Robots and Empire

Gladia looked about with veiled curiosity. She was in D.G.’s cabin for the first time. It was not noticeably more luxurious than the new cabin that had been designed for her. D.G.’s cabin had a more elaborate viewing panel, to be sure, and it had a complex console of lights and contacts which, she imagined, served to keep D.G. in touch with the rest of the ship even here.

She said, "I’ve seen little of you since leaving Aurora, D.G."

"I’m flattered that you are aware of that," answered D.G., grinning. "And to tell you the truth, Gladia, I have been aware of it as well. With an all-male crew, you do rather stand out."

"That’s not a very flattering reason for missing me. With an all-human crew, I imagine Daneel and Giskard stand out, too. Have you missed them as much as you have missed me?"

D.G. looked about. "Actually, I miss them so little it is only now that I am aware that they aren’t with you. Where are they?"

"In my cabin. It seemed silly to drag them about with me inside the confines of the small world of this ship. They seemed willing to allow me to be on my own, which surprised me. No," she corrected herself, "come to think of it, I had to order them rather sharply to stay behind before they would do so."

"Isn’t that rather strange? Aurorans are never without their robots, I’ve been given to understand."

"What of that? Once, long ago, when I first came to Aurora, I had to learn to suffer the actual presence of human beings, something my Solarian upbringing did not prepare me for. Learning to be without my robots, occasionally, when I am among Settlers will probably be a less difficult adjustment for me than that first one was."

"Good. Very good. I must admit that I much prefer being with your without the glowing eyes of Giskard fixed on me – and better yet, without Daneel’s little smile."

"He doesn’t smile."

"To me, he seems to, a very insinuatingly lecherous tiny smile."

"You’re mad. That’s totally foreign to Daneel."

"You don’t watch him the way I do. His presence is very inhibiting. It forces me to behave myself."

"Well, I should hope so."

"You needn’t hope so quite that emphatically. But never mind. – Let me apologize for seeing so little of you since leaving Aurora."

"That’s scarcely necessary – "

"Since you brought it up, I thought it was. However, let me explain, then. We’ve been on battle footing. We were certain, having left as we did, that Auroran vessels would be in pursuit."

"I should think they’d be glad to be rid of a group of Settlers."

"Of course, but you’re not a Settler and it might be you they would want. They were anxious enough to get you back from Baleyworld."

"They got me back. I reported to them and that was it."

"They wanted nothing more than your report?"

"No," Gladia paused and, for a moment, frowned as though something was nibbling vaguely at her memory. Whatever it was, it passed and she said indifferently, "No."

D.G. shrugged. "It doesn’t entirely make sense, but they made no attempt to stop us while you and I were on Aurora nor, after that, when we boarded the ship and it prepared to leave orbit. I won’t quarrel with that. It won’t be long now before we make the Jump – and after that there should be nothing to worry about."

Gladia said, "Why do you have an all-male crew, by the way? Auroran ships always have mixed crews."

"So do Settler ships. Ordinary ones. This is a Trader vessel."

"What difference does that make?"

"Trading involves danger. It’s rather a rough-and-ready life. Women on board would create problems."

"What nonsense! What problems do I create?"

"We won’t argue that. Besides it’s traditional. The men wouldn’t stand for it."

"How do you know?" Gladia laughed. "Have you ever tried it?"

"No. But, on the other hand, there are no long lines of women clamoring for a berth on my ship."

"I’m here. I’m enjoying it."

"You’re getting special treatment – and but for your service on Solaria, there might well have been much trouble. In fact, there was trouble. Still, never mind." He touched one of the contacts on the console and a countdown briefly appeared. "We’ll be jumping in just about two minutes. You’ve never been on Earth, have you, Gladia?"

"No, of course not."

"Or seen the sun, not just a sun."

"No – although I have seen it in historical dramas on hypervision, but I imagine what the show in the dramas is not really the sun.

"I’m sure it isn’t. If you don’t mind, we’ll dim the cabin lights."

The lights dimmed to nearly nothing and Gladia was aware of the star field on the viewing panel, with the stars brighter and more thickly spread than in Aurora’s sky.

"Is that a telescopic view?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"Slightly. Low-power – Fifteen seconds." He counted backward. There was a shift in the star field and a bright star was now nearly centered. D.G. touched another contact and said, "We’re well outside the planetary plane. Good! A little risky. We should have been farther from the Auroran star before Jumping, but we were in a slight hurry. That’s the sun."

"That bright star, you mean?"

"Yes. – What do you think of it?"

Gladia said, a little puzzled over what sort of response he expected, "It’s bright."

He pushed another contact and the view dimmed perceptibly. "Yes – and it won’t do your eyes any good if you stare at it. But it’s not the brightness that counts. It’s just a star in appearance – but think of it. That was the original sun. That was the star whose light shone down on a planet that was the only planet on which human beings existed. It shone down on a planet on which human beings were slowly evolving. It shone down on a planet on which life formed billions of years ago, life that would develop into human beings. There are 300 billion stars in the Galaxy and 100 billion galaxies in the Universe and there is only one of all those stars that presided over the human birth and that is the star."