“I hate to put a damper on heroic gestures, Hosato,” Rick said carefully. “But what difference does it make if you go or not except getting three people killed instead of two?”
“The difference”—. Hosato sighed—“is that if I go, there’s still a chance—not much, but still a chance— that we can stop this mess before it spreads. If it gets off Griinbecker’s, nobody will be able to stop it.”
“Rick!”
“Yes, Hosato?”
The mechanic’s voice came clearly through his suit communicator.
“Did you close the bay doors behind us when we escaped in the sand crawler?”
There was a long pause before the answer came.
“I can’t remember. I think I did, but I couldn’t say for sure. That whole day is a bit of a blur. Why?”
“Just wondered.”
Hosato contemplated the doors leading to the sand-crawler bay. The inner and outer doors of the airlock were standing wide open. Inside, he could see the interior of the sand-crawler bay, apparently unchanged from when they had so hastily left in their escape from the robots. It looked innocent enough, but Hosato felt a nagging of suspicion as he studied the entrance.
Like Rick, he thought they had closed the doors behind them, but couldn’t be sure. The gaping portals looked uncomfortably like the yawning jaws of a trap.
Well, he’d come to create a diversion. Still, if he was successfully ambushed upon entering the complex, there would be no need to draw other robots away from Sasha and James’s target area. Sealing his invisibility suit as a precaution, he eased his way through the doors and entered the complex.
There were no robots in the crawler bay. In fact, there was no indication they had even penetrated to this point. The second sand crawler was still standing in its partially assembled state, as Rick left it, and the door to the maintenance shop was closed.
Hosato manually closed and sealed the inner airlock door. To activate the machinery would immediately alert the computer to his presence, as would opening the door to the maintenance shop without first closing the airlock. He wanted to penetrate a bit deeper into the complex before beginning his diversion.
He had to steel himself to open the door to the maintenance shop. Though a death merchant by profession, he did not relish viewing the aftermath of the robots’ massacre of the Mc. Crae humans.
He needn’t have worried.
When he finally eased the door open, an astounding sight greeted his eyes. There was no sign of the massacre at all. There were no bodies, no bloodstains or disorder, no visual evidence of a struggle at all. The shop stood vacant and immaculate, as if the humans had merely stepped out for a moment.
No, not quite. Adjusting to the shock, Hosato studied the room more carefully and could now detect the signs of the robots’ handiwork. It was too perfect, too neat. Humans would never maintain a workshop in this immaculate condition. This looked more like a display from an equipment showroom than a well-used workshop.
Casting about, his eye settled on a waist-high work-stool mounted on swivel wheels. Yes, that would do fine. Working one-handed, he moved two heavy tool boxes onto the stool seat. He was loath to set his hand blaster down, even for the barest second. It was his only weapon and he didn’t want to be surprised by a security robot without having it in his hand.
Pushing the now-laden workstool in front of him, he moved to the side door, the one that opened into the corridor leading to the Central Computer Building. Cautiously he opened the door and eased his head inside.
The corridor was clear. The robots he had destroyed on the day of their escape had been removed. That made more sense than the removal of the human bodies. Robot parts could be reused.
Taking a deep breath, he broke the seal of his suit, allowing himself to become visible for the first time since entering the complex. It was time to start his diversion.
Dragging the workstool behind him, he moved slowly down the corridor. There should not be any security devices until he reached the first intersection, but they had no way of knowing what new traps the robots may have installed during their absence.
His caution proved unnecessary. He arrived at the first intersection without any new devices registering on his sensors. A short corridor came into his corridor at this point, forming a THe would have to traverse this connecting corridor, but the drawings he had studied at the Hungarian’s indicated a trap at the midway point. It was designed as an alarm trigger only, but again the robots might have modified it since.
Easing the workstool around in front of him, he gave it a vigorous shove, sending it rolling into the alarm zone.
Nothing happened.
Hosato watched with growing suspicion as the stool rolled on unhindered, until it crashed into the far wall, one of the toolboxes clattering to the floor with the impact.
Strange. Perhaps the stool had not been heavy enough to trigger the alarm.
He swept the corridor with his sensors. There was no reading on the watch dial. The zone was inoperative. Could Sasha and James have been successful so soon?
As if in answer to his question, there came a sound from the corridor behind him, the sound of a robot approaching. Reflexively Hosato flattened against the wall, his blaster ready.
Now. Now it starts.
He waited until the sounds were closer, then stepped around the corner, his weapon leveled. As his eyes took in the figure in the corridor, his fingers froze on the firing lugs. It was…
“Suzi!” he exclaimed.
“There is no time to lose,” Suzi replied briskly. “Follow me—quickly!”
The robot spun about and started back down the corridor.
A thousand questions flashed through Hosato’s mind. Then he forced his frozen limbs to move and sprinted after the retreating robot.
“Suzi!” he gasped, drawing up with her. “I’ve got to—”
“—create a diversion by attempting to attack the Central Computer Building?” Suzi finished for him. “Impossible. The entire building has been permanently sealed. This way!”
She turned up a small flight of stairs, leaving Hosato to follow in her wake.
“Where are we going?” Hosato asked, trying to remember the; complex floor plans as he overtook her again.
“Turner’s office,” she replied. “Sasha and James need your help.”
“But the security devices—”
“—have been deactivated. I must insist that you hurry.”
The robot increased its speed as they reached the landing, forcing Hosato to half-walk, half-run as they headed down the deserted corridor.
“Why how come you’re here?” he asked. “We thought the ore scout caught you with its slicer.”
“Obviously it didn’t,” Suzi retorted with her familiar sarcasm. “Our breach of communications was the result of an unfortunate accident. One of the scout’s near-misses triggered a rockslide. I was temporarily pinned and my communications equipment damaged. When that happened, the ore scout treated me like it would any other piece of damaged machinery. It brought me back here, where I was repaired.”
“Then what?” Hosato queried. “What are you doing here. Now?”
“That question will have to wait for a moment,” she replied. “We’re here!”
The door to Turner’s office stood open just ahead. Hosato brushed past Suzi and rushed through the door ahead of her.
Sasha and James were standing against the wall.
“What?” he began, then he saw the security robot standing immobile in the corner.
“Look out, Hosato!”
James’s warning cry came a split second too late. As Hosato’s arm came up, the blaster was plucked from his grasp by a powerful mechanical arm.
For a frozen moment the scene hung in suspended tableau. Then slowly Hosato turned to face his attacker.
