Asimov’s Future History Volume 11

by Isaac Asimov

  “I tell you again. I do not expect to live another fifteen decades and I want to live to see the destruction of Earth.”

  “But you would also be assuring the maiming – maiming, at the very least – of Aurora, You cannot be serious.”

  “But I am. I have twenty decades of defeat and humiliation to make up.”

  “Those decades were brought about by Han Fastolfe and Giskard – and not by Earth.”

  “No, they were brought about by an Earthman, Elijah Baley.”

  “Who has been dead for more than sixteen decades. What is the value of a moment of vengeance over a man long dead?”

  “I do not want to argue the matter. I will make you an offer. The title of head at once. I will resign my post the instant we return to Aurora and nominate you in my place.”

  “No. I do not want the headship on those terms. Death to billions!”

  “Billions of Earthmen. Well, I cannot trust you, then, to manipulate the controls properly. Show me – me – how to set the control installment and I will take the responsibility. I will still resign my post on our return and will nominate you in my place.”

  “No. It will still mean the death of billions and who knows how many millions of Spacers as well. Dr. Amadiro, please understand that I will not do it on any terms and that you cannot do it without me. The setting mechanism is keyed to my left thumbprint.”

  “I ask you again.”

  “You cannot be sane if you ask me again despite all I have said.”

  “That, Mandamus, is a personal opinion of yours. I am not so insane that I have failed to send off all the local robots on one errand or another. We are alone here.”

  Mandamus lifted a corner of his upper lip in a sneer. “And with what do you intend to threaten me? Are you going to kill me now that there are no robots present to stop you?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, Mandamus, I will if I have to.” Amadiro produced a small-caliber blaster from a pouch at his side. “These are difficult to obtain on Earth, but not impossible – if the price is right. And I know how to use it. Please believe me when I tell you that I am perfectly willing to blow your head off right now – if you do not place your thumb on the contact and allow me to adjust the dial to twelve.”

  “You dare not. If I die, how will you set the dial without me?”

  “Don’t be an utter fool. If I blow your head off, your left thumb will remain intact. It will even be at blood temperature for a while. I will use that thumb, then set the dial as easily as I would turn on a water tap. I would prefer you alive, since your death might be wearisome to explain back on Aurora, but it would not be more wearisome than I could bear. Therefore, I give you thirty seconds to make up your mind. If you cooperate, I will still give you the headship at once. If you don’t, it will all go as I wish, in any case, and you will be dead. We start now. One – two – three –”

  Mandamus stared in horror at Amadiro, who continued to count and stare at him over the leveled blaster with hard, expressionless eyes.

  And then Mandamus hissed, “Put the blaster away, Amadiro, or we’ll both be immobilized on the plea that we must be protected from harm.”

  The warning came too late. Quicker than the eye could follow, an arm stretched out to seize Amadiro’s wrist, paralyzing it with pressure, and the blaster was gone.

  Daneel said, “I apologize for having had to inflict pain on you, Dr. Amadiro, but I cannot allow you to hold a blaster pointed at another human being.”

  91.

  Amadiro said nothing.

  Mandamus said coldly, “You are two robots with, as far as I can see, no master in view. By default, I am your master and I order you to leave and not return. Since, as you see, there is no danger to any human being present at this moment, there is nothing to overcome your necessitated obedience to this order. Leave at once.”

  Daneel said, “Respectfully, sir, there is no need to hide our identities or abilities from you, since you know them already. My companion, R. Giskard Reventlov, has the ability to detect emotion. – Friend Giskard.”

  Giskard said, “As we approached, having detected your presence at quite a distance, I took note, Dr. Amadiro, of an overwhelming rage in your mind. In yours, Dr. Mandamus, there was extreme fear.”

  “The rage, if rage there was,” said Mandamus, “was Dr. Amadiro’s reaction to the approach of two strange robots, especially of one who was capable of meddling with the human mind and who had already badly – and perhaps permanently – damaged that of Lady Vasilia. My fear, if fear there was, was also the result of your approach. We are not in control of our emotions and there is no reason for you to interfere. We again order you to withdraw permanently.”

  Daneel said, “Your pardon, Dr. Mandamus, but I merely wish to ascertain that we may safely follow your orders. Was there not a blaster in Dr. Amadiro’s hand when we approached – and was it not pointed at you?”

  Mandamus said, “He was explaining its workings and he was about to put it away when you took it from him.”

  “Then shall I return it to him, sir, before I leave?”

  “No,” said Mandamus without a quiver, “for then you would have an excuse to remain here in order to – as you would say – protect us. Take it with you when you go and you will have no reason to return.”

  Daneel said, “We have reason to think that you are here in a region which human beings are not allowed to penetrate –”

  “That is a custom, not a law, and one which, in any case, holds no force over us, since we are not Earthpeople. For that matter, robots are not allowed to be here, either.”

  “We were brought here, Dr. Mandamus, by a high official of Earth’s government. We have reason to think that you are here in order to raise the level of radioactivity in Earth’s crust and do grave and irreparable damage to the planet.”

  “Not at all –” began Mandamus.

  Here Amadiro interrupted for the first time. “By what right, robot, do you cross-examine us? We are human beings who have given you an order. Follow it now!”

  His tone of authority was overwhelming and Daneel quivered, while Giskard half-turned.

  But Daneel said, “Your pardon, Dr. Amadiro. I do not cross-examine. I merely seek reassurance, in order that I may know that I can safely follow the order. We have reason to think that –”

  “You need not repeat,” said Mandamus. Then, in an aside, “Dr. Amadiro, please allow me to answer.” To Daneel again, “Daneel, we are here on an anthropological mission. It is our purpose to seek the origins of various human customs that influence behavior among Spacers. These origins can be found only here on Earth and it is here, then, that we seek them.”

  “Do you have Earth’s permission for this?”

  “Seven years ago, I consulted the appropriate officials on Earth and received their permission.”

  Daneel said in a low voice, “Friend Giskard, what do you say?”

  Giskard said, “The indications in Dr. Mandamus’s mind are that what he is saying is not in accord with the situation as it is.”

  “He is lying, then?” said Daneel firmly.

  “That is my belief,” said Giskard.

  Mandamus said, his calmness untouched, “That may be your belief, but belief is not certainty. You cannot disobey an order on the basis of mere belief. I know that and you know that.”

  Giskard said, “But in Dr. Amadiro’s mind, rage is dammed only by emotional forces that are barely up to the job required of them. It is quite possible to slit those forces, so to speak, and allow the rage to pour out.”

  And Amadiro cried out, “Why do you fence with these things, Mandamus?”

  Mandamus shouted, “Do not say a word, Amadiro! You play into their hands!”

  Amadiro paid no attention. “It is demeaning and it is useless.” With violent anger, he shook off Mandamus’s restraining arm. “They know the truth, but what of that? – Robots, we are Spacers. More than that, we are Aurorans, from the world on which you were constructed. More
than that, we are high officials on the world of Aurora and you must interpret the phrase ‘human beings’ in the Three Laws of Robotics as meaning Auroran.

  “If you do not obey us now, you harm us and humiliate us, so that you will be violating both the First and Second Laws. That our actions here are intended to destroy Earthmen, even large numbers of Earthmen, is true, but is, even so, utterly irrelevant. You might as well offer to refuse to obey us because we eat the meat of animals we have killed. Now that I have explained this to you, leave!”

  But the last words turned into a croak. Amadiro’s eyes bulged and he crumpled to the ground.

  Mandamus, with a wordless cry, bent over him.

  Giskard said, “Dr. Mandamus, Dr. Amadiro is not dead. He is at the moment in a coma from which he can be roused at any time. However, he will have forgotten everything in connection with this present project, nor will he ever be able to understand anything in connection with it – if, for instance, you tried to explain it. In the process of doing this – which I could not have done without his own admission that he intended to destroy large numbers of Earthmen – I may have permanently damaged other parts of his memory and his thinking processes. That I regret, but I could not help it.”

  Daneel said, “You see, Dr. Mandamus, some time ago, on Solaria, we encountered robots who narrowly defined human beings as Solarians only. We recognize the fact that if different robots are subject to narrow definitions of one sort or another, there can only be measureless destruction. It is useless to try to have us define human beings as Aurorans only. We define human beings as all members of the species Homo sapiens, which includes Earthpeople and Settlers’ and we feel that the prevention of harm to human beings in groups and to humanity as a whole comes before the prevention of harm to any specific individual.”

  Mandamus said breathlessly, “That is not what the First Law says.”

  “It is what I call the Zeroth Law and it takes precedence.”

  “You have not been programmed in such a way.”

  “It is how I have programmed myself. And since I have known from the moment of our arrival here that your presence is intended for harm, you cannot order me away or keep me from harming you. The Zeroth Law takes precedence and I must save Earth. Therefore, I ask you to join me – voluntarily – in destroying these devices you have here. Otherwise, I will be forced to threaten harm to you, as Dr. Amadiro did, although I would not use a blaster.”

  But Mandamus said, “Wait! Wait! Hear me out. Let me explain. That Dr. Amadiro has had his mind wiped clean is a good thing. He wanted to destroy Earth, but I did not want to. That was why he held a blaster on me.”

  Daneel said, “It was you, however, who originated the notion, who designed and built these devices. Otherwise, Dr. Amadiro would not have had to try to force you to do anything. He would have done it himself and would not have required any help from you. Isn’t that right?”

  “Yes, that is right. Giskard can examine my emotions and see if I’m lying. I built these devices and I was prepared to use them, but not in the fashion Dr. Amadiro wished. Am I telling the truth?”

  Daneel looked at Giskard, who said, “As nearly as I can tell, he is telling the truth.”

  “Of course I am,” said Mandamus. “What! am doing is to introduce a very gradual acceleration of the natural radioactivity in the Earth’s crust. There will be one hundred and fifty years during which the people of Earth can move to other worlds. It will increase the population of the present Settler worlds and increase the Settlement of additional worlds in great numbers. It will remove Earth as a huge anomalous world that forever threatens the Spacers and stultifies the Settlers. It will remove a center of mystical fervor that is holding back the Settlers. Am I telling the truth?”

  Again Giskard said, “As nearly as I can tell, he is telling the truth.”

  “My plan, if it works out, would preserve the peace and make the Galaxy a home for Spacer and Settler alike. That is why, when I constructed this device –”

  He gestured toward it, placing his left thumb on the contact, and then, lunging toward the volume control, shouted, “Freeze!”

  Daneel moved toward him and stopped, frozen, right hand upraised. Giskard did not move.

  Mandamus turned back, panting, “It’s at 2.72. It’s done. It’s irreversible. Now it will be played out exactly as I intended. Nor can you bear witness against me, for you will start a war and your Zeroth Law forbids that.”

  He looked down at the prone body of Amadiro and said, with a cold look of contempt, “Fool! You will never know how it should have been done.”

  19. Alone

  92.

  MANDAMUS SAID, “YOU cannot harm me now, robots, for nothing you do to me will alter the fate of the Earth.”

  “Nevertheless,” said Giskard shakily, “you must not remember what you have done. You must not explain the future to the Spacers.” He reached for a chair and, with a trembling hand, pulled it toward himself and sat down, as Mandamus crumpled and slid down into what seemed to be a gentle sleep.

  “At the last,” said Daneel in soft despair, as he looked down at the two unconscious bodies, “I failed. When it was necessary for me to seize Dr. Mandamus to prevent harm to people who were not present before my eyes, I found myself forced to follow his order and froze. The Zeroth Law did not work.”

  Giskard said, “No, friend Daneel, you did not fail. I prevented you. Dr. Mandamus had the urge to try to do what he did and was held back by the fear of what you would certainly do if he did try. I neutralized his fear and then I neutralized you. So Dr. Mandamus set the Earth’s crust on fire, so to speak – on very slow fire.”

  Daneel said, “But why, friend Giskard, why?”

  “Because he was telling the truth. I told you so. He thought he was lying. From the nature of the triumph in his mind, I am under the firm impression he felt that the consequence of the growing radioactivity would be anarchy and confusion among Earthpeople and Settlers and that the Spacers would destroy them and seize the Galaxy. But I thought the scenario he presented us to win us over was the correct one. The removal of Earth as a large crowded world would remove a mystique I have already felt to be dangerous and would help the Settlers. They will streak outward into the Galaxy at a pace that will double and redouble and – without Earth to look back to always, without Earth to set up a god of the past – they will establish a Galactic Empire. It was necessary for us to make that possible.” He paused and, his voice weakening, he said, “Robots and Empire.”

  “Are you well, friend Giskard?”

  “I cannot stand, but I can still talk. Listen to me. It is time for you to take on my burden. I have adjusted you for mental detection and control. You have but to listen to the final pathways as they are impressed upon yourself. Listen –”

  He spoke steadily – but increasingly weakly – in language and symbols that Daneel could feel internally. Even as Daneel listened, he could feel the pathways moving and ticking into place. And when Giskard was done, there was suddenly the cool purr of Mandamus’s mind impinging on his own, the unsteady thumping of Amadiro’s, and the thin metallic thread of Giskard’s.

  Giskard said, “You must return to Madam Quintana and arrange to have these two human beings sent back to Aurora. They will not be able to harm Earth further. Then see to it that Earth’s security forces seek out and inactivate the humanoid robots sent to Earth by Mandamus.

  “Be careful how you use your new powers, for you are new to them and they will not be under perfect control. You will improve with time – slowly – if you are careful always to undergo self-examination with each use. Use the Zeroth Law, but not to justify needless harm to individuals. The First Law is almost as important.

  “Protect Madam Gladia and Captain Baley – unobtrusively. Let them be happy together and let Madam Gladia continue with her efforts to being peace. Help supervise, over the decades, the removal of Earthpeople from this world. And – one more thing – if I can remember – Yes – if
you can – find out where the Solarians have gone. That may be – important.”

  Giskard’s voice trailed off.

  Daneel kneeled at the side of the seated Giskard and took the unresponsive metal hand in his own. He said, in an agonized whisper, “Recover, friend Giskard. Recover. What you did was right by the Zeroth Law. You have preserved as much life as possible. You have done well by humanity. Why suffer so when what you have done saves all?”

  Giskard said, in a voice so distorted that the words could barely be made out, “Because I am not certain. – What if the other view – is right – after all – and the Spacers will – triumph and then themselves decay so that – the Galaxy – will be – empty. – Good-bye, friend – Dan –”

  And Giskard was silent, never to speak or move again.

  Daneel rose.

  He was alone – and with a Galaxy to care for.

  Caliban

  3730 A.D.

  Prologue

  ... The Spacer-Settler struggle was at its beginning, and at its end, an ideological contest. Indeed, to take a page from primitive studies, it might more accurately be termed a theological battle, for both sides clung to their positions more out of faith, fear, and tradition than through any carefully reasoned marshaling of the facts.

  Always, whether acknowledged or not, there was one issue at the center of every confrontation between the two sides: robots. One side regarded them as the ultimate good, while the other saw them as the ultimate evil.

  Spacers were the descendants of men and women who had fled semi-mythical Earth with their robots when robots were banned there. Exiled from Earth, they traveled in crude starships on the first wave of colonization from Earth. With the aid of their robots, the Spacers terraformed fifty worlds and created a culture of great beauty and refinement, where all unpleasant tasks were left to the robots. Ultimately, virtually all work was left to the robots. Having colonized fifty planets, the Spacers called a halt, and set themselves no other task than enjoying the fruits of their robots’ labor.