Soon Hunter realized that MC 1 was making a wide curve to the left, taking him back to the brook nearly fifty meters downstream. Before long, MC 1’s tracks entered the water again, leaving Hunter with exactly the same choice he had made before. He still had to pick a direction arbitrarily. This time he waded upstream to look for MC 1’s tracks.
After a kilometer of carefully studying the ground and brush on each side of the stream, Hunter turned and moved downstream another kilometer. At this point, he had virtually lost the trail. MC 1 could have chosen to go in either direction for any distance he chose. Hunter ducked under a low-hanging branch and stopped to consider the problem, still standing in the flowing water.
“Excellent performance,” Hunter thought. His respect for his fellow robot was sincere, despite his need to catch MC 1 and take him home.
The data Hunter had gathered at this point told him that in MC 1’s evasive patterns so far, he had never continued in a straight line for more than ten meters. That did not mean he could not or would not do so, but it lowered the odds. He had set up a pattern that used many curves and circles, often crisscrossing his own path.
Hunter suspected that MC 1 had somehow managed to get out of the water unnoticed within ten meters of the spot where he had entered it. He had done this without leaving a track or a broken branch that Hunter had seen. Hunter began to examine that area again, magnifying his vision even more.
With great care Hunter moved through the water, slowly studying every centimeter of the bank and each branch and twig above it. He ignored the leaves brushing his face and ducked the overhanging branches with single-minded dedication. When he had reviewed the same area, he still had no sign of where MC 1 had left the stream.
“I am losing too much time,” Hunter thought, standing up straight. He moved a slender, leafy branch away from his face, then suddenly looked at it again. For the first time he looked up at the different tree branches that overhung the stream from each side.
At first he saw nothing. Then he turned, still using his magnified vision, and looked upstream. Four and a half meters away, a branch arched over the water low enough for MC 1‘s arms to have reached it. The branch was thick enough to support his weight and Hunter could see scratches on the bark that had been made recently.
“It could have been an animal,” Hunter reminded himself cautiously. He waded upstream for a closer look. Then he followed the marks on the branch to the right bank. He stepped out of the water, seeing marks that indicated the route of something or someone. The marks continued on the tree at a height of two and three meters. On the far side, deep footprints showed him where MC 1 had jumped to soft ground, well out of sight of the water.
Grimly satisfied, Hunter followed the trail again.
“What a jerk,” Steve muttered as he hiked angrily through the forest. He was anxious to get away from Chad’s sneer though he knew that his knowledge about dinosaurs and scientific matters was not the equal of the other man’s. The whole unpleasant conversation had started with a question that Steve felt had been reasonable. Chad just took every chance that he could find to insult Steve.
Despite his anger, Steve was not reckless. He walked toward the stream so he would have it as a landmark. By the time he reached it, he had cooled off. He decided to sit down by the water and relax.
“This is a ridiculous place and time to be sitting around,” he said out loud.
After a while, he stood up and worked his way upstream, just looking around. Then he saw a fairly large two-legged dinosaur bending over the bank, drinking.
Steve had no idea what species it was. Still, it looked big enough to ride. It was dark green and moved in a fairly slow, calm manner. He couldn’t see its face.
Slowly, Steve crept toward it, expecting it to hear him and run at any moment. It remained where it was, however, lifting its head to listen and look around, then dipping back down to drink again. Steve found himself moving up on its left side.
Steve felt a surge of excitement at the idea of jumping onto a dinosaur. He shook loose his lasso, picking out the angle of this throw. The next time the dinosaur raised its head, Steve tossed the rope.
The loop landed on the top of the dinosaur’s head, but part of it rested on its duck-shaped bill. The dinosaur shook its head and plunged into the water, then hesitated uncertainly. The shaking motion had thrown off the lasso. Steve ran forward and leaped for the dinosaur’s back.
He landed sideways across the back of its neck, clutching for a handhold. The dinosaur reared up on its hind legs, screeching in surprise. The trees overhead whizzed past in a blur as Steve spun backward through the air and splashed into the cold brook.
The water was less than a meter deep. Steve pushed himself to his feet, watching the startled dinosaur flee through the underbrush. He climbed onto the bank, looping his rope around one forearm. “Time for a bath, anyway,” he said aloud, grinning ruefully.
Late in the afternoon, Hunter was still moving quickly through the forest following a fairly clear section of MC 1’s trail. Suddenly, he stopped. He had left the camp behind at some distance and the First Law just would not let him go too far from the humans. Reluctantly, he noted the direction of MC 1‘s trail and turned back.
He walked directly back toward the camp. It was a much shorter route than following the meandering path he had taken all day while tracking MC 1. Fortunately, he had heard nothing from the emergency transmitter.
Hunter was still an eleven-minute hike from the camp at a moderate speed when he heard an authoritative human male voice in the nearby trees.
“Stop, robot. Do nothing more except obey my further instructions.”
Hunter could hear the man’s heartbeat and a faint gurgle in his digestive system, proving that he was human and not a humaniform robot. Hunter stopped and remained motionless, as the Second Law required.
A man he did not recognize stepped out of the forest cover and came up in front of Hunter. He wore a small backpack. According to the data Hunter had been originally programmed with, this man was middle-aged and of northern and western European descent. Obviously, he too had come from the future, but these facts were all that Hunter could deduce about him.
“Identify yourself,” said the man.
“I am R. Hunter, humaniform robot.”
“I was pretty sure you were a robot. Not many humans are as big, strong, and single-minded as you are. I’ve been watching you when I could keep up. Now, tell me if you know who I am.”
“No.”
“You will call me Wayne. You will make no attempt to contact your party in any way. Do not do anything that would help you evade my Second Law imperatives. Acknowledge your understanding and cooperation.”
“Acknowledged, pending only a First Law imperative.” Hunter realized that now he could not shut off his hearing to avoid Wayne’s orders.
“Of course, of course. We will approach your camp together. You will make every effort to keep yourself hidden and you will make no move that would cause me to give myself away. I will show you that the humans in your party are in no danger. Acknowledge.”
“Acknowledged.” Even as the Second Law required him to obey, Hunter realized that Wayne’s priorities were clearly not the same as his own. He could also see by Wayne’s clear and precise instructions that this man was accustomed to dealing with robots and their priorities.
“With my instructions still in force, lead me back to your camp.”
Hunter did so. He walked slowly, required by his orders, to remain quiet and out of sight and to pick a route that would help Wayne do the same. When the camp was in sight through the forest cover, he stopped.