Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire

The driver’s face smoothed. He opened the door and said gruffly, “Get in!” However, he carefully closed the thick translucent partition that blocked him off from his passengers.

Daneel said quietly, “Was much required, friend Giskard?”

“Very little, friend Daneel. Your statement did most of the necessary work. It is astonishing that a collection of statements that are individually true can be used, in combination, to yield an effect that the truth should not.”

“I have observed this often in human conversation, friend Giskard, even in that of normally truthful human beings. I suspect that the practice is justified in the minds of such people as serving a higher purpose.”

“The Zeroth Law, you mean.”

“Or the equivalent—if the human mind has such an equivalent.—Friend Giskard, you said a short while ago that I will have your powers, possibly soon. Are you preparing me for that purpose?”

“I am, friend Daneel.”

“Why? May I ask that?”

“The Zeroth Law again. The passing episode of shakiness on my feet told me how vulnerable I was to the attempted use of the Zeroth Law. Before this day is over, I may have to act on the Zeroth Law to save the world and humanity and I may not be able to. In that case, you must be in position to do the job. I am preparing you, bit by bit, so that, at the desired moment, I can give you the final instructions and have it all fall into place.”

“I do not see how that can be, friend Giskard.”

“You will have no trouble in understanding when the time comes. I used the technique in a very small way on robots I sent to Earth in the early days before they were outlawed from the Cities and it was they who helped adjust Earth leaders to the point of approving the decision to send out Settlers.”

The driver, whose darter was not on wheels but remained a centimeter or so above the ground at all times, had moved along special corridors reserved for such vehicles and had done so speedily enough to justify the name of the vehicle. He now emerged into an ordinary City corridor, which was paralleled on the moderately distant left by an Expressway. The darter, moving now much more slowly, made a left turn, swooped under the Expressway, came out on the other side, and then, a curving half-mile later, stopped before an ornate building front.

The darter door opened automatically. Daneel emerged first, waited for Giskard to follow, then handed to the driver a piece of foil he had received from D.G. The driver looked at it narrowly, then the doors closed sharply and he left speedily without a word.

There was a pause before the door opened in response to their signal and Daneel assumed they were being scanned.

When it did open, a young woman led them gingerly into the vitals of the building. She avoided looking at Giskard, but she showed rather more than a mild curiosity in Daneel.

They found Undersecretary Quintana behind a large desk. She smiled and said, with gaiety that seemed somewhat forced, “Two robots, unescorted by human beings. Am I safe?”

“Entirely, Madam Quintana,” said Daneel gravely. “It is as unusual for us to see a human being unaccompanied by robots.

“I assure you,” said Quintana, “I have my robots. I call them underlings and one of them escorted you here. I am amazed that she didn’t faint at the sight of Giskard. I think she might have if she hadn’t been warned and if you yourself weren’t so extraordinarily interesting in appearance, Daneel. But never mind that. Captain Baley was so enormously pressing in his desire that I see you and my interest in maintaining comfortable relations with an important Settler world was such that I have agreed to the interview. However, my day remains busy even so and I will be grateful if we can dispose of this quickly. What can I do for you?”

“Madam Quintana—” began Daneel.

“One moment. Do you sit? I saw you sitting last night, you know.”

“We can sit, but it is just as comfortable for us to stand. We do not mind.”

“But I do. It would not be comfortable for me to stand and if I sit, I will, get a stiff neck looking up at you. Please pull up chairs and sit down. Thank you.—Now, Daneel, what is this all about?”

“Madam Quintana,” said Daneel, “you remember, I imagine, the incident of the blaster fired at the balcony last night after the banquet.”

“I certainly do. What’s more, I know it was a humanoid robot who held the blaster, even though we are not admitting that officially. Yet here I sit with two robots on the other side of the desk and have no protection. And one of you is humanoid too.”

“I have no blaster, madam,” said Daneel, smiling.

“I trust not.—That other humanoid robot did not look at all like you, Daneel. You’re rather a work of art, do you know that?”

“I am complexly programmed, madam.”

“I mean, your appearance. But what about the blasting incident?”

“Madam, that robot has a base somewhere on Earth and I must know where it is—I have come from Aurora in order to find that base and prevent such incidents as may disturb the peace between our worlds. I have reason to believe—”

“ You have come? Not the captain? Not Madam Gladia?”

“ We , madam,” said Daneel. “Giskard and I. I am in no position to tell you the whole story of how we came to have undertaken the task and there is no way in which I can tell you the name of the human being under whose instructions we work.”

“Well! International espionage! How fascinating. What a pity I can’t help you, but I don’t know where the robot came from. I haven’t any idea at all where his base might be. I don’t even know why you have come to me for such information, as a matter of fact. I should have gone to the Department of Security had I been you, Daneel.” She leaned toward him. “Do you have real skin on your face, Daneel? It’s an extraordinary imitation if it isn’t.” She reached toward him and her hand rested delicately on his cheek. “It even feels right.”

“Nevertheless, madam, it is not real skin. It does not heal of its own accord—if cut. On the other hand, a tear can easily be welded closed or a patch can even be replaced.”

“Ugh,” said Quintana, with a wrinkle of her nose. “But our business is over, for I can’t help you as far as that blaster user is concerned. I know nothing.”

Daneel said, “Madam, let me explain further. This robot may be part of a group that is interested in the early energy producing process you described last night—fission. Assume this is so, that there are those interested in fission and in the content of uranium and thorium in the crust. What might be a convenient place for them to use as a base?”

“An old uranium mine, perhaps? I don’t even know where one might be located. You must understand, Daneel, that Earth has an almost superstitious aversion to anything nuclear—fission, in particular. You’ll find almost nothing about fission in our popular works on energy and only bare essentials in technical products for experts. Even I know very little, but then I’m an administrator, not a scientist.”

Daneel said, “One more item, then, madam. We questioned the would-be assassin, as to the location of his base and did so most strenuously. He was programmed to undergo permanent inactivation, a total freezing of his brain paths, in such a case—and he did inactivate. Before doing so, however, in his final struggle between answering and inactivation, he opened his mouth three times as though—possibly—to say three syllables, or three words, or three groups of words, of any combination of these. The second syllable, or word, or mere sound was “mile.” Does this mean anything to you as having anything at all to do with fission?”