Part 2

"Rocket fuel, yes. But what of the cosmic drive that father and you have been working on. Isn't it practically perfected now?"

Stiffening, he asked, "Shiela! What in the world do you know about that? Why, even Stone himself wouldn't have mentioned it to you."

She smiled brightly, laughter dancing from sparkling eyes. "So, it is true then."

* * * * *

As the realization that he had been tricked into the admission soaked in, Don's lower jaw dropped. He glanced quickly around, "I've said nothing," he told her, "and make sure that you don't repeat it. General Adams would like nothing better than an excuse to order me court-martialed."

"But he couldn't; you're a civilian!"

"Don't forget that all civil rights have been suspended until the roboes have been exterminated." Shiela's eyes dropped suddenly and she became sad.

"Do you actually hate the roboes now?" she asked softly.

Don was amazed, "Of course not; after all I helped to create them, you know. I've the greatest respect and admiration in the world for them. I still believe that they could have helped to advance man faster and further than he ever can himself."

"Then why would it be treason to help the roboes escape, Don?"

"Shiela, what in the world has come over you, talking like this? You know that it would be impossible; even if I wanted to."

Tossing her head quickly, the girl changed moods in an instant. "You're right; I was just talking. Let's forget it all and go on a picnic this Sunday." She jumped to her feet.

"Wait, Shiela."

She stopped, inquiringly. "Yes."

For a moment, words came with difficulty. "Well, you know that ever since I've started working for your father that I ... I mean you.... Damn it; you know how I feel about you, Shiela, and you didn't seem to object."

"No, Don."

"Then why can't we get married right away, sweetheart?"

To his surprise, her eyes filled with tears and her lips twisted in pain. "Don!" she exclaimed, "You shouldn't have said anything."

She melted into his arms and relaxed briefly, supple young body pressed against his. Then, suddenly, she tore herself from his arms and fled towards the house.

"Shiela, wait!" Don called but to no avail; she vanished from sight. He sank slowly to the grass, brow wrinkled in perplexity. It was understandable, of course, that recent events should have upset her, but why the sudden outburst just now? He wondered if she'd been let down by his lack of response to her wild suggestion?

Idly conjecturing, he was about to again sink to the ground when an alarm bell rang and voices began shouting. Thinking that it might be an attack by the roboes on the nerve center of their opposition, he leaped to his feet. A soldier came running up. "Sir," he gasped, "You're wanted in the conference room immediately."

* * * * *

Again it was the same group; Dr. Stone; the Under-Secretary with a worried frown; a raging General Adams, and several aides. The Under-Secretary noted his arrival with nothing more than tightened lips as he announced, "I have just been informed that the only two space ships in existence have been stolen by the roboes."

"Stolen!" exclaimed Stone.

"Impossible," objected Don; "they'd have to be flown away and the fuel hasn't yet been produced."

"You're wrong, as usual," snapped the general. "They were loaded with ordinary rocket fuel for testing purposes and blasted off."

"Were they tracked?" inquired Dr. Stone, anxiously. "Why the loss of the two ships will set us back at least five years in space exploration."

"They were tracked, but they flew low over the Pacific and were lost," snapped the general. "Missiles are ready even now so that if they attempt to escape into space they'll be instantly destroyed."

"Where could they conceivably have gone to, General?" asked the Under-Secretary.

"We suspect some remote section of South America; the entire Air Force is even now sectoring the entire continent. Africa will come next."

"Even more serious," added the Under-Secretary, "small raids have been made at various factories and central intelligence has deduced that they plan on leaving Earth. In one instance they took nothing but seeds and fertilizers and tools suitable for colonization-farming."

"Still, they could hardly hope to escape Earth without the new fuel unless they'd developed one of their own," argued Stone.

"How long did it take you and your assistant?" asked the Under-Secretary.

"Approximately two and one-half years."

"Did any of the roboes assist in any matter, other than testing finished fuels or doing menial tasks?"

"No, only Donald and myself have ever seen any portion of the formula only recently perfected. And, it's entirely safe within the inner room you were recently in."

"Strange, that the roboes haven't raided this, of all places."

"Not so strange," broke in the general with self-satisfaction, "when you consider that the entire area is bristling with the latest in our weapons. Even a machine has better sense than that."

"I wondered why your soldiers had so thoroughly ripped apart my grounds," commented Stone bitterly.

The General's face blackened as he sputtered, "This has gone far...." There was a loud booming thud and the lights slowly flickered, leaving the room lighted only by the dim light of the fast-fading day. Almost immediately a deep-throated alarm horn began its steady "Boop-boop-boop," summoning all off-duty guards to their emergency attack stations.

"Everyone stay right here," ordered the general briskly, hurrying towards the newly installed battle-phone. Brief queries and orders were quickly barked into the mouth-piece; much as he disliked the man, Don had to admire his brisk efficiency.

* * * * *

The whistle of jets overhead drowned out all other sounds but still there was no indication of fighting, either on the ground or in the air.

General Adams turned from the battle-phone, darkly frowning. "The all-clear signal will be given shortly; the alarm was caused by a blast from within the power room and my intelligence reports that it seems to have been caused by someone inside, and not by outside attack."

"Very strange," mused the Under-Secretary. "Wait!" he snapped, jumping to his feet. "The fuel formula--they'd be after that, naturally!"

Followed by a small group of soldiers, they were all soon standing before the open door of the inner room, light shining brightly from within but no hum of the force field.

"But that's impossible!" exclaimed the old scientist.

"Even after the power supply failed?" asked the Under-Secretary.

"Naturally. I forsaw long ago that if anyone were to try to enter, their first act would be to destroy the main power plant. So that eventuality was provided for by a small auxiliary designed to go into operation upon the failure of the main plant." He pointed to the lights burning inside. "Look, there's still power."

A quick examination disclosed that the formula had been taken. "How long would it take to manufacture a sufficient quantity for space travel?" asked the Under-Secretary.

"A week, ten days perhaps. The ingredients are relatively simple and easily obtained."

"A clamp has been set around the entire area with orders to shoot anyone leaving," the general informed them sourly. "Although I think that everything was arranged from the inside."

"Explain yourself, General," ordered the grim-faced Under-Secretary.

"Well, even though I was never informed in detail concerning the safeguards surrounding this inner sanctum--" he snapped the last two words, "at least I could see that it would require someone with a special knowledge to enter. Correct?" The last was directed at Stone.

"That's right," affirmed the other. "Donald and myself are the only ones with the special keys I designed and constructed. They're made of several alloys and, when inserted in the outside slot, a spectroscope determines whether or not it's the correct key. Even a minor deviation in the alloys would sound an alarm."

"And only your assistant and you have possession of the two keys in existence?"

A curt nod of the head was his only reply so, in louder tones he demanded, "Then I'd like to see both keys right now, since this is a matter involving security of an Earth secret. One that should've been entrusted to me long ago."

* * * * *

Stone instantly had his in sight and all eyes swung to Don who was fumbling in his pockets. "I had it earlier in the day," he mumbled in a low voice. At last he had to admit that he didn't have the key. Men sent to investigate his room reported that neither was it there.

"Call everyone in the house together immediately," ordered the general; "I thought all along that it was an inside job."

"Everyone is here except my daughter," said the scientist. "The only servants we ever had were roboes."

"Has anyone seen the girl?" asked the Under-Secretary. There were no answers and a quick but thorough search was fruitless.

"Perhaps she went into town," suggested Don.

"Without telling anyone?" inquired the general with lifted eyebrows.

"Is there a law against it?" snapped back Don.

"You seem interested more than usual in springing to her defense," observed the military man with an undertone of triumph that puzzled Don.

"I'd trust her further than I would some others," stated Don with an implication that didn't go unnoticed. Rather than the usual rage, however, the general laughed.

"You mean that you don't believe that she'd turn traitor and help the roboes obtain the formula?"

"Of course not!" the answer was snapped back.

"Then what I have to say may interest all of you. Although my proof isn't positive, it comes close enough for me."

"Let's get to the point," demanded Don.

* * * * *

General Adams rocked back on his heels, then with satisfaction stated, "It so happens that I ordered a thorough security check on each of you in this house. You for instance," jutting his chin to indicate Don, "were rather hard to check completely since the orphanage in which your records were kept was completely destroyed by fire. Other than that, everyone was found to be in order."

"Thank you," said Don, sarcastically.

The interruption was ignored. "Dr. Stone's life was easy to check and, ah, rather routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. His daughter now," he licked his lips; "there's another matter and quite interesting."

A quick glance by Don at his employer disclosed that Stone's scientist's face was white. The general had paused for the effect of his words to penetrate then, rather disappointed at the waiting silence, continued.

"We found no birth record for Shiela, Dr. Stone; can you explain that?"

"It was lost in the confusion of my wife's untimely death ten years ago."

"But there's not even a record in the courthouse; how do you account for that?"

"I'm not concerned with the manner in which government officials conduct their offices," came the curt reply. However, accustomed as he was to the scientist, Don thought he detected a slight note of nervousness.

The other pressed relentlessly, "We checked all of your acquaintances, Doctor; none could say definitely when your wife first gave birth to Shiela. In fact, several were even surprised to hear that you had a child."

"We never had many close friends; my work made that impossible."

"But where did she go to school? Obviously she has a good education."

The scientist's lips tightened; he shot a look of appeal at Don before looking at the general again. "My wife and I both instructed...." He broke off suddenly, squaring his shoulders. "It's no use going any further," he told the other; "you're pretty certain of the truth and it was bound to come out sooner or later."

The general nodded with satisfaction, "Good, I'm glad that you've come to your senses. Do you want me to tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Don asked.

"That this 'Shiela' was one of the first roboes to be constructed, even before the rebel Primo." Don's horrified gaze swung to Dr. Stone who nodded his head in the affirmative. "So there's no doubt in my mind now that she obtained the missing key in, ah, some manner or the other and has gone to the rebels with the formula they needed."

* * * * *

Hours after the disclosure that Shiela was not true flesh and blood, Don was still pacing the darkness in the garden.

At last he sat down on the bench and an uncontrolled sob shook his frame briefly as his numbed brain began to relax. No wonder she had quizzed him so hopefully that afternoon; he had thought it the sensitivity of a young girl who hated to see anything destroyed. She had not only been in sympathy with the roboes but one of them.

Now they could travel to the stars and the world would well be rid of them. Or would it? His mind flashed an image of the lovely Shiela when she was amused, gay laughter tinkling out or the mischievous twinkle in her eyes when she teased him.

"Don?"

The youth's head sprang up, hopefully. Surely, with the area guarded so closely, she couldn't have come back.

"Don?" the voice asked again. In the dim light from the house, he saw that it was Stone. The scientist had seen him by that time and hurried over to sit beside him.

"Forgive me, son," he begged, laying a hand on his shoulder. "If all of this trouble hadn't come about, no one would ever have discovered the truth; she was exactly the same as everyone else."

"That's what I can't understand," protested Don. "I was with you before Primo and the other roboes and knew Shiela then. She--she had consciousness and reason even before then, Doctor Stone."

The older man nodded. "Until Primo's disclosure, Donald, concerning how he obtained his, I was somewhat nonplussed about Shiela. She was modelled after the daughter my wife and I would have liked to have had but never could. All the care and love that a father and a scientist could pour into his effort, went into the creation of Shiela."

"But her inner personalities, what about that?"

"It's apparent to me now. During a later experiment with radiation, at which time she was helping me, a shield broke down and bathed Shiela almost to the point of burning her. Fortunately, I had been behind even another shield or would have been instantly killed. It was shortly after that that I noticed the change in Shiela; my wife and I were so overjoyed that we determined to pass her off as our very own daughter."

Both men sat silently, each lost in his thoughts. "You loved her very much, didn't you?" asked Don of the older man.

"As much or more than if she had actually been my own daughter."

"I know how you feel," Don said softly. "And I can understand now why she's been so evasive with me during the past few weeks. Before that I--we had sort of planned...."

"I know, Don," the scientist broke in. "She told me." They arose slowly, the thought of Shiela tying them closer together than ever before, and started for the house.

4

Sporadic raids by the roboes still continued and it was obvious, by the list of supplies they had stolen, that their attempt to escape into space would shortly be made. The military forces had shot hundreds of searcher rockets into an orbit around Earth whose sole purpose would be to seek and destroy any ship attempting to slip through to outer space. They had been so designed that, once having reached their pre-determined orbit, their rocket thrust was broken off and would be reactivated only when directed by radar from the ground or when the metallic bodies of the fugitive ships passed nearby.

Evidence of a super weapon possessed by the ancients now became concrete enough that General Adams proclaimed it a military secret; a team of scientists, headed by Dr. Stone, was put on it. Don neither noted nor cared that the general had seen to it that he was barred from the research.

A growing undertone of excitement from the specialists made him demand an explanation from Stone. The scientist explained, "We've found out that the history was written by the last of the ancients. Some of the early miracles passed down through the ages were evidently the last spasms of a dying civilization."

They were in the garden and he looked at the light flooding the house, shaking his head slowly. "One point that's not clear yet is whether or not they used the weapon finally developed for use against the robots. I'm personally inclined to think that it wasn't."

"Perhaps it won't work," Don said.

"I'm quite sure that it will; in fact, we're in full production right now. You see, Don, the formula was discovered weeks ago by someone else so there was no holding it back from the government."

"You mean that Earth has a weapon that will destroy all the roboes?" anxiously inquired Don.

"Completely."

"But, but--that means that it would also...."

The old man's head dropped, "I know, Donald. It means Shiela too unless they escape, which is unlikely with all the searcher rockets now in space." He held up a hand as the younger man opened his mouth. "No, there's nothing I can do to stop it; the others have sufficient knowledge to carry on the project without my help."

"Couldn't we warn the roboes? After all, they've not attempted to harm anyone, in fact no one has been killed yet."

* * * * *

Dr. Stone's head came up hopefully, then dropped. "No, Don, it wouldn't work. This way will be kinder since they'll never know what happened to them. There's no possible way they could escape even if they knew. The notes of this ancient scientist indicate that he, too, faced the moral problem of whether their robots deserved equal right to live. In fact, when the decision had to be made, he decided that total annihilation of the robots was foolish since the master race was already dead with the exception of himself."

"Is that the reason for all of the hurried construction that's been going on all over the country?"

"Yes; towers are being built within 500 miles of each other, ostensibly as a new radar network. Actually, however, the ancient weapon was designed to work on the type of brain radiation peculiar to the robot and cause almost instant death."

"Then perhaps it won't work on the roboes; they may be different."

Stone hesitated, "That may be, and ordinarily we'd test it first, but there's no roboes left in captivity and no time to construct others. But, it'll only be a small matter to change the settings to correspond to the roboes' minds if this first attempt fails. Somehow I have an idea that it will function as the ancients designed it to--horrible as that may be. But before that happens, son, there's something I must tell you."

A heavy voice broke in, "At least you won't be around when it does occur, Dr. Stone."

Their heads snapped around in the dim light to see a small detachment of soldiers led by the general. "I can promise you that your trial will be short and there is only one sentence for treasonable thoughts. Come."

"This is utterly foolish," snapped the scientist; "I demand to see the Undersecretary immediately."

"I'm afraid that's impossible," came the smooth reply. "The council is in session and he had to attend. Besides, in such matters any authority is supreme until the last roboe has been destroyed."

"I intend to contact the Council immediately and report your actions," threatened the old man, starting for the house.

"Halt, or I'll fire," warned the general, whipping a blaster into sight. The scientist ignored the command and kept on towards the house. The general leveled his arm as the frozen Don regained his senses and dove at him. He sensed rather than saw, the rifle butt swung at his head by one of the squad and dropped, stunned, as the blaster roared out.

Lights flashed on all over the garden and, raising his throbbing head from the ground, Don saw the crumpled heap that had been Dr. Stone but a few moments ago. Rage coursed through his veins and gave him new strength.

"You--you murderer!" he screamed, leaping at the smiling general who stood over the man he had just killed. The blaster came up again but, before it could be fired, several of the squad had leaped in. Before he quite realized what had happened, Don found himself securely tied and being led to the house.

Don neither knew nor cared what charges were brought about during the course of his court-martial. To his surprise, the country had reacted favorably to the general's actions and editorials demanded his summary execution. A grateful public acclaimed General Adams as having saved Earth from slavery at the hands of brutal machines....

* * * * *

Don sat in his cell, not caring about the practically automatic death sentence. All that he had thought worth living for was gone. Stone had been killed and Shiela would soon be caught by the new ray.

Day was just beginning to break ... the rising of the sun to be a signal for his execution. He looked up as the sentry stopped before his cell. They stared at each other and Don said wryly, "I won't hang myself until you go off duty, sentry."

The youth opened his mouth to reply when, all of a sudden, everything seemed to rise, then settle back and crumple. A low roar filled the room and Don frantically scuttled closer to one of the walls to escape falling debris. He wondered if the roboes had attacked or if it had been an earthquake.

The question was soon answered. He scrambled to freedom outside and heard the rattle of small arms fire. He had no definite plan in mind but to get away as far as possible. His prison had been situated near a forest and he dashed for the edge, taking advantage of the confusion.

He had almost reached the fringe when a small band of uniformed men broke through almost directly in front of him. Don and the party stopped, everyone momentarily startled. Then he dashed off at a tangent, knowing it futile but determined to die while free.

There was a shout, then an explosion from a blaster, almost a hit. The concussion knocked Don to the ground. He came to his feet groggily and started to run again when there was a familiar call, "Don! Wait!"

He looked and saw that one of the party was Shiela and also recognized several roboe technicians. He doubled back for the prison but was instantly felled by a blow from behind that knocked one of his legs from beneath him. He realized that it could only have been from one of the older rifles still used for hunting game in order that it wouldn't be torn apart as with a blaster.

The party quickly surrounded him and sped for the security of the trees. There was a flurry of shots from behind that the roboes answered, then the foliage concealed them.

"It's no use," Don gasped from between gritted teeth. "This place is surrounded by soldiers; in fact, I rather imagine that the general anticipated and hoped for something like this."

"We'll get out," smiled Shiela tenderly. Don saw why when they broke into a small clearing and were confronted by one of the two missing space ships, towering high among the forest giants.

"We came in last night during the storm," Shiela explained. "Once in the air we'll fly close to the Earth's surface and nothing can touch us or follow us back to our base."

* * * * *

The party hustled aboard and they were soon shooting through the atmosphere. "Wait!" protested Don as they then turned attention to his shattered leg. "The sun! Has the sun risen yet?"

"It's just a few minutes more," soothed Shiela, pressing his hot forehead with a cool palm. "Just lie back while we straighten your leg."

"But I've got to tell you," he insisted. "You haven't long to live if I'm right. Perhaps you can do something, although I doubt it."

The roboes all stiffened. Shiela was the first to recover and asked anxiously, "Tell us what, Don?"