by Isaac Asimov
"I am aware of that, Commander, and I wish no hostilities, nor do I intend an unfriendly act. However, I am bound for Earth under some urgency. I lose time in this conversation and I would lose further time if I moved toward you—or waited for you to move toward me—so that we could carry through a physical transfer of Lady Gladia and her robots. I would prefer to continue onward toward Earth and formally accept all responsibility for the robot Giskard and his behavior until such a time as Lady Gladia and her robots return to Aurora."
"May I make the suggestion, Captain, that you place the woman and two robots in a lifeboat and detach a member of your crew to pilot it to us? Once the woman and the two robots are delivered, we will ourselves escort the lifeboat to the immediate environs of Earth and we will compensate you adequately for your time and trouble. A Trader should not object to that."
I don't, Commander, I don't," said D.G., smiling. "Still, the crewman detailed to pilot the lifeboat might be in great peril since he would be alone with this dangerous robot."
"Captain, if the robot's owner is firm in her control, your crewman will be in no greater danger on the lifeboat than he would be on your ship. We will compensate him for the risk."
"But if the robot can, after all, be controlled by its owner, surely it is not so dangerous that it can't be left with us."
The Commander frowned. "Captain, I trust you are not trying to play games with me. You have my request and I would like to have it honored at once."
"I presume I may consult with Lady Gladia."
"If you do so immediately. Please explain to her exactly what is involved. If, meanwhile, you try to proceed toward Earth, I shall consider that an unfriendly act and take the appropriate action. Since, as you claim, your trip toward Earth is urgent, I advise you to proceed forthwith to consult with Gladia Solaria and come to the immediate decision to cooperate with us. You will then not be too long delayed."
"I will do what I can," said D.G., wooden-faced, as he moved out of focus.
70.
"Well?" said D.G. gravely.
Gladia looked distressed. Automatically, she looked toward Daneel and Giskard, but they remained silent and motionless.
She said, "I don't want to return to Aurora, D.G. They can't possibly want to destroy Giskard; he is in perfect working order, I assure you. That's only a subterfuge. They want me for some reason. I suppose there's no way they can be stopped, though, is there?"
D.G. said, "That's an Auroran warship—and a big one. This is only a Trading vessel. We've got energy shields and they can't just destroy us at a blow, but they can wear us down eventually—quite soon, in fact—and then destroy us."
"Is there any way you can strike at them?"
"With my weapons? I'm sorry, Gladia, but their shields can take anything I can throw at them for as long as I can possibly have energy to expend. Besides—"
"Yes?"
"Well, they've just about cornered me. Somehow I thought they would try to intercept me before I Jumped, but they knew my destination and they got here first and waited for me. We're inside the Solar System—the planetary system of which Earth is part. We can't fight here. Even if I wanted to, the crew wouldn't obey me."
"Why not?"
"Call it superstition. The Solar System is holy space to us—if you want to describe it in melodramatic terms. We can't desecrate it by fighting."
Giskard said suddenly, "May I contribute to the discussion, sir?"
D.G. frowned and looked toward Gladia.
Gladia said, "Please. Let him. These robots are highly intelligent. I know you find that hard to believe, but—"
"I'll listen. I don't have to be influenced."
Giskard said, "Sir, I am certain that it is me that they want. I cannot allow myself to be the cause of harm to human beings. If you cannot defend yourself and are sure of destruction in a conflict with the other vessel, you have no choice but to give me up. I am sure that if you offer to let them have me, they will not seriously object if you wish to retain Lady Gladia and friend Daneel. It is the only solution."
"No," said Gladia forcefully. "You are mine and I won't give you up. I'll go with you—if the captain decides you must go—and I'll see to it they don't destroy you."
"May I speak as well?" said Daneel.
D.G. spread his hands in mock-despair. "Please. Everyone speak."
Daneel said, "If you decide you must give up Giskard, you must understand the consequences. I believe that Giskard thinks that if he is given up, those on the Auroran ship would do him no harm and that they will even release him. I do not believe this to be so. I believe the Aurorans are serious in thinking him to be dangerous and they may well have instructions to destroy the lifeboat as it approaches, killing whoever is on board."
"For what reason would they do that?" asked D.G.
"No Auroran has ever encountered—or even conceived—of what they call a dangerous robot. They would take no chances of taking one on board one of their vessels. —I would suggest, Captain, that you retreat. Why not jump again, away from Earth? We are not close enough to any planetary mass to prevent that."
"Retreat? You mean run away? I can't do that."
"Well, then, you have to give us up," said Gladia with an air of resigned hopelessness.
D.G. said forcefully, "I'm not giving you up. And I'm not running away. And I can't fight."
"Then what's left?" asked Gladia.
"A fourth alternative," said D.G. "Gladia, I must ask you to remain here with your robots till I return."
71.
D.G. considered the data. There had been enough time during the conversation for the location of the Auroran vessel to be pinpointed. It was a bit farther from the sun than his own ship was and that was good. To Jump toward the sun, at this distance from it, would have been risky indeed; to Jump sideways would be, so to speak, a piece of cake in comparison. There was the chance of accident through probability deviation, but there was always that.
He had himself assured the crew that not a shot would be fired (which would do no good, in any case). Clearly, they had utter faith in Earth space protecting them as long as they didn't profane its peace by offering violence. It was pure mysticism that D.G. would have scornfully derided had he not shared the conviction himself.
He moved back into focus. It had been a fairly long wait, but there had been no signal from the other side. They had shown exemplary patience.
"Captain Baley here," he said. "I wish to speak to Commander Lisiform."
There was not much of a wait. "Commander Lisiform here. May I have your answer?"
D.G. said, "We will deliver the woman and the two robots."
"Good! A wise decision."
"And we will deliver them as quickly as we can."
"Again a wise decision."
"Thank you." D.G. gave the signal and his ship Jumped.
There was no time, no need, to hold one's breath. It was over as soon as it was begun—or, at least, the time lapse was insensible.
The word came from the pilot. "New enemy ship position fixed, Captain."
"Good," said D.G. "You know what to do."
The ship had come out of the Jump at high speed relative to the Auroran vessel and the course correction (not a great deal, it was to be hoped) was being made. Then further acceleration.
D.G. moved back into focus, "We are close, Commander, and on our way to deliver. You may fire if you choose, but our shields are up and before you can batter them down we will have reached you in order to make the delivery."
"Are you sending a lifeboat?" The commander moved out of focus.
D.G. waited and the commander was back, his face contorted. "What is this? Your ship is on a collision course."
"It seems to be, yes," said D.G. "That is the fastest way of making delivery."
"You will, destroy your ship."
"And yours, too. Your ship is at least fifty times as expensive as mine, probably more. A poor exchange for Aurora."
"But you a
re engaging in combat in Earth space, Captain. Your customs do not allow that."
"Ah, you know our customs and you take advantage of them. —But I am not in combat. I have not fired an erg of energy and I won't. I am merely following a trajectory. That trajectory happens to intersect your position, but since I am sure you will move before that intersection movement arrives, it is clear that I intend no violence."
"Stop. Let's talk about this."
"I'm tired of talking, Commander. Shall we all say a fond farewell? If you don't move, I will be giving up perhaps four decades with the third and fourth not so good, anyway. How many will you be giving up?" And D.G. moved out of focus and stayed out.
A beam of radiation shot out from the Auroran ship—tentative, as though to test whether the other's shields were truly up. They were.
Ships' shields would hold against electromagnetic radiation and subatomic particles, including even neutrinos, and could withstand the kinetic energy of small masses—dust particles, even meteoric gravel. The shields could not withstand larger kinetic energies, such as that of an entire ship hurtling at it with supermeteoric speed.
Even dangerous masses, if not guided—a meteoroid, for instance—could be handled. A vessel's computers would automatically veer the ship out of the way of any oncoming meteoroid that was too large for the shield to handle. That, however, would not work against a ship that could veer as its target veered. And if the Settler ship was the smaller of the two, it was also the more maneuverable.
There was only one way that the Auroran ship could avoid destruction—
D.G. watched the other ship visibly enlarging in his viewing panel and wondered if Gladia, in her cabin, knew what was going on. She must be aware of the acceleration, despite the hydraulic suspension of her cabin and the compensatory action of the pseudo-gravity field.
And then the other ship simply winked out of view, having Jumped away, and D.G., with considerable chagrin, realized he was holding his breath and that his heart was racing. Had he had no confidence in the protecting influence of Earth or in his own sure diagnosis of the situation?
D.G. spoke into the transmitter in a voice that, with iron resolution, he forced into coolness. "Well done, men! Correct course and head for Earth."
16. THE CITY
72.
Gladia said, "Are you serious, D.G.? You really intended to collide with the ship?"
"Not at all," said D.G. indifferently. "I wasn't expecting to. I merely lunged at them, knowing they would retreat. Those Spacers weren't going to risk their long, wonderful lives when they could easily preserve them."
"Those Spacers? What cowards they are."
D.G. cleared his throat. "I keep forgetting you're a Spacer, Gladia."
"Yes—and I imagine you think that that is a compliment to me. What if they had been as foolish as you—if they had shown the childish madness you think of as bravery and stayed in place? What would you have done?"
D.G. muttered, "Hit them."
"And then we would all have died."
"The transaction would have been in our favor, Gladia. One crummy old Trader ship from a Settler world for a new and advanced warship of the leading Spacer world."
D.G. tipped his chair back against the wall and put his hands behind his neck (amazing how comfortable he felt, now that it was all over). "I once saw a historical hyperdrama, in which, toward the end of the war, airplanes loaded with explosives were deliberately flown into much more expensive seaships in order to sink them. Of course, the pilot of each airplane lost his life."
"That was fiction," said Gladia. "You don't suppose civilized people do things like that in real life, do you?"
"Why not? If the cause is good enough."
"What was it, then, you felt as you plunged toward a glorious death? Exaltation? —You were hurtling all your crew toward the same death."
They knew about it. We could do nothing else. Earth was watching."
"The people on Earth didn't even know."
"I mean it metaphorically. We were in Earth space. We could not act ignobly."
"Oh, what nonsense! And you risked my life, too."
D.G. looked down at his boots. "Would you like to hear something crazy? That was the only thing that bothered me."
"That I would die?"
"Not quite. That I would lose you. —When that ship ordered me to give you up, I knew I wouldn't—even if you asked me to. I would gladly ram them instead; they couldn't have you. And then, as I watched their ship expand in the viewscreen, I thought, 'If they don't get out of here, I'll lose her anyway,' and that's when my heart started to pound and I began to sweat. I knew they'd run, and still the thought—" He shook his head.
Gladia frowned. "I don't understand you. You weren't worrying about my dying, but you were worried about losing me? Don't the two go together?"
"I know. I'm not saying it's rational. I thought of you rushing at the overseer to save me when you knew it could murder you with a blow. I thought of you facing the crowd at Baleyworld and talking them down when you had never even seen a crowd before. I even thought of you going to Aurora when you were a young woman and learning a new way of life—and surviving. —And it seemed to me I didn't mind dying, I just minded losing you. —You're right. It doesn't make sense."
Gladia said thoughtfully, "Have you forgotten my age? I was just about as old as I am now when you were born. When I was your age, I used to dream of your remote Ancestor. What's more, I've got an artificial hip joint. My left thumb—this one right here"—she wiggled it—"is strictly prosthetic. Some of my nerves have been rebuilt. My teeth are all implanted ceramic. And you talk as though any moment you're going to confess a transcendent passion. —For what? —For whom? —Think, D.G.! —Look at me and see me as I am!"
D.G. tilted his chair back on two legs and rubbed at his beard with an odd scraping sound. "All right. You've made me sound silly, but I'm going to keep right on. What I know about your age is that you're going to survive me and look scarcely any older when you do, so you're younger than I am, not older. Besides, I don't care if you are older. What I would like is for you to stay with me wherever I go—for all my life, if possible."
Gladia was about to speak, but D.G. intervened hastily, "Or, if it seems more convenient, for me to stay with you wherever you go—for all my life, if possible. —If it's all right with you."
Gladia said softly, "I'm a Spacer. You're a Settler."
"Who cares, Gladia? Do you?"
"I mean, there's no question of children. I've had mine."
"What difference does that make to me! There's no danger of the name Baley dying out."
"I have a task of my own. I intend to bring peace to the Galaxy."
"I'll help you."
"And your trading? Will you give up your chance to be rich?"
"We'll do some together. Just enough to keep my crew happy and to help me support you in your task as peace-bringer."
"Life will be dull for you, D.G."
"Will it? It seems to me that since you joined me it's been too exciting."
"And you'll probably insist on my giving up my robots."
D.G. looked distressed. "Is that why you've been trying to talk me out of this? I wouldn't mind your keeping the two of them—even Daneel and his small lecherous smile—but if we're going to live among Settlers—"
"Then I suppose I'll have to try to find the courage to do it."
She laughed, gently and so did D.G. He held out his arms to her and she placed her hands in his.
She said, "You're mad. I'm mad. But everything has been so strange since the evening I looked up at the sky in Aurora and tried to find Solaria's sun that I suppose being mad is the only possible response to things."
"What you've just said isn't only mad," said D.G., "it's crazy, but that's the way I want you to be." He hesitated. "No, I'll wait. I'll shave my beard before I try to kiss you. That will lower the chances of infection."
"No, don't! I'm curious about how it might
feel."
And she promptly found out.
73.
Commander Lisiform strode back and forth across the length of his cabin. He said, "There was no use losing the ship. No use at all."
His political adviser sat quietly in his chair. His eyes did not bother to follow the agitated and rapid to-and-fro movement of the other. "Yes, of course," he said.
"What have the barbarians to lose? They only live a few decades, in any case. Life means nothing to them."
"Yes, of course."
"Still, I've never seen or heard of a Settler ship doing that. It may be a new fanatical tactic and we have no defense against it. What if they send drone ships against us, with shields up and full momentum but no human beings aboard?"
"We might robotify our ships entirely."
"That wouldn't help. We couldn't afford to lose the ship. What we need is the shield knife they keep talking about. Something that will slice through a shield."
"Then they'll develop one, too, and we will have to devise a knife-proof shield, and so will they, and it will be a standoff again at a higher level."
"We need something completely new, then."
"Well," said the adviser, "maybe something will turn up. Your mission wasn't primarily the matter of the Solarian woman and her robots, was it? It would have been pleasant if we could have forced them out of the Settler ship, but that was secondary, wasn't it?"
"The Council isn't going to like it, just the same."
"It's my job to take care of that. The important fact is that Amadiro and Mandamus left the ship and are on their way to Earth in a good speedy ferry."
"Well, yes."
"And you not only distracted the Settler ship but delayed it as well. That means Amadiro and Mandamus not only left the ship unnoticed, but they will be on Earth before our barbarian captain will."
"I suppose so. But what of that?"
"I wonder. If it were only Mandamus, I would dismiss the matter. He's of no consequence. But Amadiro? To abandon the political wars back home at a difficult time and come to Earth? Something absolutely crucial must be going on here."