Hart snapped, "When he did make a mistake, it was a beauty."
"Answer my question," thundered Defense, "and only the question I am putting to you! Is there anything wrong with the material?"
Dean Hart looked cautiously at each item. "Well, nothing."
"Barring the matter concerning which we are here engaged. do you know of any mistake on the part of EZ-27?"
"Barring the matter for which this trial is being held, no."
Defense cleared his throat as though to signal end of paragraph. He said. "Now about the vote concerning whether Robot EZ-27 was to be employed or not. You said there was a majority in favor. What was the actual vote?"
"Thirteen to one, as I remember."
"Thirteen to one! More than just a majority, wouldn't you say?"
"No, sir!"All the pedant in Dean Hart was aroused. "In the English language, the word 'majority' means 'more than half.' Thirteen out of fourteen is a majority, nothing more."
"But an almost unanimous one."
"A majority all the same!"
Defense switched ground. "And who was the lone holdout?"
Dean Hart looked acutely uncomfortable. "Professor Simon Ninheimer."
Defense pretended astonishment. "Professor Ninheimer? The head of the Department of Sociology?"
"Yes, Sir."
"The plaintiff?"
"Yes, sir."
Defense pursed his lips. "In other words, it turns out that the man bringing the action for payment of $750,000 damages against my client. United States Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation was the one who from the beginning opposed the use of the robot-although everyone else on the Executive Committee of the University Senate was persuaded that it was a good idea."
"He voted against the motion, as was his right."
"You didn't mention in your description of the meeting any remarks made by Professor Ninheimer. Did he make any?"
"I think he spoke."
"You think?"
"Well, he did speak."
"Against using the robot?"
"Yes."
"Was he violent about it?"
Dean Hart paused. "He was vehement."
Defense grew confidential. "How long have you known Professor Ninheimer, Dean Hart?"
"About twelve years."
"Reasonably well?"
"I should say so, yes."
"Knowing him, then, would you say he was the kind of man who might continue to bear resentment against a robot, all the more so because an adverse vote had-"
Prosecution drowned out the remainder of the question with an indignant and vehement objection of his own. Defense motioned the witness down and Justice Shane called luncheon recess.
Robertson mangled his sandwich. The corporation would not founder for loss of three-quarters of a million, but the loss would do it no particular good. He was conscious, moreover, that there would be a much more costly long-term setback in public relations.
He said sourly, "Why all this business about how Easy got into the university? What do they hope to gain?"
The Attorney for Defense said quietly, "A court action is like a chess game, MI. Robertson. The winner is usually the one who can see more moves ahead, and my friend at the prosecutor's table is no beginner. They can show damage; that's no problem. Their main effort lies in anticipating our defense. They must be counting on us to try to show that Easy couldn't possibly have committed the offense-because of the Laws of Robotics."
"All right," said Robertson, "that is our defense. An absolutely airtight one."
"To a robotics engineer. Not necessarily to a judge. They're setting themselves up a position from which they can demonstrate that EZ-27 was no ordinary robot. It was the first of its type to be offered to the public. It was an experimental model that needed field-testing and the university was the only decent way to provide such testing. That would look plausible in the light of Dr. Lanning's strong efforts to place the robot and the willingness of U. S. Robots to lease it for so little. The prosecution would then argue that the field-test proved Easy to have been a failure. Now do you see the purpose of what's been going on?"
"But EZ-27 was a perfectly good model," Argued Robertson. "It was the twenty-seventh in production."
"Which is really a bad point," said Defense somberly. "What was wrong with the first twenty-six? Obviously something. Why shouldn't there be something wrong with the twenty-seventh, too?"
"There was nothing wrong with the first twenty-six except that they weren't complex enough for the task. These were the first positronic brains of the sort to be constructed and it was rather hit-and-miss to begin with. But the Three Laws held in all of them! No robot is so imperfect that the Three Laws don't hold."
"Dr. Lanning has explained this to me, Mr. Robertson, and I am willing to take his word for it. The judge, however, may not be. We are expecting a decision from an honest and intelligent man who knows no robotics and thus may be led astray. For instance, if you or Dr. Lanning or Dr. Calvin were to say on the stand that any positronic brains were constructed 'hit-and-miss,' as you just did, prosecution would tear you apart in cross-examination. Nothing would salvage our case. So that's something to avoid."
Robertson growled, "If only Easy would talk."
Defense shrugged. "A robot is incompetent as a witness, so that would do us no good."
"At least we'd know some of the facts. We'd know how it came to do such a thing."
Susan Calvin fired up. A dullish red touched her cheeks and her voice had a trace of warmth in it. "We know how Easy came to do it. It was ordered to! I've explained this to counsel and I'll explain it to you now."