Robots and Empire

Another door opened, showing a room that was most comfortably furnished. It was without windows, but was illuminated by soft light and suffused with even softer music.

Gladia stopped at the threshold and said sharply, “Why?”

“A member of the Institute wishes to see you and speak to you. It will not take long, but it is necessary. Once that is done, you are free to go. You will not even be plagued by my presence from this moment on. Please.” There was a touch of hidden steel in the last word.

Gladia reached out her arms for Daneel and Giskard. “We enter together.”

Amadiro laughed genially. “Do you think I’m trying to separate you from your robots? Do you think they would allow that? You have been too long with Settlers, my dear.”

Gladia looked at the closed door and said between her teeth, “I dislike that man intensely. And most intensely when he smiles and tries to be soothing.”

She stretched, her elbow joints cracking slightly. “In any case, I’m tired. If someone comes with further questions about Solaria and Baleyworld, they are going to get short answers, I tell you.”

She sat down on a couch that gave softly under her weight. She slipped her shoes off and lifted her feet to the couch. She smiled sleepily, took a deep breath as she sank to one side, and, with her head turned away from the room, was instantly and deeply asleep.

70

“It is well she was naturally sleepy,” said Giskard. “I was able to deepen it without any hint of damage to her at all.—I would not want Lady Gladia to hear what is likely to come.”

“What is likely to come, friend Giskard?” asked Daneel.

“What is to come is the result, I think, of my being wrong, friend Daneel, and of your being right. I should have taken your excellent mind more seriously.”

“It is you, then, they want to keep on Aurora?”

“Yes. And in urgently calling for Lady Gladia’s return, they were calling for mine. You heard Dr. Amadiro ask for us to be left behind. At first both of us and then myself alone.”

“Might it be that his words have but the surface meaning, that he feels it dangerous to lose an advanced robot to the Earthmen?”

“There was an underlying current of anxiety, friend Daneel, that I judge to be far too strong to match his words.”

“Can you tell whether he knows of your special abilities?”

“I ca

“When did this happen, friend Giskard?”

“The second time was when Lady Gladia mentioned she would be going to Earth.”

“That created no visible stir among the Council members. What were their minds like?”

“I could not tell. They were present through holovision and such images are not accompanied by any mental sensations that I can detect.”

“We may conclude, then, that whether the Council is or is not disturbed by Lady Gladia’s projected trip to Earth, Dr. Amadiro, at least, is disturbed.”

“It is not simple disturbance. Dr. Amadiro seemed anxious in the highest degree; as we would expect, for instance, if he indeed had a project in hand, as we suspect, for the destruction of Earth and feared its discovery. What is more, at Lady Gladia’s mention of this intention of hers, friend Daneel, Dr. Amadiro glanced briefly at me; the only moment in all the session that he did. The flash of emotional intensity coincided with that glance. I think it was the thought of my going to Earth that made him anxious.—As we might expect, if he felt that I, with my special powers, would be a particular danger to his plans.”

“His actions might also be taken, friend Giskard, as fitting his expressed fear that the Earthmen would try to appropriate you as an advanced robot and that this would be bad, for Aurora.”

“The chance of that happening, friend Daneel, and the extent of damage that might do the Spacer community is too small to account for his level of anxiety. What harm could I do Aurora if I were in Earth’s possession—if I were simply the Giskard I am taken to be?”

“You conclude, then, that Dr. Amadiro knows you are not simply the Giskard you are taken to be.”

“I am not sure. He may simply suspect it. If he knew what I was, would he not make every effort to avoid making his plans in my presence?”

“It may simply be his misfortune that Lady Gladia will not be separated from us. He ca

“The first came with the mention of the nuclear intensifier—and that, too, seems significant. The concept of a nuclear intensifier is well known on Aurora. They don’t have a portable device; not one light, enough and efficient enough to be practical on shipboard, but it’s not something that would break upon him like a thunderbolt. Why, then, so much anxiety?”

“Possibly,” said Daneel, “because an intensifier of that sort has something to do with his plans on Earth.”

“Possibly.”

And it was at this point that the door opened, a person entered, and a voice said, “Well—Giskard!”

71

Giskard looked at the newcomer and said in a calm voice, “Madam Vasilia.”

“You remember me, then,” said Vasilia, smiling warmly.

“Yes, madam. You are a well-known roboticist and your face is on the hyperwave news now and then.”

“Come, Giskard. I do not mean that you recognize me. Anyone can do that. I mean, you remember me. You once called me Miss Vasilia.”

“I remember that, too, madam. It was a long time ago.”

Vasilia closed the door behind her and sat down in one of the chairs. She turned her face toward the other robot. “And you are Daneel, of course.”

Daneel said, “Yes, madam. To make use of the distinction you have just advanced, I both remember you, for I was with Plainclothesman Elijah Baley once when he interviewed you, and I recognize you, too.”

Vasilia said sharply, “You are not to refer to that Earthman again.—I recognize you as well, Daneel. You are as famous as I am in your own way. You are both famous, for you are the greatest creations of the late Dr. Han Fastolfe.”

“Of your father, madam,” said Giskard.

“You know very well, Giskard, that I attach no importance to that purely genetic relationship. You are not to refer to him in that ma

“I will not, madam.”

“And this one?” She looked casually at the sleeping figure on the couch. “Since you two are here, I can reasonably assume that the sleeping beauty is the Solarian woman.”

Giskard said, “She is Lady Gladia and I am her property. Do you want her awake, madam?”

“We will merely disturb her, Giskard, if you and I talk of old times. Let her sleep.”

“Yes, madam.”

Vasilia said to Daneel, “Perhaps the discussion that Giskard and I will have will be of no interest to you, either, Daneel. Would you wait outside?”

Daneel said, “I fear I ca

“I don’t think she needs much guarding from me. You’ll notice I do not have any of my robots with me, so Giskard alone will be ample protection for your Solarian lady.”

Daneel said, “You have no robots in the room, madam, but I saw four robots just outside in the corridor when the door was opened. It will be best if I stay.”