Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov

Author:Isaac Asimov [Asimov, Isaac]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-553-90094-1
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-12-27T16:00:00+00:00

49.

THEY FOLLOWED BANDER. THE ROBOTS REMAINED at a polite distance, but their presence was a constantly felt threat.

They were moving through a corridor, and Trevize mumbled low-spiritedly, “There’s nothing helpful about Earth on this planet. I’m sure of it. Just another variation on the radioactivity theme.” He shrugged. “We’ll have to go on to the third set of co-ordinates.”

A door opened before them, revealing a small room. Bander said, “Come, half-humans, I want to show you how we live.”

Trevize whispered, “It gets infantile pleasure out of display. I’d love to knock it down.”

“Don’t try to compete in childishness,” said Bliss.

Bander ushered all three into the room. One of the robots followed as well. Bander gestured the other robots away and entered itself. The door closed behind it.

“It’s an elevator,” said Pelorat, with a pleased air of discovery.

“So it is,” said Bander. “Once we went underground, we never truly emerged. Nor would we want to, though I find it pleasant to feel the sunlight on occasion. I dislike clouds or night in the open, however. That gives one the sensation of being underground without truly being underground, if you know what I mean. That is cognitive dissonance, after a fashion, and I find it very unpleasant.”

“Earth built underground,” said Pelorat. “The Caves of Steel, they called their cities. And Trantor built underground, too, even more extensively, in the old Imperial days. —And Comporellon builds underground right now. It is a common tendency, when you come to think of it.”

“Half-humans swarming underground and we living underground in isolated splendor are two widely different things,” said Bander.

Trevize said, “On Terminus, dwelling places are on the surface.”

“And exposed to the weather,” said Bander. “Very primitive.”

The elevator, after the initial feeling of lower gravity that had given away its nature to Pelorat, gave no sensation of motion whatsoever. Trevize was wondering how far down it would penetrate, when there was a brief feeling of higher gravity and the door opened.

Before them was a large and elaborately furnished room. It was dimly lit, though the source of the light was not apparent. It almost seemed as though the air itself were faintly luminous.

Bander pointed its finger and where it pointed the light grew a bit more intense. It pointed it elsewhere and the same thing happened. It placed its left hand on a stubby rod to one side of the doorway and, with its right hand, made an expansive circular gesture so that the whole room lit up as though it were in sunlight, but with no sensation of heat.

Trevize grimaced and said, half-aloud, “The man’s a charlatan.”

Bander said sharply. “Not ‘the man,’ but ‘the Solarian.’ I’m not sure what the word ‘charlatan’ means, but if I catch the tone of voice, it is opprobrious.”

Trevize said, “It means one who is not genuine, who arranges effects to make what is done seem more impressive than it really is.”

Bander said, “I admit that I love the dramatic, but what I have shown you is not an effect. It is real.

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