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Chapter 1 CONVERSATION WITH A COMMISSIONER

Lije Baley had just reached his desk when he beca 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 Sao about his duties Baley wondered irritably why those same duties couldn't 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 froo) 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-pool's vitals as the small instrument searched and analyzed its "memory" for the desired infor mercury surface within

"I'd kick R Sa," 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 kid's desperate, but what could I tell hi his job and that's all The kid has to work a delivery tread on the yeast farht boy, too Everyone liked him"

Baley shrugged and said in awe're 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 couldn't 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 Colasses for the personality they lent him and suspected that his eyeballs weren't as sensitive as all that

The Cohtened his cuffs, leaned back, and said, too heartily, "Sit down, Lije Sit down"

Baley sat down stiffly and waited

Enderby said, "How's 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: So with his face

Aloud, he said, "Commissioner, I wish you wouldn't send R Sammy out after me"

"Well, you kno I feel about those things, Lije But he's been put here and I've got to use hi"

"It's uncomfortable, Commissioner He tells me you want me and then he stands there You knohat Ithere"

"Oh, that's ot to tell hih"

Baley sighed The fine wrinkles about his intensely brown eyes grew more pronounced "Anyway, you wanted to see me"

"Yes, Lije," said the Co easy"

He stood up turned away, and walked to the wall behind his desk

The Coed specially last year, Lije I don't think I've showed it to you before Come over here and take a look In the old days, all roos like this They were called 's' Did you know that?"

Baley knew that very well, having viewed many historical novels

"I've heard of them," he said

"Come here"

Baley squir 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 hat !

Baley said, "Pardon lasses, aren't you?"

The Colasses, looked at thelasses, his round face seemed rounder and his chin a trifle uer, 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 brokeor another I wasn't able to replace the Lije, those three days were hell"

"On account of the glasses?"

"And other things, too I' to that"

He turned to theand so did Baley WithFor afrom the sky, while the Coh the pheno

"This is the third tiht, don't 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, "you're a modernist That's your trouble In Medieval times, people lived in the open I don't mean on the farms only I mean in the cities, too Even in New York When it rained, they didn't think of it as waste They gloried in it They lived close to nature It's healthier, better The troubles ofdivorced from nature Read up on the Coal Century, sometimes"

Baley had He had heardabout the invention of the ato, or when he got tired Moaning like that was a built-in facet of human nature Back in the Coal Century, people ine In one of Shakespeare's plays, a character unpowder A thousand years in the future, they'd beabout the invention of the positronic brain

The hell with it

He said, griet friendly with the Co office hours, howeverspecial see about everything except what I ca me What is it?"

The Coet to it, Lije Let me do it my way It's - it's trouble"

"Sure What isn't on this planet? More trouble with the R's?"

"In a way, yes, Lije I stand here and wonder how much more trouble the old world can take When I put in this asn't just letting in the sky once in a while I let in the City I look at it and I wonder ill become of it in another century"

Baley felt repelled by the other's senti outward in fascination Even di to see The Police Department was in the upper levels of City Hall, and City Hall reached high Fro towers fell short and the tops were visible They were soupward Their walls were blank, featureless They were the outer shells of human hives

"In a way," said the Co We can't see Spacetown"

Baley looked ard, but it was as the Corew ainst blank whiteness

"I knohat Spacetown is like," said Baley

"I like the picture from here," said the Coap between the two Brunswick Sectors Low domes spread out It's the difference between us and the Spacers We reach high and crowd close With them, each family has a dome for itself One family: one house And land between each dome Have you ever spoken to any of the Spacers, Lije?"

"A few tiht here on your intercom," Baley said, patiently

"Yes, I re philosophical We and they Different ways of life"

Baley's sto to constrict a little The more devious the Coht be the conclusion

He said, "All right But what's so surprising about it? You can't spread eight billion people over Earth in little doot space on their worlds, so let them live their way"

The Commissioner walked to his chair and sat down His eyes looked unblinkingly at Baley, shrunken a bit by the concave lenses in his spectacles He said, "Not everyone is that tolerant about differences in culture Either a the Spacers"

"All right So what?"

"So three days ago, a Spacer died"

Noas co The corners of Baley's thin lips raised a trifle, but the effect upon his long, sad face was unnoticeable He said, "Too bad Soious, I hope A virus A cold, perhaps"

The Co about?" Baley didn't care to explain The precision hich the Spacers had bred disease out of their societies ell known The care hich they avoided, as far as possible, contact with disease-riddled Earthmen was even better known But then, sarcasm was lost on the Commissioner

Baley said, "I' What did he die of?" He turned back to the

The Co chest Someone had used a blaster on him"

Baley's back grew rigid He said, without turning, "What are you talking about?"

"I' about murder," said the Commissioner, softly "You're a plain-clothes man You knohat murder is"

And now Baley turned "But a Spacer! Three days ago?"

"Yes"

"But who did it? How?"

"The Spacers say it was an Earthman"

"It can't be"