Asimov's Future History Volume 5

by Isaac Asimov

  “And Gladia, who preferred Jander to human beings –”

  “She is a Solarian. You cannot judge from her case, either.”

  “What case can you judge from, then? You are only guessing. To me, it seems obvious that, if a robot is human enough, he would be accepted as human. Do you demand proof that I am not a robot? The fact that I seem human is enough. In the end, we will not worry whether a new world is settled by Aurorans who are human in fact or in appearance, if no one can tell the difference. But – human or robot – the settlers will be Aurorans either way, not Earthpeople.”

  Baley’s assurance faltered. He said unconvincingly, “What if you never learn how to construct a humaniform robot?”

  “Why would you expect we would not? Notice that I say ‘we.’ There are many of us involved here.”

  “It may be that any number of mediocrities do not add up to one genius.”

  Amadiro said shortly, “We are not mediocrities. Fastolfe may yet find it profitable to come in with us.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “I do. He will not enjoy being without power in the Legislature and, when our plans for settling the Galaxy move ahead and he sees that his opposition does not stop us, he will join us. It will be only human of him to do so.”

  “I don’t think you will win out,” said Baley.

  “Because you think that somehow this investigation of yours will exonerate Fastolfe and implicate me, perhaps, or someone else.”

  ‘Perhaps,” said Baley desperately.

  Amadiro shook his head. “My friend, if I thought that anything you could do would spoil my plans, would I be sitting still and waiting for destruction?”

  “You are not. You are doing everything you can to have this investigation aborted. Why would you do that if you were confident that nothing I could do would get in your way?”

  “Well,” said Amadiro, “you can get in my way by demoralizing some of the members of the Institute. You can’t be dangerous, but you can be annoying – and I don’t want that either. So, if I can, I’ll put an end to the annoyance – but I’ll do that in reasonable fashion, in gentle fashion, even. If you were actually dangerous –”

  “What could you do, Dr. Amadiro, in that case?”

  “I could have you seized and imprisoned until you were evicted. I don’t think Aurorans generally would worry overmuch about what I might do to an Earthman.”

  Baley said, “You are trying to browbeat me and that won’t work. You know very well you could not lay a hand on me with my robots present.”

  Amadiro said, “Does it occur to you that I have a hundred robots within call? What would yours do against them?”

  “All hundred could not harm me. They cannot distinguish between Earthmen and Aurorans. I am human within the meaning of the Three Laws.”

  “They could hold you quite immobilized – without harming you – while your robots were destroyed.”

  “Not so,” said Baley. “Giskard can hear you arid, if you make a move to summon your robots, Giskard will have you immobilized. He moves very quickly and, once that happens, your robots will be helpless, even if you manage to call them. They will understand that any move against me will result in harm to you.”

  “You mean that Giskard will hurt me?”

  “To protect me from harm? Certainly. He will kill you, if absolutely necessary.”

  “Surely you don’t mean that.”

  “I do,” said Baley. “Daneel and Giskard have orders to protect me. The First Law, in this respect, has been strengthened with all the skill Dr. Fastolfe can bring to the job – and with respect to me, specifically. I haven’t been told this in so many words, but I’m quite sure it’s true. If my robots must choose between harm to you and harm to me, Earthman though I am, it will be easy for them to choose harm to you. I imagine you are well aware that Dr. Fastolfe is not very eager to ensure your well – being.

  Amadiro chuckled and a grin wreathed his face. “I’m sure you’re right in every respect, Mr. Baley, but it is good to have you say so. You know, my good sir, that I am recording this conversation also – I told you so at the start – and I’m glad of it. It is possible that Dr. Fastolfe will erase the last part of this conversation, but I assure you I won’t. It is clear from what you have said that he is quite prepared to devise a robotic way of doing harm to me – even kill me, if he can manage that – whereas it cannot be said from anything in this conversation – or any other – that I plan any physical harm to him whatever or even to you. Which of us is the villain, Mr. Baley? – I think you have established that and I think, then, that this is a good place at which to end the interview.”

  He rose, still smiling, and Baley, swallowing hard, stood up as well, almost automatically.

  Amadiro said, “I still have one thing to say, however. It has nothing to do with our little contretemps here on Aurora – Fastolfe’s and mine. Rather, with your own problem, Mr. Baley.”

  “My problem?”

  “Perhaps I should say Earth’s problem. I imagine that you feel very anxious to save poor Fastolfe from his own folly because you think that will give your planet a chance for expansion. – Don’t think so, Mr. Baley. You are quite wrong, rather arsyvarsy, to use a vulgar expression I’ve come across in some of your planet’s historical novels.”

  “I’m not familiar with that phrase,” said Baley stiffly.

  “I mean you have the situation reversed. You see, when my view wins out in the Legislature – and note that I say ‘when’ and not ‘if – Earth will be forced to remain in her own planetary system, I admit, but that will actually be to her benefit. Aurora will have the prospect of expansion and of establishing an endless empire. If we then know that Earth will merely be Earth and never anything more, of what concern will she be to us? With the Galaxy at our disposal, we will not begrudge Earthpeople their one world. We would even be disposed to make Earth as comfortable a world for her people as would be practical.

  “On the other hand, Mr. Baley, if Aurorans do what Fastolfe asks and allow Earth to send out settling parties, then it won’t be long before it will occur to an increasing number of us that Earth will take over the Galaxy and that we will be encircled and hemmed in, that we will be doomed to decay and death. After that, there will be nothing I can do. My Own quite kindly feeling toward Earthmen will not be able to withstand the general kindling of Auroran suspicion and prejudice and it will then be very bad for Earth.

  “So if, Mr. Baley, you are truly concerned for your own people, you should be very anxious indeed for Fastolfe not to succeed in foisting upon this planet his very misguided plan. You should be a strong ally of mine. Think about it. I tell you this, I assure you, out of a sincere friendship and liking for you and for your planet.”

  Amadiro was smiling as broadly as ever, but it was all wolf now.

  57.

  BALEY AND HIS robots followed Amadiro out the room and along the corridor.

  Amadiro stopped at one inconspicuous door and said, “Would you care to use the facilities before leaving?”

  For a moment, Baley frowned in confusion, for he did not understand. Then he remembered the antiquated phrase Amadiro had used, thanks to his own reading of historical novels.

  He said, “There was an ancient general, whose name I have forgotten, who, mindful of the exigencies of sudden absorption in military affairs, once said, ‘Never turn down a chance to piss.

  Amadiro smiled broadly and said, “Excellent advice. Quite as good as my advice to think seriously about what I have said. – But I notice that you hesitate, even so. Surely you don’t think I am laying a trap for you. Believe me, I am not a barbarian. You are my guest in this building and, for that reason alone, you are perfectly safe.”

  Baley said cautiously, “If I hesitate, it is because I am considering the propriety of using your – uh – facilities, considering that I am not an Auroran.”

  “Nonsense, my dear Baley. What is your alternative? Needs must. Please make use of it.
Let that be a symbol that I myself am not subject to the general Auroran prejudices and wish you and Earth well.”

  “Could you go a step further?”

  “In what way, Mr. Baley?”

  “Could you show me that you are also superior to this planet’s prejudice against robots –”

  “There is no prejudice against robots,” said Amadiro quickly. Baley nodded his head solemnly in apparent acceptance of the remark and completed his sentence. “– by allowing them to enter the Personal with me. I have grown to feel uncomfortable without them.”

  For one moment, Amadiro seemed shaken. He recovered almost at once and said, with what was almost a scowl, “By all means, Mr. Baley.”

  “Yet whoever is now inside might object strenuously. I would not want to create scandal.”

  “No one is in there. It is a one – person Personal and, if someone were making use of it, the in – use signal would indicate that.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Amadiro,” said Baley. He opened the door and said, “Giskard, please enter.”

  Giskard clearly hesitated, but said nothing in objection and entered. At a gesture from Baley, Daneel followed, but as he passed through the door, he took Baley’s elbow and pulled him in as well.

  Baley said, as the door closed behind him, “I’ll be out again soon. Thank you for allowing this.”

  He entered the room with as much unconcern as he could manage and yet he felt a tightness in the pit of his abdomen. Might it contain some unpleasant surprise?

  58.

  BALEY FOUND THE Personal empty, however. There was not even much to search. It was smaller than the one in Fastolfe’s establishment.

  Eventually, he noticed Daneel and Giskard standing silently side by side, backs against the door, as though endeavoring to have entered the room by the least amount possible.

  Baley tried to speak normally, but what camp out was a dim croak. He cleared his throat with unnecessary noise and said, “You can come farther into the room – and you needn’t remain silent, Daneel.” (Daneel had been on Earth. He knew the Earthly taboo against speech in the Personal.)

  Daneel displayed that knowledge at once. He put his forefinger to his lips.

  Baley said, “I know, I know, but forget it. If Amadiro can forget the Auroran taboo about robots in Personals, I can forget the Earthly taboo about speech there.”

  “Will it not make you uncomfortable, Partner Elijah?” asked Daneel in a low voice.

  “Not a bit,” said Baley in an ordinary one. (Actually, speech felt different with Daneel – a robot. The sound of speech in a room such as this when, actually, no human being was present was not as horrifying as it might be. In fact, it was not horrifying at all when only robots were present, however humaniform one of them might be. Baley could not say so, of course. Though Daneel had no feelings a human being could hurt, Baley had feelings on his behalf.)

  And then Baley thought of something else and felt, quite intensely, the sensation of being a thoroughgoing fool.

  “Or,” he said to Daneel, in a voice that was suddenly very low indeed, “are you suggesting silence because this room is bugged?” The last word came out merely as a shaping of the mouth.

  “If you mean, Partner Elijah, that people outside this room can detect what is spoken inside this room through some sort of eavesdropping device, that is quite impossible.”

  “Why impossible?”

  The toilet device flushed itself with quick and silent efficiency and Baley advanced toward the washbasin.

  Daneel said, “On Earth, the dense packing of the Cities makes privacy impossible. Overhearing is taken for granted and to use a device to make overhearing more efficient might seem natural. If an Earthman wishes not to be overheard, he simply doesn’t speak, which may be why silence is so mandatory in places where there is a pretense of privacy, as in the very rooms you call Personals.

  “On Aurora, on the other hand, as on all the Spacer worlds, privacy is a true fact of life and is greatly valued. You remember Solaria and the diseased extremes to which it was carried there. But even on Aurora, which is no Solaria, every human being is insulated from every other human being by the kind of space extension unthinkable on Earth and by a wall of robots, in addition. To break down that privacy would be an unthinkable act.”

  Baley said, “Do you mean it would be a crime to bug this room?”

  “Much worse, Partner Elijah. It would not be the act of a civilized Auroran gentleman.”

  Baley looked about. Daneel, mistaking the gesture, plucked a towel out of the dispenser, which might not have been instantly apparent to the other’s unaccustomed eyes, and offered it to Baley.

  Baley accepted the towel, but that was not the object of his questing glance. It was a bug for which his eyes searched, for he found it difficult to believe that someone would forego an easy advantage on the ground that it would not be civilized behavior. It was, however, useless and Baley, rather despondently, knew it would be. He would not be able to detect an Auroran bug, even if one were there. He wouldn’t know what to look for in a strange culture.

  Whereupon he followed the course of another strand of suspicion in his mind. “Tell me, Daneel, since you know Aurorans better than I do, why do you suppose Amadiro is taking all this trouble with me? He talks to me at his leisure. He sees me out. He offers me the use of this room – something Vasilia would not have done. He seems to have all the time in the world to spend on me. Politeness?”

  “Many Aurorans pride themselves on their politeness. It may be that Amadiro does. He has several times stressed that he is not a barbarian.”

  “Another question. Why do you think he was willing to have me bring you and Giskard into this room?”

  “It seemed to me that that was to remove your suspicions that the offer of this room might conceal a trap.”

  “Why should he bother? Because he was concerned over the possibility of my experiencing unnecessary anxiety?”

  “Another gesture of a civilized Auroran gentleman, I should imagine.”

  Baley shook his head. “Well, if this room is bugged and Amadiro can hear me, let him hear me. I don’t consider him a civilized Auroran gentleman. He made it quite clear that, if I did not abandon my investigation, he would see to it that Earth as a whole would suffer. Is that the act of a civilized gentleman? Or of an incredibly brutal blackmailer?”

  Daneel said, “An Auroran gentleman may find it necessary to utter threats, but if so, he would do it in a gentlemanly manner.”

  “As Amadiro did. It is, then, the manner and not the content of speech that marks the gentleman. But then, Daneel, you are a robot and therefore can not really criticize a human being, can you?”

  Daneel said, “It would be difficult for me to do so. But may I ask a question, Partner Elijah? Why did you ask permission to bring friend Giskard and me into this room? It had seemed to me that you were reluctant, earlier, to believe you were in danger. Have you now decided that you are not safe except in our presence?”

  “No, not at all, Daneel. I am now quite convinced that I am not in danger and have not been.”

  “Yet there was a distinctly suspicious cast about your actions when you entered this room, Partner Elijah. You searched it.”

  Baley said, “Of course! I said I am not in danger, but I do not say there is no danger.”

  “I do not think I see the distinction, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel.

  “We will discuss it later, Daneel. I am still not certain as to whether this room is bugged or not.”

  Baley was by now quite done. He said, “Well, Daneel, I’ve been leisurely about this; I haven’t rushed at all. Now I’m ready to go out again and I wonder if Amadiro is still waiting for us after all this time or whether he has delegated an underling to do the rest of the job of showing us out. After all, Amadiro is a busy man and cannot spend all day with me. What do you think, Daneel?”

  “It would be more logical if Dr. Amadiro had delegated the task.”

  “And
you, Giskard? What do you think?”

  “I agree with friend Daneel, though it is my experience that human beings do not always make what would seem the logical response.”

  Baley said, “For my part, I suspect Amadiro is waiting for us quite patiently. If something has driven him to waste this much time on us, I rather think that the driving force – whatever it might be – has not yet weakened.”

  “I do not know what might be the driving force you speak of, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel.

  “Nor I, Daneel,” said Baley, “which bothers me a great deal. But let us open the door now and see.”

  59.

  AMADIRO WAS WAITING outside the door for them, precisely where Baley had left him. He smiled at them, showing no sign of impatience. Baley could not resist shooting a quiet I – told – you – so glance at Daneel, who responded with bland impassivity.

  Amadiro said, “I rather regretted, Mr. Baley, that you had not left Giskard outside when you entered the Personal. I might have known him in times past, when Fastolfe and I were on better terms but somehow never did. Fastolfe was my teacher once, you know.”

  “Was he?” said Baley. “I didn’t know that, as a matter of fact.”

  “No reason you should, unless you had been told – and, in the short time you’ve been on the planet, you can scarcely have had time to learn much in the way of this sort of trivia, I suppose. Come now, it has occurred to me that you can scarcely think me hospitable if I do not take advantage of your being at the Institute to show you around.”

  “Really,” said Baley, stiffening a bit. “I must –”

  “I insist,” said Amadiro, with something of a note of the imperious entering his voice. “You arrived on Aurora yesterday morning and I doubt that you will be staying on the planet much longer. This may be the only chance you will ever have of getting a glimpse of a modern laboratory doing research work on robotics.”

  He linked arms with Baley and continued to speak in familiar terms. (“Prattled” was the term that occurred to the astonished Baley.)