Robots and Empire (Page 85)

"You mean my biological father is dead."

Amadiro spread his arms with a little bow of his head. "As you say. He was largely responsible for our paralysis and he is gone, so I imagine there will now be change, though it may not necessarily be visible change."

"You keep secrets from me, do you?"

"Would I do that?"

"Certainly. That false smile of yours gives you away every time."

"Then I must learn to be grave with you. – Come, I have your report. Tell me what is not included in it."

"All is included in it – almost. Each Spacer world states vehemently that it is disturbed by growing Settler arrogance. Each is firmly determined to resist the Settlers to the end, enthusiastically following the Auroran lead with vigor and death-defying gallantry.

"Follow our lead, yes. And if we don’t lead?"

"Then they’ll wait and try to mask their relief that we are not leading. Otherwise – Well, each one is engaged in technological advance and each one is reluctant to reveal what it is, exactly, that it is doing. Each is working independently and is not even unified within its own globe. There is not a single research team anywhere on any of the Spacer worlds that resembles our own Robotics Institute. Each world consists of individual researchers, each of whom diligently guards his own data from all the rest."

Amadiro was almost complacent as he said, "I would not expect them to have advanced as far as we have."

"Too bad they haven’t," replied Vasilia, tartly. "With all the Spacer worlds a jumble of individuals, progress is too slow. The Settler worlds meet regularly at conventions, have their institutes – and though they lag well behind us, they will catch up. – Still, I’ve managed to uncover a few technological advances being worked on by the Spacer worlds and I have them all listed in my report. They are all working on the nuclear intensifier, for instance, but I don’t believe that such a device has passed beyond the laboratory demonstration level on a single world. Something that would be practical on shipboard is not yet here."

"I hope you are right in that, Vasilia. The nuclear intensifier is a weapon our fleets could use, for it would finish the Settlers at once. However, I think, on the whole, it would be better if Aurora had the weapon ahead of our Spacer brothers. – But you said that all was included in your report – almost. I heard that ‘almost.’ What is not included, then?"

"Solaria!"

"Ah, the youngest and most peculiar of the Spacer worlds."

"I got almost nothing directly out of them. They viewed me with absolute hostility as, I believe, they would have viewed any non-Solarian, whether Spacer or Settler. And when I say ‘viewed,’ I mean that in their sense. I remained nearly a year on the world, a considerably longer time than I spent on any other world, and in all those months I never saw a single Solarian face-to-face. In every case, I viewed him – or her – by hyperwave hologram. I could never deal with anything tangible – images only. The world was comfortable, incredibly luxurious, in fact, and for a nature lover, totally unspoiled, but how I missed seeing."

"Well, viewing is a Solarian custom. – We all know that, Vasilia. Live and let live."

"Humph," said Vasilia. "Your tolerance may be misplaced. Are your robots in the nonrepeat mode?"

"Yes, they are. And I assure you we are not being eavesdropped upon."

"I hope not, Kelden. – I am under the distinct impression that the Solarians are closer to developing a miniaturized nuclear intensifier than any other world – than we are. They may be close to making one that’s portable and that’s possessed of a power consumption small enough to make it practical for space vessels."

Amadiro frowned deeply. "How do they manage that?"

"I cannot say. You don’t suppose they showed me blueprints, do you? My impressions are so inchoate I dared not put them in the report, but from small things I heard here or observed there – I think they are making important progress. This is something we should think about carefully."

"We will. – Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

"Yes – and also not in the report. Solaria has been working toward humanoid robots for many decades and I think they have achieved that goal. No other Spacer would – outside of ourselves, of course – has even attempted the matter. When I asked, on each world, what they were doing with respect to humanoid robots, the reaction was uniform. They found the very concept unpleasant and horrifying. I suspect they all noticed our failure and took it to heart."

"But not Solaria? Why not?"

"For one thing, they have always lived in the most extremely robotized society in the Galaxy. They’re surrounded by robots – ten thousand per individual. The world is saturated with them. If you were to wander through it aimlessly, searching for humans, you would find nothing. So why should the few Solarians, living in such a world, be upset by the thought of a few more robots just because they’re humaniform? Then, too, that pseudo-human wretch that Fastolfe designed and built and that still exists."

"Daneel," said Amadiro.

"Yes, that one. He – it was on Solaria twenty decades ago and the Solarians treated it as human. They have never recovered from that. Even if they had no use for humaniforms, they were humiliated at having been deceived. It was an unforgettable demonstration that Aurora was far ahead of them in that one facet of robotics, at any rate. The Solarians take inordinate pride in being the most advanced roboticists in the Galaxy and, ever since, individual Solarians have been working on humaniforms – if for no other reason than to wipe out that disgrace. If they had had greater numbers or an institute that could coordinate their work, they would undoubtedly have come up with some long ago. As it is, I think they have them now."