The Fortress in Orion (19 page)

All eight of them—the five Men, the two Kabori, and Proto—emerged from the vehicle.

“What now?” asked Circe.

“I've decided which of two harebrained approaches to try.”

“I just love the way you give us confidence in your judgment,” said Pandora.

“One is to board the ship in the daylight, and that's just suicidal. So the other is to board while it's still dark. And since whoever has the ship's legitimate cargo isn't here and isn't approaching, it makes sense that they won't get here before daybreak, so we can't sneak into whatever they're loading. Probably couldn't anyway, if whatever they've got is sealed.”

“So what's left?” asked Snake.

“You're none of you going to like it,” answered Pretorius.

“Probably not,” agreed Snake. “But tell us anyway.”

“We're going to walk right up to the ship, climb up the ramps, and make ourselves comfortable.”

“Just like that?” she said disbelievingly.

“Not quite, but close. The five Men will disarm themselves. Put your weapons in your backpacks. Either this works or it doesn't, but what they see in your backpacks won't matter. Djibmet and Michkag, you've captured us and are taking us to Petrus IV, so draw your weapons and train them on us.”

“What about me?” asked Proto.

“That's the tricky part,” answered Pretorius. “You
could
remain in the guise of another Kabori, but two of them with weapons ought to be enough. I'd really like you to appear as the kind of robot they've got on the ship, and I'm sure after you get a look at one of them you can become his physical double. Problem is, if they have some electronic means of communicating with each other, they'll know you're a fraud the first time they ask you something.”

“Then I suppose I'd better be a Kabori,” said Proto.

“Not necessarily,” answered Pretorius. He paused briefly. “As I say, having three instead of two doesn't give us any kind of additional edge. But you got a good look at the ones we killed when we took over the vehicle. What if you appeared as one of them, and Djibmet explained that you were the one who discovered us, informed on us, and are going to Petrus to give testimony, collect a reward, have a medal pinned on you, something like that?”

“Why?” asked Proto. “What purpose does that serve?”

“If you're not a Man, you're not the enemy. And if you're not a Kabori, you're not required to keep an eye on the enemy. That
might
give you some freedom to wander around the ship. You're not a prisoner, you're not responsible for watching the prisoners; you're just some guy they're bringing along to Petrus.”

“I
like
that idea!” said Pandora.

“So do I!” said Snake.

“All right,” said Pretorius. “Pandora, stick your computers in your backpack. Snake, Circe, put your weapons away. Ortega, I know you're a walking weapon, but at least
try
to look cowed and harmless. And I want all four of you out of your black outfits and into street clothes. No sense looking like a unit.” Pretorius put his own burner and pulse gun into his backpack and began changing clothes. “Michkag, let Djibmet do the talking. We don't want any record of your voice in the ship's memory, just in case there's some secret memory capture that Pandora's computer hasn't found yet.”

Michkag gave the Kabori shrug that was the equivalent of a head nod.

“Okay, Proto, time to bring the dead driver back to life.”

Proto instantly changed his appearance.

“What do you think?” Pretorius asked the others. “Is that the way he looked?”

“It's close enough,” said Circe. “It's unlikely the robots have ever seen him. He just has to look the part.”

“Point taken,” said Pretorius. He looked at the
Wayfarer
.

“Okay,” he announced. “Let's go.”

21

They approached the ship, with Djibmet and Michkag training their burners on them, and Proto walking nervously alongside—
so
nervously that Pretorius wondered if he was acting.

When they reached the ship a robot—two-legged, upright, but definitely not shaped like a Man—appeared at the top of the ramp.

“We have been told your ship is bound for Petrus IV,” said Djibmet. “These five Men are spies and we have been ordered to transport them to the fortress there. This one”—he gestured at Proto—“was our source of information. We have been instructed to bring him along, though whether for his testimony or for some reward I do not know. Now step aside and let us aboard.”

He nudged Pretorius with his burner, and Pretorius began walking up the ramp, hands in the air, followed by the others.

“Do you speak?” asked Djibmet in Kabori as he neared the top of the ramp.

“I speak,” responded the robot.

Djibmet quickly uttered the override codes. “You will not report that you are carrying us to Petrus IV,” he continued. “These are very important prisoners, and if word reaches Petrus IV before we arrive, there is serious concern that they may be assassinated before they can be interrogated. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“And you will tell the other robots?”

“They already know,” answered the robot.

Djibmet looked around. “Where are they?”

“Inside the ship. I have transmitted your message to them.”

“Good. You will tell them to clear a private area for my companion and myself. We will be responsible for our five prisoners and this local, and should any problem arise you will not be held responsible, and we alone will deal with it.”

“Yes.”

“It must have a door that can be closed and locked, and you will instruct the other robots that neither you nor they will be permitted to overhear anything we may say.”

“By ‘we' do you mean the two Kabori?”

“I mean any of the eight of us,” said Djibmet. “Is that understood?”

“Yes.”

“And will it be obeyed?”

“Yes.”

“All right,” said the Kabori. “Lead us to our private area and then leave us alone. If we need anything, I will seek you out.”

The robot turned without another word and led them through the large ship, past huge rows of boxes and containers, until they came to a clear area that was perhaps forty feet on a side.

“This is not private,” said Djibmet.

The robot seemed not to hear or move, but an instant later the area was surrounded by walls of a bronze-colored alloy, and there was a door right where they had walked through to enter the area.

“This will be acceptable,” said Djibmet.

Before the robot could turn and leave, Pretorius cleared his throat noisily. Djibmet turned to look at him, and he silently mouthed the word
Food
.

“Also,” added Djibmet before the robot could leave, “we have not brought any food for ourselves and the prisoners. Have you a galley, or will I have to appropriate some foodstuffs from your cargo?”

“We have a galley. It is long-unused, but is in working order.”

“Good. You will prepare two meals a day for each of us, after your scanners and computers determine what each of our species eats. If there are not the necessary materials for the preparation of meals in the galley, take whatever is needed from you cargo, and you will be reimbursed.”

“Yes.”

“Finally, is there a trash atomizer nearby, one where we can dump uneaten food?”

The robot answered, using its own measurements. The nearest trash atomizer was twelve
somethings
straight out the door and then fourteen
somethings
to the left.

“Thank you,” said Djibmet. “I have one final order. I want the ship to delete all record of our ever having been aboard.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Leave us now.”

The robot left, and the door slid shut behind it as Djibmet leaned against a wall, looking like a runner who had just completed a marathon.

“Well done,” said Pretorius. “You're a born martinet.”

Djibmet slid slowly down the wall until he was sitting on the floor. “I have never been so tense in my life.”

“You did fine,” said Circe, reaching over and patting him on what passed for his shoulder.

“What next?” asked Snake.

“I know it's impolite to discuss toilets in mixed company—and it doesn't get much more mixed than right here,” said Pretorius, “but it's even more impolite not to use one, and we're going to be stuck in this room for nine days.” He turned to Djibmet. “Go out and get one of the robots to rig a toilet somehow, one all of us can use.”

Djibmet approached the door, which slid open for him and closed again as soon as it sensed no one else was going to follow him.

“Well, so far, so good,” said Circe.

“You really think the robots won't report their extra cargo, meaning us?” asked Snake.

“It said it wouldn't,” responded Pretorius. “And why would it lie, especially to a member of the ruling race?”

“I suppose you're right,” she said.

“Damn!” enthused Pretorius. “That was easier than I thought.”

“Getting aboard?” asked Proto.

“Well, that too,” answered Pretorius with a smile. “But I was referring to getting Snake to agree with me.”

She glared at him but remained silent.

“And getting aboard was a hell of a lot easier too,” admitted Pretorius. “As for getting off, there are certainly enough containers to hide in.”

“Won't they be full of things?” asked Proto.

“Not by the time we choose the ones we want and empty them out,” answered Pretorius. “We'll want eight identical ones. The last thing we want is to get separated before we know our way around the damned fortress.”

“If you've got nothing else for me to do, I'm going to get some sleep,” said Pandora. “I've been up almost a full Standard day.”

“Not a bad idea,” agreed Snake, walking to the farthest end of the room. “This corner's mine.”

Djibmet returned twenty minutes later, just as Pandora and Snake had fallen asleep.

“Well?” asked Pretorius.

“It is done,” he answered. “There is no privacy, but since there is only one toilet only one of us will be using it at a time.”

“You did well,” said Pretorius. “I have one more chore for you. Go hunt up a robot—any one of them will do, as long as they transmit everything instantaneously or nearly so—and explain that if they see any member of our party walking to or from the atomizer we are simply fulfilling a biological need. They are not to harass us, report us, or hinder us in any way.”

“I will,” said Djibmet. “I hope they believe me.”

“You're a sentient entity, and they're machines that have been built to serve sentient entities—especially Kabori in military uniforms,” said Pretorius. “No reason why there should be a problem.”

Pretorius noticed that Circe was smiling at him.

Well, it sounds good and it calms him down
, he thought as he smiled back at her.
But it'll never work on any robots we encounter inside the fortress
.

22

On the fourth day they found the containers they wanted and very carefully emptied eight of them, bit by bit, carrying what they removed to the atomizer. It took them two days.

On the sixth day they were close enough for Pandora to tie into the ship's even more powerful computer and pull up the current security around the spaceport's loading docks. It seemed that the containers would pass muster, that the weight of the Men and Kabori almost equaled the weight of the items they had removed. Proto, in his true form, didn't begin to weigh as much, and Snake was too light as well, but they simply left some of the original contents in their containers.

On the seventh day Pandora was able to study the fortress, looking for possible means of escape once they'd accomplished their mission. She pulled up floor plans of three levels, but the fortress was composed of seven levels, not counting its huge towers, and four of the levels were just too highly classified for her to access. She determined that the easternmost of the towers was the dock for military transport ships, and the other three for supply ships.

On the eighth day the
Wayfarer
was assigned the dock at the southern tower, and Pandora was able to cast images of the tower's interior into the room so they could study it—although, as Pretorius pointed out, it made no difference until they knew where their particular containers would be deposited. The main objective, he pointed out, was to get down from the tower once they'd gained access to the fortress and then determine where their quarry was, how best to approach him, and how to hide until that opportunity arose.

On the ninth day Pretorius had Djibmet summon a robot to the room.

“I have been given new orders,” said the Kabori as the robot appeared in the doorway. “I am to return the prisoners and the being who witnessed their brutality to Nortiqua II.”

The robot, which had been asked no question and given no order, offered no response.

“My superiors do not want anyone to know that the prisoners are aboard this ship, for fear of public unrest and anger. Therefore, in accordance with their instructions, I am ordering you and all other robots aboard
The Morning Star
to eradicate all trace of us, to restore this room, the atomizer, and the galley to the condition they were in ten days ago. You are to completely forget that we were ever aboard the ship, and should you see any of us between now and when the ship takes off from Petrus IV again, our images are not to register. You will proceed with your duties as if we are not present, and you will mention this to no one. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” said the robot.

Pretorius caught Djibmet's eye and mouthed the words he wanted spoken.

“Is it understood and obeyed?”