Inferno

“Except suddenly you can see the sky is full of police vehicles of one sort or another. The police have discovered Huthwitz’s body. You still can’t leave. Then I arrive, and rush up the stairs. Grieg has been discovered long before you expected.

“Suddenly you hear new footsteps in the halls and realize they are searching room to room. You hide under the bed or something during the first, cursory search. But you know they will search again, or at the very least stumble across you. You can’t hide in the one room forever. So you very cleverly brazen it out.

“You hide the incriminating door wedge and communicator, and then dress in the pajamas left in the room. Maybe you can talk your way out of it. It’s a long shot, but the only chance you have. You wander out into the hallway, and pretend you’re a house guest who’s slept through the whole thing. Donald here snatches you up. And you very nearly got away with it. Until Cinta Melloy here decided to look into whether Grieg ever had overnight guests-and found out he never did. We never thought to check the other side of the point, by the way. Did you have a hotel reservation in Limbo City? If-or rather when-we do find one, how will you explain it?”

Verick opened his mouth and shut it again, and swallowed hard, and then at last the words came out. “ And what was my motive supposed to be in this lunatic scheme?” he asked, his voice tight and calm and strained. “What was all this supposed to accomplish for me?”

“Profit,” Kresh said. “Huge profit. Money. Not a motive we Spacers cops are used to. I didn’t even consider it at first. Money hasn’t meant much for a while, though it’s started to again. You went into that meeting with Kresh to find out if he had accepted your control system design. If he told you he had chosen your system, you would not signal Bissal, there would be no attack, and Bissal would slip away when he could. If Grieg told you Phrost had the job-well then, a terrifying assassination of the Governor might well sow just enough distrust of robots that a new Governor would not go with a robot design-or else it might be easier to bribe the new incumbent. You might even already know Beddle wasn’t above taking Settler money. You might even have had some dealings with him. Did you offer Grieg a bribe, by the way? He was half expecting that you would. ”

Verick screamed and lunged, and Donald had to struggle a bit to hold him down.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Governor Kresh. “Commander Devray, perhaps you could take this man into custody.”

16

“AND THAT IS THAT,” Kresh said, after Melloy and Welton were gone and Devray and his Rangers took a sobbing, hysterical Tierlaw Verick away. “You two are free to go,” he said to Beddle and Phrost.

“But what about the charges against us?” Beddle asked.

“What charges?” Kresh asked. “No one has filed any that I’m aware of. I don’t intend to. ”

“That’s very generous of you, Governor,” said Sero Phrost.

“The hell it is,” Kresh said. “I think I can do more damage to the two of you by letting you stay in the public eye. After all, everything that was said in this room today is bound to reach the public, somehow. Someone is bound to leak something-wouldn’t you agree, Prospero? Stories-at the very least rumors-about smuggling and bribery and money laundering are bound to float to the surface. I have a feeling that Tonya Welton is going to be able to explain away a lot of things you two can’t. Oh, and Beddle, I’m looking forward to your a

“But I-I-”

“Quiet, Simcor,” Phrost said. “Don’t give him any more ammunition. Let’s get out of here. ” The two men got up and left, and Kresh was glad to push the door button and get them out of his sight.

“They’re down now, but they won’t stay down,” said Fredda Leving. “You know that, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Kresh said. “Phrost still has a lot of friends, and a lot of money, and there are plenty of true believers in the Ironheads who’ll forgive Beddle anything. But this way, they’re damaged goods. If I brought charges against them, they could accuse me of politicizing the courts, or something. Better to let the rumors leak out and do their damage.”

Kresh stood up and stretched and looked thoughtful for a moment. “ You know, I’ve just had an odd thought, “ he said. “Of all the cases I’ve ever dealt with that concerned robots, I think this is the first one I’ve ever had where the Three Laws weren’t involved somewhere in the solution.”

“But they were, Governor Kresh,” said Caliban. “They were involved most intimately.”

“In what way?”

“ ‘A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm,’ “ Caliban said, repeating the First Law. “Verick relied most heavily upon Spacer faith in that statement. In a sense, he set fifty robots with an incomplete First Law loose in the Governor’s Residence. They were shut down, turned off-inactive. Through inaction, they allowed a human being to come to harm. ”

“It is an interesting feature of the First Law,” Donald said. “I myself experienced a most unpleasant reaction when I realized that I could have saved Grieg if I had been with him-even though it would have been impossible for me to be with him while I was performing my normal duties. No doubt there are many human beings in the universe who are being injured at this very moment. Though logically I realize there is nothing I can do about it, I must admit I find it a most disturbing notion. And it is part and parcel of the First Law. The Law is couched in such strong and solid absolutes that it ca

“Donald,” Fredda said. “That almost sounds like a criticism of the absolute nature of the Three Laws.”

“By no means, Dr. Leving. It is a criticism of the disorderly nature of everyday life.”

Fredda laughed and turned to Caliban. “ And what about you, Caliban? What about the Laws and you? Have you learned more on that score?”

“A year ago, my accidental escape from the lab, and the subsequent pursuit caused me to integrate my own internal Law-to protect myself. But if I pursued self-preservation at all cost, Prospero and I would have fled Purgatory. I have no doubt that the ensuing search for us would have cost many New Law robots their lives. I believe that I have integrated a new internal Law set-Cooperate for the greater good. Protect myself only when it does not endanger vitally important cooperation.”

Donald turned toward Caliban. “No doubt you are aware a symbolic notational representation of that statement would be remarkably similar to the Second and Third Laws.”

“Similar,” Caliban agreed. “But not identical. My version acknowledges the disorderliness of the everyday world-and, I believe, allows me to deal with it more successfully than a Three Law or New Law robot.”

“Enough!” Kresh said. “Grieg complained about the Three Laws ruling his life, and I’m begi

“All right, let’s talk about the Control Center, “ Fredda said. “I don’t see how you can choose either the Spacer or Settler design now. Both bids are too badly tainted.”

“I know,” Kresh said. “Grieg chose the Spacer design, but I’m not so sure he was right to do so. From what I’ve been able to see, they’re both first-rate designs. The people on both sides were corrupt, but their machinery was fine. I’m going to have to think mighty hard about it, but my gut reaction is to build both systems, if we can afford it. I don’t quite like the idea of the whole planet’s weather being controlled by a robot-or by whoever happens to be pushing the buttons that day on the human-controlled system. If we had both, there would be a system of checks and balances that neither would have on its own. Grieg was a great one for finding a third way. Maybe I can do the same.”