Isaac Asimov Robots in Time 1 Predator

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.21Steve stared at Hunter, who remained impassive.Then he turned to Chad andJane for their reactions.They in turn looked at him and at each other. Explosion? Steve asked. Atoms? Each unstable atom that explodes will do so with nuclear energy, saidHunter. In each component robot, the first explosion will set off the otherunstable atoms.The combination will be of considerable force. Exactly what do you mean by our own time ? Chad asked. That s a vaguephrase. I calculate that the explosions will occur within twenty-four to forty-eighthours of the time the MC component robots left for the past. Are you saying that if MC 1 goes back with us, he won t explode? Jane asked. Yes, that is right, said Hunter, with his usual robotic steadiness. Theproblem will be neutralized when MC 1 returns with us in the subatomicparticle shower. But we don t know where the others are, said Chad. That s the problem now,isn t it? Yes, said Hunter. Five major nuclear explosions are pending in locationsaround the world in our own time that no one knows about. Maybe the robots won t survive that long, said Chad. We re talking aboutmore than sixty million years.A lot can happen in that amount of time. Even at the atomic level? Jane asked. Well, the robot s atoms could wind up almost anywhere.Think about it.Rightnow, the land mass that will become North America is attached to Europe.SouthAmerica is completely detached from any other continent.The westernhemisphere doesn t even exist yet.Neither do mammals or birds as we knowthem--we ve talked about this before.Five microscopic robots will have todeal with uncounted generations of hostile microbes.They might not outlastthe dinosaurs, or the woolly mammoths, or even early human years, once theyreach the time of humans. They will not have to survive in robot form to be a threat, said Hunter. Iftheir unstable atoms still exist in any form, the danger of nuclear explosionremains in effect. The microscopic robots will have a pretty good chance to survive for most ofthat time, said Jane. They won t be operating simply by random chance.Theirintelligence and stored data will help them make deliberate choices, driven bythe Third Law to keep themselves from harm. The other danger, of course, is still to be found when their miniaturizationends, said Hunter. Especially if some of them return to full size in thehuman era, when the Second Law will force them to obey any instructions theyreceive that do not violate the First Law. But they didn t explode, said Steve. We were still in Mojave Center for aPage 83ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwhile after MC Governor disappeared from his position.Right? That s true, said Jane. What about that, Hunter? My calculations have a degree of uncertainty, said Hunter. The explosionsmay take place a little later than I calculated, and, I suspect, not all atonce.This makes the First Law weigh on me even more heavily than before. The robots could be anywhere in our own time, said Chad. Under the ocean,deep under the earth.Anywhere.Nuclear explosions that occur a substantialdistance underground may not affect any form of life at all. If the robots are still functioning, they ll be on the surface, said Jane. They would arrange that deliberately as part of their survival under theThird Law. We should return now, said Hunter. We can continue these deliberationslater. All right, said Jane. MC 1, you will continue to cooperate with us in everyway.You won t make any attempt to escape our custody or to avoid furtherexaminations.The First Law requires that you be studied.If Wayne makescontact with you again, you will remember to interpret my instructions underthe Second Law in the knowledge that a First Law imperative is behind them. Acknowledged, said MC 1. I ll start packing up the camp, said Steve.The team returned to the Bohung Institute less than a minute after they hadleft.As soon as Hunter saw that the particle shower had ended and the processwas turned off, he immediately rushed out of the unit.Hunter was hoping tocatch Wayne in the room, but he was not there.No one else was either.Steve climbed out next and helped Jane.MC 1 aided Chad.Meanwhile, apparentlyat Hunter s radioed signal, R.Ishihara entered the room.Ishihara had beenwaiting outside the room for half a minute, as Hunter had instructed beforethey had left. Has anyone left this room? Hunter asked. No, said Ishihara. Have you completed your mission? Our trip is over but only partly successful, said Hunter, with quietformality. A new security problem has arisen.Dr.Wayne Nystrom may come intoF -12 or attempt to leave.I understand now that you cooperated with him underthe Second Law earlier.If at all possible, you must apprehend him and holdhim for me under a First Law concern. Acknowledged. Ishihara walked into the room and waited patiently. I heardthe equipment in use for several seconds twice between the time of yourdeparture and your return.Perhaps that was he, arriving and leaving again.Hunter nodded impassively.Steve started lifting gear out of the big sphere.MC 1 got out and stoodmotionless.While Steve unpacked the equipment, Hunter accessed the records ofthe unit s use that were stored in the control panel. Are you finding anything important? Chad asked Hunter. Yes, said Hunter stiffly. Wayne has come and gone, as Ishihara suggested.Let me explain.I did not dare time our return any closer to when we left.TheFirst Law prevented me from taking a risk as serious as meeting ourselves.Wayne, as a human, was able to take a greater risk with his own life. You think he got back here ahead of us? Jane asked. Are you sure? Yes. Hunter s voice had a monotone that he had never used before. Thestandard records in the control panel say nothing about additional trips intothe past.That is why I did not see them before.MC 1, can you, explain this? Yes.I was the last of the components to travel.I erased all the records ofthe previous trips but could not erase the record of my own.Consequently youwere able to track me.At the odd sound of his voice, everyone turned to listen to Hunter. This time, instead of just reading the control panel, I analyzed power usageand the extent and intensity of the particle showers recorded by the internalPage 84ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlmonitors of the system.That process has given me enough information to re-create the erased records, using the trips on record to the Late Cretaceousfor calibrations. What have you found? Jane asked softly. Nine time trips into the past have been taken.That accounts for the sixcomponent robots fleeing, Wayne s trip back to the Late Cretaceous, andours.plus one more. So he s been here and gone, said Steve [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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