Robots and Empire (Page 97)

"It is not coming to Aurora," said Amadiro emphatically. "You were right here, too, it seems. Giskard – assuming he is running the show – seems determined to stay away. We have intercepted the ship’s messages to, its own world. Encoded, of course, but there isn’t a Settler code we haven’t broken – "

"I suspect they’ve broken ours, too. I wonder why everyone won’t agree to send messages in the clear and save a lot of trouble."

Amadiro shrugged it away. "Never mind that. The point is that the Settler ship is going back to its own planet."

"With the Solarian woman and the robots?"

"Of course."

"You’re sure of that? They haven’t been left on Solaria?"

"We’re sure of that," said Amadiro impatiently. "Apparently, ‘the Solarian woman’ was responsible for their getting off the surface."

"She? In what way?"

"We don’t yet know."

Vasilia said, "It had to be Giskard. He made it appear to be the Solarian woman."

"And what do we do now?"

"We must get Giskard back."

"Yes, but I can’t very well persuade the Council to risk an interstellar crisis over the return of a robot."

"You don’t, Kelden. You ask for the return of the Solarian woman, something we certainly have a right to request. And do you think for one moment she would return without her robots? Or that Giskard will allow the Solarian woman to return without him? Or that the Settler world would want to keep the robots if the Solarian woman returns? Ask for her. Firmly. She’s an Auroran citizen, lent out for a job on Solaria, which is done, and she must now be returned forthwith. Make it belligerent, as though it were a threat of war."

"We can’t risk war, Vasilia."

"You won’t risk it. Giskard can’t take an action that might lead directly to war. If the Settler leaders resist and become belligerent in their return, Giskard will perforce make the necessary modifications in the attitude of the Settler leaders so as to have the Solarian woman returned peaceably to Aurora. And he himself will, of course, have to return with her."

Amadiro said drearily, "And once he’s back, he will alter us, I suppose, and we will forget his powers, and disregard him, and he will still be able to follow his own plan whatever it is."

Vasilia leaned her head back and laughed. "Not a chance. I know Giskard, you see, and I can handle him. Just bring him back and persuade the Council to disregard Fastolfe’s will – it can be done and you can do it – and to assign Giskard to me. He will then be working for us; Aurora will rule the Galaxy, you will spend the remaining decades of your life as Chairman of the Council; and I will succeed you as the head of the Robotics Institute."

"Are you sure it will work out that way?"

"Absolutely. Just send the message and make it strong and I will guarantee all the rest – victory for the Spacers, and ourselves, defeat for Earth and the Settlers."

14. THE DUEL

65

Gladia watched Aurora’s globe on the screen. Its cloud cover seemed caught in mid-swirl along the thick crescent that was shining in the light of its sun.

"Surely we’re not that close," she said.

D.G. smiled. "By no means. We’re seeing it through a rather good lens. It’s still several days away, counting the spiral approach. If we ever get an antigravitic drive, which the physicists keep dreaming about but seem helpless to bring about, spaceflight will become really simple and fast. As it is, our Jumps can only deliver us safely to a rather goodish distance from a planetary mass."

"It’s odd," said Gladia thoughtfully.

"What is, madam?"

"When we went to Solaria, I thought to myself. ‘I’m going home,’ but when I landed I found that I wasn’t home at all. Now we’re going to Aurora and I thought to myself, ‘Now I’m going home,’ and yet – that world down there isn’t home, either."

"Where is home, then, madam?"

"I’m beginning to wonder. – But why do you persist in calling me ‘madam’?"

D.G. looked surprised. "Do you prefer ‘Lady Gladia,’ Lady Gladia?"

"That’s also mock respect. Do you feel that way about me?"

"Mock respect? Certainly not. But how else does a Seater address a Spacer? I’m trying to be polite and to conform to your customs – to do what makes you feel comfortable."

"But it doesn’t make me feel comfortable. Just call me Gladia. I’ve suggested it before. After all, I call you ‘D.G.’"

"And that suits me fine, although in front of my officers and men, I would prefer to have you address me as ‘Captain,’ and I will call you ‘madam.’" Discipline must be maintained."

"Yes, of course," said Gladia absently, staring at Aurora again. "I have no home."

She whirled toward D.G., "Is it possible that you might take me to Earth, D.G.?"

"Possible," said D.G., smiling. "You might not want to go – Gladia."

"I think I want to go," said Gladia, "unless I lose my courage."

"Infection does exist," said D.G., "and that’s what Spacers fear, isn’t it?"

"Too much, perhaps. After all, I knew your Ancestor and wasn’t infected. I have been on this ship and have survived. Look, you’re near me right now. I was even on your world, with thousands crowding near me. I think I’ve worked up a certain amount of resistance."

"I must tell you, Gladia, that Earth is a thousand times as crowded as Baleyworld."

"Even so," said Gladia, her voice warming, "I’ve changed my mind completely – about many things. I’ve told you there was nothing left to live for after twenty-three decades and it turns out there is. What happened to me on Baleyworld – that talk I gave, the way it moved people – was something new, something I’d never imagined. It was like being born all over, starting again at the first decade. It seems to me now that, even if Earth kills me, it would be worth it, for I would die young and trying and fighting death, not old and weary and welcoming it."