Hari put a hand on Horis’s sleeve to restrain the little bureaucrat. How could he explain that the real enemy was chaos?
“Something’s gone wrong, hasn’t it, Planch? Is your battle in space turning against you?”
“Our forces annihilated the police craft. Only one of them escaped…but that one is heading this way.”
“And your ships are pursuing it?” Maserd prompted. Apparently this nobleman did not associate the word “police” with rescue.
Planch held another muttered consultation with his aide before replying. “Our warships have begun moving away from Earth. I’m not sure why. But I suspect they’ve been influenced.”
Horis Antic took a step back. “By mentalics!”
Planch nodded. “That is my assumption.”
“Then we are ready for them! “ Sybyl announced, with some relish in her voice. “Our weapon against positronic brains only works at short range, so let them come closer. We’ll deal with these tiktok monsters the same way we eliminated the guards on Pengia.”
Maserd objected. “But what if the robots sway your mind before you can trigger the weapon? On Pengia, you took them by surprise, and R. Gornon admitted that his group has only weak mentalic-”
“Oh, don’t you worry that noble brow, Your Grace,” Sybyl sneered. “We’ve got every eventuality covered. Back on Ktlina, they were only able to make partial progress, studying this phenomenon ofpositronic brains, but enough so we can probably defend ourselves.”
Mors Planch commanded his assistant, “Turn on the deadman switch. Set it to active scan. Set the bomb to trigger if a positronic echo comes within three hundred meters.”
He looked at Hari and smiled. “If they are robots, they’ll detect the scan and know it’s wise to stay away. If they are human foes, they’ll face weapons forged on Ktlina.” He patted his holstered blaster. “Either way, Professor Seldon, no one is going to intervene on your behalf, or on behalf of the secret aristocracy that has ruled us for so long. This time you’re going to come with us, and turn your abilities to the service of your own frustrated and repressed race, giving it a chance at last to be free.”
Hari watched a streak cross the sky, from west to east, then begin curving on a spiral for a landing. In all of his eighty and some odd years, he had never felt so helpless to sway the course of his own destiny.
3.
Dors and Lodovic had plenty of time to talk.
Passing the time between hyperspace jumps, she found herself telling one story after another about her life with Hari Seldon-the adventures, the political struggles, the endless fascination of living each day with that brilliant man as he led his team in search of rules to describe human behavior. And about her experience emulating a human woman so closely that even her husband forgot, for months at a stretch, that she was an artificial being.
In fact, this was the first time she had talked about it, since her “death” ended that relationship, and Daneel took her to Eos for repair.
Lodovic proved a sympathetic listener-no great surprise there, since he was trained to interact with humans, and patience had always been high on the list of attributes Daneel demanded of his emissaries. Nevertheless, the breadth of his understanding surprised Dors.
Because he no longer had any internal compulsion to obey the Laws of Robotics, she had somehow envisioned him becoming acold creature, more driven by rationality than ever before. But it turned out that Lodovic had discovered a passion for people, ever since his transformation. When it was his turn, he spoke about some of the many hundreds of humans he had met and talked to, especially since declaring himself free from duties assigned by Daneel. He seemed fascinated by the concerns, worries, and triumphs of ordinary men and women…important to each of them, even if the net result hardly mattered on a planetary or galactic scale. Sometimes he intervened in those lives, helping solve a problem here, or to ease some pain over there. Perhaps his efforts would not matter much on the grand scale of things. Certainly they didn’t count compared to the endless struggle against chaos, or the ponderous collapse of the Galactic Empire, but he had learned something important.
“Individual people matter. Their differences are a richness, even more important than their similarities.”
Lodovic met her eyes, offering a measured smile. “Those people out there deserve to be consulted about their destiny. Whether they are wise or foolish, they should see the road and have something to say about how it’s traveled.”
Dors noted the mild rebuke, aimed not only at Daneel Olivaw, but at her own cherished Hari. And yet there was no malice in Lodovic’s voice. His admiration for her former husband was evident.
She found herself reacting at several levels. A huge portion of her positronic brain had been dedicated to emulating human thought patterns and emotions. Those parts could not help automatically responding to Lodovic as a woman might, and not just any woman, but the Dors Venabili she had been for fifty years. She who had loved Hari, but also generally enjoyed the company of forthright men, engaged by the spirited pursuit of ideas. Lodovic’s unabashed vigor and avid intelligence naturally appealed to that part of her, as did his evident compassion.
Of course, he knows that I have those response sets. Could he be tailoring his demeanor in order to appeal to them?
Does that mean he’s flirting with me?
There were other levels. She could tell that he sincerely meant the words he spoke. Robots found it hard to lie to each other when their guard was down. And yet, there remained a gulf between them. Something that might leave them forever separated, as if coming from completely different worlds.
I feel the Laws of Robotics. They never cease urgently throbbing. Driving me to find some vital way that I can serve. Lodovic is free of this compulsion. He seeks to help humanity strictly as a matter of choice, for moral or philosophical reasons.
It seemed a frail basis for trusting him. What if he changed his mind tomorrow?
At yet another level, Dors noted the delicious irony of it all. In trying to decide whether or not to trust Lodovic, she was in a position similar to almost every real woman who ever listened to the persuasive voice of a male.
Joan of Arc agreed enthusiastically with that comparison, urging Dors to make a leap of faith. But the issues were too important, and robotic logic compelled her to seek better evidence.
Besides, my human husband is still alive out there. Even if he thinks I’m dead, and Daneel commanded me to turn my thoughts away from that past life, I am still driven by a need for him.
The human-simulation programs within her could not fill the void, not even with a companion as fascinating as Lodovic Trema. She must have closure with Hari. She must see him again, before those programs could possibly turn their attention elsewhere.
4.
As a tense confrontation loomed, Hari noticed they had begun to draw spectators. Horis Antic pointed to the brow of a nearby ridge, consisting of rubble from some ancient university building. Dark figures could be seen crouching, occasionally lifting themselves higher to peer down at the humans gathered by the starship.
“I thought the last inhabitants were evacuated ten thousand years ago,” the bureaucrat said.
Biron Maserd nodded. “The university my ancestor attended…I wonder if it might have been this one…was among the last places shut down before the final evacuation. But perhaps some people stayed behind.”
Sybyl stood nearby, eyes darting from the hilltops to her computer screen. “They appear to be human, though there are…anomalies. The poor creatures only wanted to stay at their home…humanity’s home…but the empire took away all the props that made normal life possible. I can’t imagine what it’s been like trying to survive in this radioactive maelstrom so many years. It surely must have changed them.”