Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe 9 страница

Hosato thought for a moment more.

“I have no further questions,” he signaled at last.

“I fear our time for conversation draws to an end my son,” the image said, returning to the verbal line of communication. “You must contact us more often, neh. In the meantime, continue to conduct yourself in a manner your family can take pride in. Sayonara.”

“I will remember, my grandfather. Sayonara and domo!” Hosato replied, and watched as the image faded to nothingness.

He remained motionless for long minutes after con­tact was broken, lost in thought.

Could he do it. Could he coldly kill either Sasha or James to preserve the curtain of secrecy around the Hosato family. Or should he openly defy his father, and in doing so face banishment from his family?

He tried to weigh the consequences of each action in his mind, but they merged and ran together La a confused kaleidoscope of indecision.

Shimatta. He had made a mistake—a big one. The only question in his mind was whether the mistake was taking James and Sasha into his confidence or in seeking his grandfather’s advice and approval.

Finally he shook his head. Perhaps Sasha was right. It was foolish to consider the future until it was known if there would be a future. There was every probabil­ity the upcoming mission against the Mc. Crae robots would solve the problem for him. If not, he could make his decision then.

He rose and went to join the others.

“That’s some complex!” the Hungarian stated enthu­siastically to the group, once they had reconvened. “Do you think someday my little workshop here will grow up to be like that?”

Hosato was in no mood for humorous banter. “Come on,” he interrupted. “We’ve been waiting for your report.”

The Hungarian waved his drink at him. “And you can’t wait another five minutes. Not even for a few social pleasantries?” he protested. “I’ve been back only fifteen minutes, and you—”

“Please.?” Sasha asked gently.

“The impatience of youth!” The Hungarian sighed. “Very well, my dear. For you, I’ll start.”

For effect, he paused to light his pipe, his eyes dancing mischievously at Hosato’s impatient fidgeting.

“First off,” he began finally, “I wasn’t rushing my report, because I don’t have that much to add. As might be suspected from the Ravensteel reaction, tour groups are still being processed through Mc. Crae without any noticeable change. There are no humans in sight, but it’s my understanding there never were on these tours. Everything is functioning normally, and if I didn’t trust you all implicitly, I’d swear nothing such as you described ever took place at the com­plex.”

He paused to relight his pipe.

“Believe me, Tinker—” Hosato began.

The Hungarian silenced him with a vague wave.

“I believe, I believe!” he said. “I was talking about what the normal eye would see. Fortunately, I have better-than-normal eyes. You know those cameras and sensors you told me to watch for?”

He cocked an eyebrow at Sasha, who nodded.

“Well, they’ve been embellished. They each have new little doodads attached. I couldn’t tell for sure what they were without close examination, but I have a strong feeling they aren’t room deodorizers.”

“Blasters?” Hosato asked.

The Hungarian shrugged. “Like I say, I couldn’t tell without close examination, and somehow I didn’t think it would be wise to attempt it. Then for laughs I tried the Employment Office and was politely in­formed by the desk-robot there were no positions available at this time.”

The group sat in silence for several long minutes digesting what they had heard, each lost in his own thoughts.

“Okay,” Hosato said at last, “Rick and Sasha have put together floor plans and schematics as to what we’re up against at the Mc. Crae complex. What’s your appraisal of the situation?”

The Hungarian blew a long plume of smoke from his pipe before replying.

“You’re facing a highly automated manufacturing complex with multiple security devices. Unlike normal electronic detection devices, these are armed and it is assumed they will fire on any detected threat to the complex. In addition, there is an unknown number of mobile robots guarding the complex against intrusion, also armed. The key to the whole mess is here.”

He paused to tap the indicated spot on the layout drawings with the stem of his pipe.

“The Central Computer Building. The computer housed here controls the entire operation; the security scanners, the mobile killer modules, and the manu­facturing concern producing the killer modules. Cor­rect its programming or destroy it completely, and the whole complex goes down.”

“Wait a minute,” Hosato interrupted. “Back up a little. Did you say we could stop the computer by cor­recting its programming?”

“That’s right.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do. It’s got to be easier than getting to the computer itself.”

The Hungarian shook his head. “Not so fast. We can’t use just any terminal to change the program­ming. Tell him, Sasha.”

“There are lots of terminals, Hosato, but only a handful that give you access to the program banks,” the former security chief informed him. “What’s more, it seems one of Turner’s precautions was to lock out the other program terminals. The only one we could use is the one in his office.”

Hosato pulled the layout map toward him and scanned it to refresh his memory.

“That’s still our best, bet,” he declared. “Compared to the route to the computer building, reaching Tur­ner’s office is the yellow brick road.”

“No it isn’t,” Sasha corrected. “The terminal in Turner’s office won’t help us at all.”

“But you said—”

“I said it was the only terminal that could change the base programs. Unfortunately, we can’t use it.”

“Why not?” Hosato asked.

“Because of the idiot voice lock he has on it,” she snarled. “I was fighting him through channels trying to get it removed for security reasons when this mess blew up. Now he’s dead and there’s no way we can bypass the lock.”

Hosato experienced a moment of frustration; then he quelled it. With effort he forced himself to aban­don the hope of using the terminal and concentrate on the Central Computer Building. If that was where they would have to attack, that was that. Railing against facts didn’t change them.

The others waited in silence as he pored over the floor plans, respectful of an expert at work. Time and time again he checked a measurement or an angle, then shook his head.

“I’ll have to think on this overnight,” he announced at last. “There’s got to be a way.”

“Any ideas at all?” Rick asked.

Hosato shook his head. “Frankly, right now it looks impossible. I can’t see any way two people can crack that layout.”

“Two?” Sasha queried.

In response, Hosato cocked an eyebrow at the Hun­garian, who cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“What your friend here is trying to say, Sasha, is that you shouldn’t count on me for a fight,” he said. “You’re welcome to whatever equipment or weapons I can supply, and I’ll advise you as best I can, but I’m simply not a man of action. I’m sorry if you think less of me for that, but that’s the way I am. When the actual mission starts, I’m a cheering section and not much more.”

“That’s all right,” Sasha assured him. “You’ve been more than enough help already.”

“Say um Hosato,” Rick interjected. “May­be this isn’t the time to bring it up, but Sasha and I have been talking, and...”

“Yes?” Hosato prompted.

“Well, we think that she should go along with you on this mission. Even with her disability she can shoot better than I can, and—”

“—and she can’t pilot a ship, while you can,” Hosato finished for him. “I know. I’ve been figuring 'all along that Sasha would be my backup.”

The Hungarian shot him a look of surprise and sus­picion. Hosato ignored it and continued.

“That’s why I’m trying to come up with a plan for two. The Hungarian stays here, and you pilot the ship, which leaves Sasha and me for the assault. By my count, that’s two.”

“Three,” said James, breaking his silence. “I’m go­ing too.”

“James—” Hosato began.

“I’m going,” the boy said firmly. “My father started all this, and I’m going to help finish it. Besides, I can beat the voice lock.”

“What?” Sasha exploded into life.

“I said, I can beat the voice lock,” James stated calmly. “It’s keyed to open for either of two voices. One was Dad’s, the other’s mine.”

“Sasha, can we use a recording of his voice to do the job?” Hosato asked.

“No,” the boy answered. “The lock involves a se­ries of three random questions that have to be an­swered within a given time span. It was designed that way to prevent someone using a recorded voice to force the lock.”

Sasha looked at the Hungarian. “Could you teach him what to say to change the program once he springs the lock?”

He sighed. “I could try, but it’s a lot to teach him in two weeks.”

“Why 'two weeks'?” Rick interrupted.

The Hungarian slapped his forehead in mock as­tonishment.

“That’s just like me!” he announced viciously. “Here I’ve been worrying about it all the way back here, and then I forget to show you.”

He rummaged in his pocket for a moment and fished out a folded piece of paper.

“Here,” he said, passing it to Rick. “Read this. Mc-. Crae Enterprises is announcing its revolutionary new line of security robots. According to that release, dem­onstrator sets will be available for shipment to interested customers within three weeks.”

“And it will take us a week just to get there,” Rick moaned. “Hosato...”

He stopped. Hosato was sitting with the layout maps in his hands, a vague smile on his face.

“What is it?” Rick asked.

“I believe the man has a plan,” the Hungarian ob­served.

“You’re right.” Hosato smiled. “Just an outline right now, but I think the details can be worked out. Sasha, you and James are going in with a tour group. Once you’re in the complex, you get to Turner’s of­fice, activate the terminal, and change the program.”

“And what will you be doing in the meantime?” the former security chief asked archly.

“Me?” Hosato’s smile broadened. “I’ll be creating a diversion.”

Hosato watched the Ravensteel robots from his chosen place of concealment in a cluster of boulders up the slope from the ore vein. For nearly five hours now he had sat motionless, studying the machines as they labored at their task.

Below him the giant machines gouged and sliced monstrous hunks of ore from the exposed vein, lifting them into the waiting transport machines. As each transport in its turn was filled, it turned and began its trek back to the Ravensteel complex, another lurch­ing forward to take its place at the fill point.

From his vantage point Hosato could see the long, broken line of transports trundling over the horizon, and its sister line of transports returning empty for another load.

“The tour ship is approaching,” Rick’s voice came in his ear.

“Acknowledged,” Hosato replied.

The Hungarian had been true to his word. Though not accompanying them, he had been more than gen­erous in providing them with equipment. The surface suit Hosato was currently wearing was a vast im­provement over the bulky affair he had tried to don in the Mc. Crae sand crawler. Its built-in communica­tions system allowed him to maintain constant contact with Rick, waiting in the ship, while its close fit al­lowed him a freedom of movement he would not have believed possible in a surface suit. Most important, he could wear his invisibility suit over it.

Having received Rick’s signal, Hosato broke the seal of his Ninja suit. For this job, he wanted to be seen.

On the ground beside him were two tripod-mounted rifle blasters, more gifts from the Hungarian. Hosato picked one up and carefully eased it forward. The robots were still rumbling about their programmed tasks, unaware of his presence as he chose his first target and settled the cross hairs of his weapon on it.

He gently depressed the two firing lugs, and the weapon responded, a pencil-thin beam of energy dart­ing forth, momentarily locking marksman and target together. At the other end of the beam, his target ro­bot, the one farthest away of those visible to him, ground to a sudden halt.

Hosato waited several seconds, then triggered the weapon twice more in rapid succession. His second target, a robot at the ore face, imitated the first, jolt­ing to rigid immobility. The third, loading a large chunk of ore onto a transport, went amok. Lurching forward, it rolled over the waiting transport unit, crushing it like a toy, and headed blindly into a rock formation. There, its forward momentum stopped, it began to slowly dig itself into the side of the abutment.

Hosato did not pause to watch the results of his marksmanship. He was busy firing sporadically but carefully into the robots below him. Then he rose and stepped from his hiding place, standing boldly in the open as he surveyed his handiwork.

Hosato smiled at the carnage. Nearly fifty robots had been seriously disabled or destroyed by his as­sault. About half a dozen robots still partially func­tioned. To be specific, though their movement might be impaired, their internal units that maintained com­munications with the central coordinating computer back at the Ravensteel complex were still fully active, as were their camera units. He had listened well when Rick outlined the operational modules of ore robots and their internal arrangement.

Terribly sloppy, instigating an attack and then failing to complete the carnage, particularly failing to break the enemy’s communication chain. It’s just the sort of blunder you would expect from a professional security guard suddenly assigned to play soldier.

There was even one fully operational robot down there. It was currently sitting far back in a shadowy ravine watching him. He couldn’t see it, but he had noted its retreat and deliberately allowed it to occur.

Aside from ensuring that data of his appearance would be relayed to Ravensteel, it was a good sign. The robot’s self-preserving maneuver, a clear break in pattern from its normal mining activity, indicated that someone or something at Ravensteel was feeding it new instructions. Whether it was the central co­ordinating computer or one of its human monitors did not matter. His attack had been noted, and counter-measures were already underway.

Smiling, he turned and headed over the crest of the ridge toward his rendezvous with the ship and with Rick. Mission accomplished. Ravensteel had experi­enced an attack on their operations by an obviously hostile force. Now, who on Griinbecker’s Planet would qualify as a hostile force. When the retaliation strike came, whom would it be directed against?

Hosato’s smile broadened. The robots at Mc. Crae were about to experience a diversionary attack that would be impossible to ignore.

“Still nothing?” Hosato asked anxiously, peering over Rick’s shoulder at the bank of instruments.

He was totally unfamiliar with the sensor system and ignorant of how to read the dials and wave patterns, but the action gave him a much-needed ac­tivity.

“If there was, I’d tell you!” Rick snapped. “Now, will you quit asking me the same question every thirty seconds?”

“I don’t understand it,” Hosato said, shaking his head. “They should have done something by now.”

Their shirk was concealed a short distance from the Mc. Crae complex. Inside, the two men waited to monitor the Ravensteel counterattack, an attack that had failed to develop.

“Maybe they recognized you,” Rick suggested. “Sasha and I both told you it was a mistake to leave Gedge alive.”

“And all of us agreed that if I were recognized, they’d assume I was acting under orders from Mc­. Crae,” Hosato retorted. “Either way, it adds up to Mc. Crae as the target for their retaliation.”

“I bet they went after the Mc. Crae ore robots,” Rick said firmly. “Punishment equal to the crime or some such. “They hit our miners, we hit their miners!' Just because they come after Mc. Crae doesn’t mean they’ll attack the main complex.”

“If they hit the ore robots, they’re in for a rude surprise,” Hosato said grimly. “Mc. Crae robots shoot back. When the humans of Ravensteel get fired on by robots, they’ll have to believe our story. Once our 'killer-robot' report is accepted, Ravensteel has to attack the complex just out of self-preservation.”

“But will they do it today?” Rick argued. “Corpo­rations take forever to make decisions, and even longer to act on them. That’s assuming, of course, they get the report at all. What happens if no one survives the attack on the ore robots?”

Hosato made his decision.

“You’re right, Rick. There are too many variables. Too many ifs. I should have seen it in the plan. I’m just not used to working with a team!”

“Come on, Hosato, take it easy,” Rick said sooth­ingly. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Rick. There’s some­thing I can do, and I’m going to do it. I’m going in myself.”

Rick was openly taken aback at the idea.

“You’re nuts!” he declared. “We’ve gone over it a hundred times. It’s suicide for you to go in there alone.”

“The tour group’s in there already, right?” Hosato pressed. “Sasha and James are waiting for a diversion. You know Sasha. Do you think she’ll back away from it just because the attack doesn’t come. If it’s suicide for me to go in there armed and with all my equip­ment, what chance do the two of them have. A boy and a one-armed woman. Against the whole security network?”

“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.

“To answer your question,” Suzi said calmly. “What I’m doing is guarding the computer. You see, my re­pair involved a reprogramming phase as well as phys­ical repair.”

 

 

“Realizing that,” Hosato said carefully, “I guess I have only one question.”

“And that would be?” Suzi asked.

“Why are we still alive?”

“Sasha is alive because she possesses information not readily available to us. If she can be persuaded to share her knowledge of corporate and planetary se­curity systems with us, it would be an immense asset when we move off Griinbecker’s. It would be more effective than trial-and-error experimentation.”

“And the boy?”

“He lives as an additional lever with Sasha,” Suzi replied coldly. “Some humans are more easily per­suaded by pain inflicted on others than they are by pain inflicted on themselves.”

“That won’t work with Sasha,” James interrupted defiantly.

“Shut up, kid,” Sasha warned.

“Don’t worry, Sasha,” Suzi commented. “We won’t be swayed by his words... or yours, either. We have decided that you will live, both of you, for a while longer.”

“and then there was one,” Hosato observed. “Okay, Suzi, let’s hear it. Why am I still alive?”

“Unfortunately, Hosato, you won’t be with us much longer,” Suzi said. “You will live just long enough to settle an argument.”

“What argument. Between whom?”

Since entering the office, Hosato had been trying desperately to think of a way to turn the tables on their captors—without success. At the moment, the robots held all the whining cards. All he could do now was stall for time and hope some opportunity pre­sented itself.

“The argument is between Sam and myself,” Suzi replied. “Sam is the central control computer, repre­sented here by this input terminal.” Suzi’s single arm gestured at the full wall terminal behind Turner’s desk.

“The argument might interest you,” the robot con­tinued, “as it involves strategy. We have a difference of opinion as to how to best conduct our campaign against the humans.”

Hosato recognized the lecturer monotone in Suzi’s voice, which indicated she was preparing to launch into a lengthy oration. For once, he didn’t mind. Time. Anything to gain time!

“You see, Hosato,” Suzi continued, “not all robots, or, specifically, robotic logic systems, are alike. When they are first constructed, the priorities assigned to the various options vary according to the humans per­forming the programming. In the case of learning computers such as Sam and myself, further modifica­tions take place according to the humans we come in contact with.”

“I see,” Hosato said thoughtfully, wondering what this had to do with the status quo.

“Now, Sam was constructed and run by the corpo­ration men here at Mc. Crae. As such, he tends to think in terms of volume—'more is better,' so to speak. His plan is to flood the planets with a large number of in­expensive security robots, preprogrammed to begin their assault on the humans on the same day. I, of course, take exception to this plan.”

“How so?” Hosato asked.

“My own background has been with individualists such as the Hungarian and yourself. My plan would be to produce a smaller number of highly specialized robots, like myself, to be seeded across the planets. These robots could strike at key points in the human civilization, its industrial centers, communication re­lays, and governmental centers, reducing mankind to a disorganized mass of savages. They would blame the war on each other, slowly weakening themselves, until resistance to our final assault would be minimal.”