Close to Critical by Hal Clement Page A

voice that Raeker was not at the other end; Nick's people had been given a general idea of the "Teacher" situation, but not all the details, and they thought inevitably of the robot as an individual. This was virtually the first time it had made any difference; the man on watch knew the general picture, of course, having been briefed by Raeker when the latter had gone off duty, but he had not actually been present during Swift's initial attack or the subsequent truce. Consequently, Nick's words did not mean all they might have to him.
    "Swift is going to start back for the caves right away; he says he'll use fire on you if you don't go with him. Can you stand that?"
    There was a little more than the usual hesitation. No one had ever measured the temperature of a Tenebran fire, and the man on watch was not enough of a physicist to hazard a guess from its radiation output. The main consideration in his mind was the cost of the robot.
    "No," he answered. "I'll go along with him."
    "What shall we do?"
    Raeker's order for the villagers to stay put was one thing he had not mentioned to his relief; he had expected to be back on duty long before the start of the journey. The relief did the best he could under the circumstances. "Use your own judgment. They won't hurt me; I'll get in touch with you again later."
    "All right." Nick carefully refrained from reminding the Teacher of his earlier command; he liked the new one much better. He watched in silence as the invaders, under Swift's orders, collected what torches they could from the nearly spent fires. Then they clustered around the Teacher, leaving an opening in the crowd on the side they wished him to go. It was all done without words, but the meaning was plain enough. The robot swung around on its treads and headed south, the cave dwellers swarming after it.
    Nick spent only a few moments wondering whether they'd find more torch wood before using up what they had. He had turned his mind to other matters even before the cavalcade was out of sight. He had been given a free hand. Very well, he still felt that leaving the village was best; they would do so as soon as possible. Of course, it wouldn't be possible for a few days, until everyone was able to travel again, but the tune could be spent in planning. There was certainly the question of where to go, and the corollary one of how to get there - Nick began to realize with a shock just what leaving the village, with its lifetime accumulation of property and equipment, would mean - and how to get back in touch with Fagin when the move was accomplished. It was easy to tell oneself that the Teacher could always find them wherever they went; but Nick was mature enough to doubt the omniscience of anyone, including the robot. That meant, then, three problems to solve. Since Nick had no desire to resemble Swift in any way, he postponed solving them until the others would be awake and able to help in the discussion. The fire lasted until morning, but only just, and only by virtue of Nick's running around the hut rapidly on a number of occasions to stir oxygen into an oncoming mass of dead steam. He got very little sleep after the last of the outer fires went, and that was pretty early in the night.
    Morning brought no relief. The first task normally accomplished was to put a guard on the village herd, which was penned in a hollow near the village. The depression remained full of water a little later than the surrounding country, so the "cattle" were normally safe from predators until the guards could arrive; but at the moment there simply weren't enough people in condition to guard both herd and village. They suffered several losses that morning as a result, until Nick could round up the reviving creatures by himself and herd them into the village. Then there was the problem of firewood for the next night; he had told the absolute truth to Swift in that respect. Someone had to get it. There was no choice but for the still battered Jim and