Yorick frowned. "So?"
"How could he have known?" Gwen breathed.
Yorick sat for a moment. Then he lifted his head slowly.
Rod nodded. "His programming included a schedule of sunrises. Yeah, I really should have caught that. But all those factors didn't add up and hit me until Chornoi called him a machine right there in the courtroom—and I realized that explained everything odd about him."
"And that's when yer figured out that the robot committed the murder?" Cholly asked.
Rod nodded again. "Totally possible, if you program it to be an assassin, which is why the laws against doing that are so stiff. But our Futurian buddies don't care too much about laws."
"It's illegal to use blasters to kill people, too," Yorick said, wryly. "But your average murderer can't afford a robot for the job. So how often do you come across a homicidal android?"
"First one I've ever seen," Rod said. "Every other robot was programmed to protect life."
"Was't therefore thou didst not look for a murderer to be a… 'robot,' didst thou term it?"
Rod sat still, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, darling. That's probably why. Know me pretty well, don't you?" He smiled at Gwen. "And yes, you've got the word right—'robot.' The word means 'worker,' literally. It's a machine made to look like a human being, or to do the work a human being does."
"Yet how was't this 'robot' did so perfectly resemble the true Hwun?"
"Now we come to the real villain." Rod's mouth tightened. "Somebody very obviously planned the whole thing ahead of time… carefully, too. Someone—probably one of those fake Wolmen Chornoi mentioned—took a picture of Hwun, then sculpted the robot's face to look exactly like his. And put him where he could be sure the robot would be able to find Hwun alone."
"At the Sun-Greeting Place," Yorick interjected. "Then all he had to do was make sure the robot's programming included the right moves for making a fuss after the murder was over."
"So." Chornoi scowled. "Hwun went up to say his morning prayers—the real Hwun, I mean—and as he turned to face the sun, the robot hit him." She shuddered. "At least it was quick."
Rod nodded. "The robot mutilated the face so nobody'd realize he wasn't the real Hwun. Then it took the body to the closest stream, washed off the paint, and brought it to the nearest tribal village, howling for vengeance. Then it just took Hwun's place and did the best it could to make a huge fuss."
Yorick nodded. "Neatly done."
"Very professional," Chornoi agreed. "So who's the bastard who programmed the robot?"
"I'm afraid we're not to know that," a voice sighed.
They turned, startled, as Shacklar stepped up to their table. "It seems my shot burned out the android's memory, along with its vital functions—and, of course, the program with it."
"Not a huge surprise." Rod nodded. "I mean, the program is the most vital function."
"Precisely." Shacklar laid his hand on a chair. "May I join you?"
"Aye, an't please thee," Gwen said.
Rod cast a stern glance at her.
Shacklar pulled out the chair and sat. "Mind you, I'm not apologizing. The monster had to be stopped, stopped instantly—and there was only one way to do it. We're fortunate that the controlling computer was located in its skull, where I placed my first shot."
"Not just 'fortunate.'" Rod smiled. "You were pretty sure that's where it would be, weren't you?"
Shacklar grinned. "Teleology generally wins out. If we make a machine in our own form, we put the computer in the head, simply because that's where our brains are, even though there's more room in the torso. Which, of course, is where my second shot would have gone."
"But, fortunately, it wasn't needed." Rod smiled. "Mind you, General, I'm glad you did it—very glad, considering it was me the blasted thing was trying to kill."
Shacklar acknowledged his support with a nod and a smile. "But I'm afraid we'll never be able to tell what the program was exactly. And, of course, there will be no means of guessing who programmed it, or why."
Rod shrugged. "We can speculate."
"True." Shacklar's smile intensified. "We can always speculate—but we ought to remember that we're merely conjecturing."
"Naetheless," Gwen reminded them, "we are proven innocent."
"Oh, quite true," said the General. "There's absolutely no question of that. And my problem, that of pacifying the Wolmen, is nicely solved."
"Yeah." Yorick grinned. "As soon as the Major showed them what was inside Hwun's skull, they didn't have any trouble believing the robot committed the murder."
Shacklar nodded. "And I can turn the 'dead' android over to the Wolmen—which I have done—so that, if they have any doubts at all, they can take it apart themselves, to see that it really is only a machine."
"Which they will do, of course." Cholly came up behind them and reached across shoulders to set new mugs of ale down for everyone. "And just think how much they'll learn about cybernetics!"
"Oh, I did." Shacklar contemplated his mug with a smile. "Moreover, by having 'slain' the android myself, I seem to have become something of a celebrity among the Wolmen."
Yorick grinned. "'Demon-killer,' huh?"
Shacklar nodded.
"Then you've got it all." Rod set his palms down on the table. "Your Wolmar Federation—the prototype for your government of colonists and Wolmen, coming together in two separate bodies to decide a common problem."
Shacklar looked up, surprised. "Very perceptive, really, Mr. Gallowglass. Do you do this sort of thing yourself?"
Rod opened his mouth, but Gwen answered. "He hath occasion for awareness of it. Then he hath guessed aright?"
"Indeed," Shacklar answered. "In fact, I've had the first draft of the Constitution sitting in my files for several years, waiting for the right moment."
"Which we have managed to trigger for you," Rod inferred.
The General nodded. "Copies are currently en route to each of the four Wolman tribes, and the officers and rankers of our Parliament."
"And with your new status," Yorick pointed out, "you don't have to worry too much about whether or not the Wolmen will accept the new Constitution."
Shacklar smiled. "I do seem to have gained an impressive amount of credibility with them, yes."
"He's a demigod," Yorick explained.
"Certainly." Cholly grinned. "It makes the Union all the tighter, to have the whole thing both triggered and solved by somebody who's neither Wolman nor colonist."
Rod inclined his head. "We thank you."
Chornoi glared. "How could you know whether or not she does?"
Rod just stared, but Gwen said, "Be sure, he doth."
Chornoi rounded on her. "Then how come you don't know what he thinks?"
"I do." Gwen shrugged. "In this instance, he spoke first."
"I just wish," Rod went on quickly, "that I knew whether or not the nasty who programmed the robot was trying to sabotage the General-Governor's budding republic, or to assassinate Gwen and myself."
"Why not both?" Yorick spread his hands.
Chornoi nodded. "Does it really matter?"
"Well, kind of. If we knew which, we might be able to figure out why."
"A point," the General admitted. "However, I think we'd best stay with the pragmatic aspect of the situation. No matter what their ultimate goal was, old boy, I daresay someone is attempting to kill you."
"I… would… say that was a reasonable guess." Rod gazed into Gwen's eyes as he nodded slowly.