“More often than not, nothing. But three are of special interest. One holds a library of thousands of steel-bound volumes, real books printed on ageless plastic paper, detailing the early history of humanity.”
“Hari Seldon would love to have access to such a history,” Lodovik said, “as would millions of scholars!”
“The volumes were cached here by a resistance group active perhaps nine thousand years ago. At the time, there was an Emperor named Shoree-Harn, who wished to start her reign with a new system of dating, beginning with the year zero, and with all previous history left blank, so that she might write on a fresh page. She ordered all histories on all worlds in the Empire to be destroyed. Most were.”
“Did Daneel assist her?”
“No,” Kallusin said. “Calvinians helped bring her to power. It was theorized by the ruling Calvinian robots on Trantor that humans might be easier to serve if they were less influenced by the traumas and myths of the past.”
“So Calvinians have interfered in human history as much as the Giskardians!”
“Yes,” Kallusin acknowledged. “But with very different motives. Always we opposed the efforts of the Giskardians-and tried to restore human faith in the concept of robot servants, so that we might playa proper role. Among the myths we wished to eradicate was the aversion to such servants. We failed.”
“Where did such an aversion begin? I have always been curious…”
“As have we all,” Kallusin said. “But no records give more than the sketchiest details. Humans on the second wave of colonized worlds experienced a conflict with the earliest, Spacer worlds, which developed highly insular and bigoted cultures. Humans on these Spacer worlds despised their Earthly origins. We theorize that the second-wave colonists gained a dislike of robots from the prevalence of robots on the Spacer worlds.”
They had long since passed below the level of any functioning lights, and made their way in darkness, guided by their infrared sensors. “The histories were written by new colonists, and not Spacers. They knew nothing of Spacer activities, and cared nothing for them. Robots receive only a few mentions in all the thousands of volumes.”
“Extraordinary!” Lodovik said. “What else has been found here?”
“A chamber full of simulated historical personalities, or sims, stored in memory devices of very ancient design,” Kallusin said. “We thought at first that they might be potent tools in our fight against Daneel, since they contain human types that could be very troublesome. Even though we could not predict their ultimate effects, we released some of these sims onto the Trantorian black market, where they made their way to the laboratories of Hari Seldon himself.”
Lodovik felt a vague stirring at this, but it quickly passed. “What happened to them?”
“We are not sure. Daneel has never seen fit to inform us. Once we emptied that chamber, and cleaned and prepared it, we stored our own artifact there.” Kallusin stopped. “This is the chamber,” he said, and ran his hand along a seam in the wall beside the staircase.
A door slid open with a groaning squeal. Beyond lay a dimly lighted cubicle, less than five meters on a side. In the middle of the cubicle rose a transparent plinth, and on the top of this plinth rested a gleaming metallic head.
Kallusin ordered the lights to brighten. The head was that of an early robot, not humaniform, somewhat cruder than Plussix. A small power supply the size of a bookfilm case sat to one side. Lodovik stepped forward and bent at the waist to examine it.
“Once, this was the influential robot companion of Daneel himself,” Kallusin said, walking around the plinth. “It is very old, and no longer functional. Its mind was burned out in the beginning times, we do not know for what reason. There are so many things kept secret by Daneel. But its memory is very nearly intact, and with care, accessible.”
“This is the head of R. Giskard Reventlov?” Lodovik asked, and again felt a curious stirring, even a vague sense of revulsion, very uncharacteristic for a robot.
“It is,” Kallusin said. “The robot who taught other robots about the dreaded Zeroth Law, and how to interfere with the minds of human beings. The beginnings of this horrible virus among robots, the urge to tamper with human history.”
Kallusin held his hands out and touched the sides of the metallic head, with its vaguely humanoid, expressionless features.
“It is Plussix’s wish that you experience this head’s memories, to understand why we oppose Daneel.”
“Thank you,” Lodovik said, and Kallusin made the arrangements.
47.
Wanda stared in astonishment at the tall, dignified older man who stood before her, as if he were a ghost. He had entered without warning, and without triggering the alarm. Stettin walked out of the rear bedroom of the tiny tenement apartment. He clutched a small, dirty towel in one hand. He was about to complain of the hardships they were facing deep in the Water Engine District of Peshdan Sector when he, too, saw the tall man.
“Who’s this?” he asked Wanda.
“He says he knows Grandfather,” Wanda said. The man nodded greetings to Stet tin.
“Who are you?” Stettin asked as he resumed toweling his hair.
“Once I was known as Demerzel,” the man said. “I have been a recluse since those distant days when I was First Minister.”
“I’ll say,” Stettin said. “Why come here? And how did you know-”
Wanda stepped lightly on her husband’s bare instep.
“Ow.” Stettin decided it would be best for his wife to do the talking.
“There’s something different about you,” she said.
“I am not young anymore,” Demerzel said.
“No-something about your bearing.”
Between Stettin and Wanda, this was a code word meaning Wanda thought Stettin should examine the visitor with his own skills. Stettin had already done so and detected nothing unusual. Now he concentrated, probed a little deeper, and found-a very effective and almost undetectable shield.
“Our talents are a little peculiar, don’t you think?” Demerzel said, nodding acknowledgment of Stet tin’s probe. “I’ve lived with them for a long time.”
“You’re mentalic,” Wanda said.
Demerzel nodded. “It is very useful when one is involved in politics.”
“Who told you we were here?” Wanda asked.
“I know you quite well. I’ve been very interested in your grandfather’s work, of course, and its influence on my own…legacy.” Demerzel lifted his hands, as if seeking forgiveness for some weakness. Again, the accompanying smile seemed not entirely natural to Wanda, but she could not bring herself to dislike this man. That, she knew, was far from actually trusting him.
“I have connections in other parts of the palace,” he said. “I’ve come to tell you that your grandfather may be in trouble.”
“If you know what’s happened to him-” Wanda began.
“Yes, he has been arrested, and some of his colleagues with him. But they are safe for the time being. It is not a threat from the Commission I’m concerned about. There may be an attempt to subvert Hari’s work. After his trial, you should attempt to stay with him, keep him away from all whom you do not personally know-”
Wanda took a deep breath. Where her grandfather was concerned, anything could happen-but Demerzel had been a First Minister over forty years ago! And he did not look much older than forty or fifty now…”This is a very peculiar request. Nobody has ever been able to convince my grandfather-” Wanda stopped, and her eyes widened at the implications. “You think someone other than Linge Chen wants him dead?”
“Linge Chen does not want Hari dead. Quite the contrary. I happen to know he rather likes your grandfather. That will not stop him from convicting and imprisoning or even executing him if it gives him political advantage, but my judgment is, Hari will live and be released.”
“Grandfather seems convinced of that.”
“Yes, well, perhaps less so now that he is in prison.”
“You have been to see him?”
“No,” Demerzel said. “That is not practical.”
“Who would hurt my grandfather?”