The Robots of Dawn

“Since you speak at my request and since your remarks are confined to this room”—the Chairman looked around; the wall niches were empty of robots—“there is no question of slander, unless it seems to me you speak with malice.”

“In that case, Mr. Chairman,” said Baley, “I had thought it possible that Dr. Amadiro detained me in his office by discussing matters with me at greater length than was perhaps necessary, so that there would be time for the damaging of my machine, then detained me further in order that I might leave after the thunderstorm had begun, thus making sure that I would be ill in transit. He had studied Earth’s social conditions, as he told me several times, so he would know what my reaction to the storm might be. It seemed to me that it was his plan to send his robots after us and, when they came upon our stalled airfoil, to have them take us all back to the Institute grounds, presumably so that I might be treated for my illness but actually so that he might have Dr. Fastolfe’s robots.”

Amadiro laughed gently. “What motive am I supposed to have for all this? You see, Mr. Chairman, that this is supposition joined to supposition and would be judged slander in any court on Aurora.”

The Chairman said severely, “Has Mr. Baley of Earth anything to support these hypotheses?”

“A line of reasoning, Mr. Chairman.”

The Chairman stood up, at once losing some of his presence, since he scarcely unfolded to a greater than sitting height. “Let me take a short walk, so that I might consider what I have heard so far. I will be right back.” He left for the Personal.

Fastolfe leaned in the direction of Baley and Baley met him halfway. (Amadiro looked on in casual unconcern, as though it scarcely mattered to him what they might have to say to each other.)

Fastolfe whispered, “Have you anything better to say?”

Baley said, “I think so, if I get the proper chance to say it, but the Chairman does not seem to be sympathetic.”

“He is not. So far you have merely made things worse and I would not be surprised, if, when he comes back, he calls these proceedings to a halt.”

Baley shook his head and stared at his shoes.

77

Baley was still staring at his shoes when the Chairman returned, reseated himself, and turned a hard and rather baleful glance at the Earthman.

He said, “Mr. Baley of Earth?”

“Yes, Mr. Chairman.”

“I think you are wasting my time, but I do not want it said that I did not give either side a full hearing, even when it seemed to be wasting my time. Can you offer me a motive that would account for Dr. Amadiro acting—in the mad way in which you accuse him of acting?”

“Mr. Chairman,” said Baley in a tone approaching desperation, “there is indeed a motive—a very good one. It rests on the fact that Dr. Amadiro’s plan for settling the Galaxy will come to nothing if he and his Institute ca

The Chairman looked at Amadiro, whose smile had faded.

Amadiro said, “I will admit that we have no humaniform robots in prospect at the moment.”

“Then I will continue,” said Baley, resuming his interrupted breathing with something very much like a gasp. “Dr. Amadiro can, of course, find all the information he needs for his project if he turns to Dr. Fastolfe, who has the information in his head, but Dr. Fastolfe will not cooperate in this matter.”

“No, I will not,” murmured Fastolfe, “under any conditions.”

“But, Mr. Chairman,” Baley continued, “Dr. Fastolfe is not the only individual who has the secret of the design and construction of humaniform robots.”

“No?” said the Chairman. “Who else would know? Dr. Fastolfe himself looks astonished at your comment, Mr. Baley.” (For the first time, he did not add “of Earth.”)

“I am indeed astonished,” said Fastolfe. “To my knowledge, I am certainly the only one. I don’t know what Mr. Baley means.”

Amadiro said, with a small curling of the lip, “I suspect Mr. Baley doesn’t know, either.”

Baley felt hemmed in. He looked from one to the other and felt that not one of them—not one—was on his side.

He said, “Isn’t it true that any humaniform robot would know? Not consciously perhaps, not in such a way as to be able to give instructions in the matter but the information would surely be there within him, wouldn’t it? If a humaniform robot was properly questioned his answers and responses would betray his design and construction. Eventually, given enough time and given questions properly framed, a humaniform robot would yield information that would make it I possible to plan die design of other humaniform robots.—To put it briefly, no machine can be of secret design if the machine itself is available for sufficiently intense study.”

Fastolfe seemed struck. “I see what you mean, Mr. Baley, and you are right. I had never thought of that.”

“With respect, Dr. Fastolfe,” said Baley, “I must tell you that, like all Aurorans, you have a peculiarly individualistic pride. You are entirely too satisfied with being the best roboticist, the only roboticist who can construct humaniform so you blind yourself to the obvious.”

The Chairman relaxed into a smile. “He has you there, Dr. Fastolfe. I have wondered why you were so eager to maintain that you were the only one with the know-how to destroy Jander when that so weakened your political case. I see clearly now that you would rather have your political case go down than your uniqueness.”

Fastolfe chafed visibly.

As for Amadiro, he frowned and said, “Has this anything to do with the problem under discussion?”

“Yes, it does,” said Baley, he felt his confidence rising.

“You ca

Amadiro said, “Mr. Chairman, I protest. I have never heard slander so viciously expressed. This is all based on the fancies of an ill man. We don’t know—and perhaps can’t ever know—whether the airfoil was really damaged; and if it was, by whom; whether robots really pursued the airfoil and really spoke to Mr. Baley or not. He is merely piling inference on inference, all based on dubious testimony concerning events of which he is the only witness—and that at a time when he was half-mad, with fear and may have been hallucinating. None of this can stand up for one moment in a courtroom.”

“This is not a courtroom, Dr. Amadiro,” said the Chairman, “and it is my duty to listen to everything that may be germane to a question under dispute.”

“This is not germane, Mr. Chairman. It is a cobweb.”