Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire

Secretary-General Edgar Andrev, chief executive of Earth, was a rather tall and imposing man, clean-shaven in the Spacer style. He moved always in a measured fashion, as though on constant display, and he had a twinkling way about him as though he was always very pleased with himself. His voice was a bit too high-pitched for his body but it fell well short of being squeaky. Without seeming obdurate, he was not easily swayed.

And he wasn’t this time. “Impossible,” he said firmly to D.G. “She must make her appearance.”

“She’s had a hard day, Secretary-General,” said D.G. “She is not accustomed to crowds or to these surroundings. I am responsible to Baleyworld for her well-being and my personal honor is at stake.”

“I appreciate your position,” said Andrev, “but I represent, and I cannot deny Earthpeople their view of her. The corridors are filled, the hyperwave channels are ready, and I would not be able to hide her, even if I desperately wished to do so. After this—and how long can it last? Half an hour?—she can retire and she need not I make another appearance till her speech tomorrow night.”

“Her comfort must be cared for,” said D.G., tacitly abandoning his position. “She has to be kept at some distance from the crowd.”

“There will be a cordon of security guards that will give her ample breathing space. The front row of the crowd will be kept well back. They’re out there now. If we don’t announce that she will soon appear, there might well be disorder.

D.G. said, “It shouldn’t have been arranged. It isn’t safe. There are Earthpeople who aren’t fond of Spacers.”

The Secretary-General shrugged. “I wish you could tell me how I could possibly have kept it from being arranged. At the present moment she is a heroine and she cannot be withheld. Nor will anyone offer her anything but cheers for the moment. But if she doesn’t appear, that will change. Now, let us go.”

D.G. backed away discontentedly. He caught Gladia’s eye. She looked tired and more than a little unhappy.

He said, “You must, Gladia. There’s no way out.”

For a moment, she stared down at her hands as though wondering if they could do anything to protect her, then she straightened herself and lifted her chin—a small Spacer amid this horde of barbarians. “If I must, I must. Will you remain with me?”

“Unless they remove me physically.”

“And my robots?”

D.G. hesitated. “Gladia, how will two robots be able to help you in the midst of millions of human beings?”

“I know, D.G. And I also know that I will have to do without them eventually if I am to continue this mission of mine. But not just yet, please. For the moment, I will feel safer with them, whether that makes sense or not. If these Earth officials want me to acknowledge the crowd, to smile, to wave, to do whatever it is I am supposed to do, the presence of Daneel and Giskard will comfort me.—Look, D.G., giving in to them on a very big thing, even though I am so uneasy that I think nothing would be so nice as to run away. Let them give in to me on this very little thing.”

“I’ll try,” said D.G., in clear discouragement and, as he stepped toward Andrev, Giskard moved quietly with him.

A few minutes later, when Gladia, surrounded by a carefully picked contingent of officials, moved forward toward an open balcony, D.G. remained a little behind Gladia, flanked on his left by Giskard and on his right by Daneel.

The Secretary-General had said ruefully, “All right, all right. I don’t know how you managed to make me agree, but all right.” He rubbed his forehead, aware of a small vague ache in his right temple. For some reason he caught Giskard’s eye and turned away with a stifled shudder. “But you must keep them motionless, Captain, remember. And please keep the one that looks like a robot as unobtrusive as you can. He makes me uneasy and I don’t want people any more aware of him than they have to be.”

D.G. said, “They will be looking at Gladia, Secretary General. They will see no one else.”

“I hope so,” said Andrev waspishly. He paused to take a message capsule someone placed in his hand. He put it into his pocket, then walked on and didn’t think of it again till they had reached the balcony.

To Gladia, it seemed that each time she moved into another scene, it grew worse—more people, more noise, more confusing light, more invasion of every sense perception.

There was shouting. She could hear her own name being shouted out. With difficulty, she overcame her own tendency to retreat and become immobile. She lifted her arm and waved it and smiled and the shouting became louder, someone began to speak, his voice booming out over the loudspeaker system, his image on a large screen high above them so that it could be visible to all the crowd. Undoubtedly, it was also visible on innumerable screens in innumerable meeting halls in every Section of every City on the planet.

Gladia sighed with relief at having someone else in the spotlight. She tried to shrink within herself and let the sound of the speaker distract the attention of the crowd.

Secretary-General Andrev, seeking cover under the voice, even as Gladia did, was rather thankful that, in giving precedence to Gladia, it had not seemed necessary for him to speak on this occasion. He suddenly remembered the message he had pocketed.

He frowned in sudden disturbance over what it might be that warranted the interruption of so important a ceremony and then experienced a reverse feeling of intense irritation over the fact that it would probably prove to be utterly unimportant.

He pressed the ball of his right thumb hard, against the slight concavity, designed to accept the pressure and the capsule opened. He removed the thin piece of plastipaper, read the message it contained, and then watched it crumble and fragment. He brushed away the impalpable powder that remained and gestured imperiously to D.G.

It was scarcely necessary to whisper under the conditions of the vast and continuing noise in the square.

Andrev said, “You said you encountered an Auroran war vessel within the space of the Solar System.”

“Yes—and I imagine Earth’s sensors detected it.”

“Of course they did. You said there were no hostile actions on either side.”

“No weapon was used. They demanded Madam Gladia and her robots. I refused and they left. I explained all this.”

“How long did it all take?”

“Not very long. Several hours.”

“You mean that Aurora sent a warship just to argue back and forth with you for a couple of hours and then leave.”

D.G. shrugged. “Secretary General, I don’t know their motivations. I can only report what happened.”

The Secretary-General stared at him haughtily. “But you do not report all that happened. The information of the sensors has now been thoroughly analyzed by computer and it would seem that you attacked.”

“I did not fire a kilowatt of energy, sir.”

“Have you considered kinetic energy? You used the ship itself as a projectile.”

“So it may have seemed to them. They did not choose to withstand me and call, what might have been a bluff.”

“But was it a bluff?”

“It might have been.”

“It seems to me, Captain, that you were ready to destroy two ships inside the Solar System and perhaps create a war crisis. That was a terrible chance to take.”

“I did not think it would come to actual destruction and it didn’t.”

“But, the whole process delayed you and occupied your attention.”

“Yes, I suppose so, but why are you pointing this out?”