Isaac Asimov - Caves of Steel
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Annotation
A millennium into the future two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. Isaac Asimovs Robot novels chronicle the unlikely partnership between a New York City detective and a humanoid robot who must learn to work together. Like most people left behind on an over-populated Earth, New York City police detective Elijah Baley had little love for either the arrogant Spacers or their robotic companions. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Baley is ordered to the Outer Worlds to help track down the killer. The relationship between Lije and his Spacer superiors, who distrusted all Earthmen, was strained from the start. Then he learned that they had assigned him a partner: R. Daneel Olivaw. Worst of all was that the R stood for robot and his positronic partner was made in the image and likeness of the murder victim!
THE CAVES OF STEEL
TO MY WIFE, GERTRUDE,
AND MY SON, DAVID
Chapter 1.
CONVERSATION WITH A COMMISSIONER
CONVERSATION WITH A COMMISSIONER
Lije Baley had just reached his desk when he became aware of R. Sammy watching him expectantly.
The dour lines of his long face hardened. What do you want?
The boss wants you, Lije. Right away. Soon as you come in.
All right.
R. Sammy stood there blankly.
Baley said, I said, all right. Go away!
R. Sammy turned on his heel and left to go about his duties. Baley wondered irritably why those same duties couldnt be done by a man.
He paused to examine the contents of his tobacco pouch and make a mental calculation. At two pipefuls a day, he could stretch it to next quota day.
Then he stepped out from behind his railing (hed rated a railed corner two years ago) and walked the length of the common room.
Simpson looked up from a merc-pool file as he passed. Boss wants you, Lije.
I know. R. Sammy told me.
A closely coded tape reeled out of the merc-pools vitals as the small instrument searched and analyzed its memory for the desired information stored in the tiny vibration patterns of the gleaming mercury surface within.
Id kick R. Sammys behind if I werent afraid Id break a leg, said Simpson. I saw Vince Barrett the other day.
Oh?
He was looking for his job back. Or any job in the Department. The poor kids desperate, but what could I tell him. R. Sammys doing his job and thats all. The kid has to work a delivery tread on the yeast farms now. He was a bright boy, too. Everyone liked him.
Baley shrugged and said in a manner stiffer than he intended or felt, Its a thing were all living through.
The boss rated a private office. It said JULIUS ENDERBY on the clouded glass. Nice letters. Carefully etched into the fabric of the glass. Underneath, it said COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, CITY OF NEW YORK.
Baley stepped in and said, You want to see me, Commissioner?
Enderby looked up. He wore spectacles because his eyes were sensitive and couldnt take the usual contact lenses. It was only after one got used to the sight of them that one could take in the rest of the face, which was quite undistinguished. Baley had a strong notion that the Commissioner valued his glasses for the personality they lent him and suspected that his eyeballs werent as sensitive as all that.
The Commissioner looked definitely nervous. He straightened his cuffs, leaned back, and said, too heartily, Sit down, Lije. Sit down.
Baley sat down stiffly and waited.
Enderby said, Hows Jessie? And the boy?
Fine, said Baler, hollowly. Just fine. And your family?
Fine, echoed Enderby. Just fine.
It had been a false start.
Baley thought: Somethings wrong with his face.
Aloud, he said, Commissioner, I wish you wouldnt send R. Sammy out after me.
Well, you know how I feel about those things, Lije. But hes been put here and Ive got to use him for something.
Its uncomfortable, Commissioner. He tells me you want me and then he stands there. You know what I mean. I have to tell him to go or he just keeps on standing there.
Oh, thats my fault, Lije. I gave him the message to deliver and forgot to tell him specifically to get back to his job when he was through.
Baley sighed. The fine wrinkles about his intensely brown eyes grew more pronounced. Anyway, you wanted to see me.
Yes, Lije, said the Commissioner, but not for anything easy.
He stood up turned away, and walked to the wall behind his desk.
The Commissioner smiled. I had this arranged specially last year, Lije. I dont think Ive showed it to you before. Come over here and take a look. In the old days, all rooms had things like this. They were called windows. Did you know that?
Baley knew that very well, having viewed many historical novels.
Ive heard of them, he said.
Come here.
Baley squirmed a bit, but did as he was told. There was something indecent about the exposure of the privacy of a room to the outside world. Sometimes the Commissioner carried his affectation of Medievalism to a rather foolish extreme.
Like his glasses, Baley thought.
That was it! That was what made him look wrong!
Baley said, Pardon me, Commissioner, but youre wearing new glasses, arent you?
The Commissioner stared at him in mild surprise, took off his glasses, looked at them and then at Baley. Without his glasses, his round face seemed rounder and his chin a trifle more pronounced. He looked vaguer, too, as his eyes failed to focus properly.
He said, Yes.
He put his glasses back on his nose, then added with real anger, I broke my old ones three days ago. What with one thing or another I wasnt able to replace them till this morning. Lije, those three days were hell.
On account of the glasses?
And other things, too. Im getting to that.
He turned to the window and so did Baley. With mild shock, Baley realized it was raining. For a minute, he was lost in the spectacle of water dropping from the sky, while the Commissioner exuded a kind of pride as though the phenomenon were a matter of his own arranging.
This is the third time this month Ive watched it rain. Quite a sight, dont you think?
Against his will, Baley had to admit to himself that it was impressive. In his forty-two years he had rarely seen rain, or any of the phenomena at nature, for that matter.
He said, It always seems a waste for all that water to come down on the city. It should restrict itself to the reservoirs.
Lije, said the Commissioner, youre a modernist. Thats your trouble. In Medieval times, people lived in the open. I dont mean on the farms only. I mean in the cities, too. Even in New York. When it rained, they didnt think of it as waste. They gloried in it. They lived close to nature. Its healthier, better. The troubles of modern life come from being divorced from nature. Read up on the Coal Century, sometimes.
Baley had. He had heard many people moaning about the invention of the atomic pile. He moaned about it himself when things went wrong, or when he got tired. Moaning like that was a built-in facet of human nature. Back in the Coal Century, people moaned about the invention of the steam engine. In one of Shakespeares plays, a character moaned about the invention of gunpowder. A thousand years in the future, theyd be moaning about the invention of the positronic brain.
The hell with it.
He said, grimly, Look, Julius. (It wasnt his habit to get friendly with the Commissioner during office hours, however many Lijes the Commissioner threw at him, but something special seemed called for here.) Look, Julius, youre talking about everything except what I came in here for, and its worrying me. What is it?
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