Inside she saw a thick sliding switch. The robot's fingers jerked spasmodically — the switch just out of their reach. Laura leaned close.
The words "Main Power" were written in red. A single large exclamation point was clearly visible in a black triangle just underneath. Threaded through the switch was a thin wire for security against it being thrown inadvertently.
The robot convulsed — its arm thrashing not dangerously but dismally through the air just over her head. Laura reached up into the box and grabbed the switch, pulling down as hard as she could.
With a pop the resistance gave way. The robot's limb collapsed to the ground beside her, and the mortally wounded robot fell still.
The lights of the car shone steadily now, forcing Laura to squint as she turned to look at them. After a moment they went dark, and a faint electric motor in the car wound down. All was now still on the narrow pathway between the curb and the jungle wall.
The thick, dark growth seemed to close in from all sides.
Laura eyed the empty road in both directions, a rising tide of fear quickening her heart rate. Grabbing her suitcase, she began a brisk walk toward the Village, her head turning from side to side and to the rear in a constant search for danger. The black edge of the jungle formed a solid wall, and it lay not ten feet from the sides of the pavement.
There was movement under the lights on the road ahead. Laura could see people at the outskirts of the Village. She started to yell, but decided they were still too far away to hear her. She began to jog — afraid they would be gone before she caught up with them.
The contents of her suitcase shook noisily with each stride she took down the hill.
A blur of movement from the side preceded a jarring blow to Laura's body that knocked her to the grass beside the road. She looked up at the rounded metal head and single unblinking eye and screamed.
A hand went over her mouth. "Jesus Christ, lady!" a man whispered. "Quiet! There's robots up ahead!" You could hear the fear in his voice. After a moment, he let his hand off her mouth and got off her.
He wore a military-style helmet and night-vision goggles with a single wide lens in front. The Cyclops-like eye was pointed down the hill toward the Village. "Who are you?"
"U.S. Navy. Come on."
She followed the man into the jungle. Other soldiers were waiting there. "Two in the jungle on the right," someone whispered, the words not meant for Laura, "one in the clearing, the fourth one in the town. Looks like they're searching for something!"
"In the town?" Laura asked. "The Village? There are robots in the Village?"
"Who the hell are you?" came a voice whispered from the darkness.
"Laura Aldridge. Dr. Laura Aldridge."
"Can you take care of my man?" the soldier asked.
"Does he have psychological problems?"
"What?"
"I'm a psychologist."
There was a sickly moan from the darkness.
"What's the matter with him?" Laura asked.
"He almost got torn apart by one of those goddamn robots."
"A robot hurt him?" There was a pause.
"Where the hell have you been, lady?"
"They're all in the jungle now," came the steady monotone of the watchful soldier. "All right, let's head on back to the beach."
Laura felt a hand on her arm. "What? I'm not going with you."
"Lady, there are robots roamin' all over this—" There was a distant boom, and a sound like firecrackers ripped through the night just after. Then came another explosion and another and another.
"Come on, let's go!"
The soldiers tried [missing] out of the jungle and turned toward the airport. Laura yanked her arm free and took off running toward the Village, abandoning her suitcase by the road.
"Hey!" she heard from behind, followed by the sound of a man running after her. Laura sprinted down the hill as fast as her feet would carry her. "Chief! Break it off!" someone else shouted.
After a moment, Laura glanced back over her shoulder. She was all alone, and she slowed her pace to a walk.
The night had fallen quiet again. The fighting had died down.
It had come from somewhere behind the mountain — from the empty quarter.
The streets of the Village were just ahead. There were no robots to be seen.
Something stirred in the brush to her left. There was another sound — very deliberate, like an animal preparing to strike. Laura felt panic set in. She began to jog again, staring into the black jungle over her left shoulder and counting down the steps until she made it to the relative safety of the streetlamps.
She turned to see a Model Eight blocking her way into the Village.
She stopped dead in her tracks. The monstrously large robot stood framed by the streetlamps forty or so yards away. He remained completely motionless, but he was holding something in his right hand.
Laura felt her every move counted. The robots were at war. They'd be jumpy. Terrified. Angry. They'd be in a killing mood.
As methodically as she could manage, Laura raised her open right hand. It was an international gesture of peace and greeting — showing a stranger that she was unarmed.
A brilliant white light burst from the robot's right hand, crackling with violent heat. The robot headed straight up the hill toward her, breaking into what for it had to be a run. It raised the welding torch that it held into the air.
Laura was blinded now with panic. She turned to flee up the hill but froze. Against a sky that glowed from the airport lights, she could see another Model Eight coming down the hill right behind her.
She was trapped, and the terror gripped her completely.
Without thinking she dashed straight into the thick jungle beside the road, throwing herself against the clinging brush in utter desperation. She fought her way deeper and deeper, the branches scratching at her arms and neck and face.
The robot coming down the hill was the first of the attackers to reach her. Its entry into the jungle behind her was announced by the great volume of cracking branches and crushed foliage. Looking back over her shoulder at the Model Eight, Laura screamed "No-o-o!"
First one great swath of branches were sheared from their limbs above her, then a deeper cut was taken by the robot — slinging its arms through the air like a scythe. With the third pass of the blades, Laura fell to the ground under a shower of leaves and twigs. In the sudden silence, she raised her head to see the robot standing motionless directly above her.
Laura curled up into a ball, shaking from the soundless sobs that wracked her body. Her stomach muscles clenched so tight they began to cramp. Her gasps for air ended the moment she felt the robot's touch.
It pressed down on her head with its hand. This is it, she thought in terror, unable to move a muscle.
The sound of branches being broken near the road again filled the air. The robot hand rose from her head, and there was a great thud that Laura felt through the ground where she lay. Looking up, she saw the robot who'd chased her into the jungle now lying on the ground beside her. It was grasping frantically for brush, which it uprooted in its vain attempt to resist being dragged out of the jungle to the road.
All was still under Laura's blanket of fallen leaves and branches.
An eerie glow emanated from what she now saw was a small gathering of robots. The shadows thrown across the brush drifted slowly as a welding torch descended toward the earth.
The quiet of the night was broken by a crackling and sizzling burn.
Laura sat up. The robots were all seemingly unconcerned by her presence. She saw in the flashing light from the torch that they stared intently toward the center of their circle. She crept through the brush on her knees, approaching the edge of the clearing for a better view.