time, and she had never solved it. She had never tried to solve it, for there had been no need. Robotics had expanded in her day with the needs of space exploration.
It was the very success of the robots that had lessened man’s need for them and had left Harriman, in these latter times—
But would Susan Calvin have turned to robots for help? Surely, she would have—
And he sat there long into the night.
2
Maxwell Robertson was the majority stockholder of U. S. Robots and in that sense its controller. He was by no means an impressive person in appearance. He was well into middle age, rather pudgy, and had a habit of chewing on the right corner of his lower lip when disturbed.
Yet in his two decades of association with government figures he had developed a way of handling them. He tended to use softness, giving in, smiling, and always managing to gain time.
It was growing harder. Gunnar Eisenmuth was a large reason for its having grown harder. In the series of Global Conservers, whose power had been second only to that of the Global Executive during the past century, Eisenmuth hewed most closely to the harder edge of the gray area of compromise. He was the first Conserver who had not been American by birth and though it could not be demonstrated in any way that the archaic name of U. S. Robots evoked his hostility, everyone at U. S. Robots believed that.
There had been a suggestion, by no means the first that year—or that generation—that the corporate name be changed to World Robots, but Robertson would never allow that. The company had been originally built with American capital, American brains, and American labor, and though the company had long been worldwide in scope and nature, the name would bear witness to its origin as long as he was in control.
Eisenmuth was a tall man whose long sad face was coarsely textured and coarsely featured. He spoke Global with a pronounced American accent, although he had never been in the United States prior to his taking office.
“It seems perfectly clear to me, Mr. Robertson. There is no difficulty. The products of your company are always rented, never sold. If the rented property on the Moon is now no longer needed, it is up to you to receive the products back and transfer them.”
“Yes, Conserver, but where? It would be against the law to bring them to Earth without a government permit and that has been denied.”
“They would be of no use to you here. You can take them to Mercury or to the asteroids.”
“What would we do with them there?”
Eisenmuth shrugged. “The ingenious men of your company will think of something.”
Robertson shook his head. “It would represent an enormous loss for the company.”
“I’m afraid it would,” said Eisenmuth, unmoved. “I understand the company has been in poor financial condition for several years now.”
“Largely because of government imposed restrictions, Conserver.”
“You must be realistic, Mr. Robertson. You know that the climate of public opinion is increasingly against robots.”
“Wrongly so, Conserver.”
“But so, nevertheless. It may be wiser to liquidate the company. It is merely a suggestion, of course.”
“Your suggestions have force, Conserver. Is it necessary to tell you that our Machines, a century ago, solved the ecological crisis?”
“I’m sure mankind is grateful, but that was a long time ago. We now live in alliance with nature, however uncomfortable that might be at times, and the past is dim.”
“You mean what have we done for mankind lately?”
“I suppose I do.”
“Surely we can’t be expected to liquidate instantaneously; not without enormous losses. We need time.”
“How much?”
“How much can you give us?”
“It’s not up to me.”
Robertson said softly. “We are alone. We need play no games. How much time can you give me?”
Eisenmuth’s expression was that of a man retreating into inner calculations. “I think you can count on two years. I’ll be frank. The Global government intends to take over the firm and phase it out for you if you don’t do it by then yourself, more or less. And unless there is a vast turn in public opinion, which I greatly doubt—” He shook his head.
“Two years, then,” said Robertson softly.
2a
Robertson sat alone. There was no purpose to his thinking and it had degenerated into retrospection. Four generations of Robertsons had headed the firm. None of them was a roboticist. It had been men such as Lanning and Bogert and, most of all, most of all, Susan Calvin, who had made U. S. Robots what it was, but surely the four Robertsons had provided the climate that had made it possible for them to do their work.
Without U. S. Robots, the Twenty-first Century would have progressed into deepening disaster. That it didn’t was due to the Machines that had for a generation steered mankind through the rapids and shoals of history.
And now for that, he was given two years. What could be done in two years to overcome the insuperable prejudices of mankind? He didn’t know.
Harriman had spoken hopefully of new ideas but would go into no details. Just as well, for Robertson would have understood none of it.
But what could Harriman do anyway? What had anyone ever done against man’s intense antipathy toward the imitation. Nothing—
Robertson drifted into a half sleep in which no inspiration came.
3
Harriman said, “You have it all now, George Ten. You have had everything I could think of that is at all applicable to the problem. As far as sheer mass of information is concerned, you have stored more in your memory concerning human beings and their ways, past and present, than I have, or than any human being could have.”
“That is very likely.”
“Is there anything more that you need, in your own opinion?”
“As far as information is concerned, I find no obvious gaps. There may be matters unimagined at the boundaries. I cannot tell. But that would be true no matter how large a circle of information I took in.”
“True. Nor do we have time to take in information forever. Robertson has told me that we only have two years, and a quarter of one of those years has passed. Can you suggest anything?”
“At the moment, Mr. Harriman, nothing. I must weigh the information and for that purpose I could use help.”
“From me?”
“No. Most particularly, not from you. You are a human being, of intense qualifications, and whatever you say may have the partial force of an order and may inhibit my considerations. Nor any other human being, for the same reason, especially since you have forbidden me to communicate with any.”
