Asimov’s Future History Volume 20

by Isaac Asimov

  “Gaia will still be waiting for you,” Dors said. And if you’re lucky, it won’t store the memory of this moment for all eternity. “You can go home, to your family.”

  Bliss met Dors’ eyes, curious. She wondered what she would see in Dors’ mind. It was hard to even think of her as a robot, now. Bliss could tell that somehow, this woman knew.

  “No,” Bliss said, deciding that moment to tell her. “No, I can’t. The Foundations are coming for Gaia.” Bliss laid out the situation to Dors, as she had to Zun. When she was done, Bliss glanced at Trevize. “Even if I wanted to die with them, I couldn’t get there in time without Trev and the Far Star.”

  Dors did her best not to react visibly, but beneath her mind was racing. The Foundations, both of them, were attacking Gaia. She immediately began to analyze probabilities, trying to determine what outcome was optimal and how to best achieve it, but her calculations came to a sudden halt.

  Dors realized that, as of that moment, she no longer had any idea what her objectives were. She had followed Daneel’s plans for centuries. But now that was no longer enough. Some of my Nth-great-grandchildren are probably on their way to annihilate this woman’s world, and everything I have supported for most of my life, and I don’t know whether I want them to succeed or fail.

  “What will you do?” Dors asked, for lack of anything better to say. “If Gaia is destroyed, what will you do?”

  Bliss considered for a moment. “Begin again,” she finally said. “Find a world somewhere. Far away from the Foundation’s influence, if that’s possible. Perhaps I will have Pel’s child, if he will come with me. I will... live.”

  Bliss hesitated again, and Dors believed that in that moment, Bliss understood the symmetry between them. “And you?” Bliss asked. “What will you do, if Daneel is gone?”

  Dors did not respond. She turned back to the barrier. Yan had removed the covering of Daneel’s positronic brain, while Zorma monitored Fallom. After her husband’s death she had tried to leave Daneel, but had found herself unable to. Hari and Raych had been her family. Robots were not designed to have families, but Dors had. Without them, only Daneel could evoke anything like the same response.

  But soon there would be no Daneel. For all intents and purposes, he was already gone. Whatever came out of this procedure, it would not be him. Nothing would tie her to the new being about the be born. The last thread of the life she had always known would be gone.

  Dors raised her hand, placed it around Bliss’s upper arm, squeezed. Then she turned and left the infirmary. There was nothing for her here.

  Pelorat passed Dors in the hallway outside the infirmary, but he was so focused on his task that he hardly noticed her hurrying elsewhere. This might work, he thought as he entered, almost able to convince himself. It really might.

  But when he saw Bliss crying silently at the barrier, Pelorat’s confidence left him. He saw disappointedly that Trevize was still unconscious. The plan (Turringen’s; the robot had been as good as his word) would work immeasurably better with Trevize instead of Pelorat. Pelorat alone had practically no chance. Turringen had even been able to put a number on it, and that number had been frighteningly small. But it was not zero. For Bliss, he had to try.

  Pelorat approached Bliss slowly. This was the worst possible time to interrupt her, but it was the only time there was. He was glad to see that the procedure had not yet begun. Determined as he was, he wasn’t sure how much he could handle seeing without risk of passing out. “Bliss,” he said.

  Bliss turned her head to look at him, eyes full of tears, but a small smile on her face. “Pel,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you. Thank you for coming.”

  “Bliss,” Pelorat said, taking her hands in his. “I have something I need to discuss with you. It may be possible to save Gaia.”

  Rapidly Pelorat explained the plan Turringen had devised. When he finished, Bliss had a look of wonder on her face such as Pelorat had never seen. It was a chance. Not a very good chance; Pelorat could very well die in the attempt. But it was a chance he was willing to take.

  Bliss wrapped her arms tightly around Pelorat. “Thank you, Pel,” she whispered.

  “I wondered when we’d get here,” Trevize commented, looking around disinterestedly at the landscape. He recognized Gaia, of course; no other world he’d visited had looked quite this beautiful. It was at least the tenth place Voltaire had taken them, and Trevize hoped that this meant they were coming to the end of this stupidity. “You seem to have skipped a few years, though. Getting bored?”

  “Running out of time,” Voltaire replied, sitting next to Trevize on the hillside, gazing into the distance as he spoke. “I’m afraid events have caught up with us. You see, your ears still work, even if you can’t hear with them right now. From what I can tell, your friends very much need you awake.”

  Trevize jumped to his feet. “Then let me wake up, you bastard!” he yelled, grabbing Voltaire again by the front of his tunic. There was no point, he knew, but neither was there any to restraining himself. “Why are you wasting my time with this nonsense?”

  Voltaire for once looked apologetic. “Because I want you to understand exactly what I did to you,” he said.

  “You took over my life!” Trevize snarled in his face. “All you’ve shown me is that you are the root cause of everything I’ve ever done! It’s been your life, not mine!”

  “No, Trevize!” Voltaire exclaimed. “Everything you wanted was because you wanted it. I simply provided the means. You wanted to play go against your friend; I simply showed you how. If he’d accused you of cheating, you would still have fought with him. You wanted that woman, all those women; I only provided the means. You wanted every single thing I’ve just showed you, I just helped you get it. When you came here, you wanted answers, and I told you to go to Earth to find them.”

  Trevize eased his grip slightly. “Except Gaia,” he said, calmer than before. “I would never have chosen that if not for you.”

  “Yes,” said Voltaire. “By the time you came here to choose Gaia’s future, you trusted your intuition enough to follow it even against the grain of your character. It is the one time I lead you down a path of my choosing, instead of yours. But your desires were always your own. Aside from Gaia, I only provided information, small pushes in service of goals you had already chosen.”

  Trevize released Voltaire entirely and turned away from him, looking out over the world. “What is your point, old man?” he demanded, knowing already what Voltaire would say.

  “That you are who you are, Golan Trevize. You always have been. I have guided you, but it was always you who was truly in control of your life. It was this that I needed you to understand.”

  “I’m not who I would have been without you,” Trevize said. His fists were still clenched, but his fury was dying.

  “No, you’re not,” said Voltaire. “But would you want to be anyone other than who you are now?”

  Trevize shook his head. “No,” he said.

  “Then be who you are. It is that which your friends need most.”

  Looking at the child on the table before her, Zorma knew that what she was about to do was wrong. It was not a question of the Laws of Robotics. She had satisfied those, playing the same games with definitions that had allowed most advanced robots to function for thousands of years. It was a question of morality. She was going to assist in terminating this child’s life. It was simply wrong.

  But what Yan had given her...

  Zorma looked at the tripedal robot as he worked in the vicinity of Daneel’s skull, arms operating seemingly independent of each other. Could the data archive he had provided her possibly be valid? Could her people even make use of its contents if it was? There was a substantial probability that this was all set up by Zun. Yan could easily withhold the decryption keys she needed to access the data. They could even have her destroyed after her task was complete. Was it worth this child’s life to find out for sure?

  Taking a deep brea
th into her very human lungs, Zorma returned to her work. It was worth the risk. If what she did was wrong, then at least it would be easier to live with a guilty conscience than to live with having missed such an opportunity as this. Yan’s offer went far beyond the data stored in Daneel’s brain. This could change everything. Everything.

  “Zorma,” Yan’s slightly inhuman voice said. “Look.”

  Zorma looked up at Yan, who was continuing his work on Daneel, but was gesturing with one arm to the airlock in the isolation barrier. Turning further, she saw that in addition to Bliss there were now two other figures standing in the observation section of the infirmary. One of them was Janov Pelorat, gesturing wildly. The other was a very awake Golan Trevize.

  “Golan!” Pelorat practically yelled, clapping his friend on the back. Bliss stood nearby, saying nothing, but obviously glad Trevize was awake. “Are you all right? We were beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up.”

  “I’m fine, Janov,” Trevize replied brusquely, his tone making it obvious that he was very much not fine. “I’m fine,” he said to Bliss, to ease her obvious concern. She simply nodded. “Listen, I heard what you said, Janov. It’s a good plan, but it’s going to go a hell of a lot better with me instead of you.”

  “You’ll get no argument from me, my boy!” Pelorat exclaimed. “When do we leave?”

  “We don’t,” Trevize said. “I’ll just need to talk to whoever’s in charge here before I leave, and then I’m ready to go.” Trevize began to walk towards the exit.

  “Golan! Surely you’re not going by yourself!” Pelorat said, taking a step to follow him.

  Trevize stopped, looked over his shoulder at Pelorat and Bliss, who was facing the barrier again, one hand on it. “Why in the hell not?” he asked. “What good are you two going to do? Better for you to be here where it’s safe.”

  “But Golan-”

  “Trev’s right, Pel,” Bliss interjected, not turning around. “Gaia wants me to stay here. Better for at least some of us to be safe.”

  “But surely we can’t let Golan go alone!”

  “I don’t intend to be alone,” Trevize said, turning back towards the exit. Pelorat realized that Trevize wasn’t leaving the room quite yet, as he pressed the button on the intercom next to the door. “Dors,” Trevize said, “Zun, whoever’s running this place. I’m sure you’ve been listening. I want my ship ready immediately. I’m leaving. And I’m taking one R. Lodovik Trema with me.”

  Zun looked at the image of Golan Trevize on his desk’s viewscreen. Trevize was, of course, correct; he had been observing everything going on in the infirmary. Trevize’s awakening had been unexpected, as was his demand. What could Trevize possibly want with Lodovik Trema? It took Zun only a fraction of a second to realize the most likely answer.

  Revenge.

  And given certain precautions, Zun saw absolutely no reason not to let Trevize have his way.

  “Understood, Councilman,” Zun replied over the intercom. “Trema will be waiting for you in the landing bay.”

  Chapter 16

  GRAVITIC DRIVE-... ALLOWING FAR FASTER OVERALL TRAVEL TIMES THAN BEFORE ITS INVENTION. WHEREAS PREVIOUS SHIPS WERE LIMITED IN THE ACCELERATION THEY AND THEIR PASSENGERS COULD SAFELY ENDURE, GRAVITIC DRIVES APPLY FORCE CONSISTENTLY OVER THE ENTIRE MASS OF THE SHIP, THUS LIMITING ACCELERATION ONLY TO THE AVAILABLE POWER INPUT. INSTEAD OF TAKING DAYS TO REACH SAFE JUMP DISTANCE, A PROPERLY EQUIPPED SHIP COULD MAKE THE SAME TRIP WITHIN MINUTES...

  “NOW, YOU’RE CERTAIN you’re all right, Golan?” Pelorat asked as they followed Zorma into the landing bay. The Far Star was exactly where they had left it. Sitting next to the ship Zorma, Lodovik and Turringen had arrived in, airlock open. “You’ve been through a lot. Are you sure you won’t at least have-”

  “No, Janov, and that’s final,” said Trevize, hurrying past Zorma towards the ship. Bliss came to stand beside Pelorat a few feet away as Trevize ran his hand over the Far Star’s hull affectionately. “Besides, there’s no time,” he said, with the barest hint of sarcasm. “Every second counts when you’re saving the galaxy, after all.” Trevize looked around the bay, frustrated. “Where are those damned robots!”

  “Trev,” Bliss spoke up. “Don’t kill him.”

  Trevize turned from the ship and shook his head at Bliss tightly, his slight smile vanishing. “I can’t promise that, Bliss.”

  “Gaia wants to learn more about him,” Bliss said. “And he’s a living thing, Trev, no matter what he did to you.”

  “What we did to you,” Zorma said. She took a deep breath. “Trevize, my faction provided Lodovik with the technology he needed to design the implants.”

  “I know,” Trevize replied, his tone softer. “But you didn’t know what he was going to do with it.”

  “We... suspected,” Zorma said in reply, shaking her head. “We should have stopped him.”

  “I’m not going to hold you responsible for his choices, Zorma.”

  Zorma sighed. “I’m sorry for what he did to you,” she said.

  “I’m not sure I am,” Trevize said.

  Zorma blinked, surprised, and curious. Perhaps even a little suspicious. “Trevize...” she asked, “when you were unconscious, what did you see?”

  “Maybe I’ll tell you another time,” Trevize said, cocking his head slightly, his slight smile returning. “If I see you again?”

  Zorma smiled in return. “I hope you will.”

  The door to the landing bay opened once again, admitting Lodovik, followed by Zun and Dors.

  “About damned time!” Trevize exclaimed, gesturing towards the Far Star’s airlock. “Get in. And don’t get any ideas, the ship won’t respond to you.”

  All three robots had stopped a few feet from the Far Star, and a few feet away from Bliss, Pelorat and Zorma. Lodovik was smiling. “It’s good to see you awake, Councilman,” he said. Zun and Dors said nothing.

  Trevize only glared at him. “Get in,” he said again, quieter.

  Lodovik bowed his head slightly to Trevize, still smiling. He walked to the ship, climbed the steps, entered the airlock, and disappeared from view.

  “I was surprised you let me have him so easily,” Trevize said to Zun once Lodovik was inside. “What are you leaving out?”

  “There is one condition,” Zun said. “Dors must come as well.”

  Trevize stiffened. “No,” he said stonily, his eyes never leaving Zun.

  “You may still do what you wish to Lodovik,” Zun said, raising his hand to calm Trevize. “But Dors must be present, to ensure that his remains, if any, are returned to us.”

  “There’s a flaw in your plan,” Trevize said. He looked at Dors. “What makes you think I won’t just destroy you too?”

  Dors looked back at him, expressionless. “I have no reason to think you won’t try,” she said. She did not emphasize the word “try”, but the implication was clear. There was much she could do without actually harming him.

  Trevize met her gaze for a few seconds more, saying nothing. “Get in,” he finally said, gesturing with his head towards the ship. Dors nodded to Zun, then climbed the steps to the airlock. For a moment Pelorat thought that she had glanced at him before disappearing around the corner in the ship, but... surely not.

  “You are clear to depart, Councilman Trevize,” Zun said, bowing from the waist.

  Without any further acknowledgement of Zun, Trevize turned to Pelorat and extended his hand. Pelorat shook it warmly. “We’ve been a long way,” the older man said.

  “We’re not done yet, Janov. I’ll come back for you both, after this is all taken care of.” Trevize took his hand back, nodded once to Bliss, then turned back to the ship and began to quickly climb the steps to the airlock.

  “Trev,” Bliss called out.

  “No promises, Bliss!” he replied, not pausing as he jogged up the steps.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  Trevize stopped at the top of the steps, and looking over his shoulder said,
“No promises. Go take care of your child.”

  Pelorat calling out, “Good luck, old man!” was the last thing Trevize heard as the door closed behind him.

  Trevize entered the control center of the ship to find Dors and Lodovik standing quietly, keeping their distance from each other. Dors was looking at the control scheme, pretending to be interested. Lodovik was looking only at Dors.

  “For whatever it’s worth,” Trevize said as he quickly began to activate the ship, “I order you both to not try anything, and to stay out of my way.” He pointed a finger at Lodovik without looking at him, continuing to manipulate controls. “I’ll deal with you when I’m good and ready, and not a moment before.”

  “And when you are?” Lodovik asked calmly. Trevize looked up briefly at that. Voltaire had been truthful, it seemed; the idea that Trevize might well intend to take Lodovik apart piece by piece didn’t seem to bother the robot at all.

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Trevize replied as he powered up the gravitic drive and began to slowly move the ship. The bay doors opened, closed behind them, and shortly the Far Star was once again in free space over the surface of Earth’s moon.

  Trevize quickly identified the fastest course out of the system, and set the ship to follow it. Satisfied that the ship’s trajectory would safely take them to jump distance, Trevize took one last look at the worlds he had worked so long to find. Earth and its moon, visually so different, but equally barren. Turning from the viewport, he moved to the communication equipment and began to input commands to establish an untraceable link. “Now both of you,” he said, “for the next several hours, shut up. I’m going to be busy.”

  “Mayor Branno,” said the elderly man displayed on the holo-viewer. Branno was viewing the communication in the briefing room with General Albian and Kodell. Both stood behind her and out of range of the viewer. Only her image would be displayed on the other end.