A Handful of Darkness by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online

burned wood. Now you believe me. You’ll find the remains of the robot in the ship. Look, will you?”
    “There is something down there,” one of the men said nervously.
    “Shoot him!” a voice said. It was Nelson.
    “Wait.” Peters turned sharply. “I’m in charge. Don’t anyone fire. Maybe he’s telling the truth.”
    “Shoot him,” Nelson said. “He killed Olham. Any minute he may kill us all. If the bomb goes off—”
    “Shut up.” Peters advanced towards the slope. He stared down. “Look at that.” He waved two men up to him. “Go down there and see what that is.”
    The men raced down the slope, across the clearing. They bent down, poking in the ruins of the ship.
    “Well?” Peters called.
    Olham held his breath. He smiled a little. It must be there; he had not had time to look himself, but it had to be there. Suddenly doubt assailed him. Suppose the robot had lived long enough to wander away? Suppose his body had been completely destroyed, burned to ashes by the fire?
    He licked his lips. Perspiration came out on his forehead. Nelson was staring at him, his face still livid. His chest rose and fell.
    “Kill him,” Nelson said. “Before he kills us.”
    The two men stood up.
    “What have you found?” Peters said. He held the gun steady. “Is there anything there?”
    “Looks like something. It’s a needle-ship, all right. There’s something beside it.”
    “I’ll look.” Peters strode past Olham. Olham watched him go down the hill and up to the men. The others were following after him, peering to see.
    “It’s a body of some sort,” Peters said. “Look at it!”
    Olham came along with them. They stood around in a circle, staring down.
    On the ground, bent and twisted into a strange shape, was a grotesque form. It looked human, perhaps; except that it was bent so strangely, the arms and legs flung off in all directions. The mouth was open, the eyes stared glassily.
    “Like a machine that’s run down,” Peters murmured.
    Olham smiled feebly. “Well?” he said.
    Peters looked at him. “I can’t believe it. You were telling the truth all the time.” .
    “The robot never reached me,” Olham said; He took out a cigarette and lit it. “It was destroyed when the ship crashed. You were. all too busy with the war to wonder why an out of the way woods would suddenly catch fire and burn. Now you know.”
    He stood smoking, watching the men. They were dragging the grotesque remains from the ship. The body was stiff, the arms and legs rigid.
    “You’ll find the bomb, now,” Olham said. The men laid the body on the ground. Peters bent down.
    “I think I see the corner of it.” He reached out, touching the body.
    The chest of the corpse had been laid open. Within the gaping tear something glinted, something metal. The men stared at the metal without speaking.
    “That would have destroyed us all, if it had lived,” Peters said. “That metal box, there.”
    There was silence.
    “I think we owe you something,” Peters said to Olham. “This must have been a nightmare to you. If you hadn’t escaped, we would have—” He broke off.
    Olham put out his cigarette. “I knew, of course, that the robot had never reached me. But I had no way of proving it. Sometimes it isn’t possible to prove a thing right away. That was the whole trouble. There wasn’t any way I could demonstrate that I was myself.”
    “How about a vacation?” Peters said. “I think we might work out a month’s vacation for you. You could take it easy, relax.”
    “I think right now I want to go home,” Olham said.
    “All right, then,” Peters said. “Whatever you say.”
    Nelson had squatted down on the ground, beside the corpse. He reached out towards the glint of metal visible within the chest.
    “Don’t touch it,” Olham said. “It might still go off. We better let the demolition squad take care of it later on.”
    Nelson said nothing. Suddenly he grabbed hold of the metal, reaching his hand inside