Prelude to Foundation

Daneel paused, as though trying to pick his words, then said, “I do not wish to go into the mathematics of my positronic brain. It is more than I can understand, though perhaps not more than you can if you give it enough thought. However, I am governed by the Three Laws of Robotics that are traditionally put into words-or once were, long ago. They are these:

“ ‘One. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

“ ‘Two. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

“ ‘Three. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.’

“But I had a… a friend twenty thousand years ago. Another robot. Not like myself. He could not be mistaken for a human being, but it was he who had the mental powers and it was through him that I gained mine. “It seemed to him that there should be a still more general rule than any of the Three Laws. He called it the Zeroth Law, since zero comes before one. It is:

“ ‘Zero. A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.’

“Then the First Law must read:

“ ‘One. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the Zeroth Law.’

“And the other laws must be similarly modified. Do you understand?”

Daneel paused earnestly and Seldon said, “I understand.” Daneel went on. “The trouble is, Hari, that a human being is easy to identify. I can point to one. It is easy to see what will harm a human being and what won’t-relatively easy, at least. But what is humanity? To what can we point when we speak of humanity? And how can we define harm to humanity? When will a course of action do more good than harm to humanity as a whole and how can one tell? The robot who first advanced the Zeroth law died-became permanently inactive-because he was forced into an action that he felt would save humanity, yet which he could not be sure would save humanity. And as he became inactivated, he left the care of the Galaxy to me.

“Since then, I have tried. I have interfered as little as possible, relying on human beings themselves to judge what was for the good. They could gamble; I could not. They could miss their goals; I did not dare. They could do harm unwittingly; I would grow inactive if I did. The Zeroth Law makes no allowance for unwitting harm.

“But at times I am forced to take action. That I am still functioning shows that my actions have been moderate and discreet. However, as the Empire began to fail and to decline, I have had to interfere more frequently and for decades now I have had to play the role of Demerzel, trying to run the government in such a way as to stave off ruin-and yet I will function, you see.

“When you made your speech to the Dece

More than a little daunted, Seldon said, “I understand, Hummin.”

“To you, I must remain Hummin on those rare occasions when I will be able to see you. I will give you what information I have if it is something you need and in my persona as Demerzel I will protect you as much as I can. As Daneel, you must never speak of me.”

“I wouldn’t want to,” said Seldon hurriedly. “Since I need your help, it would ruin matters to have your plans impeded.”

“Yes, I know you wouldn’t want to.” Daneel smiled wearily. “After all, you are vain enough to want full credit for psychohistory. You would not want anyone to know-ever-that you needed the help of a robot.”

Seldon flushed. “I am not-”

“But you are, even if you carefully hide it from yourself. And it is important, for I am strengthening that emotion within you minimally so that you will never be able to speak of me to others. It will not even occur to you that you might do so.”

Seldon said, “I suspect Dors knows-”

“She knows of me. And she too ca

Daneel rose.-Hari, I have my work to do now. Before long, you and Dors will be taken back to the Imperial Sector-”

“The boy Raych must come with me. I ca

“I understand. Raych will be taken too and you can do with any friend as you will. You will all be taken care of appropriately. And you will work on psychohistory. You will have a staff. You will have the necessary computers and reference material. I will interfere as little as possible and if there is resistance to your views that does not actually reach the point of endangering the mission, then you will have to deal with it yourself.”

“Wait, Hummin,” said Seldon urgently. “What if, despite all your help and all my endeavors, it turns out that psychohistory ca

Daneel rose. “In that case, I have a second plan in hand. One I have been working on a long time on a separate world in a separate way. It too is very difficult and to some ways even more radical than psychohistory. It may fail too, but there is a greater chance of success if two roads are open than if either one alone was.

“Take my advice, Hari! If the time comes when you are able to set up some device that may act to prevent the worst from happening see if you can think of two devices, so that if one fails, the other will carry on. The Empire must be steadied or rebuilt on a new foundation. Let there be two such, rather than one, if that is possible.”

He rose, “Now I must return to my ordinary work and you must turn to yours. You will be taken care of.”

With one final nod, he rose and left.

Seldon looked after him and said softly, “First I must speak to Dors.”

Dors said, “The palace is cleared. Rashelle will not be physically harmed. And you’ll return to the Imperial Sector, Hari.”

“And you, Dors?” said Seldon in a low tight voice.

“I presume I will go back to the University,” she said. “My work is being neglected, my classes abandoned.”

“No, Dors, you have a greater task.”

“What is that?”

“Psychohistory. I ca

“Of course you can. I am a total illiterate in mathematics.”

“And I in history-and we need both.”

Dors laughed. “I suspect that, as a mathematician, you are one of a kind. I, as a historian, am merely adequate, certainly not outstanding. You will find any number of historians who will suit the needs of psychohistory better than I do.”

“In that case, Dors, let me explain that psychohistory needs more than a mathematician and a historian. It also needs the will to tackle what will probably be a lifetime problem. Without you, Dors, I will not have that will.”

“Of course you’ll have it.”

“Dors, if you’re not with me, I don’t intend to have it.”

Dors looked at Seldon thoughtfully. “This is a fruitless discussion, Hari. Undoubtedly, Hummin will make the decision. If he sends me back to the University.”

“He won’t.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I’ll put it to him plainly. If he sends you back to the University, I’ll go back to Helicon and the Empire can go ahead and destroy itself.”