Kickaha was shocked for a few seconds, then he went into action. He ran toward the switch to turn it off. Urthona’s voice screamed through the video. “One! Kill him! Kill him!”
“Kill who, master?” One said calmly.
“You blithering metal idiot! That man! Kickaha!”
Kickaha turned the switch and whirled. The robot was advancing on him, its arms out, fingers half-clenched.
Kickaha drew his knife. Shockingly, Urthona’s voice came out of the robot’s unmoving lips. “I see you, you leblabbiy! I’m going to kill you!”
For a second Kickaha didn’t know what was happening. Then illumination came. Urthona had switched on a transceiver inside the robot’s body and was speaking through it. Probably, he was also watching his victim-to-be through One’s eyes.
That had one advantage for Kickaha. As long as Urthona was watching the conflict from the control room, he wasn’t gating here.
Kickaha leaped toward the robot, stopped, jumped back, slashed with his knife with no purpose but to test the speed of One’s reaction. The robot made no attempt to parry with his arm or grab the knife, however. He continued walking toward Kickaha.
Kickaha leaped past One and his blade flickered in and out. Score one. The point had broken the shield painted to look like a human eyeball. But had it destroyed the video sensor behind it?
No time to find out. He came in again, this time on the left side. The robot was still turning when the knife shattered the other eyeball.
By now Kickaha knew that One wasn’t quick enough for him. It undoubtedly was far stronger, but here swiftness was the key to victory. He ran around behind One and stopped. The robot continued on its path. It had to be blinded, which meant that Urthona would know this and would at once take some other action.
He looked around quickly. There were stretches of bare wall which could conceal a gate. But wouldn’t Urthona place the gate where he could step out hidden from the sight of anyone in the room? Such as, for instance, the space behind the control console. It wasn’t against the wall.
He ran to it and stepped behind it. Seconds, a minute, passed. Was Urthona delaying because he wanted to get a weapon first? If so, he would have to go to a hidden cache, since Ore had jettisoned every weapon he could locate.
Or was the staying in the control room, where he was safe? From there he could order all the robots in the palace and there were several score or more, to converge on this room.
Or had he gated to a room nearby and now was creeping up on his enemy? If so, he would make sure he had a beamer in his hand.
There was a thump as the robot blindly blundered into the wall. At least, Kickaha supposed that was the noise. He didn’t want to stick his head out to see.
His only warning was a shimmering, a circle of wavy light taller than a tall man, on the wall to his right. Abruptly, it became a round hole in the wall. Urthona stepped through it, but Kickaha was upon him, hurling him back, desperate to get both of them in the control room before the gate closed.
They fell out onto the floor, Kickaha on top of the Lord, fingers locked on the wrist of the hand that held a beamer. The other laid the edge of the knife against the jugular vein. Urthona’s eyes were glazed, the back of his head having thumped against the floor.
Kickaha twisted the wrist; the beamer clattered on the tile floor. He rolled away, grabbed the weapon, and was up on his feet.
Snarling, shaking, Urthona started to get up. He sank down as Kickaha ordered him to stay put.
The robot, Number Six, started towards them. Kickaha quickly ordered Urthona to command Six to take no action. The Lord did so, and the robot retreated to a wall.
Grinning, Kickaha said, “I never thought the day’d come when I’d be glad to see you. But I am. You’re the cat’s paw that pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for me. Me and Anana.”