He retrieved his beer and seated himself on the edge of the veranda.
"I've had an acknowledgment from the physician. He is near, and he's on his way."
"Great."
He opened Flowers and read a few lines.
"I must say, you're taking it very philosophically."
"Well, isn't this the way to go—with a drink, a cigar and a good book?"
"The preparations-do not seem entirely adequate."
"Maybe this is my place... And I've already caught a glimpse of the opposition "
"And?.. ."
"Here they come now."
The robot soared above the parking lot, slowing. The man, clad all in yellow now, rode upon its back. It continued to slow, gradually assumed a vertical attitude, then descended gently to the ground, landing perhaps fifteen meters from the veranda.
Red sipped his beer and set it down. He rose to his feet, smiling, and took a step forward.
"Hi, Mondy," he said. "Who's your friend?"
"Red ..." Mondamay began.
"Silence!" said John, stepping down and stretching. His topaz rings flashed in the sunlight. "Remain in position! Battle systems active!"
He stepped forward and bowed from the waist.
"John will do. And you, I take it, are Red Dorakeen?"
'That is correct. Anything I can do for you?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. You can die. Mondamay—"
"A moment. May I inquire as to your purpose in this?"
John paused in mid-gesture, nodded sharply.
"Very well. I wish to assure you that there is absolutely nothing personal involved. I am simply carrying out a commission in order to earn a large sum of money, which I require to further various personal ambitions. A man named Chadwick hired me to do this. Ah! You nod. But then you had already guessed, hadn't you? Former friends can make the worst enemies. Pity. But there you are. I won't point any morals. It's a little late for them to be of much use to you."
"So you accepted the commission, determined my destination and located a complicated piece of equipment to do the work for you? ..."
"That pretty much summarizes things. Chadwick put my feet on the right track—"
"I wonder whether your reliance on an agent is a mark of fear?"
"Fear? No more than Chadwick's hiring me is an indication of fear on his part. He is a very busy man.
He sought to employ efficiency, as do I . Do you think I fear to fight you, or any man?"
Red smiled.
"No," John said, noting the smile. "You shan't goad me into giving you an unearned chance at life. Your opinion of me means nothing when I know better."
Red puffed on his cigar.
"Interesting," he said. "Then I suppose it is merely of academic interest to you that the man who told me about you is even now approaching?"
"Man? What man?"
Red glanced at the roadway.
"A big golden-eyed guy with one hell of a suntan," he said. "I met him at a rest stop back on the Road. Driving a hot little 1920s roadster. Had on a torn shirt. Said he was going to do a lobotomy on you with an icepick."
"I don't believe you!"
Red shrugged.
"Why don't you ask him yourself? I believe that's the roadster approaching now."
John turned to regard a rushing vehicle, dust boiling behind it. Red took several steps forward.
"Halt! Right there!" John spun and raised one hand, his eyes flashing. "If this is a trick, it won't work. And if it is not, I welcome the opportunity to kill that bird with this same stone. Mondamay! Burn Red Dorakeen down to a cinder!"
Mondamay raised his right arm, extruding a tube which he pointed at Red. Lights flashed in the vicinity of his shoulder. There came a crackling sound. A tiny wisp of smoke curled upward from out of the tube.
"Shorted again," he declared.
."What do you mean 'again'?" John said. It's been that way for thousands of years." "Then! disintegrate him! Blow him up! Bomb him! I
dontt care how you do it!"
A whirring sound began deep within Mondamay.
His lights flashed rapidly. Clicking noises emerged from various units. A tiny whine began somewhere.
"Uh—John," Red said, "did you never stop to wonder why that alien race left a piece of complicated equipment like Mondamay behind?"
"I'd rather assumed it was for purposes of knocking us back to barbarism if our civilization took some turn of which they disapproved."
"Naw, nothing that sophisticated," Red said. "Massive systems failures. He couldn't be repaired, so they abandoned him. Felt a little sorry for him since he was sentient, so they left him with his hobbies and his disguises. After all, he was harmless—"
"Mondamay! Is that true?"
Smoke was emerging from all of Mondamay's joints, and the whine had risen to a wail. The lights still flashed, the clanking was constant now.
"Afraid so, John," he replied. "I guess I just burned one world too many in my younger days—"
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
"You never asked me."
Red moved forward again.
"And so," he said, "you will have to earn your fee the hard way."
John turned back toward him, a smile on his lips.
"So be it. You get your wish and I get my hands dirty," he said, moving to meet him. "I will even save you the trouble of anticipating me by telling you how I will proceed. I am going to raise you above the ground by the neck, hold you at arm's length and strangle you with one hand while you dangle there. I would not imagine you think me cap—"
His eyes widened and he halted. He raised both hands slowly to his face.
"What-?"
"You never asked me whether I cared to get my hands dirty," Red said, turning Flowers slowly to follow John's collapse. "I don't."
John fell and lay still. A trickle of blood emerged from his left ear.
"See? I'd always wanted that speaker with the ultrasound range," Flowers observed, "and if you'd gotten me the better model, you wouldn't even have had to edge up this close."
Red went to Mondamay, turned and withdrew the crystal key, and was handing it to him as the roadster came into the parking lot.
"You'd better keep this thing in a safe place or destroy it," he said.
"I was not even aware that this one existed," Mondamay replied. "Perhaps it was specially manufactured, or maybe it comes from some other branch of the Road. I barely recognized you. You look younger. What—"
John moaned and began to rise. Red leaned over and struck him on the jaw. He fell again.
"Well, all's well now," Red said. "I was just coming to visit you."
The car had braked to a halt. Its door slammed.
"How pleasant—"
"Hold Flowers a moment, would you? I want to speak with this gentleman."
Red turned toward the giant figure with the black bag who was now striding toward him.
"Hello again. Sorry to trouble you if we were mistaken," he said, glancing down, "but is this the guy you were looking for?"
The big man nodded and opened his bag.
''He is. Are you all right?"
"Can't complain. He's just had an ultrasound jolt
and a left to the jaw, though."
The golden-eyed man examined John's ears and eyes, listened to his heartbeat. He filled a syringe from an ampule, knelt and gave him a large injection in the right biceps. He drew a pair of handcuffs from his hip pocket and fastened John's hands behind his back. He then proceeded to search the yellow-clad form, remov ing various small devices from cuffs, collars, sleeves and boots,
"That about does it," he said, closing his bag and rising. "As I told you before, he is a very dangerous, man. What did you do to warrant his attentions?"
"He was hired to get me."
"Then someone must want you very badly, to pay the sort of fee he'd charge."