Robots Of Dawn by Isaac Asimov

Author:Isaac Asimov [Asimov, Isaac]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-05-08T18:30:00+00:00

41.

Baley said (troubled, casting about for some way out), „Suppose I accept your statement, Dr. Vasilia. Suppose I agree that my suspicion that you might have been an accessory in this-- roboticide--was wrong. Even that would not mean that it is impossible for you to help me.“ „Why should I help you?“ Baley said, „Out of human decency. Dr. Han Fastolfe assures us he did not do it, that he is not a robot-killer, that he did not put this particular robot, Jander, out of operation. You’ve known Dr. Fastolfe better than anyone ever has, one would suppose. You spent years in an intimate relationship with him as a beloved child and growing daughter. You saw him at times and under conditions that no one else saw him. Whatever your present feelings toward him might be, the past is not changed by them. Knowing him as you do, you must be able to bear witness that his character is such that he could not harm a robot, certainly not a robot that is one of his supreme achievements. Would you be willing to bear such witness openly? To all the worlds? It would help a great deal.“ Vasilia’s face seemed to harden. „Understand me,“ she said, pronouncing the words distinctly. „I will not be involved.“ „You must be involved.“ „Why?“ „Do you owe nothing to your father? He is your father. Whether the word means anything to you or not, there is a biological connection. And besides that--father or not--he took care of you, nurtured and brought you up, for years. You owe him something for that.“ Vasilia trembled. It was a visible shaking and her teeth were chattering. She tried to speak, failed, took a deep breath, another, then tried again. She said, „Giskard, do you hear all that is going on?“ Giskard bowed his head. „Yes, Little Miss.“ „And you, the humaniform-- Daneel?“ „Yes, Dr. Vasilia.“ „You hear all this, too?“ „Yes, Dr. Vasilia.“ „You both understand the Earthman insists that I bear evidence on Dr. Fastolfe’s character?“ Both nodded. „Then I will speak--against my will and in anger. It is because I have felt that I did owe this father of mine some minimum consideration as my gene-bearer and, after a fashion, my upbringer, that I have not borne witness. But now I will. Earthman, listen to me. Dr. Han Fastolfe, some of whose genes I share, did not take care of me--me--me--as a separate, distinct human being. I was to him nothing more than an experiment, an observational phenomenon.“ Baley shook his head. „That is not what I was asking.“ She drove furiously over him. „You insisted that I speak and I will speak--and it will answer you. --One thing interests Dr. Han Fastolfe. One thing. One thing only. That is the functioning of the human brain. He wishes to reduce it to equations, to a wiring diagram, to a solved maze, and thus found a mathematical science of human behavior which will allow him to prediet the human future.

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