Harry Harrison Cykl Stalowy Szczur (06) Stalowy Szczur i piÄ ta kolumna
Honor 06 Honor Under Siege Radclyffe
Anne McCaffrey Ship 06 The Ship Errant
Baum, L Frank Oz 06 The Emerald City of Oz
Cabot Meg PamiÄtnik KsiÄĹźniczki 06 KsiÄĹźniczka uczy siÄ rzÄ dziÄ
Child_Mauren_ _Klub_bogatych_kobiet_06_ _Zona_tajnego_agenta
Harrison, Harry Stahlratte Zyklus 06 Jim Digriz Die Edelstahlratte
Godeng Gert Krew i Wino 06 Trumna numer 5
James Alan Gardner [League Of Peoples 06] Trapped
Brenden Laila Hannah 06 Jad
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spoiled what would have otherwise been a luxuriant shower, along with various other forms of renewal of
comfort.
It was not till after actual takeoff, after the coming of the soft, distant buzz of the protonic jets, that she
could compose herself to sleep. Odd, she thought as consciousness began to slip away, that space
should feel safer than the world of her youth, that she should leave Solaria with even greater relief the
second time than she had the first.
But Solaria was no longer the world of her youth. It was a world without humanity, guarded over by
distorted parodies of humanity; humanoid robots that made a mockery of the gentle Daneel and the
thought-filled Giskard.
She slept at last-and while she slept, Daneel and Giskard, standing guard, could once more speak to
each other.
Daneel said, "Friend Giskard, I am quite certain that it was you who destroyed the overseer."
"Mere was clearly no choice, friend Daneel. It was purely an accident that I arrived in time, for my
senses were entirely occupied with searching out human beings and I found none. Nor would I have
grasped the significance of events if it were not for Lady Gladia's rage and despair. It was that which I
sensed at a distance and which caused me to race to the scene-barely in time. In that respect, Lady
Gladia did save the situation, at least as far as, the captain's existence and yours were concerned. I would
still have saved the ship, I believe, even if I had arrived too late to save you. " He paused a moment and
added, "I would have found it most unsatisfactory, friend Daneel, to arrive too late to save you."
Daneel said, with a grave and formal tone of voice, "I thank you, friend Giskard. I am pleased that you
were not inhibited by the human appearance of the overseer. That had slowed my reactions, as my
appearance had slowed hers."
"Friend Daneel, her physical appearance meant nothing to me because I was aware of the pattern of her
thoughts. That pattern was so limited and so entirely different from the full range of human patterns that
there was no need for me to make any effort to identify her in a positive manner. The negative
identification as nonhuman was so clear I acted at once. I was not aware of my action, in fact, until after it
had taken place."
"I had thought this, friend Giskard, but I wished confirmation lest I misunderstand. May I assume, then,
that you feel no discomfort over having killed what was, in appearance, a human being?"
"None, since it was a robot."
"It seems to me that, had I succeeded in destroying her, I would have suffered some obstruction to the
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free positronic flow, no matter how thoroughly I understood her to be a robot."
"The humanoid appearance, friend Daneel, cannot be fought off when that is all one can directly judge
by. Seeing is so much more immediate than deducing. It was only because I could observe her mental
structure and concentrate on that, that- I could ignore her physical structure."
"How do you suppose the overseer would have felt if she had destroyed us, judging from her mental
structure?"
"She was given exceedingly firm instructions and there was no doubt in her circuits that you, and the
captain were nonhuman by her definition."
"But she might have destroyed Madam Gladia as well."
"Of that we cannot be certain, friend Daneel."
"Had she done so, friend Giskard, would she have survived? Have you any way of telling?"
Giskard was silent for a considerable period. "I had insufficient time to study the mental pattern. I cannot
say what her reaction might have been had she killed Madam Gladia."
"If I imagine myself in, the place of the overseek" -Daneel's voice trembled and grew slightly lower in
pitch, "it seems to me that I might kill a human being in order to save the life of another human being,
whom, there might be some reason to think, it was more necessary to save. The action would, however,
be difficult and damaging. To kill a human being merely in order to destroy something I considered
nonhuman would be inconceivable."
"She merely threatened. She did not carry through the threat."
"Might she have, friend Giskard?"
"How can we say, since we don't know the nature of her instructions?"
"Could the instructions have so completely negated the First Law?"
Giskard said, "Your whole purpose in this discussion, I see, has been to raise this question. I advise you
to go no further.
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Daneel said stubbornly, "I will put it in the conditional, friend Giskard. Surely what may not be expressed
as fact can be advanced as fantasy. If instructions could be hedged about with definitions and conditions,
if the instructions could be made sufficiently detailed in a sufficiently forceful manner, might it be possible
to kill a human being for a purpose less overwhelming than the saving of the life of another human being?"
Giskard said tonelessly, "I do not know, but I suspect that this might be possible."
"But, then, if your suspicion should be collect, that, would imply that it was possible to neutralize the First
Law under specialized conditions. The First Law, in that case, and, therefore, certainly the other Laws
might be modified into almost nonexistence. The Laws, even the First Law, might not be an absolute
then, but might be whatever those who design robots defined it to be."
Giskard said, "It is enough," friend Daneel. Go no further.
Daneel said, "There is one more step, friend Giskard. Partner Elijah would have taken that additional
step."
"He was a human being. He could."
"I must try. If the Laws of Robotics-even the First Law-are not absolutes and if human beings can
modify them, might it not be that perhaps, under proper conditions, we ourselves might mod---"
He stopped.
Giskard said faintly, "Go no further,"
Daneel said, a slight hum obscuring his voice, "I go no further."
There was a silence for a long time. It was with difficulty that the positronic circuitry in each ceased
undergoing discords.
Finally, Daneel said, "Another thought arises. The overseer was dangerous not only because of the set of
her instructions but because of her appearance. It inhibited me and probably the captain and could
mislead and deceive human beings generally, as I deceived, without meaning to, First Class Shipper Niss.
He clearly was not aware, at first, that I was a robot."
"And what follows from that, friend Daneel?"
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"On Aurora, a number of humanoid robots were constructed at the Robotics Institute, under the
leadership of Dr. Amadiro, after the designs of Dr. Fastolfe had been obtained."
"This is well known."
"What happened to those humanoid robots?"
"The project failed."
In his turn, Daneel said, "This is well known. But it does not answer the question. What happened to
those humanoid robots?"
"One can assume they were destroyed."
"Such an assumption need not necessarily be correct. Were they, in actual fact, destroyed?"
"That would have been the sensible thing to do. What else with a failure?"
"How do we know the humanoid robots were a failure, except in that they were removed from sight?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
