Second Variety and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick Read Free Book Online

expecting someone in the UN uniform,
in response to the note capsule. Unless the whole thing was a trap.
    "Keep up with me." He turned towards David. "Don't drop behind."
    "With you?"
    "Up beside me. We're close. We can't take any chances. Come on."
    "I'll be all right." David remained behind him, in the rear, a few paces away, still clutching his
teddy bear.
    "Have it your way." Hendricks raised his glasses again, suddenly tense. For a moment -- had
something moved? He scanned the ridge carefully. Everything was silent. Dead. No life up there, only
tree trunks and ash. Maybe a few rats. The big black rats that had survived the claws. Mutants built their
own shelters out of saliva and ash. Some kind of plaster. Adaptation.
    He started forward again. A tall figure came out on the ridge above him, cloak flapping.
Gray-green. A Russian. Behind him a second soldier appeared, Russian. Both lifted their guns, aiming.
Hendricks froze. He opened his mouth. The soldiers were kneeling, sighting down the side of the slope.
A third figure had joined them on the ridge top, a smaller figure in gray-green. A woman. She stood
behind the other two.
    Hendricks found his voice. "Stop!" He waved at them frantically. "I'm --"
    The two Russians fired. Behind Hendricks there was a faint pop. Waves of heat lapped against
him, throwing him to the ground. Ash tore at his face, grinding into his eyes and nose. Choking, he pulled
himself to his knees. It was all a trap. He was finished. He had come to be killed, like a steer. The
soldiers and the woman were coming down the side of the ridge towards him, sliding down through the
soft ash. Hendricks was numb. His head throbbed. Awkwardly, he got his rifle up and took aim. It
weighed a thousand tons; he could hardly hold it. His nose and cheeks stung. The air was full of the blast
smell, a bitter acrid stench.
    "Don't fire," the first Russian said, in heavily accented English.
    The three of them came up to him, surrounding him. "Put down your rifle, Yank," the other said.
    Hendricks was dazed. Everything had happened so fast. He had been caught. And they had
blasted the boy. He turned his head. David was gone. What remained of him was strewn across the
ground.
    The three Russians studied him curiously. Hendricks sat, wiping blood from his nose, picking out
bits of ash. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "Why did you do it?" he murmured thickly. "The boy."
    "Why?" One of the soldiers helped him roughly to his feet He turned Hendricks around. "Look."
    Hendricks closed his eyes.
    "Look." The two Russians pulled him forward. "See. Hurry up. There isn't much time to spare,
Yank!"
    Hendricks looked. And gasped.
    "See now? Now do you understand?"
    From the remains of David a metal wheel rolled. Relays, glinting metal. Parts, wiring. One of the
Russians kicked at the heap of remains. Parts popped out, rolling away, wheels and springs and rods. A
plastic section fell in, half charred. Hendricks bent shakily down. The front of the head had come off. He
could make out the intricate brain, wires and relays, tiny tubes and switches, thousands of minute studs -
     
    "A robot," the soldier holding his arm said. "We watched it tagging you."
    "Tagging me?"
    "That's their way. They tag along with you. Into the bunker. That's how they get in."
    Hendricks blinked, dazed. "But --"
    "Come on." They led him towards the ridge, sliding and slipping on the ash. The woman reached
the top and stood waiting for them.
    "The forward command," Hendricks muttered. "I came to negotiate with the Soviet --"
    "The forward command," Hendricks muttered. "I came to negotiate with the Soviet --"
    "This way. Down this way." The woman unscrewed a lid, a gray manhole cover set in the ground.
"Get in."
    Hendricks lowered himself. The two soldiers and the woman came behind him, following him
down the ladder. The woman closed the lid after them, bolting it tightly into place.
    "Good thing we saw you," one of the two soldiers