Robots & Empire

by Robots

  "What is likely to come, friend Giskard?" asked Daneel.

  "What is to come is the result, I think, of my being wrong, friend Daneel, and of your being right. I should have taken your excellent mind more seriously."

  "It is you, then, they want to keep on Aurora?"

  "Yes. And in urgently calling for Lady Gladia's return, they were calling for mine. You heard Dr. Amadiro ask for us to be left behind. At first both of us and then myself alone."

  "Might it be that his words have but the surface meaning, that he feels it dangerous to lose an advanced robot to the Earthmen?"

  "There was an underlying current of anxiety, friend Daneel, that I judge to be far too strong to match his words."

  "Can you tell whether he knows of your special abilities?"

  I cannot tell directly, since I cannot read thoughts themselves. Nevertheless, twice in the course of the interview with the Council members, there was a sudden sharp rise in the level of emotional intensity in Dr. Amadiro's mind. Extraordinarily sharp rises. I cannot describe it in words, but it would be analogous, perhaps, to, watching a scene in black and white and having it splash-suddenly and briefly-into intense color."

  "When did this happen, friend Giskard?"

  "The second time was when Lady Gladia mentioned she would be going to Earth."

  "That created no visible stir among the Council members. What were their minds like?"

  "I could not tell. They were present through holovision and such images are not accompanied by any mental sensations that I can detect."

  "We may conclude, then, that whether-the Council is or is not-disturbed by Lady Gladia's projected trip to Earth, Dr. Amadiro, at least, is disturbed."

  "It is not simple disturbance. Dr. Amadiro seemed anxious in the highest degree; as we would expect, for instance, if he indeed had a project in hand, as we suspect, for the destruction of Earth and feared its discovery. What is more, At Lady Gladia's mention of this intention of hers, friend Daneel, Dr. Amadiro glanced briefly at me; the only moment in all the session that he did. The flash of emotional intensity coincided with that glance. I think it was the thought of my going to Earth that made him anxious. -As we might expect, if he felt that I, with my special powers, would be a particular danger to his plans."

  "His actions might also be taken, friend Giskard, as fitting his expressed fear that the Earthmen would try to appropriate you as an advanced robot and that this would be -bad, for Aurora."

  "The chance of that happening, friend Daneel, and the extent of damage that might do the Spacer community is too small to account for his level of anxiety. What harm could I do Aurora if I were in Earth's possession-if I were simply the Giskard I am taken to be?"

  "You conclude, then, that Dr. Amadiro knows you are not simply the Giskard you are taken to be."

  "I am not sure. He may simply suspect it. If he knew what I was, would he not make every effort to avoid making his plans in my presence?"

  "It may simply be his misfortune that Lady Gladia will not be separated from us. He cannot insist on your not being present, friend Giskard, without giving away his knowledge to you." Daneel paused, then said, "It is a great advantage you have, friend Giskard, being able to weigh the emotional contents of minds. -But you said that Dr. Amadiro's flash of emotion at the trip to Earth was the second. What was the first?"

  "The first came with the mention of the nuclear intensifier-and that, too, seems significant. The concept of, a nuclear intensifier is well known on Aurora. They don't have a portable device; not one light, enough and efficient enough to be practical on shipboard, but it's not something that would break upon him like a thunderbolt. Why, then, so much anxiety?"

  "Possibly," said Daneel, "because an intensifier of that sort has something to do with his plans on Earth."

  "Possibly."

  And it was at this point that the door opened, a person entered, and a voice said, "Well--Giskard!"

  Giskard looked at the newcomer and said in a calm voice, "Madam Vasilia."

  "You remember me, then," said Vasilia, smiling warmly.

  "Yes, madam. You are a well-known roboticist and your face is on the hyperwave news now and then."

  "Come, Giskard. I do not mean that you recognize me. Anyone can do that. I mean, you remember me. You once called me Miss Vasilia."

  "I remember that, too, madam. It was a long time ago."

  Vasilia closed the door behind her and sat down in one of the chairs. She turned her face toward the other robot. "And you are Daneel, of course."

  Daneel said, "Yes, madam. To make use of the distinction you have just advanced, I both remember you, for I was with Plainclothesman Elijah Baley once when he interviewed you, and I recognize you, too."

  Vasilia, said sharply, "You are not to refer to that Earthman again. -I recognize you as well, Daneel. You are as famous as I am in your own way. You are both famous, for you are the greatest creations of the late Dr. Han Fastolfe."

  "Of your father, madam," said Giskard.

  "You know very well, Giskard, that I attach no importance to that purely genetic relationship. You are not to refer to him in that manner again."

  "I will not, madam."

  "And this one?" She looked casually at the sleeping figure on the couch. "Since you two are here, I can reasonably assume that the sleeping beauty is the Solarian woman."

  Giskard said, "She is Lady Gladia and I am her property. Do you want I her awake, madam?"

  "We will merely disturb her, Giskard, if you and I talk of old times. Let her sleep."

  "Yes, madam."

  Vasilia said to Daneel, "Perhaps the discussion that Giskard and I will have will be of no interest to you, either, Daneel. Would you wait outside?"

  Daneel said, "I fear I cannot leave, my lady. My task is to guard Lady Gladia."

  "I don't think she needs much guarding from me. You'll notice I do not have any of my robots with me, so Giskard alone will be ample protection for your Solarian lady."

  Daneel said, "You have no robots in the room, madam, but I saw four robots just outside in the corridor when the door was opened. It will be best if I stay."

  "Well, I won't try to override your orders. You can stay-Giskard!"

  "Yes, madam."

  "Do you remember when you were first activated?"

  "Yes, madam.

  "What do you remember?"

  "First light. Then sound. Then a crystallization into the sight of Dr. Fastolfe. I could understand Galactic Standard and I had a certain amount of innate knowledge built into MY positronic brain paths. The Three Laws, of course; a large vocabulary, with definitions; robotic duties; social customs. Other things I learned rapidly."

  "Do you remember your first owner?"

  "As I said, Dr. Fastolfe."

  "Think again, Giskard. Wasn't it IT"

  Giskard paused, then said, "Madam, I was assigned the task of guarding you in my capacity as a possession of Dr. Han Fastolfe."

  "It was a bit more than that, I think. You obeyed only me for ten years. If you obeyed anyone else, including Dr. Fastolfe, it was only incidentally, as a consequence of your robotic duties and only insofar as it fit your prime function of guarding me."

  "I was assigned to you, it is true, Lady Vasilia, but Dr. Fastolfe retained, ownership. Once I you left his establishment, he resumed full control of me as my owner. He remained my owner even when he later assigned me to Lady Gladia. He was my only owner for as long as he lived. Upon his death, by his will, ownership of me was transferred to Lady Gladia and that is how it stands now."

  "Not so. I asked you if you remembered, when you were first activated and what you remembered. What you were when you were first activated is not what you are now."

  "My memory banks, madam, are now incomparably fuller than they were then and I have much in the I way of experience that I did not have then."

  Vasilia's voice grew sterner. "I am not talking about memory, nor am I talking about experience. I am talking about capacities. I
added to your positronic pathways. I adjusted them. I improved them."

  "Yes, madam, YOU did so, with Dr. Fastolfe's help and approval."

  "At one time, Giskard, on one occasion, I introduced an improvement-at least, an extension, and without Dr. Fastolfe's help and approval. Do you remember that?"

  Giskard was silent for a substantial period of time. Then he said, "I remember one occasion on which I did not witness your consulting him. I assumed that you consulted him at a time when I was not a witness."

  "If you assumed that, you assumed incorrectly. In fact, since you knew he was off the world at the time, you could not possibly have assumed it. You are being evasive, to use no stronger word."

  "No, madam. You might have consulted him by hyperwave. I considered that a possibility."

  Vasilia, said, "Nevertheless, that addition was entirely mine. The result was that you became a substantially different robot afterward from what you had been before. The robot, you have been ever since that change has been my design, my creation, and you know that well."

  Giskard remained silent.

  "Now, Giskard, by what right was Dr. Fastolfe your master at the time you were activated?" She waited, then said sharply, "Answer me, Giskard. That is an order!"

  Giskard said, "Since he was designer and supervised the construction, I was his property"

  "And when I, in effect, redesigned and reconstructed you in a very fundamental way, did you not then become my property."

  Giskard said, "I cannot answer that question. It would require the decision of a law court to argue out the specific case. It would depend, perhaps, on the degree to which I was redesigned and reconstructed."

  "Are you aware of the degree to which that took place?"

  Giskard was again silent.

  "This is childish, Giskard," said Vasilia. "Am I to be required to nudge you after each question? You are not to make me do that. In this case, at any rate, silence is a sure indication of an affirmative. You know what the change was and how fundamental it was and you know that I know what it was. You put the Solarian woman to sleep because you did not want her to learn from me what it was. She doesn't know, does she?"

  "She does not, madam," said Giskard.

  "And you don't want her to know?"

  "I do not, madam," said Giskard.

  "Does Daneel know?"

  "He does, madam."

  Vasilia nodded. "I rather suspected that from his eagerness to stay. -Now, then, listen to me, Giskard. Suppose that a court of law finds out that, before I redesigned you, you were an ordinary robot and that, after I redesigned you, you were a robot who could sense the mind-set of an individual human being and adjust it to his liking. Do you think they could possibly fail to consider, it a change great enough to warrant the ownership to have passed into my hands?"

  Giskard said, "Madam Vasilia, it would not be possible to let this come before a court of law. Under the circumstances, I would surely be declared the property of the state for obvious reasons. I might even be ordered inactivated."

  "Nonsense. Do you take me for a child? With your abilities, you could keep the court from making any such judgment. But that is not the point. I'm not suggesting that we take this to court. I am asking you for your own judgment. Would you not say that I am your rightful owner and have been since I was a very -young woman?"

  Giskard said, "Madam Gladia considers herself to be my owner and, until the law speaks to the contrary, she must be considered that."

  "But you know that both she and the law labor under a misapprehension. If you worry about the feelings of your Solarian woman, it would be very easy to adjust her mindset so that she wouldn't mind your no longer being her property. You can even cause her to feel relieved that I will take you off her hands. I will order you to do so as soon as you can bring yourself to admit what you already know that I am your owner. How long has Daneel known your nature?"

  "For decades, madam."

  "You can make him forget. For some time now, Dr. Amadiro has known and you can make him forget. There will be only you and I who will know."

  Daneel said suddenly, "Madam Vasilia, since Giskard does not consider himself your property, he can easily make you forget and you will then be perfectly content with matters as they are."

  Vasilia turned a cold eye on Daneel. "Can he? But you see, it is not for you to decide who it is that Giskard considers his owner. I know that Giskard knows that I am his owner, so that his duty, within the Three Laws, belongs entirely to me. If he must make someone forget and can do so without physical harm, it will be necessary for him, in making a choice, to, choose anyone but me. He cannot make me forget or tamper with my mind in any way. I thank you, Daneel, for giving me the occasion of making this quite plain."

  Daneel said, "But Madam Gladia's emotions are so enwrapped in Giskard that for him to force forgetfulness upon her might harm her."

  Vasilia said, "Giskard is the one to decide that. -Giskard, you are mine. You know you, are mine and I order you to induce forgetfulness in this man-aping robot who stands beside you and in the woman who wrongfully treated you as her property. Do it while she is asleep and there will be no harm done to her of any kind."

  Daneel said, "Friend Giskard. Lady Gladia is your legal owner. If you induce forgetfulness in Lady Vasilia, it will not harm -her."

  "But it will," said Vasilia at once. "The Solarian woman will not be harmed, for she need only forget that she is under the impression that she is Giskard's owner. I, on the other hand, also know that Giskard has mental powers. Digging that out will be more complex and Giskard can surely tell by my intense determination to keep that knowledge that he could not help but inflict damage on me in the process of removing it."

  Daneel said, "Friend Giskard---"

  Vasilia said, in a voice that was diamond-hard, "I order you, Robot Daneel Olivaw, to be silent. I am not your owner, but your owner is asleep and does not countermand it, so my order must be obeyed."

  Daneel fell silent, but his lips trembled as though he were trying to talk despite the order,

  Vasilia watched that manifestation with an amused smile on her lips. "You see, Daneel, you cannot talk."

  And Daneel said in a hoarse whisper, "I can, madam, I find it difficult, but I can, for I find that something takes precedence over your order, which is governed by only the Second Law."

  Vasilia's eyes opened wide and she said sharply, "Silence, I say. Nothing takes precedence over my order but the First Law and I have already shown that Giskard will do least harm-indeed, no harm at all-if he returns to me. He will do harm to me, to whom he is least capable of doing harm, if he follows any other course of action." She pointed her finger at Daneel and said again with a soft hiss, "Silence!"

  It was a clear effort for Daneel to make any sound at all. The small pump within him that manipulated the air current that produced the sound made a small, humming noise as it labored. Yet, though he spoke in an even lower whisper, he could still be heard.

  He said, "Madam Vasilia, there is something that transcends even the First Law."

  Giskard said, in a voice equally low, but unforced, "Friend Daneel, you must not say that. Nothing transcends the First Law. "

  Vasilia, frowning slightly, showed a spark of interest. "Indeed? Daneel, I warn you that if you attempt to progress further in this odd line of argument, you will surely destroy yourself. I have never seen or heard of a robot doing what you are doing and it would be fascinating to watch your self-destruction. Speak on."

  With the order given, Daneel's voice returned immediately to normal. "I thank you, Madam Vasilia. -Years ago, I sat at the deathbed of an Earthman to whom you have asked me not to refer. May I now refer to him or do you know who it is that I speak of?"

  "You speak of that policeman Baley," said Vasilia tonelessly.

  "Yes, madam. He said to me on his deathbed, 'The work of each individual contributes to a totality, and so becomes an undying part of the totality. That totality of human lives - past and
present and to come-forms a tapestry that has been in existence now for many tens of thousands of years and has been growing more elaborate and, on the whole, more beautiful in all that time. Even the Spacers are an offshoot of the tapestry and they, too, add to the elaborateness and beauty of the pattern. An individual life is one thread in the tapestry and what is one thread compared to the whole? Daneel, keep your mind fixed firmly on the tapestry and do not let the trailing off of a single thread affect you."

  "Mawkish sentimentality," murmured Vasilia.

  Daneel said, "I believe Partner Elijah was attempting to protect me against the fact of his soon-to-come death. It was his own life he spoke of as but a thread in the tapestry-, it was his own life that was "the trailing off of a single thread' that was not to affect me. His words did protect me in that crisis."