The big machine-gun was stationed at the forward end of the long corridor. Behind it squatted a man in blue garb. It appeared to Jasperodus that he was guarding the door to the control cab. He glanced to the other end of the corridor, but it was deserted. The gun controlled the passageway completely; the man’s enemies, whoever they were, were obliged to stay strictly out of sight.
Again the machine-gunner opened up. Jasperodus became indignant at the ricochetting assault on his toughened steel hide. He pressed swiftly forward against the tide of bullets, lurching from side to side in the swaying tunnel but closing the distance between him and his tormentor. At the last moment the gunner scrambled up from his weapon and clawed at the door behind him. He had left it too late. Jasperodus took the machine-gun by its smoking barrel and swung it in the air, its tripod legs kicking. The guard uttered a single grunt as the magazine case thudded dully on to his head.
Jasperodus stood reflectively, looking down at the blood oozing from the crushed skull. He had committed his first act in the wider world beyond his parents’ home. And it had been an act of malice. The machine-gunner had posed no substantial threat to him; he had simply been angered by the presumptuous attack. Letting fall the gun he opened the door to the control cab. It was empty. The train was fully automatic, though equipped with manual override controls. The alarm light was flashing and the instrument board revealed extensive damage to the transmission system. The train was in distress and evidently making the best time it could.
Steps sounded behind him. Jasperodus turned to see a grinning figure standing framed in the doorway and cradling a machine-gun of more portable proportions. A second new arrival peered over his shoulder, eyeing Jasperodus and gawping.
Both men had shaggy hair that hung to their shoulders. They were dressed in loose garments of a violently coloured silky material, gathered in at waist and ankles and creased and scruffy from overlong use. The sight of Jasperodus made the grin freeze on the leader’s face.
‘A robot! A goddamned robot! So that’s it! I wondered how you clobbered the machine-gun – figured you must have come through the roof.’
He brushed past Jasperodus and into the cab, slapping a switch after a cursory study of the control board. Ponderously the train ground to a halt.
Just then Jasperodus noticed that a gun in the hands of the second man was being pointed at his midriff. Impatiently he tore the weapon from the impudent fellow’s grasp, twisted it into a useless tangle, and threw it into a corner. The other backed away, looking frightened.
‘Cool it!’ the leader snapped. Jasperodus made no further move but stared at him. After a glance of displeasure the man turned away from him again, bent to the control panel and closed more switches. With a rumbling noise the train began to trundle backwards.
Then he straightened and faced Jasperodus. ‘Say, what are you doing here?’ he said in a not unfriendly tone. ‘Why did you kill the guard?’
‘He was shooting at me.’
‘Who owns you? One of the passengers? Or are you freight?’
‘No one owns me. I am a free, independent being.’
The man chuckled, his face breaking out into a grin that creased every inch of it.
‘That’s rich!’
His expression became speculative as his eyes roved over Jasperodus. ‘A wild robot, eh? You’ve done us a favour, metal man. I thought we’d never shift that bastard with the machine-gun.’
‘How did the train come to be damaged?’ Jasperodus asked. ‘Are you its custodians?’
‘Now we are!’ Both men laughed heartily. ‘We made a mess of things, as usual. She kept going after we detonated the charge. It should have stopped her dead. We damned near didn’t get aboard.’
While he spoke he was scanning the rearwards track through a viewscreen. ‘My name is Craish,’ he offered. ‘As well you should know it, since you may be seeing a good deal of me.’
The significance of this remark was lost on Jasperodus. ‘Robbers,’ he said slowly. ‘You are out to plunder the train.’
Again they laughed. ‘Your logic units are slow on the uptake,’ Craish said, ‘but you cotton on in the end.’
Excitement coursed through Jasperodus. Here was the tang of adventure!
After a short journey Craish once more brought the train to a halt. He flung open a side door.
They were parked on a length of track that rounded a clearing in the all-encompassing forest. Here waited more of Craish’s gang. With much noise and yelling they set about unloading the train, unlocking the container cars and carelessly throwing out all manner of goods. On the ground others sorted through the booty, flinging whatever took their fancy into small carrier vehicles. The procedure was ridiculous, thought Jasperodus. The freight train was a large one. Its total cargo must have been very valuable, yet the bandits would be able to take away no more than a small fraction of it. The band was badly organised, or else it knew enough to keep its nuisance value within limits.
Craish returned to Jasperodus, who still stood watching from the running-board of the control cab. ‘Go and help my men unload,’ he ordered.
The order was given in such a confident tone that Craish obviously had no doubt that it would be obeyed unquestioningly. Jasperodus was affronted. Did the man think of him as a slave? Craish was walking unconcernedly away. Jasperodus called out to him.
‘Where is this train bound?’
The other stopped and looked back. ‘The Empire, eventually. It’s a trading train, sent out by Empire merchants. It stops at towns on the way and barters goods.’ He looked askance at the robot, wondering why he needed to ask this question.
‘What will you do with it? Leave it here?’
‘Nah. Send it on its way. So they’ll never know where we jumped it.’
With that Craish walked away. Jasperodus pondered. The prospect of a trip to the Empire excited him but, he reminded himself, the train was crippled. Still, he could if he wished stay with the train on its long and monotonous journey, although he would meet with the opposition of the bandits, who plainly would not want witnesses to their deeds wandering abroad. Also, there might be trouble when the train reached its next stop. All in all, it might be better to stay with these ruffians. As his first real contact with human beings they were already proving entertaining.
Accordingly he contributed his superhuman strength to the unloading and sorting of the cargo. Eventually the forage trucks were filled to capacity and the bandits, who numbered about twenty, seemed satisfied. Some of the discarded cargo was actually put back on board; the rest was gathered in a heap and set alight, an inflammable liquid being poured over it to make a good blaze. As the huge bonfire glared fiercely at the sky the marauders brought forth another kind of plunder from the train’s single passenger coach: prisoners, all female as far as Jasperodus could see, linked together by a rope tied around their necks, jerking and protesting. The train pulled out, limping painfully under automatic control towards its distant destination.
They all set off through the forest. The forage trucks had big balloon tyres that enabled them to roll easily over the rough ground, but most of the men walked, as did the prisoners. The forest sprawled over rocky, hilly terrain through which they travelled for more than an hour. Finally they debouched into the bandits’ camp: a dell formed like an amphitheatre, having a large cave at its closed end.
The night was warm. Before long a fire was started in the centre of the dell, casting a glimmering light over the proceedings. Goods spilled to the ground as the forage trucks were tipped on their sides; the men began to go through the plunder like children with new toys, draping themselves with sumptuous raiment, shaking out bolts of expensive cloth, playing with the new gadgets and so forth. Jasperodus gathered that later most of it would be sold in nearby towns. But not, he guessed, the bottles of liquor: specially prized articles that were passed from mouth to mouth and emptied rapidly.