R. Hunter, a humaniform robot, waited as Steve Chang looked up at him angrily. They stood in the small office of Mojave Center Governor, in the underground city of Mojave Center. Steve began to pace.

“I hardly slept at all, Hunter,” Steve growled. “Jane could be anywhere in the world, at any time in history. That’s the toughest kidnapping to solve anyone could imagine. We have to start looking for her. Once we get going, I’ll get back to normal.”

“You know that R. Ishihara cannot allow her to be harmed under the First Law of Robotics,” said Hunter. “That will not change, no matter where they are.”

“I know, I know-’A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm,’ “ Steve droned impatiently. “But Ishihara is working for Wayne Nystrom, renegade roboticist,” said Steve. “That tells us how great Ishihara’s judgment must be. I don’t trust him to follow the First Law responsibly.”

“Dr. Nystrom apparently convinced Ishihara to help him under the First Law,” said Hunter. “Once he had done that, Ishihara had no choice but to obey him under the Second Law. However, Ishihara will protect both Jane and Dr. Nystrom from immediate harm.”

“So who cares if the Second Law of Robotics says, ‘A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law,’ if the human giving orders can’t be trusted?”

“I do not predict that Jane will be with them long,” said Hunter. “Wayne Nystrom will be searching for MC 6 in the same time and place we will. That narrows the search for Jane considerably. Our search for MC 6 will take us to them.”

“Well, we know about when and where to find them, then,” said Steve. “So let’s go!”

“Not so fast.” Hunter turned and eased his body into the desk chair.

“Why not?”

“We must prepare this mission with the same care we used in the others. Since we are going back to fifth-century Britain, I will retain my present appearance. It is consistent with the gene pool of the local people we will meet.” A brawny six feet six inches tall with short blond hair and blue eyes, Hunter had been designed with the ability to change his shape and appearance at will.

“All right, fine. That’s your department; it won’t matter to me. What else do we have to do?” Steve put both fists on his hips and glared at Hunter. “I’ve already taken the vaccines you arranged this morning. I assume you’ve prepared period clothing, just as you did before.”

“Yes. I took the clothing to the Bohung Institute while you were trying to sleep. However, I have hired Harriet Lane, a new historian, to join us.”

“Well, where is she?”

“She is due here in a few minutes; I arranged for her to receive her vaccines from R. Cushing, the medical robot who tended your head injury after our fourth mission. Together, we will have to decide how to explain your Chinese descent to Britons who have never heard of China or seen anyone of your race and ethnicity.”

“Well, we told the ancient Germans in Roman times that I was a slave from the eastern Mediterranean. That should be good enough.”

“Perhaps. My internal clock says the time is 7:38 P.M. While we wait for Harriet, I must report to the Governor Robot Oversight Committee.”

“All right, I’ll shut up.” Steve folded his arms across his chest and continued pacing anxiously. “I just hope she shows up soon.”

Nodding, Hunter called the city computer and instructed it to contact the four members of the Governor Robot Oversight Committee for him. Then he waited while they were located for the conference call. In front of him, Steve still stomped back and forth across the small room.

Hunter could not avoid making reports to the Oversight Committee. He had been designed and built specifically for the committee in order to search for Mojave Center Governor, one of six experimental gestalt robots who were supposed to be running certain cities. All the other Governor robots had mysteriously shut themselves down. However, MC Governor had suddenly divided into the six component gestalt humaniform robots out of which he was comprised and vanished. No one knew why.

Dr. Wayne Nystrom, an eccentric roboticist, had designed and built the Governor robots. However, the Governor Robot Oversight Committee had been studying their performance and judging their efficiency. When the Governors began to fail, Wayne Nystrom had apparently felt that his career was in danger. He had been trying to beat Hunter to each of the component robots of MC Governor in order to dismantle and examine them for the mysterious flaw that had shut down the first five Governors before Hunter could reassemble MC Governor and turn him over to the Oversight Committee to complete their study.

When Hunter had arrived in Mojave Center, he had learned that MC Governor had modified an existing piece of technology in the Bohung Institute into a time travel device. Then each of his component robots had miniaturized themselves to microscopic size and fled back in time to a different era, intending to hide forever. Jane believed their motivation was the Third Law of Robotics, “ A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.” Unknown to them, however, a flaw in the miniaturization caused each of them to return to full size at different times, wherever they happened to be.

At that point, they had to masquerade as human. Two dangers presented themselves as a result. The first was that they could alter the direction of history by living throughout the centuries and causing people to act in different ways, driven by the Three Laws of Robotics. Hunter had to prevent that in order to avoid harm to all humans by having the timeline of history significantly changed.

In addition, when the component robots or their material remains reached the approximate time they had left, they exploded with nuclear force. As Hunter prepared to go back with his team to find MC 6, he also was monitoring the news broadcasts of a mysterious nuclear explosion in south-central England. Only his team members knew that it had been caused by MC 6 exploding.

Now Wayne had a robot named R. Ishihara helping him. Originally, Hunter had instructed Ishihara to apprehend Wayne if he returned from the past to the time travel sphere in Room F-12 of the Bohung Institute. Somehow, the roboticist had used an argument involving the Three Laws of Robotics to induce Ishihara to cooperate with him.

On five separate missions, Hunter had led his team of humans in pursuit of the other five component robots. All five had been caught. Now they were here in the office of MC Governor, where they stood merged and shut down, waiting for the last component robot in order to complete MC Governor again. Once he had been put back together, the Oversight Committee would investigate why the other Governors had shut down and why MC Governor had divided and fled.

Hunter had reported to the Governor Robot Oversight Committee on his progress after each mission. However, he felt that the existence of time travel held incalculable potential harm for all humans. For that reason, he had kept it a secret from all except the humans and robots whose help he required.

Certainly if the scientists on the Oversight committee learned of the time travel, it would never remain a secret. The discovery would be too valuable for a committee of scientists to ignore. Wayne Nystrom had discovered MC Governor’s development of time travel on his own, before Hunter had learned of it. Hunter could not do anything about that.

“Hunter, city computer calling. The Governor Robot Oversight Committee is ready for your conference call.”

“Thank you. Please connect me.”

As before, the faces of the four committee members appeared on Hunter’s internal video screen in split portrait shots from their various locations. Everyone exchanged greetings. Then Hunter began his report.

“The first five component robots are in custody and merged,” said Hunter.

“That’s great,” said Dr. Redfield, the tall blonde. “I suppose this has been an easy assignment for you. You began less than two weeks ago.”

“I must repeat once again that past success does not predict the difficulty of the final mission,” said Hunter. “As always, I cannot promise that the remainder of my work will be completed within a similar period of time.”

“Where did this mission take place?” Dr. Chin asked. “Previously, you have reported quite a wide range of locations around the world.”

“In northern China,” said Hunter. “On the border of Mongolia.” He remained deliberately vague in his reports. So far, his reserve had forestalled persistent questioning from the committee members.

“Northern China.” Professor Post nodded, idly stroking his black beard for a moment. “Well, that’s interesting. Do you have a lead on MC 6?”

“I must investigate the British Isles,” said Hunter. “This is preliminary information.”

“Which one?” Dr. Chin asked.

“I shall begin in England. On previous missions, a certain amount of travel has been involved.”

“Wait a minute,” said Dr. Chin. “Haven’t you heard about the big explosion? Won’t that interfere with your search?”

“I will take it into account as I make my plans,” said Hunter.

“Do you think MC 6 may have been destroyed in the explosion?” Professor Post asked calmly.

“It is an inescapable consideration,” said Hunter. “However, I can only proceed and find what i may.”

“I am not surprised,” said Dr. Khanna, in his Hindi accent. “However, your work has been completed very quickly to date. We are all impressed.”

“I must repeat that I can make no guarantee of my schedule to come,” said Hunter.

“Yes, I heard you the first time,” said Dr. Khanna, with a trace of annoyance in his tone. “You repeat that warning in every report. However, you continue to complete each mission in the same length of time. What would make this final mission any different?”

“The explosion, and its after-effects,” said Dr. Redfield. “He may have a harder time now.”

“My original point remains valid,” said Hunter. “I have no prediction about the challenges that my team will face. Anything can happen.” Hunter realized that he had made a mistake. Before, he had never told the committee members that he was going to an area where a nuclear explosion had occurred.

“We note your caution,” said Dr. Chin. “And as always, we wish you good luck.”