Steve and Jane returned to the camp first. As they walked out of the forest into the clearing, however, Steve stopped in alarm. The tent had collapsed. The sleeping bags were lying askew out on the ground and containers of food and equipment were spread around, some of their contents spilled out.
“What happened?” Jane asked, startled.
“Careful,” said Steve quietly. “Maybe the scent of the food attracted some dinosaurs.”
“I don’t see any. They must have gone.”
“Not all dinosaurs are real big. Some smaller ones might still be roaming around. Let’s go slowly.”
“All right.”
Steve moved up first, warily circling the tent and scattered belongings. Jane followed him. Finally, satisfied that the intruder or intruders had gone, he relaxed.
“Tell me,” said Steve, plodding wearily back to the tent and slipping the day pack to the ground. “Did we do anything today that was different from yesterday?” He started gathering up containers and checking the contents.
“Not much, I admit,” said Jane. “We were able to mark the latest tracks of MC 1, though.”
“What for? So we can do the same thing tomorrow? This is pointless.”
Jane sighed, nodding agreement. She picked up some of the equipment too. “It only means something if we start chasing him for real.”
They both turned as Chad rode into view. The front saddle was empty. He glanced around the camp.
“What a mess. Is Hunter back?”
“No,” said Jane. “What happened to him?”
“He jumped on a triceratops,” said Chad. “I was so surprised, I never had a chance to try to talk him out of it.”
“Really?” Steve grinned, amazed. “Even I know what that is. Wow.”
“The next thing I knew, it ran off with him. That was hours ago. I followed him for a while; that triceratops left a trail smashing through the forest that nobody could miss. But then I thought maybe Hunter had gotten off at some point and would just walk back to camp.”
“He hasn’t been here,” said Steve. “Unless you think the triceratops trampled everything here.”
Chad rode closer. “What kind of tracks have you found?”
“I haven’t looked yet.” Steve looked down at the ground. In most places, footsteps had left only dull impressions in the heavy sod, revealing very little. In a muddy spot, however, he saw a heel print.
“That’s no dinosaur,” said Jane, joining him. “And it’s too small to be Hunter’s.”
“It must be MC 1,” said Steve. He walked quickly back to the tent and the spilled containers. “Definitely. Some of these lines were actually untied, not just broken or pulled down. And no dinosaur could have unlatched these containers. Our salt and flour were opened and poured onto the ground, but nothing is actually broken.”
“I’m going to dismount in the corral,” said Chad. “Be right back.” He turned and rode away quickly.
“Now I have the answer to the question that was bothering me,” said Jane.
“Which one?”
“Why MC 1 was hanging around, evading us but never really running away.”
“What? You think he just wanted to trash our camp?” Steve bent down to pick up a few more items and set them upright. “He could have done it yesterday, but he didn’t.”
“It’s more than that, Steve. He wants to disrupt our search. Yesterday he probably studied our habits to figure out how he would do it.”
“So he’s trying to chase us away?”
“To discourage us, at least. He has an insurmountable problem, however. The First Law won’t let him do anything even potentially harmful to us humans, such as poisoning our food and water, or sabotaging our equipment.”
“Say, that’s right. But he dumped some food out onto the ground.”
“He knows we won’t eat it if we can see it’s not safe anymore. And I bet he left us enough so that we won’t starve. He can’t take that chance, either.”
Steve glanced into a few more containers. “Yeah, he did. We’re still okay.”
“He can’t even set traps for us or take our supplies away. He has to leave us everything we need to remain safe.” Jane smiled wryly. “Ina way, I feel sorry for him. He’s trying to do the impossible.”
“Yeah, I see.” Steve squinted toward the reddening sunlight filtering through the trees. “It’s too late in the day to track him now. At least tomorrow we can start following him from right here.”
“What a mess,” said Chad, joining them from the corral. He winced as he walked. “Riding that struthiomimus is fun, but I’m saddle sore.”
Jane laughed. “But you’re the first human ever to ride a living dinosaur. For a paleontologist, that’s quite a distinction, isn’t it?”
“Yeah! I love that part.” He grinned, then looked past her toward the trees. “Hey, there’s Hunter now.”
“Hunter!” Jane called.
“You okay?” Steve asked.
“Yes, yes.” He hiked briskly toward them. “I am fine; no damage.”
“What happened, Hunter?” Chad asked. “I followed you for most of the day, or at least I followed the triceratops. Then at sundown I figured I’d better get back to camp.”
“I am glad you did,” said Hunter. “It means I can trust you to take care of yourself under my First Law responsibilities. As for myself, I rode the triceratops for quite a long time. It does not buck or roll over on its back, so I just hung on.”
“Then what happened?” Steve asked.
“It was a stalemate.” Hunter shrugged. “I was not strong enough to steer it by pulling on the brow horns and it could not get me off by charging around through the trees, as long as I stayed low. Finally I decided that I just was not accomplishing anything and jumped off.” He studied the camp behind them. “Did this happen while everyone was gone?”
“Yes, we had a visitor,” said Jane.
“So I see,” said Hunter. “What happened?”
“MC 1,” said Steve. “He left his tracks.”
Hunter studied the damage. “Not too serious, I see. But I think the delay in our direct pursuit of him has lasted long enough. I will have to alter my priorities after all. Tomorrow morning I will chase him on foot alone.”
“You and I can ride after him,” said Chad. “If you’re willing to leave all three of us on our own, then you can leave them and take me again.”
“I will be more efficient alone,” said Hunter. “And I will feel less pressure under the First Law if you three humans are together.”
“Wait a minute,” said Chad. “Why?”
“Then only one danger, if any, is likely to approach you. When you divide up, the chance of your encountering harm increases. Since I have only the one transmitter to warn me of danger to you, I must ask all three of you to wait here in camp for me tomorrow. Be ready to call me through the transmitter at the slightest hint of possible harm.”
“All right,” said Jane. “If this arrangement will help you track down MC 1 and grab him, then we can all go home sooner this way.”
“I could use a break from all this hiking around for no particular reason,” said Steve. “But right now I want to get dinner going.”
“The rest of us will help put the camp back into shape,” said Hunter.
“Good idea,” said Jane.
Chad hesitated, but when Hunter and Jane began raising the tent, he joined the manual labor. Steve grinned to himself, but said nothing. He made dinner with more of the fish that Hunter had caught.
As the humans ate and relaxed afterward, Hunter finished putting the camp back into shape. He was now eager to get on the trail of MC 1 himself, feeling that delaying to capture mounts might have been a mistake. However, he knew he could not set out tonight.
The day’s effort to ride the triceratops had used up too much of his energy. He did not have enough stored up to remain fully active until sunrise, when the light could replenish it. If he chased MC 1 during the night until his energy ran out, then stopped to wait for dawn, he would have none to use in the event of a First Law emergency at the camp. Besides, while the humans slept, they could be surprised by some problem that would prevent them from calling him on the transmitter.
Hunter sat down outside the tent. He stayed motionless in order to store his remaining energy, but kept his mind alert and all his sensors active to detect the sounds, sights, smells, and vibrations that would mean another visitor. If either MC 1 or any animal approached, he would still have enough energy to protect the humans.