by Isaac Asimov
"I wouldn't want to," said Seldon hurriedly. "Since I need your help, it would ruin matters to have your plans impeded."
"Yes, I know you wouldn't want to." Daneel smiled wearily. "After all, you are vain enough to want full credit for psychohistory. You would not want anyone to know-ever-that you needed the help of a robot."
Seldon flushed. "I am not-"
"But you are, even if you carefully hide it from yourself. And it is important, for I am strengthening that emotion within you minimally so that you will never be able to speak of me to others. It will not even occur to you that you might do so."
Seldon said, "I suspect Dors knows-"
"She knows of me. And she too cannot speak of me to others. Now that you both know of my nature, you can speak of me to each other freely, but not to anyone else."
Daneel rose. -Hari, I have my work to do now. Before long, you and Dors will be taken back to the Imperial Sector-"
"The boy Raych must come with me. I cannot abandon him. And there is a young Dahlite named Yugo Amaryl-"
"I understand. Raych will be taken too and you can do with any friend as you will. You will all be taken care of appropriately. And you will work on psychohistory. You will have a staff. You will have the necessary computers and reference material. I will interfere as little as possible and if there is resistance to your views that does not actually reach the point of endangering the mission, then you will have to deal with it yourself."
"Wait, Hummin," said Seldon urgently. "What if, despite all your help and all my endeavors, it turns out that psychohistory cannot be made into a practical device after all? What if I fail?"
Daneel rose. "In that case, I have a second plan in hand. One I have been working on a long time on a separate world in a separate way. It too is very difficult and m some ways even more radical than psychohistory. It may fail too, but there is a greater chance of success if two roads are open than if either one alone was.
"Take my advice, Hari! If the time comes when you are able to set up some device that may act to prevent the worst from happening see if you can think of two devices, so that if one fails, the other will carry on. The Empire must be steadied or rebuilt on a new foundation. Let there be two such, rather than one, if that is possible."
He rose, "Now I must return to my ordinary work and you must turn to yours. You will be taken care of."
With one final nod, he rose and left.
Seldon looked after him and said softly, "First I must speak to Dors."
94.
Dors said, "The palace is cleared. Rashelle will not be physically harmed. And you'll return to the Imperial Sector, Hari."
"And you, Dors?" said Seldon in a low tight voice.
"I presume I will go back to the University," she said. "My work is being neglected, my classes abandoned."
"No, Dors, you have a greater cask."
"What is that?"
"Psychohistory. I cannot tackle the project without you."
"Of course you can. I am a total illiterate in mathematics."
"And I in history-and we need both."
Dors laughed. "I suspect that, as a mathematician, you are one of a kind. I, as a historian, am merely adequate, certainly not outstanding. You will find any number of historians who will suit the needs of psychohistory better than I do."
"In that case, Dors, let me explain that psychohistory needs more than a mathematician and a historian. It also needs the will to tackle what will probably be a lifetime problem. Without you, Dors, I will not have that will."
"Of course you'll have it."
"Dors, if you're not with me, I don't intend to have it."
Dors looked at Seldon thoughtfully. "This is a fruitless discussion, Hari. Undoubtedly, Hummin will make the decision. If he sends me hack to the University
"He won't."
"How can you be sure?"
"Because I'll put it to him plainly. If he sends you back to the University, I'll go back to Helicon and the Empire can go ahead and destroy itself."
"You can't mean it."
"But I certainly do."
"Don't you realize that Hummin can arrange to have your feelings change so that you will work on psychohistory--even without me?"
Seldon shook his head. "Hummin will not make such an arbitrary decision. I've spoken to him. He dares not do much to the human mind because he is bound by what he calls the Laws of Robotics. To change my mind to the point where I will not want you with me, Dors, would mean a change of the kind he can not risk. On the other hand, if he leaves me alone and if you join me in the project, he will have what he wants-a true chance at psychohistory. Why should he not settle for that?"
Dors shook her head. "He may not agree for reasons of his own.'.
"Why should he disagree? You were asked to protect me, Dors. Has Hummin canceled that request?"
"No."
"Then he wants you to continue your protection. And I want your protection."
"Against what? You now have Hummin's protection, both as Demerzel and as Daneel, and surely that is all you need."
"If I had the protection of every person and every force in the Galaxy, it would still be yours I would want."
"Then you don't want me for psychohistory. You want me for protection."
Seldon scowled. "No! Why are you twisting my words? Why are you forcing me to say what you must know? It is neither psychohistory nor protection I want you for. Those are excuses and I'll use any other I need. I want you-just you. And if you want the real reason, it is because you are you."
"You don't even know me."
"That doesn't matter. I don't care. -And yet I do know you in a way. Better than you think."
"Do you indeed?"
"Of course. You follow orders and you risk your life for without hesitation and with no apparent care for the consequences You learned how to play tennis so quickly. You learned how to use knives even more quickly and you handled yourself perfectly in the fight with Marron. Inhumanly -if I may say so. Your muscles are amazingly strong and your reaction time is amazingly fast. You can somehow tell when a room is being eavesdropped and you can be in touch with Hummin in some way that does not involve instrumentation."
Dors said, "And what do you think of all that?"
"It has occurred to me that Hummin, in his persona as R. Daneel Olivaw, has an impossible task. How can one robot try to guide the Empire? He must have helpers."
"That is obvious. Millions, I should imagine. I am a helper. You are a helper. Little Raych is a helper."
"You are a different kind of helper."
"In what way? Hari, say it. If you hear yourself say it, you will realize how crazy it is."
Seldon looked long at her and then said in a low voice, "I will not say it because . . . I don't care. "
"You really don't? You wish to take me as I am?"
"I will take you as I must. You are Dors and, whatever else you are, in all the world I want nothing else."
Dors said softly, "Hari, I want what is good for you because of what I am, but I feel that if I wasn't what I am, I would still want what is good for you. And I don't think I am good for you."
"Good for me or bad, I don't care." Here Hari looked down as he paced a few steps, weighing what he would say next. "Dors, have you ever been kissed?"
"Of course, Hari. It's a social part of life and I live socially."
"No no! I mean, have you ever really kissed a man? You know, passionately?"
"Well yes, Hari, I have."
"Did you enjoy it?"
Dors hesitated. She said, "When I've kissed in that way, I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed disappointing a young man I liked, someone whose friendship meant something to me." At this point, Dors blushed and she turned her face away. "Please, Hari, this is difficult for me to explain."
But Hari, more determined now than ever, pressed further. "So you kissed for the wrong reasons, then, to avoid hurt feelings."
"Perhaps everyone does, in a se
nse."
Seldon mulled this over, then said suddenly, "Did you ever ask to be kissed?"
Dors paused, as though looking back on her life. "No."
"Or wish to be kissed again, once you had?"
"No."
"Have you ever slept with a man?" he asked softly, desperately.
"Of course. I told you. These things are a part of life."
Hari gripped her shoulders as if he was going to shake her. "But have you ever felt the desire, a need for chat kind of closeness with just one special person? Dors, have you ever felt love."
Dors looked up slowly, almost sadly, and locked eyes with Seldon. "I'm sorry, Hari, but no."
Seldon released her, letting his arms fall dejectedly to his sides.
Then Dors placed her hand gently on his arm and said, "So you see, Hari. I'm not really what you want."
Seldon's head drooped and he stared at the floor. He weighed the matter and tried to think rationally. Then he gave up. He wanted what he wanted and he wanted it beyond thought and beyond rationality.
He looked up. "Dors, dear, even so, I don't care."
Seldon put his arms around her and brought his head close to hers slowly, as though waiting for her to pull away, all the while drawing her nearer.
Dors made no move and he kissed her-slowly, lingeringly, and then passionately-and her arms suddenly tightened around him.
When he stopped at last, she looked at him with eyes that mirrored her smile and she said:
"Kiss me again, Hari, -Please."
