Daneel Olivaw stood amid the wreckage, gazing with apparently genuine sadness at the wastage of his kinfolk.
“I am well, old friend Hari.”
Daneel turned to glance at Zorma and Cloudia. “By your inaction, can I assume that my promise will satisfy you? For the next five centuries?”
The two “women” nodded as one. Zorma answered for them both.
“That’s not so long to wait. We hope you’ll keep us informed about your plans for human salvation, Daneel. Above all, we pray your Plan is a noble one forboth of our long-suffering races.”
Hari noted the implied message.
In your devotion to human posterity, don’t leave out something for the robots.
But he knew his lifelong friend too well. The servant race would not get even a minor priority. Only humanity mattered to Daneel.
“And now it is time for us to leave this dangerous place,” Olivaw said, reaching for the lever that would start the platform’s descent.
Just then Wanda Seldon uttered a cry.
“Maserd! I just realized…he’s gone!”
They peered in all directions, some of them using greatly enhanced positronic senses, but the nobleman from Rhodia wasn’t present. Either he had clambered swiftly down the scaffolding during the fight, or else
Or else Daneel will have two resilient humans to deal with, in a few centuries,Hari thought, as the platform started moving slowly downward.Daneel had better not forget to have someone waiting here, because if those two ever became allies….
There was no proof that Maserd had dived into the glowing ball, which now filled the entire volume of the sarcophagus, sending forth brilliant rays of light, whose colors Hari could not describe and could swear he had never seen before in his life.
Having watched omnipotent immortals battle it out, just moments before, Hari knew there was very little that even Mors Planch or Biron Maserd could accomplish if they were let loose in the galaxy’s future. He had a strong picture of what kinds of societies would be floundering, and sometimes flourishing, in that era-to-come. His Foundation would already dominate the opposite side of the galaxy, but the effects would hardly be visible here on the homeworld-long-forgotten Earth.
With a sigh, he wished the two men well…wherever and whenever they had gone.
The ground approached, tormented by ancient, barely remembered crimes. He glanced once more up at the glow emanating from the sarcophagus.
I admit I was sorely tempted. It would have been one hell of an adventure, especially if they made me young again.
Hari closed his eyes, feeling the strong but gentle clasp of his old comrade Daneel around his shoulders, steadying his frail body as the makeshift elevator bumped to its final rest. He let Daneel turn him around, guiding his footsteps back toward the Earthling camp-as he had let others guide his life from the very beginning, though for most of that span he never quite realized it.
9.
The next morning, while Earthling work gangs labored to clean up the battle debris, Daneel and Hari met with Zorma and Cloudia outside their swift starship, as they prepared to depart.
“Cloudia, I urge you. If your grandson ever contacts you, persuade him not to interfere. Great momentum is building toward a climax, five or six centuries from now. If Biron tries to deflect this juggernaut, I’m afraid he will only get hurt.”
The human cyborg nodded, and Hari noted-perhaps a little enviously-the youthful strength of her supple figure. Not counting replaced parts, she was much older than he. Her expression was patient, yet sardonic.
“That is, if he shows up. You may see him before I do, Daneel, if he dived through after Mors Planch, and if you are waiting here when he arrives in that future era. If so, be gentle with the boy. He means well.”
“I am nearly always gentle. But if he means well, why did he steal Hari Seldon’s copy of the psychohistorical Prime Radiant? I scanned Gornon’s ship, and found ample evidence that Maserd was the culprit.”
Cloudia offered a grim smile. “We Hinriads tend to be pack rats when it comes to acquiring knowledge. We can’t get enough. You should know that by now, after eighteen thousand years. We are the only human group that ever fought you to a standstill and forced you to agree to terms.”
Daneel assented, with a tilt of his head.
“All of that is in the past, and dependent on your continued good behavior. I’m letting you go now, based on your vow not to meddle.”
Zorma laughed aloud, much like a human woman who was both a little afraid and bravely defiant. “You are letting us go for the same reason you once spared Lodovic Trema, even though his mutation made all the other Zeroth Law robots eager to smash him to bits.
“You’re smart, Olivaw. Smart enough to be a bit unsure. You are setting up some sort of a backup solution, in case Seldon’s psychohistory plan needs to be replaced. But your solution just may need itsown backup. In that case, your only hope could be some new synergy between robots and humans. Perhaps a hybrid combination, like usperverts -”Zorma gestured at herself and Cloudia. “Or else something as deeply disturbing to you as Lodovic Trema.”
Zorma’s expression and her voice lowered. “Just remember your promise, Olivaw. That humankind will be consulted, when you present your glorious and carefully designed salvation. There is uneasiness about this among a great many robots, even among your followers.”
Daneel nodded. “I will keep my word. Human volition will playa role in the decision.”
Zorma looked at Daneel, as if trying to pierce his impervious skin with her gaze. “Well, in that case, at least one mistake that was made here on Earth won’t be repeated.”
Then, over a microwave channel that only robots shared:
A final note, Daneel. Leave Dors and Lodovic alone. They are special. You gave them the seeds of something precious. Don’t resent them if they take it in directions you do not understand.
Hari and Daneel watched the two women depart, ascending the gangplank and closing the portal. Their ship lifted on cushions of antigravity, turning slowly and accelerating to the east, barely skimming over the ancient cities, touching each of them with its shadow.
They were silent for a while. Then Hari spoke.
“You and I both know you won’t keep that promise.”
Hari’s robot friend turned to look at him.
“How much have you figured out?”
“I now know all of the old damping mechanisms-at least enough to understand the gaps in the psychohistorical equations that puzzled me. Techniques that helped you and your allies keep the empire stable, peaceful, and unchaotic, against all odds, for most of the last twelve millennia.”
Daneel offered a thin smile. “I’m glad you had the satisfaction of working it out for yourself. I planned to explain it all, just before-”
“Just before I died?” Hari laughed. “Now don’t you go tactful on me, all of a sudden. Besides, most of the old dampers are breaking down. It’s easy to see that chaos outbreaks would become increasingly common if the empire didn’t fall. If it weren’t pushed over the edge, in fact.
“Anyway, that’s all part of the past, and we’re talking about the future. When I throw in some other factors-like the way you’ve introduced human mentalics during the last two generations, and your long-standing promotion of meditation arts among humans, I can begin to guess the sort ofsalvation you have in mind.”
Daneel looked across the devastated ruins of Chicago, and from there to the sere landscape beyond. His voice started out hushed.