Chapter 1

Alice was driving, and I (Doug} was lolling back and enjoying the scenery. She did all of the driving, since robots never got tired. Her fusion power cell drew energy from somewhere, but I had forgotten where. We were driving along the French coast headed into Italy. I had originally wanted to travel through the Alps, but Alice called up a map of the proposed route. This was enough to convince me that I didn't want to have the kinds of troubles that Hannibal had when he crossed the Alps with his elephants during the Punic War. Sure, it was possible, but it just wasn't worth the effort.

We were tooling along about 10 MPH in a smooth section of "roadway" which was really nothing more than coastal plain. The two horses were doing well pulling the enclosed wagon we were now living in; the spare team was hitched to the back of the wagon. Their turn would come after lunch. Alice's telescopic vision was able to pick out obstructions in our path long before we reached them. If there was no easy way around, Alice could use her great strength to move any boulder or tree out of the way. In a pinch, she could also carry the horses and the wagon across any ditch we had so far encountered. Nothing had yet stood in our way, and we weren't expecting anything to.

Nothing inanimate, that is. There were those damned lions, again. No wonder they had gone extinct, they were too stupid to learn to stay out of harm's way. A very large pride had been following us for the last few miles, though the pride was significantly smaller now that it was an hour or so ago. They were drawn by the horses. The lions had done a good job of clearing out most of the big game along the coast, and they took the horses to be a gift from the gods. Every once in a while, Alice had to shoot one or more to make them back off for even a short time. So far, Alice had mounted 7 lion heads on the sides of our wagon and had 7 skins stacked on the roof.

Alice had suggested that the lion heads would make a suitable impression on any natives we met, and the skins would make good trade material, so we had stopped each time while she collected them whenever she killed one. It looked like she was going to have to kill at least one more in the next few minutes; the lions were getting cranked up to attack, again. I suggested, "Alice, why don't you just kill them all this time? They are getting to be a damned nuisance, and it looks to me like you are going to have to kill them all eventually, anyway."

Alice answered, "OK, if that's what you want me to do. There is a chance that one could hurt a horse, and there's no reason to allow that. Please get both rifles and extra cylinders; you may even have to reload if any more lions show up."

I entered the enclosed part of the wagon and picked up the weapons and such that Alice had asked for. I sat back down on the passenger's side of the seat and said, "I also brought a pistol, just in case I might need to shoot a lion that was trying to sneak up on our blind side."

"That's a good idea. I'll stop on top of that little hill that's coming up a couple of hundred yards ahead. Let's follow our previous routine. I'll go up on the roof where I can shoot in all directions. You stay here and watch out for the horses in the traces. I'll call out if I need help from you for the shooting chores."

Alice pulled the wagon to a halt at the crest of the hill and jumped to the top of the wagon box, taking the two rifles with her. The rifles were some of the finest made at our former home of Wolfton, a cave complex in southern France. They were .40 caliber versions of the Dragoon Colt pistol used by the US Army around 1860. They used black powder and our special version of a misch metal cap which was much safer than a traditional mercury fulminate cap. The only differences between the rifles and the conventional pistol that I was holding was that the rifle had a long barrel with a wooden forestock and a shoulder stock. Otherwise, all parts were interchangeable between the rifle and the pistol. We were using black powder because we had not yet needed to "invent" smokeless powder or nitroglycerin, but it looked like we would have to in the next few years.

We had hardly gotten ready for it when the lions made a charge at the horses. BANG! BANG! I knew that there were now two less lions in the world. Alice didn't miss! Oh, sure, it's possible, but very unlikely. She was covering the rear and two sides, so it was up to me to cover the front. I was nowhere near as good a shot as Alice, but I could hold my own at close range. It was a good thing too, because a lion was charging at the horses in front. I let her get a little closer and squeezed off a shot. I sort of missed; I hit her in the flank and broke her pelvis, but I had to use a second shot to kill her. I just don't have the computer control of my body the way Alice does.

Our guns are 6-shot, single action revolvers with interchangeable cylinders, so that they can be reloaded outside of the gun. We carry extra cylinders and I can change one in about 15 seconds, but Alice is faster.

Another lion is sneaking up on my left. I had plenty of time to aim and she was not running, so I got her with the first shot. Alice shouted, "THREE MORE COMING! I THINK THAT IS ALL OF THEM!" BANG! BANG! BANG! Well, I was happy to say that was the end of the excitement for now. Alice and I have been here in the Stone Age for 27 years, so I am 43 years old, though I still look 22 years old, like I did when I first arrived. That was why we had to leave Wolfton—Alice and I are immortal and don't age, so we had to leave people we had known for a long time so that our immortality wouldn't be found out. Anyway, my point is that I am no longer the adrenaline junkie I was when we first arrived; I much prefer the peaceful life, one day I may even get to live it.

We stopped on that hill top while Alice beheaded and skinned the lions. We left the bodies for the scavengers, since I couldn't stomach lion meat. Oh, Alice retrieved the bullets; we would recast and reuse them. Alice nailed the new heads to the sides of the wagon and put the skins on top. She would start the cleaning and tanning process when we stopped for the night. Alice doesn't sleep, though I do.

A few miles farther on, we saw a camp of nomads. There were seven huts in the camp and a lot of children. We decided that this would be a good place to stop; this might even be a good place to trade some of the lion skins. The ETs who had sent me here had played some games with my mind, so that I could speak any language as soon as I heard some of it; Alice was the same way. We rode into camp and I lit up a cigarette. Those same ETs had worked on my lungs so that cigarettes could not harm me, but I was able to use the smoke I emitted as proof that I was favored by the gods. (How many people do you know who naturally have smoke coming out of their head?) The smoke and the wagon with the tamed horses, when added to the lion heads, proved how much we were favored by the gods and that it would be well to stay on our good side.

The head man, Big Eater, welcomed us and gratefully received the fire starter that I presented to him as a friendship gift, along with the supply of replacement cigarette lighter flints. The fire starter was a tinder box I invented, using a lighter flint. I gave away the tinder box and sold the replacement flints; how's that for a unique marketing ploy? In exchange, they treated us to a big feast where I saw the reason for the chief's name. He ate enough for three men, but was quite skinny; I asked Alice to check him over for a tape worm or some such. She has a kind of X-ray vision that lets her do that sort of thing.

Alice reported that the chief did, indeed, have a parasite that was depriving him of nourishment, but she could cook up something to kill and remove it. I told her to go ahead while I talked the chief into cooperating. While we were about it, we cured the camp of its other ills. Man, a robot who knows all there is to know about medicine can do wonders when given the chance!