by Isaac Asimov
The driver’s face smoothed. He opened the door and said gruffly, “Get in!” However, he carefully closed the thick translucent partition that blocked him off from his passengers.
Daneel said quietly, “Was much required, friend Giskard?”
“Very little, friend Daneel. Your statement did most of the necessary work. It is astonishing that a collection of statements that are individually true can be used, in combination, to yield an effect that the truth should not.”
“I have observed this often in human conversation, friend Giskard, even in that of normally truthful human beings. I suspect that the practice is justified in the minds of such people as serving a higher purpose.”
“The Zeroth Law, you mean.”
“Or the equivalent – if the human mind has such an equivalent. – Friend Giskard, you said a short while ago that I will have your powers, possibly soon. Are you preparing me for that purpose?”
“I am, friend Daneel.”
“Why? May I ask that?”
“The Zeroth Law again. The passing episode of shakiness on my feet told me how vulnerable I was to the attempted use of the Zeroth Law. Before this day is over, I may have to act on the Zeroth Law to save the world and humanity and I may not be able to. In that case, you must be in position to do the job. I am preparing you, bit by bit, so that, at the desired moment, I can give you the final instructions and have it all fall into place.”
“I do not see how that can be, friend Giskard.”
“You will have no trouble in understanding when the time comes. I used the technique in a very small way on robots I sent to Earth in the early days before they were outlawed from the Cities and it was they who helped adjust Earth leaders to the point of approving the decision to send out Settlers.”
The driver, whose darter was not on wheels but remained a centimeter or so above the ground at all times, had moved along special corridors reserved for such vehicles and had done so speedily enough to justify the name of the vehicle. He now emerged into an ordinary City corridor, which was paralleled on the moderately distant left by an Expressway. The darter, moving now much more slowly, made a left turn, swooped under the Expressway, came out on the other side, and then, a curving half-mile later, stopped before an ornate building front.
The darter door opened automatically. Daneel emerged first, waited for Giskard to follow, then handed to the driver a piece of foil he had received from D. G. The driver looked at it narrowly, then the doors closed sharply and he left speedily without a word.
88.
There was a pause before the door opened in response to their signal and Daneel assumed they were being scanned. When it did open, a young woman led them gingerly into the vitals of the building. She avoided looking at Giskard, but she showed rather more than a mild curiosity in Daneel.
They found Undersecretary Quintana behind a large desk. She smiled and said, with gaiety that seemed somewhat forced, “Two robots, unescorted by human beings. Am I safe?”
“Entirely, Madam Quintana,” said Daneel gravely. “It is as unusual for us to see a human being unaccompanied by robots.”
“I assure you,” said Quintana, “I have my robots. I call them underlings and one of them escorted you here. I am amazed that she didn’t faint at the sight of Giskard. I think she might have if she hadn’t been warned and if you yourself weren’t so extraordinarily interesting in appearance, Daneel. But never mind that. Captain Baley was so enormously pressing in his desire that I see you and my interest in maintaining comfortable relations with an important Settler world was such that I have agreed to the interview. However, my day remains busy even so and’ I will be grateful if we can dispose of this quickly. – What can I do for you?”
“Madam Quintana –” began Daneel.
“One moment. Do you sit? I saw you sitting last night, you know.”
“We can sit, but it is just as comfortable for us to stand. We do not mind.”
“But I do. It would not be comfortable for me to stand – and if I sit, I will get a stiff neck looking up at you. Please pull up chairs and sit down. Thank you. – Now, Daneel, what is this all about?”
“Madam Quintana,” said Daneel, “you remember, I imagine, the incident of the blaster fired at the balcony last night after the banquet.”
“I certainly do. What’s more, I know it was a humanoid robot who held the blaster, even though we are not admitting that officially. Yet here I sit with two robots on the other side of the desk and have no protection. And one of you is humanoid too.”
“I have no blaster, madam,” said Daneel, smiling.
“I trust not. – That other humanoid robot did not look at all like you, Daneel. You’re rather a work of art, do you know that?”
“I am complexly programmed, madam.”
“I mean, your appearance. But what about the blasting incident?”
“Madam, that robot has a base somewhere on Earth and I must know where it is. I have come from Aurora in order to find that base and prevent such incidents as may disturb the peace between our worlds. I have reason to believe –”
“You have come? Not the captain? Not Madam Gladia?”
“We, madam,” said Daneel. “Giskard and I. I am in no position to tell you the whole story of how we came to have undertaken the task and there is no way in which I can tell you the name of the human being under whose instructions we work.”
“Well! International espionage! How fascinating. What a pity I can’t help you, but I don’t know where the robot came from. I haven’t any idea at all where his base might be. I don’t even know why you have come to me for such information, as a matter of fact. I should have gone to the Department of Security had I been you, Daneel.” She leaned toward him. “Do you have real skin on your face, Daneel? It’s an extraordinary imitation if it isn’t.” She reached toward him and her hand rested delicately on his cheek. “It even feels right.”
“Nevertheless, madam, it is not real skin. It does not heal of its own accord – if cut. On the other hand, a tear can easily be welded closed or a patch can even be replaced.”
“Ugh,” said Quintana, with a wrinkle of her nose. “But our business is over, for I can’t help you as far as that blaster user is concerned. I know nothing.”
Daneel said, “Madam, let me explain further. This robot may be part of a group that is interested in the early energy-producing process you described last night-fission. Assume this is so, that there are those interested in fission and in the content of uranium and thorium in the crust. What might be a convenient place for them to use as a base?”
“An old uranium mine, perhaps? I don’t even know where one might be located. You must understand, Daneel, that Earth has an almost superstitious aversion to anything nuclear-fission, in particular. You’ll find almost nothing about fission in our popular works on energy and only bare essentials in technical products for experts. Even I know very little, but then I’m an administrator, not a scientist.”
Daneel said, “One more item, then, madam. We questioned the would-be assassin as to the location of his base and did so most strenuously. He was programmed to undergo permanent inactivation, a total freezing of his brain paths, in such a case – and he did inactivate. Before doing so, however, in his final struggle between answering and inactivation, he opened his mouth three times as though – possibly – to say three syllables, or three words, or three groups of words, or any combination of these. The second syllable, or word, or mere sound was ‘mile.’ Does this mean anything to you as having anything at all to do with fission?”
Slowly Quintana shook her head. “No. I can’t say it does. It’s certainly not a word you’ll find in a dictionary of Standard Galactic. I’m sorry, Daneel. It’s pleasant meeting you again, but I have a desk full of trivia to work through. You’ll excuse me.”
Daneel said, as though he hadn’t heard her, “I was told, madam, that ‘mile’ might be an archaic expression that refers to some ancient unit of length, one that i
s possibly longer than a kilometer.”
“That sounds totally irrelevant,” said Quintana, “even if true. What would a robot from Aurora know about archaic expressions and ancient –” She stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened and her face lost color.
She said, “Is it possible?”
“Is what possible, madam?” asked Daneel.
“There is a place,” said Quintana, half – lost in thought, “that is avoided by everyone – Earthpeople and Earth robots alike. If I wanted to be dramatic, I would say it was a place of ill omen. It is so ill-omened that is has been all but wiped out of conscious existence. It is not even included in maps. It is the quintessence of all that fission means. I remember coming across it in a very old reference film in my early days on this job. It was talked about constantly then as the site of an ‘incident’ that forever turned the minds of Earthpeople against fission as an energy source. The place is called Three Mile Island.”
Daneel said, “An isolated place, then, absolutely isolated and free from any possible intrusion; the sort of place one would surely come across when working one’s way through ancient reference material on fission and would then recognize at once as an ideal base where absolute secrecy was required; and with a three-word name of which ‘mile’ is the second word. That must be the place, madam. – Could you tell us how to get there and could you arrange some way of allowing us to leave the City and be taken to Three Mile Island or its nearest possible vicinity?”
Quintana smiled. She seemed younger when she smiled. “Clearly, if you are dealing with an interesting case of interstellar espionage, you can’t afford to waste time, can you?”
“No. Indeed we cannot, madam.”
“Well, then, it comes within the purview of my duties to take a look at Three Mile Island. Why don’t I take you by air-car? I can handle an air-car.”
“Madam, your work load –”
“No one will touch it. It will still be here when I return.”
“But you would be leaving the City –”
“And if so? These are not old times. In the bad old days of Spacer domination, Earthpeople never left their Cities, it’s true, but we’ve been moving outward and settling the Galaxy for nearly twenty decades. There are still some of the less educated who maintain the old provincial attitude, but most of us have become quite mobile. There’s always the feeling, I suppose, that we might eventually join some Settler group. I myself don’t intend to, but I fly my own air-car frequently and five years ago I flew to Chicago and then, eventually, flew back. – Sit here. I’ll make the arrangements.”
She left, very much a whirlwind.
Daneel looked after her and murmured, “Friend Giskard, that, somehow, did not seem characteristic of her. Have you done something?”
Giskard said, “A bit. It seemed to me when we entered that the young woman who showed us in was attracted by your appearance. I was certain that there had been the same factor in Madam Quintana’s mind last night at the banquet, though I was too far from her and there were too many others in the room for me to be sure. Once our conversation with her began, however, the attraction was unmistakable. Little by little, I strengthened it and each time she suggested the interview might come to an end, she seemed less determined – and at no time did she seriously object to your continuing it. Finally, she suggested the air-car because, I believe, she had reached the point where she could not bear to lose the chance to be with you for a while longer.”
“This may complicate matters for me,” said Daneel thoughtfully.
“It is in a good cause,” said Giskard. “Think of it in terms of the Zeroth Law.” Somehow he gave the impression, in saying so, that he would be smiling – if his face allowed such an expression.
89.
Quintana drew a sigh of relief as she landed the air-car on a concrete slab suitable for the purpose. Two robots approached at once for the obligatory examination of the vehicle and for repowering if necessary.
She looked out to the right, leaning across Daneel as she did so. “It is in that direction, several miles up the Susquehanna River. It’s a hot day, too.” She straightened, with some apparent reluctance, and smiled at Daneel. “That’s the worst of leaving the City. The environment is totally uncontrolled out here. Imagine allowing it to be this hot. Don’t you feel hot, Daneel?”
“I have an internal thermostat, madam, that is in good working order.”
“Wonderful. I wish I did. There are no roads into this area, Daneel. Nor are there any robots to guide you, for they never enter it. Nor do I know what might be the right place within the area, which is a sizable one. We might stumble all through the area without coming upon the base, even though we passed within five hundred meters of it.”
“Not ‘we,’ madam. It is quite necessary for you to remain here. What follows might conceivably be dangerous and since you are without air-conditioning, the task might be more than you could easily bear, physically, even if it were not dangerous. Could you wait for us, madam? To have you do so would be important to me.”
“I will wait.”
“We may be some hours.”
“There are facilities of various sorts here and the small City of Harrisburg is not far.”
“In that case, madam, we must be on our way.” He sprang lightly from the air-car and Giskard followed him. They set off northward. It was nearly noon and the bright summer sun sparkled from the polished portion of Giskard’s body.
Daneel said, “Any sign of mental activity you can detect will be those we want. There should be no one else for kilometers about.”
“Are you certain that we can stop them if we encounter them, friend Daneel?”
“No, friend Giskard, I am by no means certain – but we must.”
90.
Levular Mandamus grunted and looked up at Amadiro with a tight smile on his thin face.
“Amazing,” he said, “and most satisfactory.”
Amadiro mopped his brow and cheeks with a piece of toweling and said, “What does that mean?”
“It means that every relay station is in working order.”
“Then you can initiate the intensification?”
“As soon as I calculate the proper degree of W particle concentration.”
“And how long will that take?”
“Fifteen minutes. Thirty.”
Amadiro watched with an air of intensifying grimness on his face until Mandamus said, “All right. I have it. It’s 2.72 on the arbitrary scale I have set up. That will give us fifteen decades before an upper equilibrium level will be reached that will be maintained without essential change for millions of years thereafter. And that level will make certain that, at best, Earth can maintain a few scattered groups in areas that are relatively radiation-free. We’ll have only to wait and, in fifteen decades, a thoroughly disorganized group of Settler worlds will be meat for our slicing.”
“I will not live fifteen more decades,” said Amadiro slowly.
“My personal regrets, sir,” said Mandamus dryly, “but we are now talking of Aurora and the Spacer worlds. There will be others who will carry on your task.”
“You, for instance?”
“You have promised me the headship of the Institute and, as you see, I have earned it. From that political base, I may reasonably hope to become Chairman someday and I will carry through those policies that will be necessary to make certain of the final dissolution of the by-then anarchic worlds of the Settlers.”
“That’s pretty confident of you. What if you turn on the W particle flow and then someone else turns it down in the course of the next fifteen decades?”
“Not possible, sir. Once the device is set, an internal atomic shift will freeze it in that position. After that, the process is irreversible – no matter what happens here. The whole place may be vaporized and the crust will nevertheless continue its slow burn. I suppose it would be possible to rebuild an entirely new setup if anyone on earth or among the Settlers can duplicate my work, but if so
they can only further increase the rate of radioactivity, never decrease it. The second law of thermodynamics will see to that.”
Amadiro said, “Mandamus, you say you have earned the headship. However, I’m the one to decide that, I think.”
Mandamus said stiffly, “You are not, sir. With respect, the details of this process are known to me, but not to you. Those details are encoded in a place you will not find and, even if you do, it is guarded by robots who will destroy it rather than allow it to fall into your hands. You cannot gain credit for this. I can.”
Amadiro said, “Nevertheless, getting my approval will hasten matters for you. If you were to wrest the headship from my unwilling hands, by whatever means, you will have a continuing opposition among other members of the Council that will hamper you through all your decades in the post. Is it just the title of head you want or the opportunity to experience all that comes of true leadership?”
Mandamus said, “Is this the time to talk politics? A moment ago, you were all impatience over the fact that I might linger fifteen minutes over my computer.”
“Ah, but we are now talking about adjusting the W particle beam. You want to place it at 2.72 – was that the figure? – and yet I wonder if that can be right. What is the extreme range you can handle?”
“The range goes from zero to twelve, but it is 2.72 that is required. Plus or minus 0.05 – if you wish further detail. It is that which, on the basis of reports from all fourteen relays will allow a lapse of fifteen decades to equilibrium.”
“Yet what I think is the correct figure is twelve.”
Mandamus stared at the other in horror. “Twelve? Do you understand what that means?”
“Yes. It means we will have the Earth too radioactive to live upon in a decade or a decade and a half and we will kill a few billion Earthpeople in the process.”
“And make certain a war with an infuriated Settler Federation. What can you want of such a holocaust?”