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R. Daneel said slowly, “I ca
“What do you mean?”
“Your conversion to this view is too sudden. There are certain discrepancies, too. You arranged the appointment with Dr. Gerrigel hours before the evening meal. You did not know of my food sac then and could not have suspected me as the murderer. Why did you call him, then?”
“I suspected you even then.”
“And last night you spoke as you slept.” Baley’s eyes widened. “What did I say?”
“Merely the one word ‘Jessie’ several times repeated. I believe you were referring to your wife.”
Baley let his tight muscles loosen. He said, shakily, “I had a nightmare. Do you know what that is?”
“I do not know by personal experience, of course. The dictionary definition has it that it is a bad dream.”
“And do you know what a dream is?”
“Again, the dictionary definition only. It is an illusion of reality experienced during the temporary suspension of conscious thought which you call sleep.”
“All right. I’ll buy that. An illusion. Sometimes the illusions can seem damned real. Well, I dreamed my wife was in danger. It’s the sort of dream people often have. I called her name. That happens under such circumstances, too. You can take my word for it.”
“I am only too glad to do so. But it brings up a thought. How did Jessie find out I was a robot?”
Baley’s forehead went moist again. “We’re not going into that again, are we? The rumor—”
“I am sorry to interrupt, partner Elijah, but there is no rumor. If there were, the City would be alive with unrest today. I have checked reports coming into the Department and this is not so. There simply is no rumor. Therefore, how did your wife find out?”
“Jehoshaphat! What are you trying to say? Do you think my wife is one of the members of—of…”
“Yes, Elijah.”
Baley gripped his hands together tightly. “Well, she isn’t, and we won’t discuss that point any further.”
“This is not like you, Elijah. In the course of duty, you accused me of murder twice.”
“And is this your way of getting even?”
“I am not sure I understand what you mean by the phrase. Certainly, I approve your readiness to suspect me. You had your reasons. They were wrong, but they might easily have been right. Equally strong evidence points to your wife.”
“As a murderess? Why, damn you, Jessie wouldn’t hurt her worst enemy. She couldn’t set foot outside the City. She couldn’t…”—Why, if you were flesh and blood I’d—”
“I merely say that she is a member of the conspiracy. I say that she should be questioned.”
“Not on your life. Not on whatever it is you call your life. Now, listen to me. The Medievalists aren’t after our blood. It’s not the way they do things. But they are trying to get you out of the City. That much is obvious. And they’re trying to do it by a kind of psychological attack. They’re trying to make life unpleasant for you and for me, since I’m with you. They could easily have found out Jessie was my wife, and it was an obvious move for them to let the news leak to her. She’s like any other human being. She doesn’t like robots. She wouldn’t want me to associate with one, especially if she thought it involved danger, and surely they would imply that. I tell you it worked. She begged all night to have me abandon the case or to get you out of the City somehow.”
“Presumably,” said R. Daneel, “you have a very strong urge to protect your wife against questioning. It seems obvious to me that you are constructing this line of argument without really believing it.”
“What the hell do you think you are?” ground out Baley. “You’re not a detective. You’re a cerebroanalysis machine like the electroencephalographs we have in this building. You’ve got arms, legs, a head, and can talk, but you’re not one inch more than that machine. Putting a lousy circuit into you doesn’t make you a detective, so what do you know? You keep your mouth shut, and let me do the figuring out.”
The robot said quietly, “I think it would be better if you lowered your voice, Elijah. Granted that I am not a detective in the sense that you are, I would still like to bring one small item to your attention.”
“I’m not interested in listening.”
“Please do. If I am wrong, you will tell me so, and it will do no harm. It is only this. Last night you left our room to call Jessie by corridor phone. I suggested that your son go in your place. You told me it was not the custom among Earthmen for a father to send his son into danger. Is it then the custom for a mother to do so?”
“No, of cour—” began Baley, and stopped.
“You see my point,” said R. Daneel. “Ordinarily, if Jessie feared for your safety and wished to warn you, she would risk her own life, not send her son. The fact that she did send Bentley could only mean that she felt that he would be safe while she herself would not. If the conspiracy consisted of people unknown to Jessie, that would not be the case, or at least she would have no reason to think it to be the case. On the other hand, if she were a member of the conspiracy, she would know, she would know, Elijah, that she would be watched for and recognized, whereas Bentley might get through u
“Wait now,” said Baley, sick at heart, “that’s feather-fine reasoning.”
There was no need to wait. The signal on the Commissioner’s desk was flickering madly. R. Daneel waited for Baley to answer, but the latter could only stare at it helplessly. The robot closed contact.
“What is it?”
R. Sammy’s slurring voice said, “There is a lady here who wishes to see Lije. I told her he was busy, but she will not go away. She says her name is Jessie.”
“Let her in,” said R. Daneel calmly, and his brown eyes rose unemotionally to meet the panicky glare of Baley’s.
Chapter 14.
POWER OF A NAME
Baley remained standing in a tetany of shock, as Jessie ran to him, seizing his shoulders, huddling close.
His pale lips formed the word, “Bentley?”
She looked at him and shook her head, her brown hair flying with the force of her motion. “He’s all right.”
“Well, then…”
Jessie said through a sudden torrent of sobs, in a low voice that could scarcely be made out, “I can’t go on, Lije. I can’t. I can’t sleep or eat. I’ve got to tell you.”
“Don’t say anything,” Baley said in anguish. “For God’s sake, Jessie, not now.”
“I must. I’ve done a terrible thing. Such a terrible thing. Oh, Lije…” She lapsed into incoherence.
Baley said, hopelessly, “We’re not alone, Jessie.”
She looked up and stared at R. Daneel with no signs of recognition. The tears in which her eyes were swimming might easily be refracting the robot into a featureless blur.
R. Daneel said in a low murmur, “Good afternoon, Jessie.”
She gasped. “Is it the—the robot?”
She dashed the back of her hand across her eyes and stepped out of Baley’s encircling right arm. She breathed deeply and, for a moment, a tremulous smile wavered on her lips. “It is you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Jessie.”
“You don’t mind being called a robot?”
“No, Jessie. It is what I am.”
“And I don’t mind being called a fool and an idiot and a—a subversive agent, because it’s what I am.”
“Jessie!” groaned Baley.
“It’s no use, Lije,” she said. “He might as well know if he’s your partner. I can’t live with it any more. I’ve had such a time since yesterday. I don’t care if I go to jail. I don’t care if they send me down to the lowest levels and make me live on raw yeast and water. I don’t care if… You won’t let them, will you, Lije? Don’t let them do anything to me. I’m fuh—frightened.”
Baley patted her shoulder and let her cry.
He said to R. Daneel. “She isn’t well. We can’t keep her here. What time is it?”
R. Daneel said without any visible signs of consulting a timepiece, “Fourteen-forty-five.”