tell, though, they run off accumulators. Their feelers are magnificently
precise sensors–magnetic, electric, radionic, thermal, et cetera. They
have optical and audio systems as well. In fact, with one exception,
they’re such gorgeous engineering that it’s a semantic quibble whether
to call them robots or artificial animals.
“Same thing, essentially, for the flyers–which, by the way, I’m tempted
to call snapdragonflies. They get their lift from the wings and a VTOL
turbojet; they use beak and claws to rip rather than grind metal; but
they have sensors and computers akin to the bugs’. And they seem able to
act more independently, as you’d expect with a larger ‘brain.’ ”
He put away the last dish, settled back, and longed for a cigarette.
“What do you mean by ‘one exception’?” Djana asked.
“I can imagine a robotic ecology, based on self-reproducing solar-cell
units that’d perform the equivalent of photosynthesis,” Flandry said. “I
seem to recall it was actually experimented with once. But these things
we’ve met don’t have anything I can identify as being for nourishment,
repair, or reproduction. No doubt they have someplace to go for
replacement parts and energy recharges–someplace where new ones are
also manufactured–most likely the centrum area. But what about the
wrecked ones? There doesn’t seem to be any interest in reclaiming those
marvelous parts, or even the metal. It’s not an ecology, then; it’s
open-ended. Those machines have no purpose except destruction.”
He drew breath. “In spite of which,” he said, “I don’t believe they’re
meant for guarding this world or any such job. Because who save a
lunatic would build a fighting robot and omit guns?
“Somehow, Djana, Wayland’s come down with a plague of monsters. Until we
know how many of what kinds, I suggest we proceed on the assumption that
everything we meet will want to do us in.”
A few times in the course of the next several Terran days, the humans
concealed themselves when shapes passed by. These might be flyers
cruising far overhead, in one case stooping on some prey hidden by a
ridge. Or a pair of dog-sized, huge-jawed, sensor-bristling hunters
loped six-legged on a quest; or a bigger object,vhorned and
spike-tailed, rumbled on caterpillar treads along the bottom of a
ravine. Twice Flandry lay prone and watched combats: bugs swarming over
a walking red globe with lobsterish claws; a constrictor shape entangled
with a mobile battering ram. Both end results appeared to confirm his
deductions. The vanquished were left where they fell while the victors
resumed prowling. Remnants from earlier battles indicated the same
aftermath. Otherwise the journey was nothing but a struggle to make
distance. There was little opportunity while afoot, little wakefulness
while at rest, to think about the significance of what had been seen.
Nor did Flandry worry about encountering a killer. If it happened, it
happened. On the whole, he didn’t expect that kind of trouble … yet.
This was too vast and rugged a land for any likelihood of ft. Given due
caution, he and Djana ought to make their first objective. What occurred
after that might be a different story.
He did notice that the radio traffic got steadily thicker on the
nonstandard band the robots used. No surprise. He was nearing what had
been the center of operations, which must still be the center of
whatever the hell was going on nowadays.
Hell indeed, he thought through the dullness of the exhaustion. Did
somebody sabotage Wayland, maybe long ago, by installing a predator
factory? Or was it perhaps an accident? People may have fought
hereabouts, and I suppose a nearby explosion could derange the main
computer.
None of the guesses seemed reasonable. The beast machines couldn’t offer
effective opposition to modern weapons. They threatened the lives of two
marooned humans; but a single spacecraft, well-armed, well-equipped with
detectors, crew alerted to the situation, could probably annihilate them
with small difficulty. That fact ruled out sabotage–didn’t it? As for
damage to the ultimate control engine: Imprimis, it must have had heavy
shielding, plus extensive self-repair capability, the more so in view of
the meteorite hazard. Secundus, assuming it did sustain permanent harm,
that implied a loss of components; it would then scarcely be able to