Asimov, Isaac - The Robots of Dawn

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1983

6 Gladia

Again Fastolfe

Fastolfe and Vasilia

9 Vasiluz

Again Vasiuia

Gremionia

Again Gremionis

Amadiro

Again Amadiro

Again Daneel and Ciakard

Again Gladia

The Chairman

Again the Chairman

Again Baley

Elijah Baley found himself in the shade of the tree and muttered to

himself, “I knew it. I’m sweating.”

He paused, straightened up, wiped the perspiration from his brow

with the back of his hand, then looked dourly at the moisture that cov-

ered it.

“I

hate

sweating,” he said to no one, throwing it out as a cosmic law.

And once again he felt annoyance with the Universe for making some-

thing both essential and unpleasant.

One

never

perspired (unless one wished to, of course) in the City,

where temperature and humidity were absolutely controlled and where

it was never absolutely necessary for the body to perform in ways that

made heat production greater than heat removal.

Now

that

was civilized.

He looked out into the field, where a straggle of men and women

were, more or less, in his charge. They were mostly youngsters in their

late teens, but included some middle-aged people like himself. They

were hoeing inexpertly and doing a variety of other things that robots

On the other hand, was there a chance of rain?

That was the trouble with the Outside. One teetered forever be-

tween unpleasant alternatives.

It always amazed Baley that a relatively small cloud could cover the

sun completely, darkening Earth from horizon to horizon yet leaving

most of the sky blue.

He stood beneath the leafy canopy of the tree (a kind of primitive

wall and ceiling, with the solidity of the bark comforting to the touch)

and looked again at the group, studying it. Once a week they were out

there, whatever the weather.

They were gaining recruits, too. They were definitely more in num-

ber than the stout-hearted few who had started out. The City govern-

ment, if not an actual partner in the endeavor, was benign enough to

raise no obstacles.

To the horizon on Baley’s right—eastward, as one could tell by the

position of the late-afternoon sun—he could see the blunt, many-

fingered domes of the City, enclosing all that made life worthwhile. He

saw, as well, a small moving speck that was too far off to be made out

Automatically, his eyes turned back toward the hoeing star-

dreamers and went from one to the other. He could identify and name

each one. All working, all learning how to endure the Outside, and— He

frowned and muttered in a low voice, “Where’s Bentley?” And another

voice, sounding behind with a somewhat breathless exuberance, said,

“Here I am, Dad.”

Baley whirled. ‘~Don’t

that, Ben.”

“Do what?”

“Sneak up on me like that. It’s hard enough trying to keep my equi-

librium in the Outside without my having to worry about surprises, too.”

“I wasn’t trying to surprise you. It’s tough to make much noise

walking on the grass. One can’t help that. —Bust don’t you think you

ought to go in, Dad? You’ve been out two hours now and I think you’ve

had enough.”

“Why? Because I’m forty-five and you’re a punk kid of nineteen? You

think you have to take care of your decrepit father, do you?”

Ben said, “Yes, I guess that’s it. And a bit of good detective work on

your part, too. You cut right through to the nub.”

I m doing very well, said Baley.

“You are, Dad. You’re the best of us, considering—”

“Considering what?”

“Your age, of course. And I’m not forgetting that you’re the one who

started this. Still, I saw you take cover under the tree and I thought—

well, maybe the old man has had enough.”

“I’ll ‘old man’ you,” said Baley. The robot he had noted in the direc-

tion of the City was now close enough to be made out clearly, but Baley

dismissed it as unimportant. He said, “It makes sense to get under a

tree once in a while when the sun’s too bright. We’ve got to learn to use

the advantages of the Outside, as well as learning to bear its disadvan-

tages. —And there’s the sun coming out from behind that cloud.”

“Yes, it wifi do that. —Well, then, don’t you want to go in?”

“I can stick it out. Once a week, I have an afternoon off and I spend

it here. That’s my privilege. It goes with my C-7 rating.”

“It’s not a question of privilege, Dad. It’s a question of getting

overtired.”

“I feel fine, I tell you.”

to it. .1 can t run away from it. When I started, I couldn t even walk

this far from the City without having to turn back—and you were the

only one with me. Now look at how many we’ve got and how far I can

come without trouble. I can do plenty of work, too. I can last another

hour. Easy. —I tell you, Ben, it would do your mother good to come out

here herself.”

“Who? Mom? Surely you jest.”

“Some lest. When the time comes to take off, I won’t be able to go

along—because she won’t.”

“And you’ll be glad of it. Don’t kid yourself, Dad. it won’t be for quite

a while—and if you’re not too old now, you’ll be too old then. It’s going

to be a game for young people.”

“You know,” said Baley, half-balling his fist, “you are such a wise guy

with your ‘young people.’ Have you ever been off Earth? Have any of

those people in the field been off Earth?

have. Two years ago. That

was before I had any of this acclimatization—and I survived.”

“I know, Dad, but that was briefly, and in the line of duty, and you

were taken care of in a going society. It’s not the same.”

worlds and what it says—

“Goes! I know. We’ve all talked this over a million times. But you

don’t have to go there to get permission. There are such things as hy-

per-relays. You can talk to them from here. I’ve said that any number

of times before.”

“It’s not the same. We’ll need face-to-face contact—and I’ve said

that

any number of times before.”

“In any case,” said Ben, “we’re not ready yet.”

“We’re not ready because Earth won’t give us the ships. The Spac-

ers will, together with the necessary technical help.”

“Such~ faith! Why should the Spacers do it? When did they start

feeling kindly toward us short-lived Earthpeople?”

“If I could talk to them—”

Ben laughed. “Come on, Dad. You just want to go to Aurora to see

that woman again.”

Baley frowned and his eyebrows beetled over his deep-set eyes.

“Woman? Jehoshaphat, Ben, what are you talking about?”

“Now, Dad, just between us—and not a word to Mom—what

did

hap-

you that a thousand times. She didn t look that way.

didn t look that

way. It was all made up and you know it was produced over my protests,

just because the government thought it would put Earth in a good light

with the Spacers. —And you make sure you don’t imply anything differ-

ent to your mother.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Still, this Gladia went to Aurora and you keep

wanting to go there, too.”

“Are you trying to tell me that you honestly think the reason I want

to go to Aurora— Oh,

Jehoshaphat!”

His son’s eyebrows raised, “What’s the matter?”

“The robot. That’s R. Ceronimo.”

“Who?”

“One of our Department messenger robots. And it’s out here! I’m

off-time and I

deliberately

left my receiver at home because I didn’t

want them to get at me. That’s my C-7 privilege and yet they send for

me by robot.”

“How do you know it’s coming to you, Dad?”

“By very clever deduction. One: there’s no one else here who has any

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摘要：

19836Gladia7AgainFastolfe8FastolfeandVasilia9Vasiluz10AgainVasiuia11Gremionia12AgainGremionis13Amadiro14AgainAmadiro15AgainDaneelandCiakard16AgainGladia17TheChairman18AgaintheChairman19AgainBaleyElijahBaleyfoundhimselfintheshadeofthetreeandmutteredtohimself,“Iknewit.I’msweating.”Hepaused,straightene...

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