Asimov's Future History Volume 5 Read online

  For the first time since the Chairman arrived, Baley had time to think of something besides his next sentence.

  He still didn’t know what it was that had come to him three times, first on the point of sleep, then on the point of unconsciousness, and finally in postcoital relaxation.

  “He was there first!”

  It was still meaningless, yet he had made his point to the Chairman and carried all before him without it. Could it have any meaning at all, then, if it was a part of a mechanism that didn’t fit and didn’t seem needed? Was it nonsense?

  It chafed at the corner of his mind and he came to lunch a victor without the proper sensation of victory. Somehow, he felt as though he had missed the point.

  For one thing, would the Chairman stick to his resolve? Amadiro had lost the battle, but he didn’t seem the kind of person who would give up altogether under any circumstances. Give him credit and assume he meant what he said, that he was driven not by personal vainglory but by his concept of Auroran patriotism. If that were so, he could not give up.

  Baley felt it necessary to warn Fastolfe.

  “Dr. Fastolfe,” he said, “I don’t think it’s over. Dr. Amadiro will continue the fight to exclude Earth.”

  Fastolfe nodded as the dishes were served. “I know he will. I expect him to. However, I have no fear as long as the matter of Jander’s immobilization is set to rest. With that aside, I’m sure I can always outmaneuver him in the Legislature. Fear not, Mr. Baley, Earth will move along. Nor need you fear personal danger from a vengeful Amadiro. You will be off this planet and on your way back to Earth before sunset – and Daneel will escort you, of course. What’s more, the report we’ll send with you will ensure, once more, a healthy promotion for you.”

  “I am eager to go,” said Baley, “but I hope I will have time to say my good – byes. I would like to – to see Gladia once more and I would like to say good – bye to Giskard, who may have saved my life last night.”

  “No question of that, Mr. Baley. But please eat, won’t you?”

  Baley went through the motions of eating, but didn’t enjoy it. Like the confrontation with the Chairman and the victory that ensued, the food was oddly flavorless.

  He should not have won. The Chairman should have cut him off. Amadiro, if necessary, should have made a flat denial. It would have been accepted over the word – or the reasoning – of an Earthman.

  But Fastolfe was jubilant. He said, “I had feared the worst, Mr. Baley. I feared the meeting with the Chairman was premature and that nothing you could say would help the situation. Yet you managed it so well. I was lost in admiration, listening to you. At any moment, I expected Amadiro to demand that his word be taken against an Earthman who, after all, was in a constant state of semimadness at finding himself on a strange planet in the open –”

  Baley said frigidly, “With all respect, Dr. Fastolfe, I was not in a constant state of semimadness. Last night was exceptional, but it was the only time I lost control. For the rest of my stay on Aurora, I may have been uncomfortable from time to time, but I was always in my perfect mind.” Some of the anger he had suppressed at considerable cost to himself in the confrontation with the Chairman was expressing itself now. “Only during the storm, sir – except, of course” – recollecting –” for a moment or two on the approaching spaceship –”

  He was not conscious of the manner in which the thought – the memory, the interpretation – came to him or at what speed. One moment it did not exist, the next moment it was full – blown in his mind, as though it had been there all the time and needed only the bursting of a soap – bubble veil to show it.

  “Jehoshaphat!” he said in an awed whisper. Then, with his fist coming down on the table and rattling the dishes, “Jehoshaphat!”

  “What is it, Mr. Baley?” asked Fastolfe, startled.

  Baley stared at him and heard the question only belatedly. “Nothing, Dr. Fastolfe. I was just thinking of Dr. Amadiro’s infernal gall in doing the damage to Jander and then laboring to fix the blame on you, in arranging to have me go half – mad in the storm last night and then using that as a way of casting doubt on my statements. I was just – momentarily – angry.”

  “Well, no need to be, Mr. Baley. And actually, it is quite impossible for Amadiro to have immobilized Jander. It remains purely a chance event. – To he sure, it is possible that Amadiro’s investigation may have increased the odds of such a chance event taking place, but I would not argue the matter.”

  Baley heard the statement with half of one ear. What he had just said to Fastolfe was fiction and what Fastolfe was saying didn’t matter. It was (as the Chairman would have said) irrelevant. In fact, everything that had happened – everything that Baley had explained – was irrelevant. – But nothing had to be changed because of that.

  Except one thing – after a while.

  Jehoshaphat! he whispered in the silence of his mind and turned suddenly to the lunch, eating with gusto and with joy.

  81.

  ONCE AGAIN, BALEY crossed the lawn between Fastolfe’s establishment and Gladia’s. He would be seeing Gladia for the fourth time in three days – and (his heart seemed to compress into a hard knot in his chest) now for the last time.

  Giskard was with him but at a distance, more intent than ever on the surroundings. Surely, with the Chairman in full possession of the facts, there should be a relaxation of any concern for Baley’s safety – if there ever had been any, by rights, when it was Daneel who had been in danger. Presumably, Giskard had not yet been reinstructed in the matter.

  Only once did he approach Baley and that was when the latter called out, “Giskard, where’s Daneel?”

  Swiftly, Giskard covered the ground between them, as though reluctant to speak in anything but a quiet tone. “Daneel is on his way to the spaceport, sir, in the company of several others of the staff, in order to make arrangements for your transportation to Earth. When you are taken to the spaceport, he will meet you there and be on the ship with you, taking his final leave of you at Earth.”

  “Good news. I treasure every day of companionship with Daneel. And you, Giskard? Will you accompany us?”

  “No, sir. I am instructed to remain on Aurora. However, Daneel will serve you well, even in my absence.”

  “I am sure of that, Giskard, but I will miss you.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Giskard and retreated as rapidly as he had come. Baley gazed after him speculatively for a moment or so. – No, first things first. He had to see Gladia.

  82.

  SHE ADVANCED TO greet him – and what a world of change had taken place in two days. She was not joyous, she was not dancing, she was not bubbling; there was still the grave look of one who had suffered a shock and a loss – but the troubled aura around her was gone. There was a kind of serenity now, as though she had grown aware of the fact that life continued after all and might even, on occasion, be sweet.

  She managed a smile, warm and friendly, as she advanced to him and held out her hand.

  “Oh, take it, take it, Elijah,” she said when he hesitated. “It’s ridiculous for you to hang back and pretend you don’t want to touch me after last night. You see, I still remember it and I haven’t come to regret it. Quite the contrary.”

  Baley performed the unusual operation (for him) of smiling in return. “I remember it, too, Gladia, and I don’t regret it either. I would even like to do it again, but I have come to say good – bye.”

  A shade fell across her face. “Then you’ll be going back to Earth. Yet the report I got by way of the robot network that always operates between Fastolfe’s establishment and my own is that all went well. You can’t have failed.”

  “I did not fail. Dr. Fastolfe, has, in fact, won completely. I don’t believe there will be any suggestion at all that he was in any way involved in Jander’s death.”

  “Because of what you had to say, Elijah?”

  “I believe so.”

  “I knew it.” There was a tinge
of self – satisfaction to that. “I knew you would do it when I told them to get you on the case. But then why are you being sent home?”

  “Precisely because the case is solved. If I remain here longer, I will be a foreign irritant in the body politic, apparently.”

  She looked at him dubiously for a moment and said, “I’m not sure what you mean by that. It sounds like an Earth expression to me. But never mind. Were you able to find out who killed Jander? That is the important part.”

  Baley looked around. Giskard was standing in one niche, one of Gladia’s robots in another.

  Gladia interpreted the look without trouble. She said, “Now, Elijah, you must learn to stop worrying about robots. You don’t worry about the presence of the chair, do you, or of these drapes?”

  Baley nodded. “Well, then, Gladia, I’m sorry – I’m terribly sorry – but I had to tell them of the fact that Jander was your husband.”

  Her eyes opened wide and he hastened on. “I had to. It was essential to the case, but I promise it won’t affect your status on Aurora.” As briefly as he might, he summarized the events of the confrontation and concluded, “So, you see, no one killed Jander. The immobilization was the result of a chance change in his positronic pathways, though the probabilities of that chance change may have been enhanced by what had been going on.”

  “And I never knew,” she moaned. “I never knew. I connived at this Amadiro’s foul plan. – And he is the one responsible just as much, as though he had deliberately hacked away at him with a sledgehammer.”

  “Gladia,” said Baley earnestly, “that is uncharitable. He had no intention of doing harm to Jander and what he was doing was, in his own eyes, for the good of Aurora. As it is, he is punished. He is defeated, his plans are in shambles, and the Robotics Institute will come under the domination of Dr. Fastolfe. You yourself could not work out a more suitable punishment, no matter how you tried.”

  She said, “I’ll think about that. – But what do I do with Santirix Gremionis, this good – looking young lackey whose job it was to lure me away? No wonder he appeared to cling to hope despite my repeated refusal. Well, he’ll come here again and I will have the pleasure of –”

  Baley shook his head violently. “Gladia, no. I have interviewed him and I assure you he had no knowledge of what was going on. He was as much deceived as you were. In fact, you have it reversed. He was not persistent because it was important to lure you away. He was useful to Amadiro because he was so persistent – and that persistence was out of regard for you. Out of love, if the word means on Aurora what it means on Earth.”

  “On Aurora, it is choreography. Jander was a robot and you are an Earthman. It is different with the Aurorans.”

  “So you have explained. But Gladia, you learned from Jander to take; you learned from me – not that I meant it – to give. If you benefit by learning, is it not only right and fair that you should teach in your turn? Gremionis is sufficiently attracted to you to be willing to learn. He already defies Auroran convention by persisting in the face of your refusal. He will defy more. You can teach him to give and take and you will learn to do both in alternation or together, in company with him.”

  Gladia looked searchingly into his eyes. “Elijah, are you trying to get rid of me?”

  Slowly, Baley nodded. “Yes, Gladia, I am. It’s your happiness I want at this moment, more than I have ever wanted anything for myself or for Earth. I can’t give you happiness, but if Gremionis can give it to you, I will be as happy – almost as happy as if it were I myself who were making the gift.

  “Gladia, he may surprise you with how eagerly he will break through the choreography when you show him how. And the word will somehow spread, so that others will come to swoon at your feet – and Gremionis may find it possible to teach other women. Gladia, it may be that you will revolutionize Auroran sex before you are through. You will have three centuries in which to do so.”

  Gladia stared at him and then broke into a laugh. “You are teasing. You are being deliberately foolish. I wouldn’t have thought it of you, Elijah. You always look so long – faced and grave. Jehoshaphat!” (And, with the last word, she tried to imitate his somber baritone.)

  Baley said, ‘Perhaps I’m teasing a little, but I mean it in essence. Promise me that you will give Gremionis his chance.”

  She came closer to him and, without hesitation, he put his arm around her. She placed her finger on his lips and he made a small kissing motion. She said softly, “Wouldn’t you rather have me for yourself, Elijah?”

  He said, just as softly (and unable to become unaware of the robots in the room), “Yes, I would, Gladia. I am ashamed to say that at this moment I would be content to have the Earth fall to pieces if I could have you – but I can’t. In a few hours, I’ll be off Aurora and there’s no way you will be allowed to go with me. Nor do I think I will ever be allowed to come back to Aurora, nor is it possible that you will ever visit Earth.

  “I will never see you again, Gladia, but I will never forget you, either. I will die in a few decades and when I do you will be as young as you are now, so we would have to say good – bye soon whatever we could imagine as happening.”

  She put her head against his chest. “Oh, Elijah, twice you came into my life, each time for just a few hours. Twice you’ve done so much for me and then said good – bye. The first time all I could do was touch your face, but what a difference that made. The second time, I did so much more – and again what a difference that made. I’ll never forget you, Elijah, if I live more centuries than I can count.”

  Baley said, “Then let it not be the kind of memory that cuts you off from happiness. Accept Gremionis and make him happy and let him make you happy as well. And, remember, there is nothing to prevent you from sending me letters. The hyperpost between Aurora and Earth exists.”

  “I will, Elijah. And you will write to me as well?”

  “I will, Gladia.”

  Then there was silence and, reluctantly, they moved apart. She remained standing in the middle of the room and when he went to the door and turned back, she was still standing there with a little smile. His lips shaped: Good – bye. And then because there was no sound – he could not have done it with sound – he added, my love.

  And her lips moved, too. Goode – bye, my dearest love.

  And he turned and walked out and knew he would never see her in tangible form, never touch her again.

  83.

  IT WAS A while before Elijah could bring himself to consider the task that still lay before him. He Shad walked in silence perhaps half the distance back to Fastolfe’s establishment before he stopped and lifted his arm.

  The observant Giskard was at his side in a moment.

  Baley said, “How much time before I must leave for the spaceport, Giskard?”

  “Three hours and ten minutes, sir.”

  Baley thought a moment. “I would like to walk over to that tree there and sit down with my back against the trunk and spend some time there alone. With you, of course, but away from other human beings.”

  “In the open, sir?” The robot’s voice was unable to express surprise and shock, but somehow Baley had the feeling that, if Giskard were human, those words would express those feelings.

  “Yes,” said Baley. “I have to think and, after last night, a calm day like this – sunny, cloudless, mild – scarcely seems dangerous. I’ll go indoors if I get agoraphobic. I promise. So will you join me?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Baley led the way. They reached the tree and Baley touched the trunk gingerly and then stared at his finger, which remained perfectly clean. Reassured that leaning against the trunk would not dirty him, he inspected the ground and then sat down carefully and rested his back against the tree.

  It was not nearly as comfortable as the back of a chair would have been, but there was a feeling of peace (oddly enough) that perhaps he would not have had inside a room.

  Giskard remained standing and Baley said
, “Won’t you sit down, too?”

  “I am as comfortable standing, sir.”

  “I know that, Giskard, but I will think better if I don’t have to look up at you.”

  “I could not guard you against possible harm as efficiently if I were seated, sir.”

  “I know that, too, Giskard, but there is no reasonable danger at the moment. My mission is over, the case is’ solved, Dr. Fastolfe’s position is secure. You can risk being seated and I order you to sit down.”

  Giskard at once sat down, facing Baley, but his eyes continued to wander in this direction and that and were ever alert.

  Baley looked at the sky, through the leaves of the tree, green against blue, listened to the susurration of insects and to the sudden call of a bird, noted a disturbance of grass nearby that might have meant a small animal passing by, and again thought how oddly peaceful it all was and how different this peacefulness was from the clamor of the City. This was a quiet peace, an unhurried peace, a removed peace.

  For the first time, Baley caught a faint suggestion of how it might be to prefer Outside to the City. He caught himself being thankful to his experiences on Aurora, to the storm most of all – for he knew now that he would be able to leave Earth and face the, conditions of whatever new world he might settle on, he and Ben – and perhaps Jessie.

  He said, “Last night, in the darkness of the storm, I wondered if I might have seen. Aurora’s satellite were it not for the clouds. It has a satellite, if I recall my reading correctly.”

  “Two, actually, sir. The larger is Tithonus, but it is still so small that it appears only as a moderately bright star. The smaller is not visible at all to the unaided eye and is simply called Tithonus II, when it is referred to at all.”

  “Thank you. – And thank you, Giskard, for rescuing me last night.” He looked at the robot. “I don’t know the proper way of thanking you.”

  “It is not necessary to thank me at all. I was merely following the dictates of the First Law. I had no choice in the matter.”