13
Baley listened for the noises of landing. He did not know what they might be, of course. He did not know the mechanism of the ship, how many men and women it carried, what they would have to do in the process of landing, what in the way of noise would be involved.
Shouts? Rumbles? A dilla vibration?
He heard nothing.
Daneel said, "You seem to be under tension, Partner Elijah. I would prefer that you did not wait to tell me of any discomfort you might feel. I must help you at the very moment you are, for any reason, unhappy."
There was a faint stress on the word "must."
Baley thought absently: The First Law drives him. He surely suffered as much in his way as I suffered in mine when I collapsed and he did not foresee it in time. A forbidden imbalance of positronic potentials may have no meaning to me, but it may, produce in him the - same discomfort and the same reaction as acute pain would to me.
He thought further: How can I tell what exists inside the pseudoskin and pseudoconsciousness of a robot, any more than Daneel can tell what exists inside me.
And then, feeling remorse at having thought of Daneel as a robot, Baley looked into the other's gentle eyes (when did he start thinking of their expression as gentle?) and said, "I would tell you of any discomfort at once. There is none. I am merely trying to hear any noise that might tell me of the progress of the landing procedure, Partner Daneel."
"Thank you, Partner Elijah," said Daneel gravely. He bowed his head slightly and went on, "There should be no discomfort n the landing. You will feel acceleration, but that will be minimal, for this room will yield, to a certain extent, in the direction of the acceleration. The temperature may go up, but not more than two degrees Celsius. As for sonic effects, there may be a low hiss as we pass through the thickening atmosphere. Will any of this disturb you?"
"It shouldn't. What does disturb me is not being free to participate in the landing. I would like to know about such things. I do not want to be imprisoned and to be kept from the experience."
"You have already discovered, Partner Elijah, that the nature of the experience does not suit your temperament."
"And how am I to get over that, Daneel?" he said strenuously. "That is not enough reason to keep me ficie!"
"Partner Elijah, I have already explained that you are kept here for your own safety."
Baley shook his head in clear disgust. "I have thought of that and I say it's nonsense. My chances of straightening out this mess are so small, with all the restrictions being placed on me and with the difficulty I will have in understanding anything about Aurora, that I - don't think anyone in his right mind would bother to take the trouble to try to stop me. And if they did, why bother attacking me personally? Why not sabotage the ship? If we imagine ourselves to be facing noholds-barred villains, they should find a ship - and the people aboard it - and you and Giskard - and myself, of course - to be a small price to pay."
"This has, in point of fact, been considered, Partner Elijah. The ship has been carefully studied. Any signs of sabotage would be detected."
"Are you sure? One hundred percent certain?"
"Nothing of this sort can be absolutely certain. Giskard and I were comfortable, however, with the thought that the certainty was quite high and that we might proceed with minimal expectation of disaster."
"And if you were wrong?"
Something like a small sign of spasm crossed Daneel's face, as though he were being asked to consider something that interfered with the smooth working of the positronic pathways in his brain. He said, "But we have not been wrong."
"You cannot say that. We are approaching the landing and that is sure to be the danger moment. In fact, at this point there is no need to sabotage the ship. My personal danger is greatest now - right now. I can't hide in this room if I'm to disembark at Aurora. I will have to pass through the ship and be within reach of others. Have you taken precautions to keep the landing safe?" (He was being petty-striking out at Daneel needlessly because he was chafing at his long imprisonment - and at the indignity of his moment of collapse.)
But Daneel said calmly, "We have, Partner Elijah. And, incidentally, we have landed. We are now resting on the surface of Aurora."
For a moment, Baley was bewildered. He looked around wildly, but of course there was nothing to see but an enclosing room. He had felt and heard nothing of what Daneel had described. None of the acceleration, or heat, or wind whistle. - Or had Daneel deliberately brought up the matter of his personal danger once again, in order to make sure he would not think of other unsettling - but minor - matters.
Baley said, "And yet there's still the matter of getting off the ship. How do I do that without being vulnerable to possible enemies?"
Daneel walked to one wall and touched a spot upon it. The wall promptly split in two, the two halves moving apart. Baley found himself looking into a long cylinder, a tunnel.
Giskard had entered the room at that moment from the other side and said, "Sir, the three of us will move through the exit tube. Others have it under observation from without. At the other end of the tube, Dr. Fastolfe is waiting."
"We have taken every precaution," said Daneel.
Baley muttered, "My apologies, Daneel - Giskard." He moved into the exit tube somberly. Every effort to assure that precautions had been taken also assured him that those precautions were thought necessary.
Baley liked to think he was no coward, but he was on a strange planet, with no way of telling friend from enemy, with no way of taking comfort in anything familiar (except, of course, Daneel). At crucial moments, he thought with a shiver, he would be without enclosure to warm him and to give him relief.