Foundation and Earth

"No," said Bliss. "That would be wrong. The robot’s first duty is to protect the child. If it is activated and instantly becomes aware of us, aware of strange human beings, it may as instantly attack us. No strange human beings belong here. If I am then forced to inactivate it, it can give us no information, and the child, faced with a second inactivation of the only parent it knows-Well, I just won’t do it."

"But we were told," said Pelorat mildly, "that robots can’t harm human beings."

"So we were," said Bliss, "but we were not told what kind of robots these Solarians have designed. And even if this robot were designed to do no harm, it would have to make a choice between its child, or the nearest thing to a child it can have, and three objects whom it might not even recognize as human beings, merely as illegal intruders. Naturally, it would choose the child and attack us."

She turned to the child again. "Fallow," she said, "Bliss." She pointed, "Pel-Trev."

"Pel. Trev," said the child obediently.

She came closer to the child, her hands reaching toward it slowly. It watched her, then took a step backward.

"Calm, Fallom," said Bliss. "Good, Fallom. Touch, Fallom. Nice, Fallom."

It took a step toward her, and Bliss sighed. "Good, Fallom."

She touched Fallom’s bare arm, for it wore, as its parent had, only a long robe, open in front, and with a loincloth beneath. The touch was gentle. She removed her arm, waited, and made contact again, stroking softly.

The child’s eyes half-closed under the strong, calming effect of Bliss’s mind.

Bliss’s hands moved up slowly, softly, scarcely touching, to the child’s shoulders, its neck, its ears, then under its long brown hair to a point just above and behind its ears.

Her hands dropped away then, and she said, "The transducer-lobes are still small. The cranial bone hasn’t developed yet. There’s just a tough layer of skin there, which will eventually expand outward and be fenced in with bone after the lobes have fully grown. Which means it can’t, at the present time, control the estate or even activate its own personal robot. Ask it how old it is, Pel."

Pelorat said, after an exchange, "It’s fourteen years old, if I understand it rightly."

Trevize said, "It looks more like eleven."

Bliss said, "The length of the years used on this world may not correspond closely to Standard Galactic Years. Besides, Spacers are supposed to have extended lifetimes and, if the Solarians are like the other Spacers in this, they may also have extended developmental periods. We can’t go by years, after all."

Trevize said, with an impatient click of his tongue, "Enough anthropology. We must get to the surface and since we are dealing with a child, we may be wasting our time uselessly. It may not know the route to the surface. It may not ever have been on the surface."

Bliss said, "Pel!"

Pelorat knew what she meant and there followed the longest conversation he had yet had with Fallom.

Finally, he said, "The child knows what the sun is. It says it’s seen it. I think it’s seen trees. It didn’t act as though it were sure what the word meant-or at least what the word I used meant-"

"Yes, Janov," said Trevize, "but do get to the point."

"I told Fallow that if it could get us out to the surface, that might make it possible for us to activate the robot. Actually, I said we would activate the robot. Do you suppose we might?"

Trevize said, "We’ll worry about that later. Did it say it would guide us?"

"Yes. I thought the child would be more anxious to do it, you see, if I made that promise. I suppose we’re running the risk of disappointing it-"

"Come," said Trevize, "let’s get started. All this will be academic if we are caught underground."

Pelorat said something to the child, who began to walk, then stopped and looked back at Bliss.

Bliss held out her hand and the two then walked hand in hand.

"I’m the new robot," she said, smiling slightly.

"It seems reasonably happy over that," said Trevize.

Fallom skipped along and, briefly, Trevize wondered if it were happy simply because Bliss had labored to make it so, or if, added to that, there was the excitement of visiting the surface and of having three new robots, or whether it was excitement at the thought of having its Jemby foster-parent back. Not that it mattered-as long as the child led them.

There seemed no hesitation in the child’s progress. It turned without pause whenever there was a choice of paths. Did it really know where it was going, or was it all simply a matter of a child’s indifference? Was it simply playing a game with no clear end in sight?

But Trevize was aware, from the slight burden on his progress, that he was moving uphill, and the child, bouncing self-importantly forward, was pointing ahead and chattering.

Trevize looked at Pelorat, who cleared his throat and said, "I think what it’s saying is ‘doorway.’ "

"I hope your thought is correct," said Trevize.

The child broke away from Bliss, and was running now. It pointed to a portion of the flooring that seemed darker than the sections immediately neighboring it. The child stepped on it, jumping up and down a few times, and then turned with a clear expression of dismay, and spoke with shrill volubility.

Bliss said, with a grimace, "I’ll have to supply the power. This is wearing me out."

Her face reddened a bit and the lights dimmed, but a door opened just ahead of Fallom, who laughed in soprano delight.

The child ran out the door and the two men followed. Bliss came last, and looked back as the lights just inside darkened and the door closed. She then paused to catch her breath, looking rather worn out.