“I noticed that the footsteps were unexpectedly light,” said Hunter. “It was gone before I had a chance to turn and see it myself.”
“Do you have any information that can tell us if he split here or back in our own time?”
Hunter reviewed his data. “No. That is, nothing conclusive, anyway.”
“So we don’t know if we’re looking for six robots here,” said Jane. “The others may also have separated, or they may still be together.”
“If so, they’re apparently still microscopic,” said Steve. “They might also appear any time. Right?”
“Now he’s a roboticist,” Chad sneered, looking up from the stegoceras.
“I didn’t see you accomplish anything,” said Steve. “When I got back here, you were hiding in a tree.”
Jane stifled a laugh.
“Until further notice,” said Hunter, “we will focus our project on the robot who we know has reached full size. If the others are here and still microscopic, they will appear sooner or later on this spot.”
“If we aren’t going to run after that robot, is there any objection if I make camp?” Steve squinted through the treetops at the sun. “Assuming you want shelter for the night, and maybe hot food.”
“Did you find water?” Hunter asked.
“Yeah. A small, clear stream about a ten minute hike from here.”
“That’s not too far,” said Chad.
“It will be, hauling water,” said Steve. “Especially stepping over all the fallen logs and around all the heavy brush. Suppose we make camp by the water.”
“Unacceptable,” said Hunter. “If more component robots reach full size, they will do so here. While we concentrate our search on the known fugitive, we should also be prepared to see if the others appear. For now, that will be sufficient attention to them. I will carry water if necessary.”
“It will be.” Steve shrugged and started opening up their supplies.
Chad continued walking around the stegoceras and speaking into his belt computer.
Hunter opened his radio link and transmitted. “This is R. Hunter, in the employ of the Governor Robot Oversight Committee. Respond, Mojave Center Governor component robot. We must discuss the danger to humans in the future.” Then, as he waited for an answer, he explained to Jane what he was doing.
“Any answer?”
“Not yet,” said Hunter. “Do you think he will answer?”
“Hard to say. From his point of view, you are introducing a rather vague First Law concern. It will be open to his interpretation.”
“In what way?”
“If he feels that his own danger from us is more immediate than the theoretical danger he poses to humans in the future, then he may have the freedom of choice not to answer you.”
“As a robot, I cannot give him a Second Law instruction,” said Hunter. “But I suspect that he-I will call him MC 1-may have shut down his radio link to avoid receiving any transmission from me that might compel him to cooperate with us under the Laws of Robotics.”
“I agree. As soon as he saw us, he must have known we were after him. Since the only radio transmission here would come from you or his own partner components, he won’t need it for anything else.”
“That does mean he will not try to coordinate with the others if they are here.”
“True. In fact, he may very well have shut off his aural capability, at least within the sound range of human speech. That way no amount of shouting from us humans can force his obedience under the Second Law.”
“Yes, I understand.” Hunter listened again for some sound of MC 1 in the distance. Any number of large and small animals, presumably dinosaurs, were moving about in the forest within his hearing, but he heard no sounds that he could specifically identify as coming from MC 1.
“We could still try trapping him again,” said Jane. “It simply requires staging a trap in his line of sight.”
“The whole character of our search has to change,” said Hunter. “We have no way of anticipating now where he will be at any given time. So even if we decide to use a trap to catch him, we have to find him first.”
“Do you have a revised plan?”
“Maybe. Our new search has to be based on the fact that MC 1 is no longer miniaturized. My enhanced vision should be able to track him to some degree and my hearing may still reveal something, especially if I can detect a pattern to separate the sounds of his movements from those of dinosaurs.” Hunter walked over to Chad.
The stegoceras was no longer struggling. It was now standing still, glaring suspiciously at all of them, effectively held in place by the two ropes around its neck. Chad was looking at it from several different angles.
“We no longer need it,” said Hunter. “When you have finished gathering your data, we must free it unharmed.”
“I’m finished,” said Chad, nodding his agreement. “This is really exciting, Hunter. I have the first raw data ever gathered from a living dinosaur. In fact, I’ve taped him with the camera built into this belt computer.”
Hunter moved to the nearest rope and untied it from the tree trunk. “Chad, what are the chances that we can actually rope and tame some dinosaurs to ride?”
“Ride?” Chad looked at him in surprise. “Uh-well, I’ll have to think that over.” He sat down on a large rock and consulted his belt computer again.
Hunter held the rope taut as he moved toward the stegoceras. When he reached it, the small dinosaur tried to butt him in the stomach. Hunter ignored the slight collision and released the other loop from its neck. Then he led the stegoceras away from the humans by the first rope.
“I will take him a short distance into the forest before I free him.”
“I’ll walk with you,” said Jane.
As they picked their way through the forest, Hunter kept the stegoceras tightly leashed and away from Jane.
“I’ve been thinking,” said Jane. “You should have a better chance of chasing down MC 1 on your own now.”
“Maybe in the short term,” said Hunter. “If I could catch him quickly.”
“You know you can track him and keep up a pace of hiking and even running after him that we can’t match. Since you’re much bigger than the component robots, you can physically overpower him. You won’t need us humans to give him Second Law instructions. Maybe we should just stay in camp, out of your way.”
“That is one possibility I must consider,” said Hunter, dragging the stubborn stegoceras after him on the rope. “However, the trail of MC 1 could lead me away from camp for a protracted period. I have to consider this environment largely unknown and potentially very harmful.”
“In other words, you don’t want to leave us alone.” Jane ducked under a low-hanging tree branch.
“Not for very long. I cannot. If any of you humans remain in camp, the First Law will not allow me to leave you unsupervised for very long. That means I cannot go off on an open-ended chase. If I can arrange for you to come with me safely, then I can fulfill my First Law obligations to you while we are pursuing MC 1.”
“I see. And if you and MC 1 start a footrace, the rest of us will need mounts to keep up with you.”
“Yes.” Hunter stopped. “I think I can let our friend go now. Please step behind me in case he is still angry.”
“All right.” Jane slipped behind Hunter, giving him some room to maneuver.
Hunter held the dinosaur’s neck firmly in the crook of one arm while he took off the loop. Then he released the little stegoceras and stepped back warily. The dinosaur shook its domed head, glanced at him, and darted away through the thick underbrush. Still, Hunter listened to its footsteps until he was sure that the herbivore had truly lost interest in coming back to ram any of them.
“Gone?” Jane asked.
“Yes.” Hunter turned to start back to camp. “He was too small for anyone to ride.”
They walked back to camp in silence. By the time they arrived, Steve had erected a large, blue-domed tent. He had set up the portable kitchen and also arranged the sleeping bags inside the tent. Chad was leaning back against a tree, still working with his belt computer.