Foundation and Earth

When he had been at the Naval Academy, Trevize had been forced to take a mild neuronic whipblow, as all cadets had had to. That was just to know what it was like. Trevize felt no need to know anything more.

The robot activated the weapon and, for a moment, Trevize stiffened painfully-and then slowly relaxed. The whip, too, was thoroughly drained.

The robot stared at Trevize and then tossed both weapons to one side. "How do these come to be drained of energy?" it demanded. "If they are of no use, why do you carry them?"

Trevize said, "I am accustomed to the weight and carry them even when drained."

The robot said, "That does not make sense. You are all under custody. You will be held for further questioning, and, if the Rulers so decide, you will then be inactivated. How does one open this ship? We must search it."

"It will do you no good," said Trevize. "You won't understand it."

"If not I, the Rulers will understand."

"They will not understand, either."

"Then you will explain so that they will understand."

"I will not."

"Then you will be inactivated."

"My inactivation will give you no explanation, and I think I will be inactivated even if I explain."

Bliss muttered, "Keep it up. I'm beginning to unravel the workings of its brain."

The robot ignored Bliss. (Did she see to that? thought Trevize, and hoped savagely that she had.)

Keeping its attention firmly on Trevize, the robot said, "If you make difficulties, then we will partially inactivate you. We will damage you and you will then tell us what we want to know."

Suddenly, Pelorat called out in a half-strangled cry. "Wait, you cannot do this. Guardian, you cannot do this."

"I am under detailed instructions," said the robot quietly. "I can do this. Of course, I shall do as little damage as is consistent with obtaining information."

"But you cannot. Not at all. I am an Outworlder, and so are these two companions of mine. But this child," and Pelorat looked at Fallom, whom he was still carrying, "is a Solarian. It will tell you what to do and you must obey it."

Fallom looked at Pelorat with eyes that were open, but seemed empty.

Bliss shook her head, sharply, but Pelorat looked at her without any sign of understanding.

The robot's eyes rested briefly on Fallom. It said, "The child is of no importance. It does not have transducer-lobes."

"It does not yet have fully developed transducer-lobes," said Pelorat, panting, "but it will have them in time. It is a Solarian child."

"It is a child, but without fully developed transducer-lobes it is not a Solarian. I am not compelled to follow its orders or to keep it from harm."

"But it is the offspring of Ruler Bander."

"Is it? How do you come to know that?"

Pelorat stuttered, as he sometimes did when overearnest. "Wh-what other child would be on this estate?"

"How do you know there aren't a dozen?"

"Have you seen any others?"

"It is I who will ask the questions."

At this moment, the robot's attention shifted as the second robot touched its arm. The two robots who had been sent to the mansion were returning at a rapid run that, nevertheless, had a certain irregularity to it.

There was silence till they arrived and then one of them spoke in the Solarian language-at which all four of the robots seemed to lose their elasticity. For a moment, they appeared to wither, almost to deflate.

Pelorat said, "They've found Bander," before Trevize could wave him silent.

The robot turned slowly and said, in a voice that slurred the syllables, "Ruler Bander is dead. By the remark you have just made, you show us you were aware of the fact. How did that come to be?"

"How can I know?" said Trevize defiantly.

"You knew it was dead. You knew it was there to be found. How could you know that, unless you had been there-unless it was you that had ended the life?" The robot's enunciation was already improving. It had endured and was absorbing the shock.

Then Trevize said, "How could we have killed Bander? With its transducer-lobes it could have destroyed us in a moment."

"How do you know what, or what not, transducer-lobes could do?"

"You mentioned the transducer-lobes just now."

"I did no more than mention them. I did not describe their properties or abilities."

"The knowledge came to us in a dream."

"That is not a credible answer."

Trevize said, "To suppose that we have caused the death of Bander is not credible, either."

Pelorat added, "And in any case, if Ruler Bander is dead, then Ruler Fallom now controls this estate. Here the Ruler is, and it is it whom you must obey."

"I have already explained," said the robot, "that an offspring with undeveloped transducer-lobes is not a Solarian. It cannot be a Successor, therefore, Another Successor, of the appropriate age, will be flown in as soon as we report this sad news."

"What of Ruler Fallom?"

"There is no Ruler Fallom. There is only a child and we have an excess of children. It will be destroyed."

Bliss said forcefully, "You dare not. It is a child!"