Flight of the Maita Supercollection 3: Solving Galactic Problems Collector's Edition (17 page)

I steered it
into the hole twice more, then it withdrew into the tube.

I waited. There
was a scratching sound, then the antenna wire again appeared, this
time with a rigid piece of wire that would hold it from going into
the hole below.

I could see the
bead a ways back into the tube riding on the stiff wire, so I
waited until it was extended about a meter straight out from the
tube then moved a visible beam along in front of it and on along
the cliff face. It would appear to the fiberoptic lens to be a
sweeping beam randomly moving along the cliff.

The wire
paused, then began creeping slowly outward again.

I waited until
it was a short distance past where the beam had gone before, then
moved the beam along. It sliced the end of the wire off four
centimeters in front of the lens.

There was a
short pause, then the wire began coming out of the tube rapidly.
The brain was going to try to get past the rigid piece before the
beam returned so it would drop inside of the range of the sweep,
where it would be safe.

I cut the wire
behind the bead and then melted it back to the tube. I wanted it to
appear it was a random search-and-remove beam on an automatic
response system, so cut the wire every time it extended more than a
quarter meter from the tube.

The stiff wire
ended and the wire continued, so I pushed it into the hole below. I
barely was able to get out of sight as a second fiberoptic lens
bead came along riding the wire. It bent downward and showed the
wire falling into the hole. The movement stopped, then began to
withdraw.

I suppressed a
chuckle. I could picture that brain swearing much as Z did when
mechanical things seemed to be deliberately attempting to thwart
him.

I waited again
and soon heard the scratching in the tube. The wire started out
with a lens a short ways along it. I couldn't bend the wire into
the hole without being seen.

Not with my
hand! I could use the rock I was using to shield myself from view
if I was careful. The lens was just outside of the tube and there
was a small place behind it where I could use the rock. It would
blur there in the pickup, but would still look like the rock face
of the cliff.

I eased the
pressure slowly on and the end of the wire went into the hole.

The wire
withdrew a small bit and tension was put on the fiber causing the
end of the wire to curl to one side. It then began dropping
again.

Now what?

I thought fast.
If the end of the wire hit something solid this close to the tube
it would stop moving, so I carefully directed it with the rock
until it came to rest on a rough stone outcrop. I could see the
tension increasing on the optic fiber, so I cut it with the rock.
It would appear to have broken from tension.

I could really
picture the brain swearing now!

The wire
withdrew. I waited.

After awhile I
felt radio signals coming from above, so the brain had decided to
use the robots in the house to put in a system up there. It may or
may not return to the tube.

I almost made
another fatal mistake as I climbed back toward the top. I knew full
well the brain could move its robots around at will again up there,
but didn't stop to think it would most definitely send one to try
to find where the cutting beam sweep originated. It was very near
me that I suddenly felt the radio return signal where one of the
robots was sending information to the brain.

I had the
floater suddenly dive and drop me into the water to then send the
beam on a sweep pattern from near the surface of the water to the
north of the property. The robot fired a pencil laser at the
floater, but it was too far away to be harmed even if it weren't
shielded.

The floater
moved the beam to the spot from which it had been fired upon. The
robot was barely able to avoid it.

I felt the
robot retreat and began climbing the cliff again. I would leave the
floater there to do random sweeps with the beam in case the brain
checked again. It would remain shielded and would be in no danger
of damage unless far more powerful weapons were used.

I could now be
sure the brain would have those stairs repaired and in use. It had
seven robots to work on them again, so I could probably get into
the grounds.

There were no
broadcasting sensors operating, but I wasn't going to be stupid
again, so I moved along the wall until I was in a field to the east
of the house, then studied how I could get inside without being
detected.

No way. I felt
I was running out of time again. The people around the area would
be attacking the place at dawn when Gorta told them to. I estimated
no more than two hours before then.

The gate had a
group of people around it with three of the robots inside, keeping
their distance but watching closely. I knew what they were watching
for, so I matched my temperature and the rhythms of a normal body
here and started to stroll forward toward the people.

All three
robots fixed on me almost immediately and I wondered what was going
on, then remembered the radium on my ear.

Damn! And I
said I was going to stop being stupid!

I passed the
people to the side and behind. Few noticed me as I went along the
road toward Stormlee until I was out of sight. Maybe this would
work out well enough after all. If the brain thought I was going
into town it might relax a slight bit.

Yeah!
Right!

There was a
radio source above and to my left. I moved close to the side of the
road where I would be behind the rocks and scanned the mountainside
to find the source was still beyond my range, so I closed down
anything detectable and swiftly began climbing. I kept the source
across obstacles from me all the way and soon found myself moving
above it, so I made my way around and behind it.

There was a
robot with a visual scanner watching the road and back along to the
gate where the people could be seen. I waited until it turned the
scanner back along the road toward Stormlee and moved its lens
slowly along toward the gate. It was probably me it was looking
for. When the range was too short to miss I lasered the robot in
the ear orifice. It dropped the scanner and fell heavily, sparks
and smoke pouring from the head. There was a sudden pulse of radio,
then another from one side.

I dropped and
hid in some large rocks until another robot came running up. It
stopped behind some boulders, scanned the fallen golem, then
scanned the entire area with its built-in visuals. I was sure it
was seeking any trace of me at all, so didn't leak anything. I even
shielded so I could be absolutely certain there was no energy
radiation of any kind.

I'm glad I
still have the odor detectors in place and they were working,
because the robot edged back downward and to one side. I was ready
to follow it when I smelled the slightest trace of lubricant,
telling me there was some sort of machine to my right.

The people here
had no machines that could be used in these mountains, ergo, it was
another robot. The slight breeze was carrying the scent to me.

I concentrated
on sound and smell as well as visuals, and soon saw another robot
moving silently along several meters below me. I couldn't miss from
there, the other golem was out of sight and downward from me, so I
shot this one, then moved away as quickly and silently as I could,
circling downward. I got the other one as it came up the mountain
to try to get above where I shot the last one. I then shot the
scanner the first had been using and headed back toward the
road.

As I rounded a
bunch of scrub I found myself face-to-face with another robot that
had its finger pointed right at me from less than five meters
away!

Almost without
thinking at all I sent the one two pulse at all related
frequencies, causing the robot to freeze. The override came just as
I brought the laser up and fired directly into the golem's "eyes".
The head fairly exploded.

It's a good
thing I have protector circuits that are fast and independent of
the general memory I use consciously. I'm sure I would've
remembered the "off" signal within one or two seconds, but I
would've been damaged or destroyed in milliseconds had that
secondary response not been built in.

I'm a machine
and am very fast, but so is the brain. It's only the speed of radio
waves that saved me there. I can assure you, I was much more
careful on my way back to the road and then to the gate.

Dawn light was
beginning to pale the blackness of the sky to the east as Gorta and
her group came to the gate. She said she guessed they wouldn't
storm the house, seeing as I was outside waiting for her.

There were two
robots watching the gate now, but I managed to stay behind the
stone wall to the side so they wouldn't fire at me and hurt anyone.
I had no doubt I was prime directive number one most imperative to
be destroyed at all costs. I had already disposed of a hell of a
lot of what that thing had to challenge these people with. I could
only hope there weren't any more robots out here waiting to attack
from the rear when and if we attacked that house.

"We done found
two more golems up thar," Gorta told me. "Done smashed their heads
in 'fore they c'ud move! Hit 'em uth iron spikes from both sides ut
once'n their heads blows up!"

"How'd you know
which 'us golems?" I asked.

"Went an' stuck
everbody with pins from up behind when they wasn't 'spectin'
nothin," Gorta said proudly. "Most'uns yelled, 'un a coupla us got
smacked, but 'twas worth ut!

"Golems got no
feelin' 'n their butts! People got lots!"

I grinned and
said she'd done a good job, then said I had a good way to tell
which were golems myself.

They could all
go into Stormlee and take little cups of salty water and make
everybody take one swallow. Golems weren't made to drink liquids
and the salty water would make the wires melt.

She grinned in
reply and yelled for everybody to come with her except for eight
people who were to watch the house and were to blow the horns if
anybody at all tried to get off the grounds.

I saluted her
and went along the wall toward the ocean as the bulk of the group
headed into Stormlee.

It was possible
if not so likely as I'd thought before we had the whole bunch of
robots and the brain virtually trapped inside that house and
grounds now. The floater would see to it no one left the sea side
and the people would see that no one left on the other two passable
sides.

I went to the
cliff edge and signaled the floater to place energy detectors on
both sides of the walls and to immediately locate any radio
sources. It was to find a way to report those sources to me.

The floater
came up to me without orders and extended a direct hookup. I
plugged it in and got a report from TR saying it had deployed
hundreds of radio receiver scan sensors around and would detect any
attempt at communication in or out. It had also placed detectors
around the wall to detect light beam transmissions. I was given a
small set, which I was to plug into immediately.

"This is on a
frequency range the brain can't possibly detect at this time," TR
assured me. "We have to find some way to get to that brain
directly.

"Do you have
any ideas?"

"I was thinking
about burning in from the place where the tube comes through the
cliff. The problem is we couldn't do it fast enough through four
meters of solid rock and we'd find ourselves in an energy beam war
with that damned thing. It could probably attack Stormlee and do
more damage than we'd believe. I'm sure it's figured out we won't
do anything to endanger the people here, so it'll keep us in a
hostage-type situation.

"It's dead
right about a lot of it. We can't take chances with these
people.

"Be ready to
come in with everything you have if it does try to attack them. I'd
rather live with the cultural damage from something like that than
to let the brain kill off a whole city."

"Yo! We know
something of the shielding that thing has. It could do a lot more
than attack the one city before we could stop it. It's going to be
mainly up to you to find a way to get to it.

"This
transmitter works on matched wavelength movements, so we can't use
it much, but we can use it some. The brain will note the energy use
and try to decode and interfere."

"Okay. We'll
use it to report, say, every two hours?"

"Good enough.
Good luck."

I sat on the
cliff edge to think as the floater went back near the water's edge
and swung the cutter beam across the cliff face. It stopped for a
second at the tube's location, then continued.

I checked the
information the floater had given to see that the wire came out
every so often to be sure the beam was still there. From a military
standpoint, that was good. Keep as much of our equipment tied up as
possible. What was being focused on the cliff face wouldn't be
available to use elsewhere.

We were lucky
to have all the floaters we could want, each of which had
programmable features so advanced beyond what the brain had in
those robots that comparison was difficult – we HAVE all of that,
but we can't USE much of it around an evolving culture. My problem
was still, first, to find a way to get directly to the brain and,
second, to find a way to shut it off once I found the way in.

There had to be
a way. It had those robots in there to protect it and to detect me
if I came in, but there were enough of them I should be able to use
them against each other, somehow.

But how?

TR reported in
a very short burst that the brain tried to move on the moon where
we left it and had been destroyed by a ship of the fleet.