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and straightened. He closed the chest compartment and touched the
power contact.
A status light blinked amber. One eye gleamed fitfully; the entire
body shuddered. The head swiveled with a distressing squeal of
grinding metal, and Mandelbrot looked in Derec s general direction.
 Master Derec?
 Mandelbrot.
 You are very fuzzy in my optical circuits. It would appear that the
landing was not all we had hoped for.
 It would appear so. Derec shrugged.  How are you?
 Checking... Mandelbrot s voice trailed off; the eye dimmed. After
several seconds it brightened once more.  Systems check program
running. Main positronic circuitry intact; two sectors damaged but
recovered and backed up. Right optical circuits not functioning; left
out of adjustment. Neck sleeve joint misaligned. Main trunk
connections damaged but acceptable. Main and auxiliary power
circuits acceptable. Three servo motors have cracked casings and will
be a problem if the lubricant seals are breached and leaking. Knee
servo in left leg burned out and knee locked. The robot s fingers
clenched and opened.  Other minor damage. Would you prefer the
full details?
 Save it for later.
 Then I must ask how you are, Master Derec. Mandelbrot rose to his
feet, the left leg extended stiffly.  I note that your arm is splinted and
there is blood on your clothing. You grimace when you move, as if
your chest hurts you.
 The arm s broken; it ll heal. I m banged up but alive. I don t think it s
anything serious. Considering the way we hit, we don t have anything
to complain about.
 I was not complaining, Master Derec, simply trying to ascertain our
status. Your health is of prime importance to me as you know. The
First Law...
Derec waved him silent.  We ve done all we can do about that. Now we
have to get ourselves out of here.
Gears whined drily as Mandelbrot surveyed the wreckage.  This was
not a good landing, he said without inflection.
Derec laughed aloud despite the pain. After Robot City, he didn t
know what to expect from robots: Mandelbrot had either acquired a
certain irony and deadpan humor or come up with a good
approximation of it. A First Law response to make him feel more
comfortable or not, it worked. Derec grinned.
 Actually, it was probably your best. he said.  I m surprised you got
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us down at all. What in the world happened?
 I still am not sure, Master Derec. There was an alarm and then the
impact. After that, I was too concerned with the ship to pursue the
matter.
 I can believe it, Derec smiled.  Now let s see what we can salvage out
of this mess.
It was a long, slow, and painful process. Most of the emergency food
stores had been smashed or lost. Mandelbrot dredged up an inflatable
survival tent and heater, rope, and a battery-powered lamp. On the
down side, the communications gear was hopelessly ruined, as Derec
found after an hour of trying to fit together pieces with the few spare
parts on board.
The ship was a total loss. It would never see space again.
The salvaging efforts made a pitifully small pile outside the hull. At
Derec s insistence, Mandelbrot split the burden in half; a pack for
each of them.  You re hobbled, too, Derec pointed out in the face of
Mandelbrot s insistence that the robot carry everything.  You d be
endangering me more by loading yourself up. I ve got a bad arm;
you ve a bum leg and servos threatening to go at any time. You re half
blind. Consider this a direct order and pick up your half.
Mandelbrot obeyed.  Good, Derec said.  Now just where in the
world are we going?
 The Robot City was inland, Master Derec. I believe we are near the
eastern coast. Since the sun is declining toward the hills, I would
suggest that direction.
Derec gazed at the slopes to the west, green with a thick cover of trees.
There d be game under there, and plants to eat if the rations gave out.
He sighed. There was little choice. They wouldn t make it off this
planet until they had help, and the only help was Robot City. If the
central computer wouldn t respond to his chemfet link, the robots
would still give them any aid they requested, if only because the First
Law required it.
We must look a sight. Derec thought as they walked away from the
wreckage. A lame robot and a beat-up man. At least the planet looks
safe.
CHAPTER 13
A CHASE THROUGH THE FOREST
The laser from the Hunter seared SilverSide s flank. She hadn t
expected it to react so quickly.
With robotic speed, she leapt to one side and behind the cover of a
thick tree trunk. The bark smoldered where her side pressed against
it, and SilverSide modified her body to spread out thin fan-like
structures to radiate away the excess heat. A spot of red gleamed on
the tree by her head and SilverSide ducked once more another
Hunter, and this one coming from a different direction. She could see
two more of the deadly WalkingStones hurrying along the walkways
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toward the edge of the city and the confrontation.
SilverSide howled and fled deeper into the woods. Along the ridge, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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