Robots and Empire (Page 98)

"Well!" said D.G., lifting his arms in a mock-heroic gesture, "you sound like a hyperwave historical. Have you ever watched them on Aurora?"

"Of course. They’re very popular."

"Are you rehearsing for one, Gladia, or do you really mean what you say?"

Gladia laughed. "I suppose I do sound rather silly, D.G but the funny thing is that I do mean it – if I don’t lose my courage."

"In that case, we’ll do it. We’ll go to Earth. I don’t think they’ll consider you worth a war, especially if you report fully on events on Solaria, as they want you to, and if you give your word of honor as a Spacer woman – if you do things like that – to return."

"But I won’t."

"But you may want to someday. – And now, my lady, I mean, Gladia – it is always a pleasure to speak with you, but I’m always tempted to spend too much time at it and I am certain I am needed in the control room. If I’m not and they can do without me, then I’d rather they didn’t find out."

66

"Was that your doing, friend Giskard?"

"To what is it that you refer, friend Daneel?"

"Lady Gladia is anxious to go to Earth and even perhaps not to return. That is a desire so antithetical to what a Spacer such as she would want that I cannot help but suspect that you did something to her mind to make her feel so."

Giskard said, "I did not touch her. – It is difficult enough to tamper with any human being within the cage of the Three Laws. To tamper with the mind of the particular individual for whose safety one is directly responsible is more difficult still."

"Then why does she wish to go to Earth?"

"Her experiences on Baleyworld have changed her point of view considerably. She has a mission – that of ensuring peace in the Galaxy – and bums to work at it."

"In that case, friend Giskard, would it not be better to do what you can to persuade the captain, in your own fashion, to go to Earth directly?"

"That would create difficulties. The Auroran authorities are so insistent on Lady Gladia being returned to Aurora that it would be better to do so, at least temporarily."

"Yet it could be dangerous to do so," said Daneel.

"Then you still think, friend Daneel, that it is I whom they want to retain because they have learned of my abilities?"

"I see no other reason for their insistence on Lady Gladia’s return."

Giskard said, "Thinking like a man has its pitfalls, I see. It becomes possible to suppose difficulties that cannot exist. Even if someone on Aurora were to suspect the existence of my abilities, it is with those abilities that I would remove the suspicion. There is nothing to fear, friend Daneel."

And Daneel said reluctantly, "As you say, friend Giskard."

67

Gladia looked about thoughtfully, sending off the robots with a careless motion of her hand.

She looked at her hand, as she did so, almost as though she were seeing it for the first time. It had been the hand with which she had shaken the hand of each of the crewmen of the ship before getting into the small tender that took her and D.G. down to Aurora. When she promised to return, they had cheered her and Niss had bawled out, "We won’t leave without you, my lady."

The cheering had pleased her enormously. Her robots served her endlessly, loyally, patiently, but they never cheered her.

D.G., watching her curiously, said, "Surely you are at home now, Gladia."

"I am in my establishment," she said in a low voice. "It has been my establishment since Dr. Fastolfe assigned it to me twenty decades ago and yet it feels strange to me."

"It is strange to me," said D.G. "I’d feel rather lost staying here alone." He looked, about with a half-smile at, the ornate furnishings and the elaborately decorated walls.

"You won’t be alone, D.G.," said Gladia. "My household robots will be with you and they have full instructions. They will devote themselves to your comfort."

"Will they understand my Settler accent?"

"If they fail to understand, they will ask you to repeat and you must then speak slowly and make gestures. They will prepare food for you, show you how to use the facilities in the guest rooms – and they will also keep a sharp eye on you to make sure that you do not act in an unguestly manner. They will stop you – if necessary – but they will do so without hurting you."

"I trust they won’t consider me nonhuman."

"As the overseer did? No, I guarantee you that, D.G., though your beard and accent may confuse them to the point where they will be a second or two slow in reacting."

"And I suppose they’ll protect me against intruders?"

"They will, but there won’t be any intruders."

"The Council may want to come and get me."

"Then they will send robots and mine will turn them away."

"What if their robots overpower your robots?"

"That can’t happen, D.G. An establishment is inviolate."

"Come on, Gladia. Do you mean that nobody has ever – "

"Nobody has ever!" she replied at once. "You just stay here comfortably and my robots will take care of all your needs. If you want to get in touch with your ship, with Baleyworld, even with the Auroran Council, they will know exactly what to do. You won’t have to lift a finger."

D.G. sank down into the nearest chair, spread himself out over it, and sighed deeply. "How wise we are to allow no robots on the Settler worlds. Do you know how long it would take to corrupt me into idleness and sloth if I stayed in this kind of society? Five minutes at most. In fact, I’m corrupted already." He yawned and stretched luxuriously. "Would they mind if I sleep?"