Daneel Olivaw 4 - Robots and Empire Read online

  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?"

  "Because our sensors did observe one thing you did not observe—or, at any rate, did not report."

  "What might that be, Secretary-General?"

  "It caught the launching of an orbital module, which seems to have had two human beings on board and which descended toward Earth."

  The two were immersed in a world of their own. No other human being on the balcony was paying any attention to them. Only the two robots flanking D.G. were staring at them and listening.

  It was at this point that the speaker ceased, his last words being, "Lady Gladia, born a Spacer on the world of Solaria, living as a Spacer on the world of Aurora, but becoming a Citizen of the Galaxy on the Settler world of Baleyworld." He turned to her and gestured expansively, "Lady Gladia—"

  The sound of the crowd became a long, happy rumble and the many-headed crowd became a forest of waving arms. Gladia felt a gentle hand on her shoulder and heard a voice in her ear that said, "Please. A few words, my lady."

  Gladia said weakly, "People of Earth." The words boomed out and, uncannily, silence fell. Gladia said again, more, firmly, "People of Earth, I stand before you a human being as you are. A bit older, I admit, so that I lack your youth, your hopefulness, your capacity for enthusiasm. My misfortune is tempered at this moment, however, by the fact that in your presence I feel myself catching your fire, so that the cloak of age falls away—"

  Applause swelled and someone on the balcony said to someone else, "She's making them happy they're shortlived. That Spacer woman has the impudence of a devil."

  Andrev was not paying attention. He said to D.G., "The whole episode with you may have been a device to get those men on Earth."

  D.G. said, "I had no way of knowing that. I could think of very little else but saving Lady Gladia and my ship. Where have they landed?"

  "We don't know. They have not landed in any of the City spaceports."

  D.G. said, "I guess they wouldn't."

  "Not that it matters," said the Secretary-General, "except to give me passing annoyance. Over the past several years, there have been a number of landings of this sort, though none so carefully prepared. Nothing's ever happened and we pay no attention. Earth, after all, is an open world. It is humanity's home and any person from any world can come and go freely—even Spacers, if they wish."

  D.G. rubbed his beard with a rasping noise. "And yet their intentions might not be to do us any good whatever."

  (Gladia was saying, "I wish you all well on this world of human origin, on this well-packed special world, and in this marvel of a City—" and acknowledged the gathering applause with a smile and a wave as she stood there and allowed the enthusiasm to catch—and gather.)

  Andrev raised his voice, to be heard over the clamor of the crowd. "Whatever their intentions, it can come to nothing. The peace that has descended on Earth since the Spacers withdrew and Settlement began is unbreakable within and without. For many decades now, the wilder spirits among ourselves have been leaving for the Settler worlds so that a spirit such as yours, Captain, which can dare risk the destruction of two vessels within the space of the Solar system is not to be found on Earth. There is no substantial level of crime on Earth any longer, no violence. The security guards assigned to control this crowd have, no weapons because they have no need for any."

  And as he spoke, from the anonymity of the vast crowd a blaster pointed upward toward the balcony and was carefully aimed.

  80.

  A number of things happened at nearly the same time.

  Giskard's head had turned to stare at the crowd, drawn by some sudden effect.

  Daneel's eyes followed, saw the aimed blaster, and, with faster-than-human reflexes, he lunged.

  The sound of the blaster rang out.

  The people on the balcony froze and then broke out into loud exclamations.

  D.G. seized Gladia and snatched her to one side.

  The noise from the crowd erupted into a full-throated and terrifying roar.

  Daneel's lunge had been directed at Giskard and he knocked the other robot down.

  The shot from the blaster entered the room behind the balcony and gouged a hole out of a portion of the ceiling. A line drawn from the blaster to the hole might have passed through that portion of space occupied a second earlier by Giskard's head.

  Giskard muttered as he was forced down. "Not human. A robot."

  Daneel, releasing Giskard, surveyed the scene quickly. Ground level was some six meters beneath the balcony and the space below was empty. The security guards were struggling their way toward the region of upheaval within the crowd that marked the spot where the would-be assassin had stood.

  Daneel vaulted over the balcony and dropped, his metal skeleton absorbing the shock easily, as a human being's would not have.

  He ran toward the crowd.

  Daneel had no choice. He had never encountered anything like this before. The supreme need was to reach the robot with the blaster before it was destroyed and, with that in mind, Daneel found that, for the first time in his existence, he could not stand on the niceties of preserving individual human beings from harm. He had to shake them up somewhat.

  He tossed them aside, in actual fact, as he plowed into the crowd, crying out in stentorian fashion, "Make way! Make way! The person with the blaster must be questioned!"

  Security guards
fell in behind him and they found the "person" at last, down and somewhat battered.

  Even on an Earth that prided itself on being nonviolent, an eruption of rage against an obvious murderer left its mark. The assassin had been seized, kicked, and beaten. It was only the very density of the crowd that had saved the assassin from being torn apart. The multiple assailants, getting in each other's way, succeeded in doing comparatively little.

  The security guards pushed back the crowd with difficulty. On the ground near the prone robot was the blaster. Daneel ignored it.

  Daneel was kneeling by the captured assassin. He said, "Can you talk?"

  Bright eyes stared up at Daneel's. "I can," said the assassin in a voice that was low but quite normal otherwise.

  "Are you of Auroran origin?"

  The assassin did not answer.

  Daneel said quickly, "I know you are. It was an unnecessary question. Where on this planet is your base?"

  The assassin did not answer.

  Daneel said, "Your base? Where is it? You must answer. I am ordering you to answer."

  The assassin said. "You cannot order me. You are R. Daneel Olivaw. I have been told of you and I need not obey you."

  Daneel looked up, touched the nearest guard, and said, "Sir, would you ask this person where his base is?"

  The guard, startled, tried to speak but only a hoarse croak emerged. He swallowed in embarrassment, cleared his throat, and then barked out, "Where is your base?"

  "I am forbidden to answer that question, sir," said the assassin.

  "You must," said Daneel firmly. "A planetary official is asking it. —Sir, would you order him to answer it?"

  The guard echoed, "I order you to answer it, prisoner."

  "I am forbidden to answer that question, sir."

  The guard reached downward to seize the assassin roughly by the shoulder, but Daneel said rapidly, "I would suggest that it would not be useful to offer force, sir."

  Daneel looked about. Much of the clamor of the crowd had died down. There seemed to be a tension in the air, as though a million people were waiting anxiously to see what Daneel would do.

  Daneel said to the several guards who had now clustered about him and the prone assassin, "Would you clear the way for me, sirs? I must take the prisoner to Lady Gladia. It may be that she can force an answer."

  "What about medical attention for the prisoner?" asked one of the guards.

  "That will not be necessary, sir," said Daneel. He did not explain.

  81.

  "That this should have happened," said Andrev tightly, his lips trembling with passion. They were in the room off the balcony and he glanced up at the hole in the ceiling that remained as mute evidence of the violence that had taken place.

  Gladia said, in a voice that she strove successfully to keep from shaking, "Nothing has happened. I am unharmed. There is that hole in the ceiling that you will have to repair and perhaps some additional repairs in the room above. That's all."

  Even as she spoke, she could hear people upstairs moving objects away from the hole and presumably assessing damage.

  "That is not all," said Andrev. "It ruins our plans for your appearance tomorrow, for your major address to the planet."

  "It does the opposite," said Gladia. "The planet will be the more anxious to hear me, knowing I have been the near victim of an assassination attempt."

  "But there's the, chance of another attempt."

  Gladia shrugged lightly. "That just makes me feel I'm on the right track. —Secretary-General Andrev, I discovered not too long ago that I have a mission in life. It did not occur to me that this mission might place me in danger, but since it does, it also occurs to me that I would not be in danger and not worth the killing if I was not striking home. If danger is a measure of my effectiveness, I am willing to risk that danger."

  Giskard said, "Madam Gladia, Daneel is here with, I presume, the individual who aimed a blaster in this direction."

  It was not only Daneel—carrying a relaxed, unstruggling figure—who appeared in the doorway of the room, but half a dozen security guards as well. Outside, the noise of the crowd seemed lower and more distant. It was clearly beginning to disperse and periodically one could hear the announcement over the loudspeakers: "No one has been hurt. There is no danger. Return to your homes."

  Andrev waved the guards away. "Is that the one?" he asked sharply.

  Daneel said, "There is no question, sir, but that this is the individual with the blaster. The weapon was near him, but the people close to the scene witnessed his action, and he himself admits the deed."

  Andrev stared at him in astonishment. "He's so calm. He doesn't seem human."

  "He is not human, sir. He is a robot, a humanoid robot."

  "But we don't have any humanoid robots on Earth. —Except you."

  "This robot, Secretary-General," said Daneel, "is, like myself, of Auroran manufacture."

  Gladia frowned. "But that's impossible. A robot couldn't have been ordered to assassinate me."

  D.G., looking exasperated and, with a most possessive arm about Gladia's shoulder, said in an angry rumble, "An Auroran robot, specially programmed—"

  "Nonsense, D.G.," said Gladia. "No way. Auroran or not, special programming or not, a robot cannot deliberately try to harm a human being it knows to be a human being. If this robot did fire the blaster in my direction, he must have missed me on purpose."

  "To what end?" demanded Andrev. "Why should he miss, madam?"

  "Don't you see?" said Gladia. "Whoever it was that gave the robot, its orders must have felt that the attempt would be enough to disrupt my plans here on Earth and it was the disruption they were after. They couldn't order the robot to kill me, but they could order him to miss me—and if that was enough to disrupt the program, they would be satisfied. —Except that it won't disrupt the program. I won't allow that."

  D.G. said, "Don't be a heroine, Gladia. I don't know what they'll try next and nothing—nothing—is worth losing you."

  Gladia's eyes softened. "Thank you, D.G. I appreciate your feelings, but we must chance it."

  Andrev pulled at his ear in perplexity. "What do we do? The knowledge that a humanoid robot used a blaster in a crowd of human beings will not be taken well by Earth people."

  "Obviously, it wouldn't," said D.G. "Therefore, let's not tell them."

  "A number of people must already know—or guess—that we are dealing with a robot."

  "You won't stop the rumor, Secretary-General, but there is no need to make it more than that by means of an official announcement."

  Andrev said, "If Aurora is willing to go to this extreme to—"

  "Not Aurora," said Gladia quickly. "Merely certain people on Aurora, certain fire-eaters. There are such bellicose extremists among the Settlers, too, I know, and probably even on Earth. Don't play into the hands of these extremists, Secretary-General. I'm appealing to the vast majority of sensible human beings on both sides and nothing must be done to weaken that appeal."

  Daneel, who had been waiting patiently, finally found a pause long enough to make it possible for him to insert his comment. "Madam Gladia—sirs—it is important to find out from this robot where on this planet he is based. There may be others."

  "Haven't you asked him?" said Andrev.

  "I have, Secretary-General, but I am a robot. This robot is not required to answer questions put to him by another robot. Nor is he required to follow my orders."

  "Well, then, I will ask," said Andrev.

  "That may not help, sir. The robot is under stringent orders not to answer and your order to answer will probably not overcome them. You do not know the proper phraseology and intonation. Madam Gladia is an Auroran and knows how this may be done. Madam Gladia, would you inquire as to where his planetary base might be?"

  Giskard said in a low voice, so that only Daneel heard him, "It may not be possible. He may have been ordered into irreversible freeze if the questioning becomes too insistent."

&nb
sp; Daneel's head turned sharply to Giskard. He whispered, "Can you prevent that?"

  "Uncertain," said Giskard. "The brain has been physically damaged by the act of firing a blaster toward human beings."

  Daneel turned back to Gladia. "Madam," he said, "I would suggest you be probing, rather than brutal."

  Gladia said doubtfully, "Well, I don't know." She faced the robot assassin, drew a deep breath, and in a voice that was firm yet soft and gentle, she said, "Robot, how may I address you?"

  The robot said, "I am referred to as R. Ernett Second, madam."

  "Ernett, can you tell that I am an Auroran?"

  "You speak in the Auroran fashion, yet not entirely, madam."

  "I was born on Solaria, but I am a Spacer who has lived for twenty decades on Aurora and I am accustomed to being served by robots. I have expected and received service from robots every day of my life since I was a small child. I have never been disappointed."

  "I accept the fact, madam."

  "Will you answer my questions and accept my orders, Ernett?"

  "I will, madam, if they are not counteracted by a competing order."

  "If I ask you the location of your base on this planet—what portion of it you count as your master's establishment—will you answer that?"

  "I may not do so, madam. Nor any other question with respect to my master. Any question at all."

  "Do you understand that if you do not answer I will be bitterly disappointed and that my rightful expectation of robotic service will be permanently blunted?"

  "I understand, madam," said the robot faintly.

  Gladia looked at Daneel, "Shall I try?"

  Daneel said, "There is no choice but to try, Madam Gladia. If the effort leaves us without information, we are no worse off than now."

  Gladia said, in a voice that rang with authority, "Do not inflect damage on me, Ernett, by refusing to tell me the location of your base on this planet. I order you to tell me."