Robots and Empire (Page 24)

Giskard said, "You mean Dr. Mandamus is a man of conscience?"

"Conscience?"

"It is a word human beings sometimes use. I have gathered that it is applied to a person who adheres to rules of behavior that force him to act in ways that oppose his immediate self-interest. If Dr. Mandamus feels that he cannot allow himself to advance at the expense of those with whom he is distantly connected, I imagine him to be a man of conscience. I have thought much of such things, friend Daneel, since they seem to imply that human beings do have Laws governing their behavior, at least in some cases."

"And can you tell whether Dr. Mandamus is, indeed, a man of conscience?"

"From my observations of his emotions? No, I was not watching for anything like that, but if your analysis is correct, conscience would seem to follow. – And yet, on the other hand, if we begin by supposing him a man of conscience and argue backward, we can come to other conclusions. It might seem that if Dr. Mandamus thought he had an Earthman in his ancestry a mere nineteen and a half decades ago, he might feel driven, against his conscience, to spearhead an attempt to defeat Earth as a way of freeing himself from the stigma of such descent. If he were not so descended, then he would not be unbearably driven to act against Earth and his conscience would be free to cause him to leave Earth alone."

Daneel said, "No, friend Giskard. That would not fit the facts. However relieved he might be at not having to take violent action against Earth, he would be left without a way of satisfying Dr. Amadiro and enforcing his own advance. Considering his ambitious nature, he would not be left with the feeling of triumph you so clearly noted."

"I see. Then we conclude that Dr. Mandamus has a method for defeating Earth."

"Yes. And if that is so, then the crisis foreseen by Partner Elijah has not been safely passed after all, but is now here."

Giskard said thoughtfully, "But we are left with the key question unanswered, friend Daneel. What is the nature of the crisis? What is the deadly danger? Can you deduce that, too?"

"That I cannot do, friend Giskard. I have gone as far as I can. Perhaps Partner Elijah might have gone farther were he still alive, but I cannot. – Here I must depend upon you, friend Giskard."

"Upon me? In what way?"

"You can study the mind of Dr. Mandamus as I cannot, as no one else can. You can discover the nature of the crisis."

"I fear I cannot, friend Daneel. If I lived with a human being over an extended period, as once I lived with Dr. Fastolfe, as now I live with Madam Gladia, I could, little by little, unfold the layers of mind, one leaf after another, untie the intricate knot a bit at a time, and learn a great deal without harming him or her. To do the same to Dr. Mandamus after one brief meeting or after a hundred brief meetings, would accomplish little. Emotions are readily apparent, thoughts are not. If, out of a sense of urgency, I attempted to make haste, forcing the process, I would surely injure him – and that I cannot do."

"Yet the fate of billions of people on Earth and billions more in the rest of the Galaxy may depend on this."

"May depend on this. That is conjecture. Injury to a human being is a fact. Consider that it may be only Dr. Mandamus who knows the nature of the crisis and carry it through to a conclusion. He could not use his knowledge or ability to force Dr. Amadiro to grant him the headship if Dr. Amadiro could gain it from another source."

"True," said Daneel. "That may be well so."

"In that case, friend Daneel, it is not necessary to know the nature of the crisis. If Dr. Mandamus could be restrained from telling Dr. Amadiro – or anyone else – whatever it is he knows, the crisis will not come to pass."

"Someone else might discover what Dr. Mandamus now knows."

"Certainly, but we don’t know when that will be. Very likely, we will have time to probe further and discover more – and become better prepared to play a useful role of our own."

"Well, then."

"If Dr. Mandamus is to be restrained, it can be done by damaging his mind to the point where it is no longer effective – or by destroying his life outright. I alone possess the ability to injure his mind appropriately, but I cannot do this. However, either one of us can physically bring his life to an end. I cannot do this, either. Can you do it, friend Daneel?"

There was a pause and Daneel finally whispered. "I cannot. You know that."

Giskard said slowly, "Even though you know that the future of billions of people on Earth and elsewhere is at stake?"

"I cannot bring myself to injure Dr. Mandamus."

"And I cannot. So we are left with the certainty of a deadly crisis coming, but a crisis whose nature we do not know, and cannot find out, and which we are therefore helpless to counter."

They stared at each other in silence, with nothing showing in their faces, but with an air of despair settling somehow over them.

4. ANOTHER DESCENDANT

15

Gladia had tried to relax after the harrowing session with Mandamus and did so with an intensity that fought relaxation to the death. She had opacified all the windows in her bedroom, adjusted the environment to a gentle warm breeze with the faint sound of rustling leaves and the occasional soft warble of a distant bird. She had then shifted it to the sound of a far-off surf and had added a faint but unmistakable tang of the sea in the air.

It didn’t help. Her mind echoed helplessly with what had just been – and with what was soon to come. Why had she chattered so freely to Mandamus? What business was it of his – or of Amadiro’s, for that matter – whether she had visited Elijah in orbit or not and whether or not – or when she had had a son by him or by any other man.