00094

Snow layered over X-9. He wiped the green flakes from his electronic eyes. He managed to keep his upper body clean of the snow, but what could he do about his legs and lower torso which had to struggle through the deep snow? He once again turned up his internal heat to melt off the snow, but as soon as it melted and ran down his limbs, out of range of the heaters' effects, it quickly started to turn into hardening slush. Then the slush moved into his joints and refroze in the places where the internal heater's warmth did not penetrate very well, such as in his robot knees.

And since from the time that he had taken the brunt of the blast to protect Nina McCleer when the original miners' headquarters blew up, his mechanical body had suffered from observable damage as well as hidden damage. The sheath lining protecting some of his circuitry had been punctured here and there, and when the water leaked in, the water shorted out some of the heating units. Before he could get the units dry and reset, the water which had leaked in once more iced up. This made his body stiff and hard to move.

X-9 continued his efforts to tug the sled through the robot-hip deep snow, but with his limbs becoming harder and harder to move, he realized, "This won't work. It's only been three hours and seventeen minutes since the last time, and already I must return to the tent, to warm up inside of it in order to properly thaw so that my joints are able to continue moving."

He stopped in his tracks. He kept the tow-cable for the sled tied to his body while he hopped up onto the old truck roof resting on the surface of the snow like a sled. "It's me again," he announced as he entered the tent. Nina and Albert huddled under loose coats and quilts, in front of the heater. The heater rested atop the truck battery powering it, its base strapped in place. X-9's companions struggled to keep warm inside this tent. At least it was not as cold outside, freezing in the blizzard beyond the tent.

"Come on in, X-9, we did not expect to have a visit from you, but you are most welcome," Albert Zoeniga kidded. "I hope it is not too hot for you, inside our tent. It is almost like the tropics back on Earth."

Nina McCleer, not as jovial, stared at the packages of their dwindling supplies, stored to the back of their portable shelter. "X-9, will we make it in time to the R and D Lab? Or will we starve or freeze to death first?"

The robot stood on a small carpet set by the tent flap to keep from making a puddle of melting snow that would spread all over the tent floor otherwise. "Mrs. McCleer, I admit I am unfamiliar with how the weather should be in this zone, but it seems so extreme, I conclude something is wrong with the Enviro-Gen governing this area of the World of Hope. The good news, however, is that we have finally reached the squashed dome-like uplifted land mass whereon is the Research and Development Lab, and we are now atop the Lumpy Pancake, as I heard this geographic feature called-"

"I hope it was not too hard for you, X-9, pulling us uphill for so long a way," said Nina, concerned.

"Ma'm, robots are not strangers to hard labor. Plus, the slope was relatively gradual. The bad news, though, is that while we are now atop the uprising, it is still a fairly wide area for us to cover in our quest to find the Lab. The thickly falling snow makes it difficult for even my top-grade eyes to see very far ahead. I cannot detect any of the expected electronic buzz from the Lab, either, to help guide me. I don't know if the snow hides the buzz or if there is none. I must therefore continue moving in circles atop the squashed, upraised land mass, in slowly decreasing radii, until we find our destination. Therefore, I conclude, any of the possible outcomes you have mentioned- finding the R and D Lab, or you two starving to death, or freezing to death- seem to me to have equal odds of occurring.”

“I see." Nina McCleer sighed and turned to her other companion on this trip. "Al, I am sorry I got you into this mess!"

He scolded her. "Sis. Nina, don't start that again. You know very well I refused to take no for an answer when I said I was coming with you. Don't give up hope. We may yet reach the R and D Lab, and hopefully your college professor will be of some help finding the truth about Mr. McCleer, God willing."

She nodded. "God willing.”

X-9 checked himself over. The tent heater had de-iced him. "I am going back outside to resume pulling. I know conditions inside here are not pleasant for humans, but it is a survivable temperature in the tent. The heater is at the maximum setting. Perhaps God is willing, as Mr. Zoeniga has suggested, for the mission to be successful. Might I also suggest that you two continue to ask Him for success while I am outside pulling the sled."

"Oh, we will, we will, X-9," Albert Zoeniga assured him. "In fact, all morning long, we have been asking God to help us. But now, for the moment, I am heading out there with you, X-9, to stretch my legs a little and to give you some company."

"Do not stay out too long, please," said the robot. "Leg cramps from being stuck in this tent are less serious than frostbite."

Albert Zoeniga immediately felt the difference in temperature when he followed X-9 outside. He kept in the tracks in the snow which the robot had made in front of Albert as the mechanical being pulled the sled and led the way. "I see what you mean about frostbite, X-9. I guess the heater's spoiled me, And the snow has gotten so deep now. I sure hope you find the Lab before the snow covers you!"

"So do I, Mr. Zoeniga. I am certain, if I can no longer pull the sled along the snow, that you and Mrs. McCleer will not survive."

Albert frowned. "Hm. You know, sometimes you're a little too frank."

"Sorry, Mr. Zoeniga- Say, do you see that shape up ahead, Mr. Zoeniga? What can it be, moving about in this weather, so large and so swift. Is it some kind of a polar bear?”

Albert peered intently into the snow storm. "Yeah, I think I see it, too. It looks big enough, that's for sure. And I think it is blue, too. All blue. Well, no wonder, in this frigid weather."

X-9 did not slow down his speed. Albert Zoeniga had to make an effort to keep up with him. The robot told him, "Whatever it is, it is coming this way, probably to investigate us. I suggest you head back inside the tent, Mr. Zoeniga, in case it is looking for a meal."

Albert refused. "You might need some help, X-9." He hurried back toward the sled, but not to hide inside the tent, and he called to Nina McCleer, who was still inside, while he kept his eye on the approaching figure, "Toss me out the tiny blaster that X-9 packed for us in case we found any game to hunt on our trail."

In the tent, Nina searched among the boxes and hastily found it. She hurried back to the tent flap, anticipating something fresh tonight for dinner. "What did you guys see? What are you hunting? Snow rabbits?"

"Stay inside the tent," Albert replied.

That piqued her curiosity. She peeked out the tent flap.

The strange creature, as big as a St. Bernard, bounced about in the snow, leaping and bounding its way toward them. The nearer it got, the better one could see its features. A shaggy beast with blue fur, it looked like a cross between a lion and a dog! Obviously, it was some kind of animal hybrid. Everybody had heard of the experimental cross-bred things escaping into the wilds from the crashed Peace Lab years ago- Might this be one of those such things? wondered both Nina and Albert.

“Keep back," X-9 advised. He removed the tow cable and glanced back at Albert, to see if he followed the robot's warning. He reminded the human, "Wild animals are dangerous, unpredictable- And this one may also be hungry, since there's nothing to eat here."

Albert held the small blaster in his hand. "I'm ready for it, X-9."

The robot pointed out, "But that blaster isn't made for doing a lot of damage- only enough to take down game. Unless you hit a vital, it might just make a big creature like this very angry.”

“I'll take that chance."

Nina, meanwhile, disappeared back inside the tent, to see what else they had with them that could be used against the ugly-looking thing, in case there was indeed trouble.

As it got closer, X-9 stood his ground and shouted at it, "That is far enough. Go away! Scat!" His shout seemed to have no effect on it, so the robot, free of the burden of the sled, suddenly burst into a charge, plowing through the deep snow straight for the oncoming animal.

Startled at the sight, the beast halted in its footsteps. Then, curious, it slumped down into the cold snow, studying the rapidly advancing metal being.

X-9 dashed up to its face and stopped short of it. The creature blinked but barely flinched. "Go away! Shoo!" he shouted into its face as he waved his arms. He grabbed a handful of snow and fashioned it into a snowball, with which he pelted the puzzled hybrid's shoulder.

The beast watched the robot's actions, curious and unfazed.

“X-9 made some more snowballs and tossed them, finally getting a reaction when he hit its muzzle. The blue monster let out a squeak and ducked its head.

"So, that is your weak spot, eh?" said X-9, as Albert and Nina watched, fascinated, from their positions near the sled- Nina had rejoined Albert.. The robot tossed more snowballs at the creature's nose.

Annoyed, the blue thing growled and stood again on its four legs. Its muscles tensed, as if it prepared to lunge at X-9. X-9 continued his assault, however. With no warning, the creature turned tail and scrambled back in the direction from which it had come, vanishing into the ongoing snowstorm.

"Yahoo! You did it!" Albert cheered. X-9 walked back to the sled and Albert lowered the mini-blaster.

Nina stood beside them in the snow, carrying a small frying pan. Albert and X-9 looked at what she held. "Just in case," she told them.

Albert burst out laughing. X-9, as he tied the sled's cable back on, tried to understand. "That's a joke, isn't it, Mrs. McCleer?”

“Yes," she lied, feeling foolish.

Shivering from the cold and the adrenaline of the excitement, she climbed back up onto the sled and hurried into the tent. Albert, also freezing, joined her. They stood in front of the heater, on the same carpet which X-9 had stood upon, when he thawed out- and now they did so as well.

X-9 continued once more on the journey, tugging along the sled.

As he plodded along, he paused for a moment, listening. "Mrs. McCleer, Mr. Zoeniga," he called back to them, "did either of you hear anything unusual?"

Albert stuck his head out the flap. "Like what? All we can hear is you trudging in the snow, and the wind."

"I thought I heard some other trudging in the snow, besides my own," the robot said. "I thought maybe that thing was stalking us. But I don't hear it now."

Plodding forward, X-9 heard it again. He turned quickly to see if he could make out anything behind them, hiding in the blinding snow- and as he did so, a blur of blue flashed out of the falling green blizzard and pounced onto X-9, knocking him down into the deep snow!

(c) drk 2012