slope, where the soft mud had been churned unevenly with the heavy use. The irrigation was obviously turned on at regular intervals. “C’mon,” she muttered breathlessly.
They had just started up the incline when a large figure stepped out of the crops above them. It threw a massive shadow as it started down the slope toward them. Derec looked up at the great bulk of a Hunter as it moved toward them carefully, watching its precarious balance on the poor footing.
“Come on!” Ariel yanked him sideways back into the fruit orchard. “Hurry.”
“I can’t,” he whispered apologetically. “I’m too weak to hurry.” He followed her, though, until she halted abruptly a moment later.
Another Hunter was waiting for them in the trees ahead, a dark silhouette against the glow of light behind him.
They turned again and found two more Hunters pushing through the trees, breaking branches and shaking leaves as they did so, coming right up the slope without bothering to follow any rows and furrows. Their very silence and dispassionate demeanor discouraged rebellion.
Derec leaned wearily on Ariel’s shoulders, unable to struggle. She wrapped her amts around him, more for his sake, he guessed, than because she was scared. He glared helplessly at the nearest Hunter.
As he watched the Hunter reaching for them he saw a weirdly flexible robot amt curl around the Hunter’s neck from behind. It made a couple of quick motions and the Hunter froze, completely shut down.
Derec blinked at it, too surprised to react.
“Run!” Mandelbrot shouted, emerging from behind the Hunter. His cellular arm, which Derec had long ago installed and ordered him to disguise as a normal robotic arm of the time, was just now stiffening back to normal.
“Come on!” Ariel shoved Derec past Mandelbrot to put their protector between them and the Hunters.
They began stumbling through the trees again, their hope renewed by Mandelbrot. Ariel led him through a crooked trail, turning and twisting through the fruit trees in a clumsy, crashing route that ignored stealth entirely. At one point Derec got caught in a leafy branch and had to pause to get out. He took the moment to peer back at Mandelbrot.
Four Hunters had originally closed in on them. Mandelbrot had apparently pushed the controls on that first one to neutralize it and then had attacked the other three. By attacking them, he brought the Third Law into effect, forcing the Hunters to protect themselves. This imperative overrode even the strongest programming, so that they could not continue their pursuit until they had subdued Mandelbrot.