“You are well, friend Daneel?”
“Quite well. My damage to Mr. Niss was minimal.”
“Physically, friend Daneel, it was. Within his mind, however, there was great humiliation, which was to him much worse than the physical damage. Since I could sense that, I could not have done what you did so easily. And yet, friend Daneel—”
“Yes, friend Giskard?”
“I am disturbed over the future. On Aurora, through all the decades of my existence, I have been able to work slowly, to wait for opportunities of touch in minds gently, without doing harm; of strengthening what is already there, of weakening what is already attenuated, of pushing gently in the direction of existing impulse. Now, however, we are coming to a time of crisis in which emotions will run high, decisions will be taken quickly, and events will race past us if I am to do any good at all, I will have to act quickly, too, and the Three Laws of Robotics prevent me from doing so. It takes time to weigh the subtleties of comparative physical and mental harm. Had I been alone with Madam Gladia at the time of the Settlers’ approach, I do not see what course I could have taken that would not have recognized as entailing serious damage to Madam Gladia, to one or more of the Settlers, to myself—or possibly to all who were involved.”
Daneel said, “What is there to do, friend Giskard?”
“Since it is impossible to modify the Three Laws, friend Daneel, once again we must come to the conclusion that there is nothing we can do but await failure.”
7. THE OVERSEER
28
It was morning on Solaria, morning on the estate—her estate. Off in the distance was the establishment that might have been her establishment. Somehow twenty decades dropped away and Aurora seemed to her to be a far-off dream that had never happened.
She turned to D.G., who was tightening the belt about his thin outer garment, a belt from which two sidearms hung. On his left hip was the neuronic whip; on his right, something shorter and bulkier that she guessed was a blaster.
“Are we going to the house?” she asked.
“Eventually,” said D.G. with a certain absence of mind. He was inspecting each sidearm in turn, holding one of them to his ear as though he were listening for a faint buzz that would tell him it was alive.
“Just the four of us?” She automatically turned her eyes to each of the others: D.G., Daneel—She said to Daneel, “Where is Giskard, Daneel?”
Daneel said, “It seemed to him, Madam Gladia, that it would be wise to act as an advance guard. As a robot, he might not be noticeable among other robots—and if there should be anything wrong, he could warn us. In any case, he is more expendable than either yourself or the captain.”
“Good robotic thinking,” said D.G. grimly. “It’s just as well. Come, we’re moving forward now.”
“Just the three of us?” said Gladia, a touch plaintively. “To be honest, I lack Giskard’s robotic ability to accept expendability.”
D.G. said, “We’re all expendable, Lady Gladia. Two ships have been destroyed, every member of each crew indiscriminately brought to an end. There’s no safety in numbers here.”
“You’re not making me feel any better, D.G.”
“Then I’ll try. The earlier ships were not prepared. Our ship is. And I’m prepared, too.” He slapped his two hands to his hips. “And you’ve got a robot with you who has showed himself to be an efficient protector. What’s more, you yourself are our best weapon. You know how to order robots to do what you want them to do and that may well be crucial. You are the only one with us who can do that and the earlier ships had no one at all of your caliber. Come, then—”
They moved forward. Gladia said, after a while, “We’re not walking toward the house.”
“No, not yet. First, we’re walking toward a group of robots. You see them, I hope.”
“Yes, I do, but they’re not doing anything.”
“No, they’re not. There were many more robots present when we first landed. Most of them have gone, but these remain. Why?”
“If we ask them, they’ll tell us.”
“You will ask them, Lady Gladia.”
“They’ll answer you, D.G., as readily as they’ll answer me. We’re equally human.”
D.G. stopped short and the other two stopped with him. He turned to Gladia and said, smiling, “My dear Lady Gladia, equally human? A Spacer and a Settler? Whatever has come over you?”
“We are equally human to a robot,” she said waspishly.
“And please don’t play games. I did not play the game of Spacer and Earthman with your Ancestor.”
D.G.’s smile vanished. “That’s true. My apologies, my lady. I shall try to control my sense of the sardonic for, after all, on this world we are allies.”
He said, a moment later, “Now, madam, what I want you to do is to find out what orders the robots have been given—if any; if there are any robots that might, by some chance, know you; if there are any human beings on the estate or on the world; or anything else it occurs to you to ask. They shouldn’t be dangerous; they’re robots and you’re human; they can’t hurt you. To be sure,” he added, remembering, “your Daneel rather manhandled Niss, but that was under conditions that don’t apply here. And Daneel may go with you.”
Respectfully, Daneel said, “I would in any case accompany Lady Gladia, Captain. That is my function.”
“Giskard’s function, too, I imagine,” said D.G., “and yet he’s wandered off.”
“For a purpose, Captain, that he discussed with me and that we agreed was an essential way of protecting Lady Gladia.”
“Very well. You two move forward. I’ll cover you both.”
He drew the weapon on his right hip. “If I call out ‘Drop,’ the two of you fall down instantly. This thing does not play favorites.”
“Please don’t use it as anything but a last resort, D.G.,” said Gladia. “There would scarcely be an occasion to against robots. Come, Daneel!”
Off she went, stepping forward rapidly and firmly toward the group of about a dozen robots that were standing just in front of a line of low bushes with the morning sun reflecting in glints here and there from their burnished exteriors.
29
The robots did not retreat, nor did they advance. They remained calmly in place. Gladia counted them. Eleven in plain sight. There might be others, possibly, that were unseen.
They were designed Solaria-fashion. Very polished. Very smooth. No illusion of clothing and not much realism. They were almost like—mathematical abstractions of the human body, with no two of them quite alike.
She had the feeling that they were by no means as flexible or complex as Auroran robots but were more single mindedly adapted to specific tasks.
She stopped at least four meters from the line of robots and Daneel (she sensed) stopped as soon as she did and remained less than a meter behind. He was close enough to interfere at once in case of need, but was far enough back to make it clear that she was the dominant spokesperson of the pair. The robots before her, she was certain, viewed Daneel as a human being, but she also knew that Daneel was too conscious of himself as a robot to presume upon the misconception of other robots.
Gladia said, “Which one of you will speak with me?”
There was a brief period of silence, as though an unspoken conference were taking place. Then one robot took a step forward. “Madam, I will speak.”
“Do you have a name?”
“No, madam. I have only a serial number.”
“How long have you been operational?”