Asimov's Future History Volume 5

by Isaac Asimov

  A robot was approaching down the corridor on the other side of the field. (The twinkling of the field was more easily noted against the muted smoothness of his metallic surface.) He seemed to ignore Giskard, but, for a moment, he hesitated as he looked from Baley to Daneel and back. And then, having made a decision, he addressed Baley. (Perhaps, thought Baley, Daneel looks too human to be human.)

  The robot said, “Your name, sir?”

  Baley said, “I am Plainclothesman Elijah Baley from Earth. I am accompanied by two robots of the establishment of Dr. Han Fastolfe – Daneel Olivaw and Giskard Reventlov.”

  “Identification, sir?”

  Giskard’s serial number flared out in soft phosphorescence on the left side of his chest. “I vouch for the other two, friend,” he said.

  The robot studied the number a moment, as though comparing it with a file in his memory banks. Then he nodded and said, “Serial number accepted. You may pass.”

  Daneel and Giskard moved forward at once, but Baley found himself edging ahead slowly. He put out one arm as a way of testing the coming of pain.

  Daneel said, “The field is gone, Partner Elijah. It will be restored after we have passed through.”

  Better safe than sorry, thought Baley, and continued his shuffle till he was well past the point where the barrier of the field might have existed.

  The robots, showing no sign of impatience or condemnation, waited for Baley’s reluctant steps to catch up with them.

  They then stepped onto a helical ramp that was only two people wide. The robot was first, by himself; Baley and Daneel stood side by side behind him (Daneel’s hand rested lightly, but almost possessively, on Baley’s elbow); and Giskard brought up the rear.

  Baley was conscious of his shoes pointing upward just a bit uncomfortably and felt vaguely that it would be a little tiresome mounting this too – steep ramp and having to lean forward in order to avoid a clumsy slip. Either the soles of his shoes or the surface of the ramp – or both – ought to be ridged. In fact, neither was.

  The robot in the lead said, “Mr. Baley,” as though warning of something, and the robot’s hand then visibly tightened on the railing that it held.

  At once, the ramp divided into sections that slid against each other to form steps. Immediately thereafter, the whole ramp began to move upward. It made a complete turn, passing up through the ceiling, a section of which had retracted, and, when it came to a halt, they were on what was (presumably) the second floor. The steps disappeared and the four stepped off.

  Baley looked back curiously. “I suppose it will service those who want to go down as well, but what if there is a period where more people want to go up than down? It would end up sticking half a kilometer into the sky – or into the ground, in reverse.”

  “That is an up – helix,” said Daneel in a low voice. “There are separate down – helices.”

  “But it has to get down again, doesn’t it?”

  “It collapses at the top – or the bottom – depending on which we’re speaking of, Partner Elijah, and, in periods of nonuse, it unwinds, so to speak. This up – helix is descending now.”

  Baley looked back. The smooth surface might be sliding downward, but it showed no irregularity or mark whose motion he could notice.

  “And if someone should want to use it when it has moved up as far as it can?”

  “Then one must wait for the unwinding, which would take less than a minute. – There are ordinary flights of stairs as well, Partner Elijah, and most Aurorans are not reluctant to use them. Robots almost always use the stairs. Since you are a visitor, you are being offered the courtesy of the helix.”

  They were walking down a corridor again, toward a door more ornate than the others. “They are offering me courtesy, then,” said Baley. “A hopeful sign.”

  It was perhaps another hopeful sign that an Auroran now appeared in the ornate doorway. He was tall, at least eight centimeters taller than Daneel, who was some five centimeters taller than Baley. The man in the doorway was broad as well, somewhat heavyset, with a round face, a somewhat bulbous nose, curly dark hair, a swarthy complexion, and a smile.

  It was the smile that was most noticeable. Wide and apparently unforced, it revealed prominent teeth that were white and well – shaped.

  He said, “Ah, it is Mr. Baley, the famous investigator from Earth, who has come to our little planet to show that I am a dreadful villain. Come in, come in. You are welcome. I am sorry if my able aide, Roboticist Maloon Cicis, gave you the impression that I would be unavailable, but he is a cautious fellow and is a great deal more concerned about my time than I myself am.

  He stepped to one side as Baley walked in and tapped him lightly with the fiat of his hand on the shoulder blade as he passed. It seemed to be a gesture of friendship of a kind that Baley had not yet experienced on Aurora.

  Baley said, cautiously (was he assuming too much?), “I take it you are Master Roboticist Kelden Amadiro?”

  “Exactly. Exactly. The man who intends to destroy Dr. Han Fastolfe as a political force upon this planet – but that, as I hope to persuade you, does not really make me a villain. After all, I am not trying to prove that it is Fastolfe who is a villain simply because of the foolish vandalism he committed on the structure of his own creation – poor Jander. Let us say only that I will demonstrate that Fastolfe is – mistaken.”

  He gestured lightly and the robot who had guided them in stepped forward and into a niche.

  As the door closed, Amadiro gestured Baley jovially to a well – upholstered armchair and, with admirable economy, indicated, with his other arm, wall niches for Daneel and Giskard as well.

  Baley noticed that Amadiro stared with a moment’s hunger at Daneel and that, for that moment, his smile disappeared and a look that was almost predatory appeared on his face. It was gone quickly and he was smiling again. Baley was left to wonder if, perhaps, that momentary change of expression was an invention of his own imagination.

  Amadiro said, “Since it looks as though we’re in for some mildly nasty weather, let’s do without the ineffective daylight we are now dubiously blessed with.”

  Somehow (Baley did not follow exactly what it was that Amadiro did on the control – panel of his desk) the windows opacified and the walls glowed with gentle daylight.

  Amadiro’s smile seemed to broaden. “We do not really have much to talk about, you and I, Mr. Baley. I took the precaution of speaking to Mr. Gremionis while you were coming here. From what he said, I decided to call Dr. Vasilia as well. Apparently, Mr. Baley, you have more or less accused both of complicity in the destruction of Jander and, if I can understand the language, you have also accused me.”

  “I merely asked questions, Dr. Amadiro, as I intend to do now.”

  “No doubt, but you are an Earthman, so you are not aware of the enormity of your actions and I am really sorry that you must nonetheless suffer the consequences of them. – You know perhaps that Gremionis sent me a memo concerning your slander of him.”

  “He told me he had, but he misinterpreted my action. It was not slander.”

  Amadiro pursed his lips as though considering the statement. “I dare say you are right from your standpoint, Mr. Baley, but you don’t understand the Auroran definition of the word. I was forced to send Gremionis’ memo on to the Chairman and, as a result, it is very likely that you’ll be ordered off the planet by tomorrow morning. I regret this, of course, but I fear that your investigation is about to come to an end.”

  14: Again Amadiro

  55.

  BALEY WAS TAKEN aback. He did not know what to make of Amadiro and he had not expected this confusion within himself. Gremionis had described him as “standoffish.” From what Cicis had said, he expected Amadiro to be autocratic. In person, however, Amadiro seemed jovial, outgoing, even friendly. Yet if his words were to be trusted, Amadiro was calmly moving to end the investigation. He was doing it pitilessly – and yet with what seemed to be a commiserating smile.

&
nbsp; What was he?

  Automatically, Baley glanced toward the niches where Giskard and Daneel were standing, the primitive Giskard of course without expression, the advanced Daneel calm and quiet. That Daneel had ever met Amadiro in his short existence was, on the face of it, unlikely. Giskard, on the other hand, in his – how many? – decades of life might very well have met him.

  Baley’s lips tightened as he thought he might have asked Giskard in advance what Amadiro might be like. He might, in that case, be now better able to judge how much of this roboticist’s present persona was real and how much was cleverly calculated.

  Why on Earth – or off it, Baley wondered, didn’t he use these robotic resources of his more intelligently? Or why didn’t Giskard volunteer information – but no, that was unfair. Giskard clearly lacked the capacity for independent activity of that sort. He would yield information on request, Baley thought, but would produce none on his own initiative.

  Amadiro followed the brief flicking of Baley’s eyes and said, “I’m one against three, I think. As you see, I have none of my robots here in my office – although any number are on instant call, I admit – while you have two of Fastolfe’s robots: the old reliable Giskard and that marvel of design, Daneel.”

  “You know them both, I see,” said Baley.

  “By reputation only. I actually see them – I, a roboticist, was about to say ‘in the flesh’ – I actually see them physically for the first time now, although I saw Daneel portrayed by an actor in that hyperwave show.”

  “Everyone in all the worlds has apparently seen that hyperwave show,” said Baley glumly. “It makes my life – as a real and limited individual – difficult.”

  “Not with me,” said Amadiro, his smile broadening. “I assure you I did not take your fictional representation with any seriousness whatever. I assumed you were limited in real life. And so you are – or you would not have indulged so freely in unwarranted accusations on Aurora.”

  “Dr. Amadiro,” said Baley, “I assure you I was making no formal accusations. I was merely pursuing an investigation and considering possibilities.”

  “Don’t misunderstand me,” said Amadiro with sudden earnestness. “I don’t blame you. I am sure that you were behaving perfectly by Earth standards. It is just that you are up against Auroran standards now. We treasure reputation with unbelievable intensity.”

  “If that were so, Dr. Amadiro, then haven’t you and other Globalists been slandering Dr. Fastolfe with suspicion, to a far greater extent than any small thing I have done?”

  “Quite true,” agreed Amadiro, “but I am an eminent Auroran and have a certain influence, while you are an Earthman and have no influence whatever. That is most unfair, I admit, and I deplore it, but that is the way the worlds are. What can we do? Besides, the accusation against Fastolfe can be maintained – and will be maintained – and slander isn’t slander when it is the truth. Your mistake was to make accusations that simply can’t be maintained. I’m sure you must admit that neither Mr. Gremionis nor Dr. Vasilia Aliena – nor both together – could possibly have disabled poor Jander.”

  “I did not formally accuse either.”

  “Perhaps not, but you can’t hide behind the word ‘formally’ on Aurora. It’s too bad Fastolfe didn’t warn you of this when he brought you in to take up this investigation, this – as it now is, I’m afraid – ill – fated investigation.”

  Baley felt the corner of his mouth twitch as he thought that Fastolfe might indeed have warned him.

  He said, “Am I to get a hearing in the matter or is it all settled?”

  “Of course you will get a hearing before being condemned. We are not barbarians here on Aurora. The Chairman will consider the memo I have sent him, together with my own suggestions in the matter. He will probably consult Fastolfe as the other party intimately concerned and then arrange to meet with all three of us, perhaps tomorrow. Some decision might be reached then – or later – and it would be ratified by the full Legislature. All due process of law will be followed, I assure you.”

  “The letter of the law will be followed, no doubt, but what if the Chairman has already made up his mind, what if nothing I say will be accepted, and what if the Legislature simply rubberstamps a foregone decision? Is that possible?”

  Amadiro did not exactly smile at that, but he seemed subtly amused. “You are a realist, Mr. Baley. I am pleased with that. People who dream of justice are so apt to be disappointed – and they are usually such wonderful people that one hates to see that happen.”

  Amadiro’s glance fixed itself on Daneel again. “A remarkable job, this humaniform robot,” he said. “It is astonishing how close to his vest Fastolfe has kept things. And it is a shame that Jander was lost. There Fastolfe did the unforgivable.”

  “Dr. Fastolfe, sir, denies that he was in any way implicated.”

  “Yes, Mr. Baley, of course he would. Does he say that I am implicated? Or is my implication entirely your own idea?”

  Baley said deliberately, “I have no such idea. I merely wish to question you on the matter. As for Dr. Fastolfe, he is not a candidate for one of your accusations of slander. He is certain you have had nothing to do with what happened to Jander because he is quite certain you lack the knowledge and capacity to immobilize a humaniform robot.”

  If Baley hoped to stir things up in that manner, he failed. Amadiro accepted the slur with no loss of good humor and said, “In that he is right, Mr. Baley. Sufficient ability is not to be found in any roboticist – alive or dead – except for Fastolfe himself. Isn’t that what he says, our modest master of masters?”

  “Yes, he does.”

  “Then whatever does he say happened to Jander, I wonder?”

  “A random event. Purely chance.”

  Amadiro laughed. “Has he calculated the probability of such a random event?”

  “Yes, Master Roboticist. Yet even an extremely unlikely chance might happen, especially if there were incidents that bettered the odds.”

  “Such as what?”

  “That is what I am hoping to find out, Since you have already arranged to have me thrown off the planet, do you now intend to forestall any questioning of yourself – or may I continue my investigation until such time as my activity in that respect is legally ended? – Before you answer, Dr. Amadiro, please consider that the investigation has not as yet been legally ended and, in any hearing that may come up, whether tomorrow or later, I will be able to accuse you of refusing to answer my questions if you should insist on now ending this interview. That might influence the Chairman in his decision.”

  “It would not, my dear Mr. Baley. Don’t imagine you can in any way interfere with me. – However, you may interview me for as long as you wish. I will cooperate fully with you, if only to enjoy the spectacle of the good Fastolfe trying uselessly to disentangle himself from his unfortunate deed. I am not extraordinarily vindictive, Mr. Baley, but the fact that Jander was Fastolfe’s own creation does not give him the right to destroy it.”

  Baley said, “It is not legally established that this is what he has done, so that what you have just said is, at least potentially, slander. Let us put that to one side, therefore, and get on with this interview. I need information. I will ask my questions briefly and directly and, if you answer in the same way, this interview may be completed quickly.”

  “No, Mr. Baley. It is not you who will set the conditions for this interview,” said Amadiro. “I take it that one or both of your robots is equipped to record our conversation in full.”

  “I believe so.”

  “I know so. I have a recording device of my own as well. Don’t think, my good Mr. Baley, that you will lead me through a jungle of short answers to something that will serve Fastolfe’s purpose. I will answer as I choose and make certain I am not misinterpreted. And my own recording will help me make it certain that I am not misinterpreted.” Now, for the first time, there was the suggestion of the wolf behind Amadiro’s attitude of friendliness.
/>   “Very well, then, but if your answers are deliberately long – winded and evasive, that, too, will show up in the recording.”

  “Obviously.”

  “With that understood, may I have a glass of water, to begin with?”

  “Absolutely. – Giskard, will you oblige Mr. Baley?”

  Giskard was out of his niche at once. There was the inevitable tinkle of ice at the bar at one end of the room and a tall glass of water was on the desk immediately before Baley.

  Baley said, “Thank you, Giskard,” and waited for him to move back into his niche.

  He said, “Dr. Amadiro, am I correct in considering you the head of the Robotics Institute?”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “And its founder?”

  “Correct. – You see, I answer briefly.”

  “How long has it been in existence?”

  “As a concept – decades. I have been gathering like – minded people for at least fifteen years. Permission was obtained from the Legislature twelve years ago. Building began nine years ago and active work began six years ago. In its present completed form, the Institute is two years old and there are long – range plans for further expansion, eventually. – There you have a long answer, sir, but presented reasonably concisely.”

  “Why did you find it necessary to set up the Institute?”

  “Ah, Mr. Baley. Here you surely expect nothing but a long – winded answer.”

  “As you please, sir.”

  At this point, a robot brought in a tray of small sandwiches and still smaller pastries, none of which were familiar to Baley. He tried a sandwich and found it crunchy and not exactly unpleasant but odd enough for him to finish it only with an effort. He washed it down with what was left of his water.

  Amadiro watched with a kind of gentle amusement and said, “You must understand, Mr. Baley, that we Aurorans are unusual people. So are Spacers generally, but I speak of Aurorans in particular now. We are descended from Earthpeople – something most of us do not willingly think about – but we are self – selected.”