"Good girl," said Docchi. "That Nona is wonderful."
Jordan could feel him relax. "A regular mechanical marvel," he agreed.
"But we can gas about that later. Let"s get going."
Docchi glanced around and then walked boldly into the pa.s.sageway that connected the main dome with the much smaller, adjacent rocket dome.
Normally, it was never dark in the inhabited parts of the asteroid; a modulated twilight was considered more conducive to the slumber of the handicapped. But it wasn"t twilight as they neared the rocket dome--it was a full-scale rehearsal for the darkness of interplanetary s.p.a.ce.
Docchi stopped before the emergency airlock which loomed solidly in front of them. "I hope Nona was able to cut this out of the circuit,"
he said anxiously.
"She understood, didn"t she?" asked Jordan. He reached out and the great slab moved easily aside in its grooves. "The trouble with you is that you lack confidence."
Docchi, listening with a frown, didn"t answer.
"Okay, I hear it, too," whispered Jordan. "We"d better get well inside before he reaches us."
Docchi walked rapidly into the darkness of the rocket dome. He allowed his face to become faintly luminescent, the one part of his altered metabolism that he had learned to control, when he wasn"t under emotional strain.
He was nervous now, but his control had to be right. Enough light so that he"d be noticed, not so much that details of his appearance would be plain.
The footsteps came nearer, accompanied by a steady volume of profanity. Docchi flashed his face once and then lowered the intensity almost immediately.
The footsteps stopped. "Docchi?"
"No. Just a lonely little light bulb out for an evening stroll."
The rocket pilot"s laughter wasn"t altogether friendly. "I know it"s you. I meant, what are you doing here?"
"I saw the lights in the rocket dome go out. The entrance was open, so I came in. Maybe I can help."
"They"re off, all right. Everything. Even the standby system." The rocket pilot moved closer. The deadly little toaster was in his hand.
"You can"t help. You"d better get out. It"s against regulations for you to be in here."
Docchi ignored the weapon. "What happened? Did a meteor strike?"
The pilot grunted. "Not likely." He peered intently at the barely visible silhouette. "Well, I see you"re getting smart. You should do that all the time. You look better that way, even if they"re not usable arms. You look...." His voice faded away.
"Sure, almost human," Docchi finished for him. "Not like a pair of legs and a spinal column with a lightning bug stuck on top."
"I didn"t say that. So you"re sensitive about it, eh? Maybe that"s not your fault. Anyway, you"d better get going."
"But I don"t want to go," said Docchi deliberately. "I"m not afraid of the dark. Are you?"
"Cut the psycho talk, Docchi. All your circuits are working and you know it. Now get out of here before I take your fake hand and drag you out."
"Now you"ve hurt my feelings," declared Docchi reproachfully, nimbly stepping away.
"You asked for it," growled the pilot, lunging after him. What he took hold of wasn"t an imitation hand, made of plastic. It was flesh and blood. That was why the pilot screamed, once, before he was lifted off his feet and slammed to the floor.
Docchi bent double. The dark figure on his back came over his head like a sword from a scabbard.
"Jor--"
"Yeah," said Jordan.
He wrapped one arm around the pilot"s throat and clamped it tight.
With the other he felt for the toaster the pilot still held.
Effortlessly he tore it away and used the b.u.t.t with just enough force to knock the pilot unconscious without smashing the skull. Docchi stood by until it was over. All he could offer was an ineffectual kick, not balanced by arms.
It wasn"t needed.
"Let there be light," ordered Jordan, laughing, and there was, a feeble, flickering illumination from Docchi.
Jordan was balancing himself on his hands. A strong head, ma.s.sive, powerful arms and shoulders. His body ended at his chest. A round metal capsule contained his digestive system.
"Dead?" Docchi looked down at the pilot.
Jordan rocked forward and listened for the heartbeat. "Nah," he said.
"I remembered in time that we can"t afford to kill anyone."
"Good," said Docchi, and stifled an exclamation as something coiled around his leg. His reactions were fast; he broke loose almost instantly.
"Repair robot," said Jordan, looking around. "The place is lousy with them."
Docchi blinked on and off involuntarily and the robot came toward him.
"Friendly creature," observed Jordan. "He"s offering to fix your lighting system for you."
Docchi ignored the squat contrivance and stared at the pilot. "Now what?" he asked.
"Agreed," said Jordan. "He needs attention. _Not_ the kind I gave him." He balanced the toaster in his hand and burned a small hole in the little wheeled monster. Tentacles emerged from the side of the machine and felt puzzledly at the damaged area. The tentacles were withdrawn and presently reappeared with a small torch and began welding.
Jordan pulled the unconscious pilot toward him. He leaned against the machine, raised the inert form over his head and laid it gently on the top flat surface. Another tentacle reached out to investigate the body of the pilot. Jordan welded the joints solid with the toaster. Three times he repeated the process until the pilot was fastened to the robot.
"The thing will stay here, repairing itself, until it"s completely sound again," remarked Jordan. "However, that can be fixed." He adjusted the toaster beam to an imperceptible thickness. Deftly he sliced through the control case and removed a circular section. He reached inside and ripped out circuits. "No further self-repair," he said cheerfully. "Now I"m going to need your help. From a time stand-point, I think it"s a good idea to run the robot around the main dome a few times before it delivers the pilot to the hospital. No point in giving ourselves away before we"re ready."
Docchi bent over the robot, and with his help the proper sequence was implanted. The machine scurried erratically away.
Docchi watched it go. "Time for us to be on our way." He bent double for Jordan. The arms folded around his neck, but Jordan made no effort to climb up onto his back. For a panic moment Docchi knew how the pilot felt when strength, where there shouldn"t have been strength, reached out from the darkness and gripped his throat.
He shook the thought from his mind. "Get on my back," he insisted.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
"You"re tired," said Jordan. "Half gravity or not, you can"t carry me any farther." His fingers worked swiftly and the carrying harness fell to the floor. "Stay down," growled Jordan. "Listen."
Docchi listened. "Geepees!"
"Yeah," said Jordan. "Now get to the rocket."