As suddenly as it had begun, the firing stopped. The scarred slope was empty except for the huddled corpse. The Hunters were gone. Without a visible target the operator nosed the gun back and forth then the tank spun away as the turret was traversed. Dust spurted from the treads as the tank got under way.
“Don’t move until it’s out of sight,” Brion said. “We don’t know what kind of detectors it has aboard. I don’t know who is manning that thing, but they certainly don’t seem to like the natives.”
“Could they possibly be the same people, their descendents I mean, of the ones who destroyed that mine we found?”
“There is every possibility … wait, look!”
High above them the sun glinted on silver wings, diving downwards. One instant the two aircraft were tiny specks, a moment later they grew to dart-shaped forms that dived faster than the speed of sound. Down they came, one behind the other, aiming for the solitary tank. The tank operator must have detected them as well because it spun about on its treads, but it was too late. Dark specks separated from the planes as they soared upwards again in tight arcs. Explosions hid the tank from sight as the squealing roar of the jets tore at their ears. There was silence as the smoke and dust drifted slowly away, revealing the shattered and smoking ruin of the tank.
Brion put his arm about Lea, helping her to her feet, feeling the trembling of her slim body.
“It’s all right, it’s over now. We’re not hurt.”
“It’s impossible. I can’t stand this place any more. Nothing but violence and death and killing …” Her voice broke; he kept his arm about her.
“We knew that before we came. We made the choice. All we can do now is finish the job. Do what must be done …”
She pushed his arm away from her. “You’re a sanctimonious swine! Unfeeling and uncaring with as much human feeling as a piece of wood. Don’t touch me …”
He obeyed her, knowing that was all he could do for the moment. He was trained for stress, his planet was a harsh and brutal one, while Lea came from an overcrowded and over civilized world. She had been forced to come too far, too quickly. Now she needed some time to recover.
They were secure in the trees, so the best thing they could do for the moment was remain in hiding until they were absolutely sure the sudden, deadly conflict was definitely over. He opened the bag and found the vodka. He poured out a cupful, and brought it over to her. She took it without a word, her face strained and white, and sipped from it. Brion went past her to the edge of the grove and looked out across the plain. It was empty and silent save for the smoking ruin of the tank.
“What do we do next?” she asked, coming up behind him.
“Send for the ship. Get you to safety.”
“Is it wise to land the lifeship here?”
“No. But we have little choice. I cannot submit you to these conditions any longer.”
Lea dug a small plastic comb from her pocket and pulled it through the worse tangles of her hair. “It’s a little late to turn back. I don’t like it but I do remember that I volunteered. Despite your protests. I made this bed, so I had better learn to lie in it.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes I do. I’m the wrong sex for all the macho and big strong man sort of thing, but I still have my pride. When you stop to think about it, after that last planet we were on this one really is a picnic spot. Isn’t it time to go on?”
Brion realized that there was nothing he could say. Silence was really the only answer now. She knew what she was doing, knew how she felt and what the risks were. He may have had all of the brawn but he realized suddenly that her determination was the same as his. Or stronger. She would see that the job was finished.
“I want to take a closer look at that tank,” he said, later, after the flames had died and the dust long settled. She nodded.
“Of course. There’ll be records, fragments of clothing, identification, something. It’s about time we did something beside mix with the natives. When should we go?”
He shook his head. “There’s no ‘we’ this time. One person will go out there, the other will have to stay here with the radio to make a report, I think it best if you stay with the radio. I’ll take the holocamera and work fast, just in and out. I’ll set it to automatic and it will shoot a hundred frame roll in less than fifteen seconds.”
“Don’t think that I’m going to argue with you. I know that you can do the reconnaissance faster and better than I ever could. Should you wait or go now?”
Brion looked up at the sky and nodded. “Now I think. The local tribe are frightened off for the time being, so there will be no trouble from them. And I’ll need light, so I can’t wait until after dark. There are no other tanks in sight and the aircraft are an unknown factor. I want to get out there and back as quickly as I can. It shouldn’t take long.”
He was gone on the instant, running at top speed, making directly for the wreck. It was time to make a preliminary report. Lea took the radio out and described the events of the day as clearly as she could, then switched off. She saw that Brion had fallen flat beside the tank and was lying there motionless. Then he moved and vanished out of sight behind the machine.
It was hard to wait. Although she knew that the local tribe were long gone she listened to every rustle and crack in the forest behind, waiting for footsteps. The sky and the plain remained empty. Slow seconds crept by.
And there he was running back! She had never seen a more beautiful sight in her entire life than that great hurtling shape. Pounding through the thick grass and on into the security of the trees, coming through them back to her side. He was breathing heavily, his skin dripping with sweat.
“Didn’t suspect this …” he said, leaning against the tree next to her.
“Suspect what? Who was driving that tank?”
“No one. That is the awful part. It’s empty
empty of human beings at least. The tank was completely robot controlled. Operated by robots guidance, trained to seek out and kill people. That’s who is fighting this war, fighting on one side at least.
“A mechanized army of killer robots.”
14: Machines That Murder
A small red light that had been blinking on the rear of the holocamera changed to green, indicating that the development cycle was complete. Brion took out the roll of film and slipped it into the holder of the projector. When he switched it on a jagged wall of metal instantly appeared in the opening between the trees. It floated there, against all reason, a holographic projection indistinguishable from the real thing.
“This is a shot of the outside of the tank,” Brion said, pressing the actuator button. “And here is what I saw when I first looked in.”
The projected image vanished and another took its place; the interior of the ruined tank. Flying shrapnel had cut up the apparatus, but the units were still identifiable. Brion pointed to the jumble of cables and circuit boxes.
“This is the view facing forward. You’ll notice that there are no seats or controls for human operators. Just these inputs and microprocessors. The whole interior is so cramped that it must have been designed solely for robot control. See that metal tube? That’s the ammunition feed for the re-coilless canon. It goes right across the interior, right through the space where a human gunner or driver would sit. But there is more than enough space to site the control units for robot operation.”