20

Wayne had returned to the Old Laughing Lady before sundown. He had not yet told Captain Tomann that Roland was holding MC 2 hostage. The Captain had been busy all evening directing preparations for the upcoming voyage, so Wayne had easily avoided him. In the moonlight, Wayne stood on deck watching the Hungry Hawk a short distance away. He was sure that Roland had MC 2 on board there.

“A fine night for sailing, eh?” Captain Tomann came up next to him.

“Huh? Oh-it sure is, Captain. When do we leave?”

“We follow Captain Morgan out of port. The lookout is watching his ship.”

“So, where are we going this time?”

“I wish I knew! That crafty old Morgan won’t even tell his own crew, let alone the other captains.”

“And you’re following him anyway?”

“Aye, he’s always done well by us. I’m trusting him to raid some fat sleepy Spanish town-like his raid on Puerto Principe in Cuba last year.”

Wayne nodded.

“So what about our valuable friend? Did you get any leads on him in town?”

“No,” said Wayne. “That is, not for sure. But I wonder if he is on one of the other ships on this voyage.”

“Ah! Now that would be a boon. May hap we can grab him somewhere along the way, eh?” Captain Tomann laughed raucously and pounded him on the back before walking away.

Wayne was not sure why he had said what he had. He would probably need Captain Tomann’s help to get MC 2, but he wanted to be cautious. Roland had betrayed his trust and he was certain that Captain Tomann was not above doing so as well.

Rita posed another problem. Wayne’s earlier plan of trading Rita to Hunter for MC 2 was on hold for the moment-but if Hunter managed to get MC 2 before Wayne did, then it would still work. He saw that Captain Tomann was occupied elsewhere and quietly went below to see Rita.

Her quarters were still bolted on the outside. Wayne unbolted the door and knocked politely.

“Who is it?” Rita demanded.

“Wayne.”

She unbolted the door from her side and opened it. She folded her arms. “How long are you going to hold onto me?”

“Well-I don’t know. But I should come in.”

She moved back and he closed the door. Then she walked all the way to the rear of the chamber, facing one of the small open windows. Through it, he could see the waterfront in the distance.

“Exactly what do you want, anyway?” She turned back to him again. “You really don’t care about me one way or another, do you?”

“No, not really.”

“Then what am I doing here?”

“Look, I don’t want to hurt you or anyone else. I just want my robot back.”

“‘Your’ robot-MC 2.”

“That’s right.”

“I know you invented the Governor robots, but that doesn’t make him yours.”

“I think that’s my business”

“I repeat, what do you want with me?”

“I’m not exactly sure. But I can’t have you interfering with me. So for now, you’ll have to stay here.”

“Well, then, why are we still in port? I thought you said earlier that we were sailing soon.”

“We’re ready. Apparently we have to wait for a Captain Morgan to lead us out of port.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Captain Henry Morgan?”

“I don’t know his first name. I guess so.”

“I knew he was here somewhere, of course,” said Rita. “Well…let’s see. Summer, 1668. Of course-it’s his famous raid on Portobelo.”

“Where?”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “Our destination is a secret. I can’t let it get out. If it does, and the raid is foiled somehow, then we’ll change history.”

“I guess I don’t have to know. I don’t want to change history either.”

“What did you come to see me about?”

Wayne paused. “I don’t know. Maybe I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“To make sure your prisoner couldn’t escape, you mean?” She turned away, looking out the window again.

“Well…like I said, I don’t want to hurt you. I just want my robot back.”

Captain Morgan’s ship led the fleet of nine from the harbor. Steve stood by the rail with Jane and Hunter, watching the lights of Port Royal shrink in the distance and the lamps of the other ships follow them. When the fleet was safely out to sea and sailing south, most of Captain Morgan’s crew went to sleep, leaving only the customary skeleton crew on night watch.

“Hunter,” said Steve. “Can you pick out the Hungry Hawk?”

Hunter looked across the moonlit water at the other ships. “Yes, I see it.”

“Is there any way you could sneak over there tonight and bring Rita back?”

“It is not impossible for me to swim that distance,” said Hunter. “The Hungry Hawk is one of the ships closest to us. However, the risk and difficulty are too high. I will wait until we are anchored, preferably closer.”

Steve nodded. “I guess 1 knew that. I just wanted to make sure.”

“I also have to feel that you two are safe,” said Hunter. “After what happened the last time we separated, I do not want to leave you unless I feel we can reunite without difficulty, especially now that the communicators are gone.”

“What will you do if Rita is not fully cooperative when you find her?”

“She radioed me for help,” said Hunter. “I believe she wants to rejoin us.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Jane. “But I’m asking you as a roboticist. Can you bring her back against her will?”

“Normally, I could not,” said Hunter. “She would give me instructions that I would have to obey. However, in the current circumstances, I can interpret the potential harm she may cause to our future as a First Law imperative.”

“What if she puts up a real fight?” Steve asked. “And makes enough noise to bring trouble?”

“You mean, if she alerts her captors?”

“That’s right.”

“In that event, I would have to judge whether or not an even more immediate First Law imperative exists. This contingency is too complex to predict.”

“In other words, you’ll have to improvise.”

“Yes.”

“I wonder how long it will be before we anchor.” Steve looked up at the stars. “We’re still going south, maybe a little to the southwest. I wonder where we’re going.”

“I do not have enough detailed history to know,” said Hunter. “The data I stored from the city library focused on Jamaica and did not include this voyage. I hired Rita to provide this kind of historical data, which I could not foresee needing. I made a poor choice.”

“She failed to keep to her agreement,” said Jane. “That’s her responsibility, not yours.”

Steve gazed out at the other ships again. They were a silent, peaceful sight on a calm, warm night. For now he could see nothing to do but wait.

As before, Hunter remained awake next to Steve and Jane as they stretched out for the night.

At dawn, Steve rose to find that the ships were still sailing in a good wind. On the captain’s orders, some of the buccaneers broke open crates and barrels of bread, cheese, rum, and fresh water and passed them out. Steve and Jane took their shares and moved away from the crowd, as usual.

“Ah! Good morning to you, Steve and John.” captain Morgan came up to them. “Where’s Hunter?”

Steve grinned and pointed upward. “He’s up in the crow’s nest. He volunteered to take a turn up there.”

“Really?” Captain Morgan craned his neck to look. “Aye, I see him. I hope it’s strong enough to hold him. He’s a very big fellow.”

“And his eyesight is surprisingly good.” Steve grinned and took a bite out of his hunk of cheese.

“I don’t expect he’ll have much to see for a couple of days,” said Captain Morgan. “But we must have someone up there, just in case.”

“So,” Steve said casually, looking at the other ships in the fleet. “Where are we headed, Captain?”

Captain Morgan laughed. “Not yet, my friend. Not yet. In a couple of days, granted fair weather, I shall call all the captains together in council. Then I will reveal our destination, but not before.”