“Wolruf?” he asked. “Do you want to try?”

“Whatever ‘u want, Derec.”

The burden was back on him, whether he wanted it or not. “All right, then,” Derec said slowly. “Let’s go somewhere more private and talk it through.”

Peering down the corridor into the plaza, Derec shook his head. “This will never work,” he whispered.

“It’s worked so far, hasn’t it?”

Derec had to admit that it had. The first problem had been to eliminate most of the robot traffic in the plaza. They had considered half a dozen ideas for accomplishing that, from setting up hallblocks with robot monitors to trying to draw them away with invented errands elsewhere in the station.

In the end, they settled for a whisper campaign, a simple variation on the unkind children’s game-”Billy is a cootie; pass it on.” Derec had stopped a robot at random just outside the Operations bloc and spoken briefly to it:

“Robot. Management has ordered that there be a test of station emergency communications in this subsection. Your instructions are as follows. First, you are not to discuss the test or your part in it over the command link. Second, you are not to enter or remain in subsector 100 at any time between 1200 hours and 1400 hours today. Third, you are to relay these orders to the next robot that you see.”

The instructions were innocuous enough that the robot did not challenge them. Like a runaway infection, the whisper had raced through the body of the station staff. Within half an hour, the traffic in the plaza had thinned dramatically. Within the hour, the plaza was deserted, and several robots had even left the Operations Center.

Three robots remained. From where he was crouching beside the jitney, Derec could see them inside the Operations Center-the two X-50s guarding the artifact, and Anazon, darting from one work station to the next trying to oversee critical operations. Their particular responsibilities were too strongly impressed on them for Derec’s little trick to pull them away.

“It’ll work,” Katherine prodded. “Go on. We’ll do our part. You just make sure you do yours.”

Swallowing hard, Derec nodded and started off down the corridor. He crossed the empty plaza and climbed the single step up into the Operations Center. None of the robots took any notice of him.

“Anazon.”

“Yes, Derec.”

“I’ve decided not to wait for the Nexon shuttle. I want to charter a ship to come and get me and take me to Aurora. Tell me the procedure I should follow.”

Without ever turning away from the console, the robot began to answer. “There are seven ships of Nexonian registry licensed for Auroran space and available for hire. You may contact any of their owners by hyperwave-”

Suddenly the peace of the plaza was broken by the roaring sound of a jitney in high gear. A moment later the vehicle burst out of one of the connecting corridors, Katherine at the controls. Pursuing close behind was Wolruf, running with an easy loping gait that used all four of her limbs.

Halfway across the plaza, Wolruf got close enough to reach out and catch Katherine by the arm from behind. The jitney veered suddenly, breaking the alien’s grip. But the veer turned into a skid that ended with the jitney sliding sideways with a jolt into the rockform base of a tree planter. In a moment, Wolruf caught up and pounced on Katherine. The air was filled with her convincingly terrified cries of “It’s killing me!” and the alien’s ominous growls.

When the jitney veered, Anazon had started toward the exit and one of the X-50s began to rise. But when the guard robot saw Anazon responding, it sat back down again. Derec knew immediately that meant the guards’ instructions were so strongly worded that the expectation that Anazon would handle the First Law situation relieved them of responsibility. Only if Anazon failed would they act.

The moment was slipping away quickly. “Robots-help that woman,” Derec said sharply, stepping forward. “She is being harmed. She may be killed.”

One of the X-50s stirred slightly. “Anazon will protect her-”

“The creature attacking her is strong and fast. Anazon will not be able to protect her from injury. Go! Help her! Now!”

First one, then the other guard rose and took a halting step or two toward the exit. Then they hesitated, the conflicting positronic potentials having reached a new equilibrium. Anazon would reach Katherine and Wolruf in a few more strides and the stunt would be over, a failure.

Just then, Katherine loosed a blood-chilling cry that even Derec thought real, and the guard robots started forward again. Derec waited no longer. Snatching the artifact up from the table, he turned and ran the other way, vaulting over a console and out through the window.

His heart pounding, Derec fled the plaza and down an empty corridor. He heard the jitney’s motors whine, but he did not look back. He could not afford to worry about Katherine and Wolruf. He thought he heard the metronomelike running strides of a robot, but he did not look back. Even if he was being chased, knowing it could not make his legs pump faster.

All he wanted was to reach the dark sections unmolested. All he could think of were the escape route and the rendezvous he had chosen. He ran until his chest ached and his legs were iron, until each breath was pain, until darkness swallowed him and hid him from those who wanted to find him.

Chapter 19. The Key To Perihelion

Derec huddled in pitch blackness in the corner of the room and waited. He could not say how long he had been alone there, except that it seemed an eternity. He held the artifact tightly in both hands and sat, rigid and silent.

Then without warning, he was not alone. Since the corridor outside was as dark as the room inside, Derec could not see when the door opened. But he heard it slide back, and rustling steps as someone entered. His heart began to beat faster and his nerves jangled.

“Derec?”

He sighed, and the tension flowed out of him. It was Katherine’s voice. “Here,” he said. “In the corner.”

She thumbed her torch on and swung it in his direction, and the polished surface of the object he held in his hands sent an answering beam of light back at her and Wolruf. “You did it!” she exulted. “Let me see.”

Derec crossed his arms protectively over the artifact. “No. Don’t come near me.”

“What’s going on? What’s happening to you?” Katherine demanded. “We did it. We’ve got it.”

“So we do. It’s confessions time, that’s all,” Derec said, sliding up the wall to a standing position. “I’ve had some time to sit here and think about things. It’s amazing how being scared will focus your thoughts.”

“What are you talking about?” Katherine demanded.

He waggled the key above his head. “It’s real simple. Which one of you is going to stop playing dumb and tell me just what it is we’ve got?”

Katherine stared at him. “If you’re trying to say that I’ve been holding out on you-”

“Haven’t you been?” Derec interrupted. “You and Wolruf both. I’m tired of being the one in the dark, the one who’s always one step behind. I want to know everything you know. I’d rather give it back to the robots than have it and not know what it is.”

“Derec, I don’t know anything more than I already told you,” Katherine said pleadingly, taking a step forward.

Derec stiffened and gripped the artifact even more tightly. “Don’t try it. Talk to me.”

Katherine retreated a step. “Derec, I don’t want to fight you. But this is crazy. We’re all part of a team. I’m not keeping any secrets from you. I never saw or heard of that thing before Aranimas asked me about it. I couldn’t tell him anything and he didn’t tell me anything.”

She turned and looked into the half-shadow where Wolruf stood. “But Wolrufwas Aranimas’s top aide. And when the robots took the key from the spacecraft, she thought it was worth the risk to follow and find out where it was taken. How about it, Wolruf?”