“Never,” said Baley. The dishes were put before each of them and the carrier was even sophisticated enough to ignore Giskard, who stood impassively behind Fastolfe’s chair.
For a while, Baley ate silently and then, with a certain shyness, he said, “It is good to see you again, Dr. Fastolfe.”
“The pleasure is as much mine. I haven’t forgotten that two years ago, when you were on Aurora, you managed to free me of the suspicion of the destruction of the robot Jander and to turn the tables neatly on my overconfident opponent, the good Amadiro.”
“I still shake when I think of it,” said Baley. “And greetings to you, too, Giskard. I trust you haven’t forgotten me.”
“That would be quite impossible, sir,” said Giskard.
“Good! Well, Doctor, I trust the political situation on Aurora continues to be favorable. The news here would make it seem so, but I don’t trust Earth analysis of Auroran affairs—”
“You may—at the moment. My party is in firm control of the Council. Amadiro maintains a sullen opposition, but I suspect it will be years before his people recover from the blow you gave them. But how are things with you and with Earth?”
“Well enough.—Tell me, Dr. Fastolfe,” Baley’s face twitched slightly, as though with embarrassment—“have you brought Daneel with you?”
Fastolfe said slowly, “I’m sorry, Baley. I did, but I left him back on the ship. I felt it might not be politic to be accompanied by a robot who looked so much like a human being. With Earth as antirobot as it has become, I felt a humanoid robot might seem a deliberate provocation to them.”
Baley sighed. “I understand.”
Fastolfe said, “Is it true that your government is planning to prohibit the use of robots within the Cities?”
“I suspect it will soon come to that, with a period of grace, of course, to minimize financial loss and inconvenience. Robots will be restricted to the countryside, where they are needed for agriculture and mining. There, too, they may eventually be phased out and the plan is to have no robots at all on the new worlds.”
“Since you mention the new worlds, has your son left Earth yet?”
“Yes, a few months ago. We have heard from him and he’s arrived at a new world safely, along with several hundred Settlers, as they call themselves. The world has some native vegetation upon it and a low-oxygen atmosphere. Apparently, with time it can be made quite Earthlike. Meanwhile, some makeshift domes have been put up, new Settlers are advertised for, and everyone is busily engaged in terraforming. Bentley’s letters and occasional hyperwave contact are very hopeful, but they don’t keep his mother from missing him badly.”
“And will you be going there, Baley?”
“I’m not sure that living on a strange world under a dome is my idea of happiness, Dr. Fastolfe—I haven’t Ben’s youth and enthusiasm but I think I’ll have to in two or three years. In any case, I’ve already given notice to the Department of my intention to emigrate.”
“I imagine they must be upset over that.”
“Not at all. They say they are, but they’re glad to get rid of me. I’m too notorious.”
“And how does Earth’s government react to this drive for expansion into the Galaxy?”
“Nervously. They do not forbid it altogether, but certainly they are not cooperative. They continue to suspect that the Spacers are opposed to it and will do something unpleasant to stop it.”
“Social inertia,” said Fastolfe. “They judge us according to our behavior of years past.—Surely we have made it plain that we now encourage Earth’s colonization of new planets and that we intend to colonize new planets of our own.”
“I hope you explain this to our government, then.—But, Dr. Fastolfe, another question on a smaller point. How is—” And with that, he stalled.
“Gladia?” said Fastolfe, hiding his amusement. “Have you forgotten her name?”
“No, no. I merely hesitated to—to—”
“She’s well,” said Fastolfe, “and living comfortably. She has asked me to remember her to you, but I imagine you need no nudging to recall her to mind.”
“The fact of her Solarian origin is not used against her, I hope?”
“No, nor is her role in the undoing of Dr. Amadiro. Rather the reverse. I take care of her, I assure you.—And yet I do not care to allow you to get off the subject altogether, Baley. What if Earth’s officialdom continues to be opposed to immigration and expansion? Could the process continue despite such opposition?”
“Possibly,” said Baley, “but not certainly. There’s substantial opposition among Earthmen generally. It’s hard to break away from the huge underground Cities that are our homes—”
“Your wombs.”
“Or our wombs, if you prefer. Going to new worlds and having to live with the most primitive facilities for decades never seeing comfort in one’s own lifetime—that is difficult. When I think of it sometimes, I just decide not to go especially if I’m passing a sleepless night. I’ve decided not to go a hundred times and one day I may just stick to that decision. And if I have trouble when, in a way, I originated the entire notion, then who else is likely to go freely and gladly? Without government encouragement—or, to be brutally frank—without the government shoe applied to the seat of the pants of the population, the whole project may fail.”
Fastolfe nodded. “I will try to persuade your government. But if I fail?”
Baley said in a low voice, “If you fail—and if, therefore, our people fail—there remains only one alternative. The Spacers themselves must settle the Galaxy. The job must be done.”
“And you will be content to see the Spacers expand and fill the Galaxy, while the Earthpeople remain on their single planet?”
“Not content at all, but it would be better than the present situation of no expansion by either. Many centuries ago, Earthpeople flocked to the stars, established some of the worlds that are now called Spacer worlds, and those first few colonized others. It has been a long time, however, since either the Spacers or Earthpeople have successfully settled and developed a new world. That must not be permitted to continue.”
“I agree. But what is your reason for wanting expansion, Baley?”
“I feel that without expansion of some sort, humanity cannot advance. It doesn’t have to be geographical expansion, but that is the clearest way of inducing other kinds of expansion as well. If geographical expansion can be undertaken in a fashion that is not at the expense of other intelligent beings; if there are empty spaces into which to expand; then why not? To resist expansion under such circumstances is to ensure decay.”
“You see those alternatives, then? Expansion and advancement? Nonexpansion and decay?”
“Yes, I believe so. Therefore, if Earth refuses expansion, then Spacers must accept it. Humanity, whether in the form of Earthpeople or Spacers, must expand. I would like to see Earthpeople undertake the task, but, failing that, Spacer expansion is better than no expansion at all. One alternative or the other.”
“And if one expands but not the other?”
“Then the expanding society will become steadily stronger and the nonexpanding one steadily weaker.”
“Are you certain of that?”
“It would be unavoidable, I think.”
Fastolfe nodded. “Actually, I agree. It is why I am trying to persuade both Earthpeople and Spacers to expand and advance. That is a third alternative, and, I think, the best.”
12
Memory flickered past the days that followed—incredible mobs of people moving ceaselessly past each other in streams and eddies-racing Expressways being mounted and dismounted—endless conferences with innumerable officials-minds in crowds.
Particularly minds in crowds.