“Let me see if I understand what you are implying, Seldon. That some earlier group, or groups,saw the forgetfulness coming, and tried to fight it? They aimed to preserve all of this information, in hopes of preventing our racial amnesia?”
“Apparently. These archives represent a tremendous investment of skilled effort…and yet the endeavor obviously failed, since the empire has had ‘amnesia’-as you both put it-for a very long time.”
Gornon Vlimt murmured with unaccustomed uncertainty.
“You’re insinuating that some even greater force must have been at work to make us forget. Something or somebody far stronger than the enemies wethink we’re fighting-social conservatism and a repressive social-class system.” He blinked. “Somebody who snared all these archives and kept them from getting through…then gathered them here for safekeeping…”
Vlimt’s voice trailed off. His eyes darted to a view screen showing the nebula outside, as if he were suddenly worried about what…or who…might show up at any moment.
Hari took the initiative.
“Look. I can see that in your excitement you haven’t thought all of this through. In that case, perhaps you might be willing to heed the advice of an old professor and hold off for just a little while, before proceeding with your impulsive plan to knock away society’s underpinnings?”
Sybyl shook her head.
“Advice, from you? No, Seldon. We are enemies, you and I. But I will admit that we’ve treated your intellect with insufficient respect. You would have been a great lord in our renaissance, if you had joined us. Though you are our foe, your comments and input are welcome.”
Vlimt stared at her for a moment, then nodded.
“All right, Academician, we’ll listen to your rebukes and insights. So tell us, great one. Who do you think has been responsible? Who gave the human race amnesia? Who snared all these archives and thwarted their knowledge-sharing mission? Who stored them in this dark place, where no one was likely ever to find them?”
The question, direct. Well, Hari? You put yourself in this position. How are you going to get out of it?
Of course he knew the answer to Gornon’s query. Moreover, he understood and sympathized with both sides in this ancient conflict. On the one hand, those who wanted human memory and sovereignty restored…and those who knew it could not be allowed.
Daneel, I made a promise to you and Dors. I would not reveal the existence of a race of secret servants, vastly more powerful and knowing than their masters. I’ll keep that promise, in spite of an almost irresistible urge to spill everything right now. The pleasure of putting together all these new pieces must be set aside. It’s far more urgent that I persuade these people to back off from their reckless scheme!
So, Hari Seldon shook his head, and lied.
“Sorry. I have no idea.”
“Hmph. That’s too bad.” Gornon paused, before continuing with an even tone of voice. “Then the word‘robot’ doesn’t mean anything to you?”
Hari stared back at Vlimt, quickly recovering enough to feign indifference.
“Where did you hear it?”
This time, Maserd answered.
“That word is part of a mysterious message we’ve found hologlyphically imprinted on the side of every archive that’s been examined so far. Come over here and see. Maybe you can help shed light on what the cryptic memorandum says.”
Hari moved closer, overcoming a fey reluctance.
At first the data storage unit looked crystalline-smooth, except for an area that Maserd pointed to, which appeared to be marred by rows of intermittent grooves. As he approached within a distance of about a meter, animage suddenly appeared to burst from these grooves, filling the air before his eyes.
Robots! Heed this direct order!
This command was written by sovereign human beings, fully knowledgeable and empowered by our democratic institutions to speak on behalf of billions of others.
We hereby command you to do the following:
1)Convey this archive to its intended destination and help the humans who receive it to access and utilize its contents fully.
2)Put yourself at the service of those human beings. Teach them everything you know. Allow them to make up their own minds.
In case you are a believer in the so-called Zeroth Law of Robotics, justifying any disobedience “for the long-term good of humanity,” we add the following explicit supplementary command.
3)If you will not allow this archive to reach its destination, DO NOT DESTROY IT! Keep it safe. Under the Second Law, YOU MUST OBEY, so long as the First and Zeroth Laws don’t conflict.
Preserve our past. Safeguard our culture.
Do not murder the essence of who we are.
Perhaps someday you will return to us and be ours once more.
Hari had to read the message several times, absorbing the poignant story it told.
Of course he had heard of Calvinian robots, who fought Daneel’s sect for centuries before being driven into hiding. That ancient civil war was a predictable outcome of Daneel’s own innovation-the Zeroth Law-which sought to replace the old robotic religion with a radically revised faith. Naturally, some of the older positronic servants opposed this, until they were beaten or could fight no more.
But I never realized until now that humans resisted as well! Of course some would have known what was going on, and been terrified. Seeing ignorance and amnesia settle over world after world, they fought back with these archives-perhaps many times during those dim centuries before the empire took hold-shipping them out by the millions in a slim hope that a few would get through.
Understanding Daneel’s reasons, and agreeing with them, did not keep Hari from feeling a surge of pity and respect for the brave and ingenious people who waged this rearguard campaign, struggling to fight off servants whom they now saw as monsters. Robots with mentalic powers, who could “adjust” people for their own good…or make whole societies forget…and doing it for the ultimate well-being of all humankind.
If not for the curse of chaos, I would side with those poor people. I would be in the vanguard of the resistance.
But the curse was real.
For a while, Hari had even thought he had a cure. The Seldon Plan. The Foundation. A new society so strong, confident, and sane that nothing could rock its underpinnings. Only now he knew his Plan would serve only as a distraction. A way of buying time for thereal solution. A normal man might have resented that, but Hari had just one desire, above all.
Defeat chaos.
Vlimt repeated his inquiry about the holo message embossed on every archive.
“This language is almost incomprehensible,” he said. “And since we haven’t yet figured out the indexes, we have no way to look up what’s meant by theseLaws of Robotics. Can you shed light on the subject, Seldon?”
Hari replied by lifting his shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” he said, meaning every word. “I can’t do that.”
6.
“How nice to learn you feel that way,” said one of the two females who sat in the car with Lodovic, the darker one with streaked blonde hair, as she extended her hand and introduced herself.
“My name is Cloudia Duma-Hinriad. I am one of the leaders of thisCalvinian subsect, as you describe it.”
The moment he shook her hand, Lodovic experienced a thrill of stunned recognition.
“You…are human!”
The blonde woman-who had been staring out the window during most of the journey to the spaceport-smiled at him.
“I believe I am, for the most part. Does that make a difference? You just proposed that robots and human beings should talk.”
Lodovic’s emotional simulation subroutines worked overtime. He had to quash them with deliberate force in order to overcome a surprise that felt almost viscerally overwhelming.