"And you got all wet, didn't you, Gladia?"
"Not a bit," she replied. "I had a large rain shade and a light sphere, too. My shoes got muddy and my feet got a little damp because I didn't have time to spray on Latex, but there's no ham in that. - Anyway, we were back at your airfoil less than half an hour after Giskard and Daneel had left you and, of course, you weren't there."
"I had tried - " began Baley.
"Yes, we know. I thought they - the others - had taken you away because Giskard said you were being followed. But Giskard found your handkerchief about fifty meters from the airfoil and he said that you must have wandered off in that direction. Giskard said, it was an illogical thing to do, but that human beings were often illogical, so that we should search for you. So we looked - both of us - using the lightsphere, but it was he who found you. He said he saw the infrared glimmer of your body heat at the base of the tree and we brought you back."
Baley said, with a spark of annoyance, "Why was my leaving an illogical thing to do?"
"He didn't say, Elijah. Do you wish to ask him?" She gestured toward Giskard.
Baley said, "Giskard, what's this?"
Giskard's impassivity was disrupted at once and his eyes focused on Baley. He said, "I felt that you had exposed yourself to the storm unnecessarily. If you had waited, we would have brought you here sooner."
"The other robots might have gotten to me first."
"They did - but you had sent them away, sir."
"How do you know that?"
"There were many robotic footprints around the doors on either side, sir, but there was no sign of dampness within the airfoil, as there would have been if wet arms had reached in to lift you out. I judged you would not have gotten out of the airfoil of your own accord in order to join them, sir. And, having sent them away, you need not have feared they would return very quickly, since it was Daneel they were after - by your own estimate of the situation - and not you. In addition, you might have been certain that I would have been back quickly."
Baley muttered, "I reasoned precisely in that manner but I felt that confusing the issue might help further. I did what seemed best to me and you did find me, even so."
"Yes, sir."
Baley said, "But why bring me here? If we were close to Gladia's establishment, we were just as close, perhaps closer, to Dr. Fastolfe's."
"Not quite, sir. This residence was somewhat closer and I judged, from the urgency of your orders, that every moment counted in securing Daneel's safety. Daneel concurred in this, though he was most reluctant to leave you. Once he was here, I felt you would want to be here, too, so that you could, if you desired, assure yourself of his safety firsthand."
Baley nodded and, said grumpily (he was still annoyed at that remark concerning his illogicality), "You did well, Giskard."
Gladia said, "Is it important that you see Dr. Fastolfe, Elijah? I can have him summoned here. Or you can view him trimensionally."
Baley leaned back in his chair again. He had leisure to realize that his thought processes were blunted and that he was very tired. It would do him no good to face Fastolfe now. He said, "No. I'll see him tomorrow after breakfast. Time enough. And then I think I'll be seeing this man, Kelden Amadiro, the head of the Robotics Institute. And a high official - what d'you call him? - the Chairman. He will be there, too, I suppose."
"You look terribly tired, Elijah," said Gladia. "Of course, we don't have those microorganisms - those germs and viruses - that you have on Earth and you've been cleaned out so you won't get any of the diseases they have all over your planet, but you're clearly tired."
Baley thought: After all that, no cold? No flu? No pneumonia? - There was something to being on a Spacer world at that.
He said, "I admit I'm tired, but that can be cured by a bit of rest."
"Are you hungry? It's dinnertime."
Baley made a face. "I don't feel like eating."
"I'm not sure that's wise. You don't want a heavy meal, perhaps, but how about some hot soup. It will do you good."
Baley felt the urge to smile. She might be Solarian, but given the proper circumstances she sounded exactly like art Earth-woman. He suspected that this would be true of Aurorans as well. There are some things that differences in culture don't touch.
He said, "Do you have soup available? I don't want to be a problem."
"How can you be a problem? I have a staff - not a large one, as on Solaria, but enough to prepare any reasonable item of food on short order. - Now you just sit there and tell me, what kind of soup you would like. It will all be taken care of."
Baley couldn't resist. "Chicken soup?"
"Of course." Then innocently, "Just what I would have suggested - and with lumps of chicken, so that it will be substantial."
The bowl was put before him with surprising speed. He said, "Aren't you going to eat, Gladia?"
"I've eaten already, while you were being bathed and treated."
"Treated?"
"Only routine biochemical adjustment, Elijah. You had been rather psychic-damaged and we wanted no repercussions. - Do eat!"
Baley lifted an experimental spoonful to his lips. It was not bad chicken soup, though it had the queer tendency of Auroran food to be rather spicier than Baley would prefer. Or perhaps it was prepared with different spices than those he was used to.
He remembered his mother suddenly - a sharp thrust of memory that made her appear younger than he himself was right now. He remembered her standing over him when he rebelled at eating his "nice soup."