For a moment, he found himself unable to decide which of the series of urinals he should use. He could approach and use any of them. So could anyone else.
He forced the choice of one upon himself and, aware of openness all around, was afflicted at once with bashful bladder. He felt the urgency, but had to wait impatiently for the feeling of apprehension at the possible entrance of others to dissipate itself.
He no longer feared the entrance of enemies, just the entrance of anyone.
And then he thought: The robots will at least delay anyone approaching.
With that, he managed to relax -
He was quite done, greatly relieved, and about to turn to a washbasin, when he heard a moderately high-pitched, rather tense voice. "Are you Elijah Baley?"
Baley froze. After all his apprehension and all his precautions, he had been unaware of someone entering. In the end, he had been entirely wrapped up in the simple act of emptying his bladder, something that should not have taken up even the tiniest fraction of his conscious mind. (Was he getting old?)
To be sure, there seemed no threat of any kind in the voice he heard. It seemed empty of menace. It may have been that Baley simply felt certain - and had the sure confidence within him - that Daneel, at least, if not Giskard, would not have allowed a threat to enter.
What bothered Baley was merely the entrance. In his whole life, he had never been approached - let alone addressed - by a man in a Personal. On Earth that was the most strenuous taboo and on Solaria (and, until now, on Aurora) he had used only one-person Personals.
The voice came again. Impatient. "Come! You must be Elijah Baley."
Slowly, Baley turned. It was a man of moderate height, delicately dressed in well-fitted clothing in various shades of blue. He was light-skinned, light-haired, and had a small mustache that was a shade darker than the hair on his head. Baley found himself staring with fascination at the small strip of hair on the upper lip. It was the first time he had seen a Spacer with a mustache.
Baley said (and was filled with shame at speaking in a Personal), "I am Elijah Baley." His voice, even in, his own, ears, seemed a scratchy and unconvincing whisper.
The Spacer seemed to find it unconvincing, certainly. He said, narrowing his eyes and staring, "The robots outside said Elijah Baley was in here, but you don't look at all the way you looked on hyperwave. Not at all."
That foolish dramatization! thought Baley fiercely. No one would meet him to the end of time without having been preliminarily poisoned by that impossible representation. No one would accept him as a human being at the start, as a fallible human being - and when they discovered the fallibility, they would, in disappointment, consider him a fool.
He turned resentfully to the washbasin and splashed water, then shook his hands vaguely in the air, while wondering where the hot-air jet might be found. The Spacer touched a contact and seemed to pluck a thin bit of absorbent fluff out of midair.
"Thank you," said Baley, taking it. "That was not me in the hyperwave show. It was an actor."
"I know that, but they might have picked one that looked more like you, mightn't they?" It seemed to be a source of grievance to him. "I want to speak to you."
"How did you get past my robots?"
That was another source of grievance, apparently. "I nearly didn't," said the Spacer. "They tried to stop me and I only had one robot with me. I had to pretend I had to get in here on an emergency basis and they searched me. They absolutely laid hands on me to see if I was carrying anything dangerous. I'd have you up on charges - if you weren't an Earthman. You can't give robots the kind of orders that embarrass a human being."
"I'm sorry," said Baley stiffly, "but I am not the one who gave them their orders. What can I do for you?"
"I want to speak to you."
"You are speaking to me. - Who are you?"
The other seemed to hesitate, then said, "Gremionis."
"Santirix Gremionis?"
"That's right."
"Why do you want to speak to me?"
For a moment, Gremionis stared at Baley, apparently with embarrassment. Then he mumbled, "Well, as long as I'm here if you don't mind - I might as well - " and he stepped toward the line of urinals.
Baley realized, with the - last refinement of horrified queasiness, what it was Gremionis intended to do. He turned hastily and said, "I'll wait for you outside."
"No no, don't go," said Gremionis desperately, in what was almost a squeak. "This won't take a second. Please!"
It was only that Baley now wanted, just as desperately, to talk to Gremionis and did not want to do anything that might offend the other and make him unwilling to talk; otherwise he would not have been willing to accede to the request.
He kept his back turned and squinted his eyes nearly shut in a sort of horrified reflex. It was only when Gremionis came up around him, his hands kneading a fluffy towel of his own, that Baley could relax again, after a fashion.
"Why do you want to speak to me?" he said again.
"Gladia - the woman from Solaria - " Gremionis looked dubious and stopped.
"I know Gladia," said Baley coldly.
"Gladia viewed me - trimensionally, you know - and told me you had asked about me. And she asked me if I had, in any way, mistreated a robot she owned - a human-looking robot like one of those outside - "
"Well, did you, Mr. Gremionis?"
"No! I didn't even know she owned a robot like that, until - Did you tell her I did?"
"I was only asking questions, Mr. Gremionis."
Gremionis had made a fist of his right hand and was grinding it nervously into his left. He said intensely, "I don't want to be falsely accused of anything - and especially where such a false accusation would affect my relationship with Gladia."