Asimov’s Future History Volume 13

by Isaac Asimov

  “Come on, Gordan!”

  He was suddenly pulled from his line of reasoning as he found himself in front of an elevating platform. Dorothy and Calvin were standing on it and waiting.

  “Oh, sorry. I…”

  Dorothy gestured him to join them and spoke their names and destination into the speaker when he had done so. The platform began to move slowly upwards.

  “This is part of the museum,” Dorothy explained as she noticed him peering down the hallway.

  Gordan briefly nodded.

  When the platform stopped a security guard and two robots received them.

  “Hello, sheriffs. I am Agent Hecuba. We have been expecting you. Please follow me.” The guard simply turned around and marched ahead before they could even utter a word. The two robots remained at the platform.

  “Your crew left half an hour ago, you know,” he said without facing the sheriffs. A few steps later, he pulled a keycard out of his pocket, opened a holograph-controlled door, and waived them inside. Except for the massive table and eight comfortable looking chairs, there was not much to see. Gordan frowned.

  “The technical equipment and other installations are hidden inside the walls, the ceiling, and the table, sir,” Calvin explained, as if he had read Gordan’s mind.

  Gordan nodded briefly while Dorothy walked around the table towards the windows.

  “An important thing to know is the seating. Who was sitting where?”

  Hecuba was about to answer, but Calvin forestalled him. Pointing at the nearest seat to the window, he announced, “Executive Philemon was sitting here, right at the window. To his left is the seat of Executive Kunde, to his right Executive Ceskov’s. Next to Executive Kunde there…”

  “Okay. That is enough,” Dorothy interfered, “You will draw us a schedule.”

  Instead of answering, Calvin just bowed slightly, Gordan noticed.

  “Anyway, the main suspects are logically the two Executives next to the victim, Kunde and Ceskov,” she continued.

  “Yes, but we should not be too quick with our accusation. Agent Hecuba, could you please darken the room? I want things to be the same way as they were during the meeting.”

  “Certainly; just a moment.”

  The guard went over to the wall behind him and operated some controls. The shutters closed, and they found themselves in darkness. It took a few seconds of adjusting his eyes before Gordan noted some tiny lights in the ceiling.

  “Were those off as well, Calvin? What did the Executives say?”

  “They reported total darkness, sir. Although we do not yet know why, the room was completely void of electricity.”

  “Would you turn off these lights, too, please?” Gordan asked in the direction of the guard.

  “I am afraid not,” Hecuba answered, “They are part of the security system.”

  “Then your security system has failed before,” Gordan said with an open trait of cynicism.

  “Under the current conditions, there is enough light for me to see with an efficiency of eighty-seven percent, sir,” Calvin remarked, “Assuming the remaining lights were off as well, I estimate the rate to be reduced to around twenty-one percent… If this amazes you, every robot has infrared capabilities at his disposal.” Calvin could obviously see Dorothy’s face.

  Gordan was quite sure he would not be able to see a thing. “Hmm! We still do not know why the light went off?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Lights, please.”

  Seconds later, the contours of the room slowly reappeared.

  “What do you think?” Dorothy asked.

  Gordan stroked his chin. “Well, the murderer must have known exactly how to move around in this room in the dark.”

  “Especially if he - or she - was at the opposite end of the table.”

  Gordan looked at the table. It was at least three meters wide and elliptical. To cover the distance from some of the farther chairs to Philemon’s would certainly not have been easy in complete darkness. Dorothy was right; the main suspects were the persons next to the victim.

  “The light was inoperative for forty-six seconds, sir,” Calvin said.

  “Surely enough time to make the distance back and forth from the opposite end,” Dorothy remarked.

  “Yes, I believe so, too. But difficult.” Gordan shook his head. “Very difficult. I will stick to the two main suspects for now.”

  Dorothy agreed with a brief nod.

  “But the point we are missing is that the robot would have interfered, no matter what happened. As Calvin has demonstrated, a robot is able to see clearly in complete darkness. And the robot’s niche is just two feet away from Philemon’s seat.”

  “In normal operational mode, he would have been able to prevent the deed from anybody not sitting next to the victim,” Calvin explained. “But if we assume one of the neighbors to be the murderer, the robot would have been late by approximately one-point-six seconds for this neighbor, and by two-point-five seconds for this one. If we assume…”

  “Either way, he would have at least moved,” Gordan interrupted, with a cutting sense of irony towards the robot.

  “That is correct, sir.”

  Databank-Chapter Eleven

  Excerpt Identification File: Dorothy Rudchinson

  Filename: rudchinson.dorothy@janus.world

  Birthdate: 12-12-11268 (Standard Galactic Time)

  Birthplace: Crouns / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis / SETTLER

  Residence: 374 Lanning Center

  77 WE 3883 Janus Metropolis / Janus, Starsystem Dionysus

  http://uww.dionysus.com/janus/rudchinson,dorothy.htm

  formerly:

  93 Aurora Avenue

  94 JF 0383 Cronus / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis

  Occupation: Sheriff, Janus Metropolis / Janus, Starsystem Dionysus

  formerly:

  Senior Police Officer, Tiresias / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis

  Student, People’s University, Crouns / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis

  Student, St. Mary Elementary, Ares / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis

  Characteristics:

  eye color: brown

  hair color: brown

  height: 1.57 meters

  Family:

  Father: Rudchinson, Kenneth B. / Businessman, Crouns / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis

  Mother: Westaff, Lucy / Hostess, Ares / Baleyworld, Starsystem Nemesis (defunct)

  Brother: Rudchinson, Peter / Space Pilot, Actaeon / Aurora, Starsystem Orion

  single

  Chapter Eleven

  A FEW HOURS after their inspection of the crime scene, Dorothy was back in the office. Gordan would join her later, after he had absolved the obligatory visits to the authorities and gathered furniture and equipment for his apartment. Calvin had joined him and Dorothy was relieved to have gotten rid of the robot. Not that she particularly hated robots, but she certainly did not love them.

  On her home planet, Baleyworld, there were no robots at all. It was a typical Settler foundation. Nevertheless, everybody there knew - or thought they knew - about robots. Their biases resulted in a deeply negative attitude towards the Spacers’ way of life.

  Dorothy remembered her childhood, when the word robot alone had meant something dirty. From youth onwards, she had been trained to foster a determined antipathy against them. Then again, she had never believed assertions from other people without checking on the subject herself. Regarding robots, she had gotten her chance towards the end of her studies at the Yake University. One of her professors, known for his unusual and sometimes disconcerting methods, had arranged a visit by a robot. While not many of her fellow students visited this particular lecture, Dorothy had been there and actually talked to the robot.

  She recalled it almost perfectly: an old and ridiculously simple unit. As the questioning had shown, robots did reveal some kind of intelligence, but on the other hand, they lacked everything else that made one human: character, spirit, faith, humor, endeavo
rs, irony, creativity, dreams; feelings of kindness, happiness, love and affection. Surely the darker aspects of human nature, such as grief, hate and violence, were missing, too. However, it was the combination of the robots’ inhuman characteristics with their more or less close resemblance with the human body that was responsible for the deeply rooted fear in the Settlers’ minds, Dorothy learned.

  Today, she still felt uncomfortable in their presence, although - unlike Settlers - she had experienced robots to be safe.

  Dorothy rolled in her chair to her computer. She knew that the Spacers considered it rather odd how Settlers would use neurological computers rather than robots, but she nevertheless refrained from working with robots. Since neurological computers showed the same patterns of intelligence as robots, the Spacers argued that these computers merely represented a different robotic species.

  Dorothy could not quite understand their line of reasoning. Settlers did not fear artificial intelligence as was implied by their arguments. Settlers rather saw problems in the creation of perfected human beings. The computer in front of her was not an imitation human being at all. When she was done using it, she could simply switch it off. Dorothy flipped the switch to turn the machine on.

  Back to the case, she thought. Seven Executives. The highest politicians; the people with the most influence on Janus. One of them a murderer? Unbelievable. What could have been the motive? More political influence? Hardly so. Something personal? Or just another case of Settlers versus Spacers?

  Three women and four men. Four Spacers and three Settlers. To get to know their official files was not the problem. She would have to put in more effort to find something really interesting. Since she did not know with whom to begin, she randomly chose Pamir Ceskov - one of the main suspects.

  She knew Ceskov superficially from Baleyworld. Here, he had been a politician in the Conservative Party (CPB). Curiously enough, he was in the headlines not so much for his work, but for a corruption scandal. Thereafter, he had seen his political career destroyed and therefore moved to Janus. Until now, his reputation here was indisputable.

  Ceskov was single and had no children. Dorothy quickly left the official file and continued her search in the planet’s property registers. It showed that Ceskov was a prosperous man. He owned several buildings in the city and some farmland on another continent, and another check revealed that his bank accounts were quite saturated as well. She deduced from the transactions made that Ceskov was not a regular consumer. Many items of his day-to-day life were ordered via one of the big online wholesalers.

  Dorothy also found his name in the member lists of two sports clubs and in the subscriber files of three magazines: the Janus News, Sports Holographed and the Weekly Mirror Politics. Much more interesting though, she noted the fact that Ceskov had acted as president of a Settler-based debate circle.

  Continuing the search, she found some more information on his political career on Janus, but nothing that would have helped to characterize him more clearly. Just as she was about to turn to the next Executive, there appeared on the screen a notice of another link to Executive Ceskov. She opened the link and began reading the corresponding file, a reference to Ceskov’s home planet Baleyworld. When she finished reading, a smile appeared on her face.

  She printed the file as she had done with the ones before and finally looked at the chronometer on the table. It was already six-thirty. There was no time to start off with another Executive. She had proposed to end the day with a dinner at Aerie’s Restaurant, and Gordan would be here any minute. A casual dinner would be a good chance to get to know each other. Gordan approved gladly, but his idea that Calvin should accompany them she had strictly cast aside. How could he even think of bringing a robot to a dinner? She imagined a restaurant on a Spacer planet where all the guests were attended by their personal robots. Of course, the waiters and the kitchen crew would also be of metallic origin. She went over to the music box and inserted her favorite chip. To the tunes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the world immediately felt better.

  Databank-Chapter Twelve

  THE AERIE HOTEL AND RESTAURANT WAS THE VERY FIRST ESTABLISHMENT OF ITS KIND ON JANUS. IT WAS BUILT OUTSIDE THE THREE CITY SECTORS, HALFWAY UP THE MALAHAT MOUNTAIN RANGE. FROM HERE, A STUNNING AND FASCINATING VIEW ON THE CITY UNFOLDED FOR THE OBSERVER.

  THE AERIE’S GROUNDS COVERED AN AREA OF FIVE ACRES IN A PARK-LIKE SETTING WITH SEVERAL PONDS AND WALKWAYS. NEAR THE RESORT WAS THE WELL-KNOWN SPECTACLE LAKE, A PARADISE FOR ALL KINDS OF WATER SPORTS, LIKE SAILING, DIVING, SURFING AND WATER BALLOONING. FURTHERMORE, THE BIGGEST NATURAL RESERVE AREA NEAR JANUS METROPOLIS, STRATHCONA PROVINCIAL PARK, WAS NEARBY. AN ECOLOGICAL SANCTUARY, THE PARK OFFERED ITS VISITORS UNIQUE PANORAMAS AND THE POSSIBILITY TO STUDY ITS DIVERSE BIOSPHERE.

  THE AERIE RESTAURANT WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS AWARD-WINNING CUISINE AND EXCELLENT SERVICE OFFERED IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF OAK AND BRICK, PICTURESQUE FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS AND ORIGINAL ARTWORKS FROM NUMEROUS WORLDS OF THE GALAXY. THE HOTEL AREA OF THE AERIE CONTAINED TWENTY-NINE DISTINCTIVE AND SPACIOUS SUITES WITH GENEROUS FURNISHINGS, SEVERAL CONFERENCE FACILITIES AND A WEDDING CHAPEL.

  STILL MORE PROMINENT TO THE PUBLIC WAS THE HOTEL-OWNED BREWERY. ITS SPECIALTY, JANUTIAN ROOT BEER, WAS SERVED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE AERIE’S PUB, A TRADITIONALLY STYLED BAR WITH AN AIR OF THE ‘OLD DAYS.’ DUE TO ITS WIDELY HONORED ANCESTRAL AMBIANCE - SOME CONCLUDED BECAUSE OF THE BEER - THE PUB WAS FILLED UP TO THE LIMIT NEARLY EVERY EVENING.

  Chapter Twelve

  GORDAN RETURNED FROM his journey through bureaucracy later than expected and they had to hurry to get to the Aerie in time. When they arrived, the parking lots in front of the building were already full.

  “Good thing I booked a table,” Dorothy said as reaction to Gordan’s puzzled look.

  “Well, in any case, it seems to be a quite frequented establishment. Should be a positive sign.”

  Gordan left the hoo-cap and offered Dorothy a hand. Together they walked toward the entrance.

  “And a nice place as well,” he added, when they approached the entrance.

  Dorothy gave a brief smile. “Wait until you are inside. For the time being, it is the best restaurant on the whole planet. Come on, we are late. You don’t want them to give away our table, do you?”

  “Certainly not! I am quite hungry.”

  A huge gray sculpture of an eagle-like animal dominated the entrance hall, its surface shimmering. A sign on the wall indicated the way to the famous Eagle’s bar, obviously crowded with people due to the immense noise that originated from there. Dorothy and Gordan passed by the sculpture into the opposite direction, towards the restaurant, when out of nowhere a host showed up and accompanied them to a table on the rear end of the atrium. The table was nicely decorated with big Tambetu flowers from Aurora and offered a stunning view over the city. Since it had become dark - Lavius also had disappeared from the sky by then - the illumination of the buildings and streets below brought a special fascination.

  “You were not exaggerating, Dorothy. Indeed, a very nice place,” said an impressed Gordan.

  Dorothy answered with a smile saying “I told you so.” A waiter dressed in an elegant black suit brought the menus and lit the candles. They both ordered Janutian Root Beer as aperitif and went through the menus.

  While Gordan flipped through the pages, Dorothy returned to her reasoning concerning Spacers. Here, at least, was a Spacer who seemed to honor atmosphere, Dorothy thought, shaking her head secretly. How unfair. Gordan was a Spacer, born and raised. She could not blame him for that. She observed him more closely while playing with her menu. Gordan was a attractive man with bright blue eyes and brown hair, unfortunately styled in Spacer fashion. He was thirty-five years old, as she had figured out from his file, not one of those old guys from administration.

  “Did you find something?” Gordan asked.

  It took Dorothy a while to get the meaning of his words. “Well… I guess I’ll go for the lamb,” she finally said, eagerly so as not be caught l
ost in thoughts.

  “Oh, yes. Eh… Sorry, I meant concerning the murder.”

  Dorothy frowned. Was this supposed to be a business dinner? Was this the Spacer shining through? “Yes. Yes, I did,” she said. “I checked on Executive Pamir Ceskov. You will find it in your mail.”

  The waiter came back with the Janutian Root Beer. Gordan ordered lamb for Dorothy and Auroran Pasta for himself before he continued their conversation.

  “I am sorry,” he said, when the waiter had left. “I won’t talk of business again. I promise. Now, may I ask you something personal?”

  “Just go ahead.”

  “Why did you come to Janus? Did you choose to on your own?”

  Dorothy bit on her lip before she could prevent herself from doing so. “Well, yes and no. My department on Baleyworld – my home planet – had ordered me to Janus. But I could have refused.”

  “You obviously did not.”

  “No, I didn’t. You know, my husband and I divorced. It simply did not work out and I thought…”

  Her gesture had given her away, for Gordan lifted his hands to apologize. “I am sorry. Again. I should not ask such personal things. I could…”

  “It’s okay. No problem.” Dorothy made a neglecting gesture. “But as you can possibly understand, I needed a change and felt more or less delighted about the order.”

  Gordan played with the napkin in front of him, folding a bizarre figure. “That’s kind of a coincidence. I was ordered here as well, you know. But in retrospect, I can not tell if I would have been able to refuse,” he said. “Anyway, I guess I also needed a change. Everything on Inferno - that is, by the way, where I come from - has been so… stuck.”