8
A SPACER IS DEFIED
Gladia seemed to be holding her breath for a moment. It came out through puckered lips in what was almost a whistle. She said, “I’m sure I don’t see how. Do you know who did it?”
Baley nodded. “The same one who killed your husband.”
“Are you sure?”
“Aren’t you? Your husband’s murder was the first in the history of Solaria. A month later there is another murder. Could that be a coincidence? Two separate murderers striking within a month of each other on a crime-free world? Consider, too, that the second victim was investigating the first crime and therefore represented a violent danger to the original murderer.”
“Well!” Gladia applied herself to her dessert and said between mouthfuls, “If you put it that way, I’m innocent.”
“How so, Gladia?”
“Why, Elijah. I’ve never been near the Gruer estate, never in my whole life. So I certainly couldn’t have poisoned Agent Gruer. And if I haven’t—why, neither did I kill my husband.”
Then, as Baley maintained a stern silence, her spirit seemed to fade and the corners of her small mouth drooped. “Don’t you think so, Elijah?”
“I can’t be sure,” said Baley. “I’ve told you I know the method used to poison Gruer. It’s an ingenious one and anyone on Solaria could have used it, whether they were ever on the Gruer estate or not.”
Gladia clenched her hands into fists. “Are you saying I did it?”
“I’m not saying that.”
“You’re implying it.” Her lips were thin with fury and her high cheekbones were splotchy. “Is that all your interest in viewing me? To ask me sly questions? To trap me?”
“Now wait——”
“You seemed so sympathetic. So understanding. You—you Earthman!”
Her contralto had become a tortured rasp with the last word.
Daneel’s perfect face leaned toward Gladia and he said, “If you will pardon me, Mrs. Delmarre, you are holding a knife rather tightly and may cut yourself. Please be careful.”
Gladia stared wildly at the short, blunt, and undoubtedly quite harmless knife she held in her hand. With a spasmodic movement she raised it high.
Baley said, “You couldn’t reach me, Gladia.”
She gasped. “Who’d want to reach you? Ugh!” She shuddered in exaggerated disgust and called out, “Break contact at once!”
The last must have been to a robot out of the line of sight, and Gladia and her end of the room were gone and the original wall sprang back.
Daneel said, “Am I correct in believing you now consider this woman guilty?”
“No,” said Baley flatly. “Whoever did this needed a great deal more of certain characteristics than this poor girl has.”
“She has a temper.”
“What of that? Most people do. Remember, too, that she has been under a considerable strain for a considerable time. If I had been under a similar strain and someone had turned on me as she imagined I had turned on her, I might have done a great deal more than wave a foolish little knife.”
Daneel said, “I have not been able to deduce the technique of poisoning at a distance, as you say you have.”
Baley found it pleasant to be able to say, “I know you haven’t. You lack the capacity to decipher this particular puzzle.”
He said it with finality and Daneel accepted the statement as calmly and as gravely as ever.
Baley said, “I have two jobs for you, Daneel.”
“And what are they, Partner Elijah?”
“First, get in touch with this Dr. Thool and find out Mrs. Delmarre’s condition at the time of the murder of her husband. How long she required treatment and so on.”
“Do you want to determine something in particular?”
“No. I’m just trying to accumulate data. It isn’t easy on this world. Second, find out who will be taking Gruer’s place as head of security and arrange a viewing session for me first thing in the morning. As for me,” he said without pleasure in his mind, and with none in his voice, “I’m going to bed and eventually, I hope, I’ll sleep.” Then, almost petulantly, “Do you suppose I could get a decent book-film in this place?”
Daneel said, “I would suggest that you summon the robot in charge of the library.”
Baley felt only irritation at having to deal with the robot. He would much rather have browsed at will.
“No,” he said, “not a classic; just an ordinary piece of fiction dealing with everyday life on contemporary Solaria. About half a dozen of them.”
The robot submitted (it would have to) but even as it manipulated the proper controls that plucked the requisite book-films out of their niches and transferred them first to an exit slot and then to Baley’s hand, it rattled on in respectful tones about all the other categories in the library.
The master might like an adventure romance of the days of exploration, it suggested, or an excellent view of chemistry, perhaps, with animated atom models, or a fantasy, or a Galactography. The list was endless.
Baley waited grimly for his half dozen, said, “These will do,” reached with his own hands (his own hands) for a scanner and walked away.
When the robot followed and said, “Will you require help with the adjustment, master?” Baley turned and snapped, “No. Stay where you are.”
The robot bowed and stayed.
Lying in bed, with the headboard aglow, Baley almost regretted his decision. The scanner was like no model he had ever used and he began with no idea at all as to the method for threading the film. But he worked at it obstinately, and eventually, by taking it apart and working it out bit by bit, he managed something.
At least he could view the film and, if the focus left a bit to be desired, it was small payment for a moment’s independence from the robots.
In the next hour and a half he had skipped and switched through four of the six films and was disappointed.
He had had a theory. There was no better way, he had thought, to get an insight into Solarian ways of life and thought than to read their novels. He needed that insight if he were to conduct the investigation sensibly.
But now he had to abandon his theories. He had viewed novels and had succeeded only in learning of people with ridiculous problems who behaved foolishly and reacted mysteriously. Why should a woman abandon her job on discovering her child had entered the same profession and refuse to explain her reasons until unbearable and ridiculous complications had resulted? Why should a doctor and an artist be humiliated at being assigned to one another and what was so noble about the doctor’s insistence on entering robotic research?
He threaded the fifth novel into the scanner and adjusted it to his eyes. He was bone-weary.
So weary, in fact, that he never afterward recalled anything of the fifth novel (which he believed to be a suspense story) except for the opening in which a new estate owner entered his mansion and looked through the past account films presented him by a respectful robot.
Presumably he fell asleep then with the scanner on his head and all lights blazing. Presumably a robot, entering respectfully, had gently removed the scanner and put out the lights.
In any case, he slept and dreamed of Jessie. All was as it had been. He had never left Earth. They were ready to travel to the community kitchen and then to see a subetheric show with friends. They would travel over the Expressways and see people and neither of them had a care in the world. He was happy.
And Jessie was beautiful. She had lost weight somehow. Why should she be so slim? And so beautiful?
And one other thing was wrong. Somehow the sun shone down on them. He looked up and there was only the vaulted base of the upper Levels visible, yet the sun shone down, blazing brightly on everything, and no one was afraid.
Baley woke up, disturbed. He let the robots serve breakfast and did not speak to Daneel. He said nothing, asked nothing, downed excellent coffee without tasting it.
Why had he dreamed of the visible-invisible sun? He could understand dreaming of Earth and of Jessie, but what had the sun to do with it? And why should the thought of it bother him, anyway?
“Partner Elijah,” said Daneel gently.
“What?”
“Corwin Attlebish will be in viewing contact with you in half an hour. I have arranged that.”
“Who the hell is Corwin Whatchamacullum?” asked Baley sharply, and refilled his coffee cup.
“He was Agent Gruer’s chief aide, Partner Elijah, and is now Acting Head of Security.”
“Then get him now.”
“The appointment, as I explained, is for half an hour from now.”
“I don’t care when it’s for. Get him now. That’s an order.”
“I will make the attempt, Partner Elijah. He may not, however, agree to receive the call.”
“Let’s take the chance, and get on with it, Daneel.”
The Acting Head of Security accepted the call and, for the first time on Solaria, Baley saw a Spacer who looked the usual Earthly conception of one. Attlebish was tall, lean, and bronze. His eyes were a light brown, his chin large and hard.
He looked faintly like Daneel. But whereas Daneel was idealized, almost godlike, Corwin Attlebish had lines of humanity in his face.
Attlebish was shaving. The small abrasive pencil gave out its spray of fine particles that swept over cheek and chin, biting off the hair neatly and then disintegrating into impalpable dust.
Baley recognized the instrument through hearsay but had never seen one used before.
“You the Earthman?” asked Attlebish slurringly through barely cracked lips, as the abrasive dust passed under his nose.
Baley said, “I’m Elijah Baley, Plainclothesman C-7. I’m from Earth.”
“You’re early.” Attlebish snapped his shaver shut and tossed it somewhere outside Baley’s range of vision. “What’s on your mind, Earthman?”
Baley would not have enjoyed the other’s tone of voice at the best of times. He burned now. He said, “How is Agent Gruer?”
Attlebish said, “He’s still alive. He may stay alive.”
Baley nodded. “Your poisoners here on Solaria don’t know dosages. Lack of experience. They gave Gruer too much and he threw it up. Half the dose would have killed him.”
“Poisoners? There is no evidence for poison.”
Baley stared. “Jehoshaphat! What else do you think it is?”
“A number of things. Much can go wrong with a person.” He rubbed his face, looking for roughness with his fingertips. “You would scarcely know the metabolic problems that arise past the age of two fifty.”
“If that’s the case, have you obtained competent medical advice?”
“Dr. Thool’s report——”
That did it. The anger that had been boiling inside Baley since waking burst through. He cried at the top of his voice, “I don’t care about Dr. Thool. I said competent medical advice. Your doctors don’t know anything, any more than your detectives would, if you had any. You had to get a detective from Earth. Get a doctor as well.”
The Solarian looked at him coolly. “Are you telling me what to do?”
“Yes, and without charge. Be my guest. Gruer was poisoned. I witnessed the process. He drank, retched, and yelled that his throat was burning. What do you call it when you consider that he was investigating——” Baley came to a sudden halt.
“Investigating what?” Attlebish was unmoved.
Baley was uncomfortably aware of Daneel at his usual position some ten feet away. Gruer had not wanted Daneel, as an Auroran, to know of the investigation. He said lamely, “There were political implications.”
Attlebish crossed his arms and looked distant, bored, and faintly hostile. “We have no politics on Solaria in the sense we hear of it on other worlds. Hannis Gruer has been a good citizen, but he is imaginative. It was he who, having heard some story about you, urged that we import you. He even agreed to accept an Auroran companion for you as a condition. I did not think it necessary. There is no mystery. Rikaine Delmarre was killed by his wife and we shall find out how and why. Even if we do not, she will be genetically analyzed and the proper measures taken. As for Gruer, your fantasy concerning poisoning is of no importance.”
Baley said incredulously, “You seem to imply that I’m not needed here.”
“I believe not. If you wish to return to Earth, you may do so. I may even say we urge you to.”
Baley was amazed at his own reaction. He cried, “No, sir. I don’t budge.”
“We hired you, Plainclothesman. We can discharge you. You will return to your home planet.”
“No! You listen to me. I’d advise you to. You’re a bigtime Spacer and I’m an Earthman, but with all respect, with deepest and most humble apologies, you’re scared.”
“Withdraw that statement!” Attlebish drew himself to his six-foot-plus, and stared down at the Earthman haughtily.
“You’re scared as hell. You think you’ll be next if you pursue this thing. You’re giving in so they’ll let you alone; so they’ll leave you your miserable life.” Baley had no notion who the “they” might be or if there were any “they” at all. He was striking out blindly at an arrogant Spacer and enjoying the thud his phrases made as they hit against the other’s self-control.
“You will leave,” said Attlebish, pointing his finger in cold anger, “within the hour. There’ll be no diplomatic considerations about this, I assure you.”
“Save your threats, Spacer. Earth is nothing to you, I admit, but I’m not the only one here. May I introduce my partner, Daneel Olivaw. He’s from Aurora. He doesn’t talk much. He’s not here to talk. I handle that department. But he listens awfully well. He doesn’t miss a word.
“Let me put it straight, Attlebish”—Baley used the unadorned name with relish—“whatever monkeyshines are going on here on Solaria, Aurora and forty-odd other Outer Worlds are interested. If you kick us off, the next deputation to visit Solaria will consist of warships. I’m from Earth and I know how the system works. Hurt feelings mean warships by return trip.”
Attlebish transferred his regard to Daneel and seemed to be considering. His voice was gentler. “There is nothing going on here that need concern anyone outside the planet.”
“Gruer thought otherwise and my partner heard him.” This was no time to cavil at a lie.
Daneel turned to look at Baley, at the Earthman’s last statement, but Baley paid no attention. He drove on: “I intend to pursue this investigation. Ordinarily, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to get back to Earth. Even just dreaming about it gets me so restless I can’t sit. If I owned this robot-infested palace I’m living in now, I’d give it with the robots thrown in and you and all your lousy world to boot for a ticket home.
“But I won’t be ordered off by you. Not while there’s a case to which I’ve been assigned that’s still open. Try getting rid of me against my will and you’ll be looking down the throats of space-based artillery.
“What’s more, from now on, this murder investigation is going to be run my way. I’m in charge. I see the people I want to see. I see them. I don’t view them. I’m used to seeing and that’s the way it’s going to be. I’ll want the official approval of your office for all of that.”
“This is impossible, unbearable——”
“Daneel, you tell him.”
The humanoid’s voice said dispassionately, “As my partner has informed you, Agent Attlebish, we have been sent here to conduct a murder investigation. It is essential that we do so. We, of course, do not wish to disturb any of your customs and perhaps actual seeing will be unnecessary, although it would be helpful if you were to give approval for such seeing as becomes necessary as Plainclothesman Baley has requested. As to leaving the planet against our will, we feel that would be inadvisable, although we regret any feeling on your part or on the part of any Solarian that our remaining would be unpleasant.”
Baley listened to the stilted sentence structure with a dour stretching of his lips that was not a smile. To one who knew Daneel as a robot, it was all an attempt to do a job without giving offense to any human, not to Baley and not to Attlebish. To one who thought Daneel was an Auroran, a native of the oldest and most powerful militarily of the Outer Worlds, it sounded like a series of subtly courteous threats.
Attlebish put the tips of his fingers to his forehead. “I’ll think about it.”
“Not too long,” said Baley, “because I have some visiting to do within the hour, and not by viewer. Done viewing!”
He signaled the robot to break contact, then he stared with surprise and pleasure at the place where Attlebish had been. None of this had been planned. It had all been impulse born of his dream and of Attlebish’s unnecessary arrogance. But now that it had happened, he was glad. It was what he had wanted, really—to take control.
He thought: Anyway, that was telling the dirty Spacer!
He wished the entire population of Earth could have been here to watch. The man looked such a Spacer, and that made it all the better, of course. All the better.
Only, why this feeling of vehemence in the matter of seeing? Baley scarcely understood that. He knew what he planned to do, and seeing (not viewing) was part of it. All right. Yet there had been the tight lift to his spirit when he spoke of seeing, as though he were ready to break down the walls of this mansion even though it served no purpose.
Why?
There was something impelling him besides the case, something that had nothing to do even with the question of Earth’s safety. But what?
Oddly, he remembered his dream again; the sun shining down through all the opaque layers of the gigantic underground Cities of Earth.
Daneel said with thoughtfulness (as far as his voice could carry a recognizable emotion), “I wonder, Partner Elijah, if this is entirely safe.”
“Bluffing this character? It worked. And it wasn’t really a bluff. I think it is important to Aurora to find out what’s going on on Solaria, and that Aurora knows it. Thank you, by the way, for not catching me out in a misstatement.”
“It was the natural decision. To have borne you out did Agent Attlebish a certain rather subtle harm. To have given you the lie would have done you a greater and more direct harm.”
“Potentials countered and the higher one won out, eh, Daneel?”
“So it was, Partner Elijah. I understand that this process, in a less definable way, goes on within the human mind. I repeat, however, that this new proposal of yours is not safe.”
“Which new proposal is this?”
“I do not approve your notion of seeing people. By that I mean seeing as opposed to viewing.”
“I understand you. I’m not asking for your approval.”
“I have my instructions, Partner Elijah. What it was that Agent Hannis Gruer told you during my absence last night I cannot know. That he did say something is obvious from the change in your attitude toward this problem. However, in the light of my instructions, I can guess. He must have warned you of the possibility of danger to other planets arising from the situation on Solaria.”
Slowly Baley reached for his pipe. He did that occasionally and always there was the feeling of irritation when he found nothing and remembered he could not smoke. He said, “There are only twenty thousand Solarians. What danger can they represent?”
“My masters on Aurora have for some time been uneasy about Solaria. I have not been told all the information at their disposal——”
“And what little you have been told you have been told not to repeat to me. Is that it?” demanded Baley.
Daneel said, “There is a great deal to find out before this matter can be discussed freely.”
“Well, what are the Solarians doing? New weapons? Paid subversion? A campaign of individual assassination? What can twenty thousand people do against hundreds of millions of Spacers?”
Daneel remained silent.
Baley said, “I intend to find out, you know.”
“But not the way you have now proposed, Partner Elijah. I have been instructed most carefully to guard your safety.”
“You would have to anyway. First Law!”
“Over and above that, as well. In conflict between your safety and that of another I must guard yours.”
“Of course. I understand that. If anything happens to me, there is no further way in which you can remain on Solaria without complications that Aurora is not yet ready to face. As long as I’m alive, I’m here at Solaria’s original request and so we can throw our weight around, if necessary, and make them keep us. If I’m dead, the whole situation is changed. Your orders are, then, to keep Baley alive. Am I right, Daneel?”
Daneel said, “I cannot presume to interpret the reasoning behind my orders.”
Baley said, “All right, don’t worry. The open space won’t kill me, if I do find it necessary to see anyone. I’ll survive. I may even get used to it.”
“It is not the matter of open space alone, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel. “It is this matter of seeing Solarians. I do not approve of it.”
“You mean the Spacers won’t like it. Too bad if they don’t. Let them wear nose filters and gloves. Let them spray the air. And if it offends their nice morals to see me in the flesh, let them wince and blush. But I intend to see them. I consider it necessary to do so and I will do so.”
“But I cannot allow you to.”
“Surely you see why, Partner Elijah.”
“I do not.”
“Consider, then, that Agent Gruer, the key Solarian figure in the investigation of this murder, has been poisoned. Does it not follow that if I permit you to proceed in your plan for exposing yourself indiscriminately in actual person, the next victim will necessarily be you yourself? How then can I possibly permit you to leave the safety of this mansion?”
“How will you stop me, Daneel?”
“By force, if necessary, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel calmly. “Even if I must hurt you. If I do not do so, you will surely die.”