Asimov’s Future History Volume 20 Read online

  “Those lines were shallow scorings. We don’t know whether that is printing — writing of some kind — or simply channels for some other purpose. But we’re inclined to think that it’s writing because of the way it’s set down and because we did find other stones with the same sort of thing on them.”

  “These are the engravings you found near the mysterious domes?” Palver asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “They make no sense whatever.”

  “They don’t. They probably never will, unless we can find some way of connecting them with our own language and our own methods of writing.”

  Palver was silent for several minutes, as was Dr. Buth, who sat staring at the glowing end of his cigar. Finally, Buth dropped the cigar into a nearby disposer, where it disappeared with a bright flash of molecular disintegration.

  “Thirty years,” said Buth. “And nothing to show for it. Oh, I enjoyed it — don’t think I’m feeling sorry for myself. But it’s funny how a man can enjoy himself doing profitless work. There was a time when I thought I might work on my mathematical theories — you remember? — and look how unprofitable that might have been.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Palver said uncomfortably. He handed the notebook back to Dr. Buth.

  “But still,” Buth said, taking the notebook, “a man hates to think of wasting thirty years. And that’s what it was.”

  He looked at the lines he had drawn. Meaningless lines that made a meaningless pattern:

  EMPLOYEES MUST WASH

  HANDS BEFORE LEAVING

  “Waste,” he said softly, “all waste.”

  The End

  (For now...)

  Johnny Pez’s Insanely Complete Fiction List

  Chronology

  1982 AD “To the Continuing End of Eternity” by Greg Toland

  1995 AD “A Boy’s Best Friend” (The Complete Robot)

  1998 AD “Robbie” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2006 AD “Robot AL-76 Goes Astray” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

  2010 AD “Insert Knob A in Hold B” (Nightfall and Other Stories)

  2015 AD “Runaround” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2015 AD “Reason” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2016 AD “Catch That Rabbit” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot)

  2020 AD “Safety First” by Johnny Pez

  2021 AD “Liar!” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2023 AD “Satisfaction Guaranteed” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Earth Is Room Enough)

  2024 AD “Balance” by Mike Resnick (Foundation’s Friends)

  2025 AD “Lenny” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2026 AD “Blot” by Hal Clement (Foundation’s Friends)

  2029 AD “Little Lost Robot” (I, Robot)

  2030 AD “Escape!” (I, Robot)

  2031 AD “Cal” (Gold)

  2032 AD “Evidence” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2032 AD “PAPPI” by Sheila Finch (Foundation’s Friends)

  2033 AD “Risk” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

  2034 AD “Galley Slave” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2035 AD “First Law” (The Rest of the Robots; The Complete Robot)

  2036 AD “Plato’s Cave” by Poul Anderson (Foundation’s Friends)

  2044 AD “The Martian Dilemma” by David Pinkston

  2051 AD “Non-Compliance” by Greg Toland

  2052 AD “The Evitable Conflict” (I, Robot; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  2055 AD “Robot Dreams” (Robot Dreams)

  2058 AD I, Robot

  2060 AD “The Eternal Woman” by Wendell Urth

  2063 AD “Feminine Intuition” (The Complete Robot; Robot Visions; The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories)

  2065 AD “The Fourth Law of Robotics” by Harry Harrison (Foundation’s Friends)

  2090 AD “Christmas Without Rodney” (Robot Visions)

  2120 AD “Kid Brother” (Gold)

  2140 AD Robots in Time by William F. Wu (six volumes)

  Predator

  Marauder

  Warrior

  Dictator

  Emperor

  Invader

  2150 AD “Light Verse” (Buy Jupiter and Other Stories; The Complete Robot; Robot Dreams)

  2170 AD “Too Bad!” (Robot Visions)

  2180 AD “That Thou Art Mindful of Him” (The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories; The Complete Robot)

  2200 AD “Carhunters of the Concrete Prairie” by Robert Sheckley (Foundation’s Friends)

  2160-2360 AD “The Bicentennial Man” (The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories)

  2425 AD “Mother Earth” (The Early Asimov)

  3421 AD The Caves of Steel

  3422 AD The Naked Sun

  3423 AD “Mirror Image” (The Best of Isaac Asimov; The Complete Robot; Robot Visions)

  3424 AD “Strip-Runner” by Pamela Sargent (Foundation’s Friends)

  3424 AD The Robots of Dawn

  3604 AD Robot City (six volumes)

  Odyssey by Michael P. Kube-McDowell

  Suspicion by Mike McQuay

  Cyborg by William F. Wu

  Prodigy by Arthur Byron Cover

  Refuge by Rob Chilson

  Perihelion by William F. Wu

  3605 AD Robots and Aliens (six volumes)

  Changeling by Stephen Leigh

  Renegade by Cordell Scotten

  Intruder by Robert Thurston

  Alliance by Jerry Oltion

  Maverick by Bruce Bethke

  Humanity by Jerry Oltion

  3620 AD Mirage by Mark W. Tiedemann

  3621 AD Chimera by Mark W. Tiedemann

  3624 AD Robots and Empire

  3730 AD Caliban by Roger MacBride Allen

  3731 AD Inferno by Roger MacBride Allen

  3736 AD Utopia by Roger MacBride Allen

  3745 AD “Hope: Reunification of Mankind” by Harald Muecke

  4850 AD The Stars, Like Dust

  11129 AD The Currents of Space

  827 GE (12411 AD) Pebble in the Sky

  977-978 GE “Blind Alley” (The Early Asimov)

  12020 GE Prelude to Foundation

  12028 GE “Eto Demerzel” (Forward the Foundation)

  12028 GE Foundation’s Fear by Gregory Benford

  12038 GE “Cleon I” (Forward the Foundation)

  12048 GE “Dors Venabili” (Forward the Foundation)

  12058 GE “Wanda Seldon” (Forward the Foundation)

  12067 GE Foundation and Chaos by Greg Bear

  12067 GE “The Psychohistorians” (Foundation)

  12068 GE Foundation’s Triumph by David Brin

  12069 GE Epilogue (Forward the Foundation)

  12067-12070 GE “The Originist” by Orson Scott Card (Foundation’s Friends)

  49-50 FE (12117-12118 GE) “The Encyclopedists” (Foundation)

  79-80 FE (12147-12148 GE) “The Mayors” (Foundation)

  134 FE (12202 GE) “The Traders” (Foundation)

  154-160 FE (12222-12228 GE) “The Merchant Princes” (Foundation)

  195-196 FE (12263-12264 GE) “The General” (Foundation and Empire)

  270 FE (12338 GE) “Trantor Falls” by Harry Turtledove (Foundation’s Friends)

  310-311 FE (12378-12379 GE) “The Mule” (Foundation and Empire)

  316 FE (12384 GE) “Search by the Mule” (Second Foundation)

  376-377 FE (12444-12445 GE) “Search by the Foundation” (Second Foundation)

  498 FE (12566 GE) Foundation’s Edge

  498 FE (12566 GE) Foundation and Earth

  498 FE (12566 GE) “After Earth” by Johnny Pez (read the story)

  729 FE (12797 GE) “A Pleasure Doing Business With You” by Alexander J. Vincent (read the story)

  1000 FE (13068 GE) “The Imperial Conference” by Alexa
nder J. Vincent (read the story)

  1056 FE (13124 GE) “Foundation’s Conscience” by George Zebrowski (Foundation’s Friends)

  1302 FE (13370 GE) “No Connections” by Randall Garrett (The Best of Randall Garrett; Takeoff [both are Randall Garrett collections])

  Sources of dates

  “A Boy’s Best Friend” Given the speed with which space is being explored and settled, a date of 1980 for the establishment of Lunar City seems reasonable. Assuming Anderson Senior was one of the original settlers, that places the story in 1995.

  “Robbie” Stated in I, Robot.

  “Robot AL-76 Goes Astray” After robots are banned from Earth in 2003-2007, before Susan Calvin joins US Robots in 2008.

  “Insert Knob A in Hole B” Before the use of robots on space stations, hence before “Reason”.

  “Runaround” Stated in I, Robot.

  “Reason” Six months after “Runaround”.

  “Catch That Rabbit” Six months after “Reason”.

  “Safety First” Stated in story.

  “Liar!” Stated in I, Robot.

  “Satisfaction Guaranteed” Characters have the same titles as in “Liar”. Susan Calvin is more knowledgeable about emotions than in “Liar!”, so the story takes place later.

  “Balance” Susan Calvin’s robotic servants flatter her in a manner similar to Herbie from “Liar!”, but she seems much more at ease with the idea, which places the story after “Liar!”

  “Lenny” Peter Bogart is now Senior Mathematician, so the story comes after “Satisfaction Guaranteed”.

  “Blot” Story of the first exploratory mission to Miranda. Given a mission to Mars in 1998 and a first expedition to Mercury in 2005, a mission to Uranus in 2026 seems reasonable.

  “Little Lost Robot” Stated in I, Robot.

  “Escape” Within a few months of “Little Lost Robot”.

  “Cal” Cal seems to be the prototype for the EZ robots of “Galley Slave”, so allowing a couple of years for the design and production of the latter places the story in 2031.

  “Evidence” Stated in I, Robot.

  “PAPPI” Immediately after “Evidence”.

  “Risk” Takes place ‘some years’ after “Little Lost Robot”.

  “Galley Slave” Stated in the story.

  “First Law” Stated in the story.

  “Plato’s Cave” Shortly before Stephen Byerly becomes Regional Coordinator.

  “The Evitable Conflict” Stated in I, Robot.

  “Robot Dreams” Late in Susan Calvin’s career with US Robots.

  I, Robot The links between the stories are set fifty years after Susan Calvin joins US Robots in 2008.

  “Feminine Intuition” Five years after Susan Calvin retires from US Robots.

  “The Fourth Law of Robotics” Susan Calvin’s great-niece has her job.

  “Christmas Without Rodney” Slighting reference to the 20th century suggests the story takes place in the 21st. Common use of robot servants suggests the latter part of the century, when the Frankenstein Complex has faded away.

  “Kid Brother” Acceptance of household robots on Earth dates the story to the same general era as “Christmas Without Rodney” and “Light Verse”.

  Robots in Time Stated in volume 1, Predator.

  “Light Verse” Features a robot that is capable of original artistic expression (as was Andrew Martin), at a time when robot servants are accepted (as was Andrew Martin). These both suggest that the story takes place near the beginning of “The Bicentennial Man”.

  “Too Bad!” Sometime in the 22nd century, before the creation of the simplified robots in “That Thou Art Mindful of Him”.

  “That Thou Art Mindful of Him” Takes place about two hundred years after US Robots is founded (i.e. circa 2182). Mentions that the Machines phased themselves out of existence a hundred years earlier (circa 2082).

  “Carhunters of the Concrete Prairie” The combination of interstellar exploration and robots places this story at the time of the settlement of the Spacer worlds.

  “The Bicentennial Man” Andrew Martin is about a hundred years old “nearly two centuries” after Susan Calvin’s death in 2064.

  “Mother Earth” Takes place at the end of “the first few centuries of interstellar travel” when the Outer Worlds “were controlled, politically and economically, by Earth.” (quotations from The Caves of Steel, Chapter 5).

  The Caves of Steel Takes place a thousand years after emigration to the Outer Worlds ends. It also takes place 19 years after Elijah Baley first meets Jessie Navodny “back in ’02.”

  The Naked Sun Takes place one year after The Caves of Steel.

  “Mirror Image” Takes place one year before The Robots of Dawn i.e. one year after The Naked Sun.

  “Strip-Runner” Takes place after Elijah Baley starts his Outside group, but shortly before The Robots of Dawn (since the events in that novel aren’t mentioned in the story).

  The Robots of Dawn Takes place two years after The Naked Sun.

  Robot City Takes place about twenty years before Robots and Empire (Han Fastolfe is still alive, and the number of Settler worlds is smaller than in RaE).

  Robots and Aliens Takes place one year after Robot City.

  Mirage Features older versions of characters from the Robot City series, but takes place before the disappearance of the Solarians in Robots and Empire.

  Chimera Takes place one year after Mirage.

  Robots and Empire Takes place two hundred years after The Robots of Dawn.

  Caliban Takes place a century after the Solarians vanish.

  Inferno Takes place one year after Caliban.

  Utopia Takes place one year after Inferno.

  “Hope: Reunification of Mankind” Provided by author.

  The Stars, Like Dust Takes place a thousand years after Earth suffers nuclear bombardment (perhaps in an attack by the more conservative Spacer worlds).

  The Currents of Space Takes place five centuries before the founding of the Galactic Empire. (Note: Foundation’s Edge takes place about 22,000 years after interstellar travel begins, i.e. AD 24,000. This is 12,566 years after the founding of the Galactic Empire, which sets the Empire’s foundation around the year AD 11,500. For no good reason, I’ve chosen AD 11,585 for the year 1 GE.)

  Pebble in the Sky Stated in the novel.

  “Blind Alley” Stated in the story.

  Prelude to Foundation Stated in the novel.

  “Eto Demerzel” Eight years after Prelude to Foundaton.

  Foundation’s Fear Shortly after “Eto Demerzel”.

  “Cleon I” Ten years after “Eto Demerzel”.

  “Dors Venabili” Ten years after “Cleon I”.

  “Wanda Seldon” Ten years after “Dors Venabili”.

  Foundation and Chaos Same time as “The Psychohistorians”.

  “The Psychohistorians” Takes place two years before Hari Seldon’s death in 12,069 GE.

  Foundation’s Triumph Takes place after “The Psychohistorians”.

  “Epilogue” Hari Seldon’s death.

  “The Originist” Begins shortly after Hari Seldon’s trial, ends several months after Seldon’s death.

  “The Encyclopedists” Takes place 50 years after the Foundation is established in 12,068 GE.

  “The Mayors” Takes place 30 years after “The Encyclopedists”.

  “The Traders” Takes place “two decades” before “The Merchant Princes”.

  “The Merchant Princes” Begins “almost 75 years” after “The Mayors”, ends six years later.

  “The General” Begins “over 40 years” after Hober Mallow’s meeting with Onum Barr in “The Merchant Princes”.

  “Trantor Falls” Takes place forty years before “The Mule”.

  “The Mule” Takes place 17 years after Han Pritcher joins the Army in 293 FE.

  “Search by the Mule” Takes place five years after the end of “The Mule”.

  “Search by the Foundation” State
d in the story.

  Foundation’s Edge Stated in the novel.

  Foundation and Earth Takes place immediately following Foundation’s Edge.

  “After Earth” Takes place immediately following Foundation and Earth.

  “The Imperial Conference” Takes place as Second Empire is established.

  “Foundation’s Conscience” Stated in the story.

  “No Connections” Takes place sometime after the establishment of the Second Empire.

  An Unofficial Timeline By Attila Torkos

  Chronology of the

  ROBOT-EMPIRE-FOUNDATION UNIVERSE

  (Taken from the novel Aurora)

  ATTILA TORKOS was born in Hungary in 1971. He learned to speak, read and write English from his father during childhood. Science Fiction spellbound him early in his teens when he got acquainted with Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy. He witnessed the fusion of the Foundation novels with the Robot and Galactic Empire books, and watched with fascination as Asimov’s world expanded. He began to compile a detailed timeline to the Robot-Empire-Foundation Universe in 1997.

  Having completed the chronology with the events and references of the volumes of The Second Foundation Trilogy, refining touches and editing were performed with the invaluable help and supervision of David Brin. The chronology was published in Foundation’s Triumph in 1999. Since its first publication, the timeline has undergone a major updating and expansion, as a result of a thorough research of the original novels, combined with additional information and insight kindly provided by Donald Kingsbury. The timeline gained its present form when events and references from the Robot Mystery Trilogy were added with Mark W. Tiedemann’s approval and guidance.

  Attila Torkos acquired his M.D. in 1995 at the Faculty of General Medicine of the Szeged University (Szeged, Hungary), specialized in 1999 in ear-nose-throat, and works as an ENT surgeon at the Clinic of Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery of the same institute.