about midday
`` Well , you 've got to . If we stay here , we 'll be caught . '' * * * * * They did not pause to eat . It was about midday when they encountered the robot and they walked well into the afternoon , their only purpose being to put as much distance between them and the place where they had shot the robot down as possible . Nelson found himself moving numbly , blindly uncaring of anything by making progress forward . He listened to the humming of an approaching robot for a long while before it registered on his consciousness . He whirled , drawing his gun , momentarily giving way to the panic that had been threatening to engulf him all afternoon .