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"BUT THAT WASN&039;T IT, EITHER," SAID DR CALVIN thoughtfully "Oh, eventually, the ship and others like it becah hyperspace was perfected, and noe actually have human colonies on the planets of some of the nearer stars, but that wasn&039;t it"

I had finished eating and watched her through the sarette

"It&039;s what has happened to the people here on Earth in the last fifty years that really counts When I was born, young h the last World War It was a low point in history - but it was the end of nationalis theions It took quite a while When I was born the United States of America was still a nation and not ion In fact, the name of the corporation is still &039;United States Robots-&039; And the change froions, which has stabilized our econoe, when this century is coht about by our robots"

"You mean the Machines," I said "The Brain you talked about was the first of the Machines, wasn&039;t it?"

"Yes, it was, but it&039;s not the Machines I was thinking of Rather of a man He died last year" Her voice was suddenly deeply sorrowful "Or at least he arranged to die, because he knee needed hiuessed that ho you meant"

"He first entered public office in 2032 You were only a boy then, so you wouldn&039;t ren for the Mayoralty was certainly the queerest in history-!"

Francis Quinn was a politician of the new school That, of course, is a less expression, as are all expressions of the sort Most of the "new schools" we have were duplicated in the social life of ancient Greece, and perhaps, if we knew more about it, in the social life of ancient Sus of prehistoric Switzerland as well

But, to get out fro, it ht be best to state hastily that Quinn neither ran for office nor canvassed for votes, made no speeches and stuffed no ballot boxes Any er at Austerlitz

And since politicssat at the other side of the desk with his ferocious white eyebrows bent far forward over eyes in which chronic impatience had sharpened to acuity He was not pleased

The fact, if known to Quinn, would have annoyed him not the least His voice was friendly, perhaps professionally so

"I assu"

"I have heard of him So have many people"

"Yes, so have I Perhaps you intend voting for him at the next election"

"I couldn&039;t say" There was an unmistakable trace of acidity here "I have not followed the political currents, so I&039; for office"

"He may be our next reat oaks-"

"Yes," interrupted Lanning, "I have heard the phrase before But I wonder if we can get to the business at hand"

"We are at the business at hand, Dr Lanning" Quinn&039;s tone was very gentle, "It is to my interest to keep Mr Byerley a district attorney at the very most, and it is to your interest to help &039;s eyebrows hunched low

"Well, say then to the interest of the U S Robot amp; Mechanical Men Corporation I come to you as Director Emeritus of Research, because I know that your connection to them is that of, shall we say, `elder statesman&039; You are listened to with respect and yet your connection with theht but that you cannot possess considerable freedom of action; even if the action is so was silent a hts He said more softly, "I don&039;t follow you at all, Mr Quinn"

"I a But it&039;s all rather sihter of tasteful si-boned face settled into an expression of quiet ae and colorful character He was unknown three years ago He is very well kno He is a man of force and ability, and certainly the ent prosecutor I have ever known Unfortunately he is not a friend of , ernails

"I have had occasion," continued Quinn, evenly, "in the past year to investigate Mr Byerley - quite exhaustively It is always useful, you see, to subject the past life of reform politicians to rather inquisitive research If you kne often it helped-" He paused to sarette "But Mr Byerley&039;s past is unree education, a ho died young, an auto accident with a slow recovery, law school, co to the metropolis, an attorney"

Francis Quinn shook his head slowly, then added, "But his present life Ah, that is remarkable Our district attorney never eats!"

Lanning&039;s head snapped up, old eyes surprisingly sharp, "Pardon me?"

"Our district attorney never eats" The repetition thuhtly He has never been seen to eat or drink Never! Do you understand the significance of the word? Not rarely, but never!"

"I find that quite incredible Can you trust your investigators?"

"I can trust ators, and I don&039;t find it incredible at all Further, our district attorney has never been seen to drink -in the aqueous sense as well as the alcoholic- nor to sleep There are other factors, but I should think I haveleaned back in his seat, and there was the rapt silence of challenge and response between them, and then the old roboticist shook his head "No There is only one thing you can be trying to imply, if I couple your statements with the fact that you present them to me, and that is impossible"

"But the "

"If you told me he were Satan in ht believe you"

"I tell you he is a robot, Dr Lanning"

"I tell you it is as impossible a conception as I have ever heard, Mr Quinn"

Again the combative silence

"Nevertheless," and Quinn stubbed out his cigarette with elaborate care, "you will have to investigate this impossibility with all the resources of the Corporation"

"I&039;, Mr Quinn You don&039;t seriously suggest that the Corporation take part in local politics"

"You have no choice Supposing I were to make my facts public without proof The evidence is circuh"

"Suit yourself in that respect"

"But it would not suit me Proof would be much preferable And it would not suit you, for the publicity would be very da to your company You are perfectly well acquainted, I suppose, with the strict rules against the use of robots on inhabited worlds"

"Certainly!" -brusquely

"You know that the U S Robot amp; Mechanical Men Corporation is the only manufacturer of positronic robots in the Solar System, and if Byerley is a robot, he is a positronic robot You are also aware that all positronic robots are leased, and not sold; that the Corporation reer of each robot, and is therefore responsible for the actions of all"

"It is an easy matter, Mr Quinn, to prove the Corporation has never manufactured a robot of a humanoid character"

"It can be done? To discuss merely possibilities"

"Yes It can be done"

"Secretly, I i it in your books"

"Not the positronic brain, sir Too htest possible government supervision"

"Yes, but robots are worn out, break down, go out of order - and are dismantled"

"And the positronic brains re-used or destroyed"

"Really?" Francis Quinn allowed himself a trace of sarcasm "And if one were, accidentally, of course, not destroyed - and there happened to be a hu for a brain"

"Impossible!"

"You would have to prove that to the government and the public, so why not prove it to me now"

"But what could our purpose be?" de in exasperation "Where is our motivation? Credit us with a minimum of sense"

"My dear sir, please The Corporation would be only too glad to have the various Regions permit the use of humanoid positronic robots on inhabited worlds The profits would be enorainst such a practice is too great Suppose you get them used to such robots first - see, we have a skillful lawyer, a good mayor,and he is a robot Won&039;t you buy our robot butlers?"

"Thoroughly fantastic An aline so Why not prove it? Or would you still rather try to prove it to the public?"

The light in the office was di, but it was not yet too di&039;s face Slowly, the roboticist&039;s finger touched a knob and the wall illuentle life

"Well, then," he growled, "let us see"

The face of Stephen Byerley is not an easy one to describe He was forty by birth certificate and forty by appearance - but it was a healthy, well-nourished good-natured appearance of forty; one that auto one&039;s age"

This was particularly true when he laughed, and he was laughing now It caain-

And Alfred Lanning&039;s face contracted into a rigidly bitter esture to the woman who sat beside him, but her thin, bloodless lips asped hie nearer nor really- I I a robot?"

Lanning bit his words off with a snap, "It is no statement of mine, sir I would be quite satisfied to have you a member of humanity Since our corporation never alistic sense, at any rate But since the contention that you are a robot has been advanced to us seriously by a -"

"Don&039;t ranite block of ethics, but let&039;s pretend it was Frank Quinn, for the sake of argu drew in a sharp, cutting snort at the interruption, and paused ferociously before continuing with added frigidity, "-by a , hose identity I aa it The mere fact that such a contention could be advanced and publicized by the means at this man&039;s disposal would be a bad blow to the coe were never proven You understand me?"

"Oh, yes, your position is clear to e itself is ridiculous The spot you find yourself in is not I beg your pardon, if hed at, not the second How can I help you?"

"It could be very simple You have only to sit down to a meal at a restaurant in the presence of witnesses, have your picture taken, and eat" Lanning sat back in his chair, the worst of the interview over The woman beside him watched Byerley with an apparently absorbed expression but contributed nothing of her own

Stephen Byerley ht by theers were thoughtful over the bronze paper-weight that was the only ornament on his desk

He said quietly, "I don&039;t think I can oblige you"

He raised his hand, "Noait, Dr Lanning I appreciate the fact that this whole matter is distasteful to you, that you have been forced into it against your will, that you feel you are playing an undignified and even ridiculous part Still, the matter is even more intimately concerned with myself, so be tolerant

"First, what , you knoasn&039;t hoodwinking you, in order to get you to do exactly what you are doing?"

"Why it seeer himself in so ridiculous a fashion, if he weren&039;t convinced he were on safe ground"

There was little humor in Byerley&039;s eyes, "You don&039;t know Quinn He could e a mountain sheep could not handle I suppose be showed the particulars of the investigation he claih to convince me that it would be too troublesome to have our corporation attempt to disprove them when you could do so more easily"

"Then you believe hi Think of the logic required I have not been observed to eat, therefore, I never eat QED After all!"

"You are using prosecution tactics to confuse what is really a very si to clarify what you and Quinn between you area very complicated one You see, I don&039;t sleep much, that&039;s true, and I certainly don&039;t sleep in public I have never cared to eat with others - an idiosyncrasy which is unusual and probably neurotic in character, but which har, letwe had a politician as interested in defeating a refor his private life came across oddities such as I have just mentioned

"Suppose further that in order to smear the candidate effectively, he coent Do you expect him to say to you, &039;So-and-so is a robot because he hardly ever eats with people, and I have never seen him fall asleep in the middle of a case; and once when I peeped into hisin theup with a book; and I looked in his frigidaire and there was no food in it&039;

"If he told you that, you would send for a straitjacket But if he tells you, &039;He never sleeps; he never eats,&039; then the shock of the statement blinds you to the fact that such statements are i to the to-do"

"Regardless, sir," began Lanning, with a threatening obstinacy, "of whether you consider this matter serious or not, it will require only the ain Byerley turned to the woarded hiht your name correctly, haven&039;t I? Dr Susan Calvin?"

"Yes, Mr Byerley"

"You&039;re the U S Robot&039;s psychologist, aren&039;t you?"

"Robopsychologist, please"

"Oh, are robots so different from men, mentally?"

"Worlds different" She allowed herself a frosty sed at the corners of the lawyer&039;s mouth, "Well, that&039;s a hard blow But what I wanted to say was this Since you&039;re a psycho- a robopsychologist, and a wo that Dr Lanning hasn&039;t thought of"

"And what is that?"

"You&039;ve got soht in the schooled indifference of Susan Calvin&039;s eyes She said, "You surpriseher purse, she produced an apple Quietly, she handed it to hi, after an initial start, followed the slow movement from one hand to the other with sharply alert eyes

Calmly, Stephen Byerley bit into it, and cal?"

Dr Lanning sh to make even his eyebrows appear benevolent A relief that survived for one fragile second

Susan Calvin said, "I was curious to see if you would eat it, but, of course, in the present case, it proves nothing"

Byerley grinned, "It doesn&039;t?"

"Of course not It is obvious, Dr Lanning, that if this man were a humanoid robot, he would be a perfect imitation He is al and observing hus all our lives; it would be iht off on us It would have to be all right Observe the texture of the skin, the quality of the irises, the bone formation of the hand If he&039;s a robot, I wish U S Robots had ood job Do you suppose then, that anyone capable of paying attention to such niceties would neglect a few gadgets to take care of such things as eating, sleeping, eliency use only, perhaps; as, for instance, to prevent such situations as are arising here So a "

"Noait," snarled Lanning, "I am - not quite the fool both of you make me out to be I am not interested in the problem of Mr Byerley&039;s hu the corporation out of a hole A public meal will end the matter and keep it ended no matter what Quinn does We can leave the finer details to lawyers and robopsychologists"

"But, Dr Lanning," said Byerley, "you forget the politics of the situation I am as anxious to be elected as Quinn is to stop me By the way, did you notice that you used his name? It&039;s a cheap shyster trick of h"

Lanning flushed, "What has the election to do with it?"

"Publicity works both ways, sir If Quinn wants to call me a robot, and has the nerve to do so, I have the nerve to play the ga was quite frankly appalled

"Exactly I o ahead, choose his rope, test its strength, cut off the right length, tie the noose, insert his head and grin I can do what little else is required"

"You are hty confident"

Susan Calvin rose to her feet, "Coe his ently "You&039;re a huist, too"

But perhaps not all the confidence that Dr Lanning had re when Byerley&039;s car parked on the autoe,

and Byerley himself crossed the path to the front door of his house

The figure in the wheel chair looked up as he entered and smiled Byerley&039;s face lit with affection He crossed over to it

The cripple&039;s voice was a hoarse, grating whisper that ca out of a face that was half scar tissue, "You&039;re late, Steve"

"I know, John, I know But I&039;ve been up against a peculiar and interesting trouble today"

"So?" Neither the torn face nor the destroyed voice could carry expression but there was anxiety in the clear eyes "Nothing you can&039;t handle?"

"I&039;m not exactly certain I may need your help You&039;re the brilliant one in the faarden? It&039;s a beautiful evening"

Two strong arly, Byerley&039;s ars of the cripple Carefully, and slowly, he walked through the rooentle ramp that had been built with a wheel chair in arden behind the house

"Why don&039;t you let me use the wheel chair, Steve? This is Silly"

"Because I&039;d rather carry you Do you object? You know that you&039;re as glad to get out of that y for a while as I am to see you out How do you feel today?" He deposited John with infinite care upon the cool grass

"How should I feel? But tell n will be based on the fact that he claims I&039;m a robot"

John&039;s eyes opened wide, "How do you know? It&039;s impossible I won&039;t believe it"

"Oh, co-shot scientists of U S Robot aue with rass, "I see I see"

Byerley said, "But we can let hiround I have an idea Listen to me and tell me if we can do it "

The scene as it appeared in Alfred Lanning&039;s office that night was a tableau of stares Francis Quinn stared ely set upon Susan Calvin, who stared impassively in her turn at Quinn

Francis Quinn broke it with a heavy atteoes along"

"Are you going to gamble on that, Mr Quinn?" asked Dr Calvin, indifferently

"Well, it&039;s your ga covered definite pessimism with bluster, "we&039;ve done what you asked We witnessed the man eat It&039;s ridiculous to presume him a robot"

"Do you think so?" Quinn shot toward Calvin "Lanning said you were the expert"

Lanning was al, "Now, Susan-"

Quinn interrupted s there i felt definitely harassed From what he experienced then to incipient paranoia was but a step He said, "Very well Have your say, Susan We won&039;t interrupt you"

Susan Calvin glanced at him humorlessly, then fixed cold eyes on Mr Quinn "There are only tays of definitely proving Byerley to be a robot, sir So far you are presenting circumstantial evidence, hich you can accuse, but not prove - and I think Mr Byerley is sufficiently clever to counter that sort of material You probably think so yourself, or you wouldn&039;t have come here

"The two ical Physically, you can dissect him or use an X-ray How to do that would be your probleically, his behavior can be studied, for if he is a positronic robot, he must conform to the three Rules of Robotics A positronic brain can not be constructed without them You know the Rules, Mr Quinn?"

She spoke the word for word the fae one of the "Handbook of Robotics"

"I&039;ve heard of them," said Quinn, carelessly

"Then the ist, dryly "If Mr Byerley breaks any of those three rules, he is not a robot Unfortunately, this procedure works in only one direction If he lives up to the rules, it proves nothing one way or the other"

Quinn raised polite eyebrows, "Why not, doctor?"

"Because, if you stop to think of it, the three Rules of Robotics are the essential guiding principles of a good many of the world&039;s ethical syste is supposed to have the instinct of self-preservation That&039;s Rule Three to a robot Also every &039;good&039; hu, with a social conscience and a sense of responsibility, is supposed to defer to proper authority; to listen to his doctor, his boss, his government, his psychiatrist, his fellow man; to obey laws, to follow rules, to conform to custom - even when they interfere with his comfort or his safety That&039;s Rule Two to a robot Also, every &039;good&039; hu is supposed to love others as himself, protect his fellow man, risk his life to save another That&039;s Rule One to a robot To put it simply - if Byerley follows all the Rules of Robotics, he oodme that you can never prove him a robot"

"I may be able to prove him not a robot"

"That&039;s not the proof I want"

"You&039;ll have such proof as exists You are the only one responsible for your oants"

Here Lanning&039;sof an idea, "Has it occurred to anyone," he ground out, "that district attorney is a rather strange occupation for a robot? The prosecution of hu about their infinite harrew suddenly keen, "No, you can&039;t get out of it that way Being district attorney doesn&039;t make him human Don&039;t you know his record? Don&039;t you know that he boasts that he has never prosecuted an innocent man; that there are scores of people left untried because the evidence against theh he could probably have argued a jury into ato&039;s thin cheeks quivered, "No, Quinn, no There is nothing in the Rules of Robotics that e whether a hu deserves death It is not for him to decide He el"

Susan Calvin sounded tired "Alfred," she said, "don&039;t talk foolishly What if a robot came upon a madman about to set fire to a house with people in it He would stop the madman, wouldn&039;t he?"

"Of course"

"And if the only way he could stop him was to kill hi&039;s throat Nothing more

"The answer to that, Alfred, is that he would do his best not to kill him If the madht easily gobroken Rule One to adhere to Rule One in a higher sense But a man would be dead and a robot would have killed hi, with all the sarcasm he could muster

"No, but he has killed no ht represent a particular hue reater number and thus adheres to Rule One at e who then condemns the criminal to death or iuilt or innocence It is the jailer who imprisons him, the executioner who kills hi but determine truth and aid society

"As a matter of fact, Mr Quinn, I have looked into Mr Byerley&039;s career since you first brought this matter to our attention I find that he has never de speeches to the jury I also find that he has spoken on behalf of the abolition of capital punished in criy He apparently believes in the cure, rather than the punishnificant"

"You do?" Quinn snificant of a certain odor of roboticity, perhaps?"

"Perhaps Why deny it? Actions such as his could come only fro But you see, you just can&039;t differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans"

Quinn sat back in his chair His voice quivered with i, it&039;s perfectly possible to create a humanoid robot that would perfectly duplicate a hu harrumphed and considered, "It&039;s been done experimentally by U S Robots," he said reluctantly, "without the addition of a positronic brain, of course By using hurow human flesh and skin over a skeleton of porous silicone plastics that would defy external examination The eyes, the hair, the skin would

be really human, not huets as you ht desire inside, you have a hu would it take toconsidered, "If you had all your equipment - the brain, the skeleton, the ovum, the proper hormones and radiations - say, two htened out of his chair "Then we shall see what the insides of Mr Byerley look like It will ave you your chance"

Lanning turned impatiently to Susan Calvin, when they were alone "Why do you insist-"

And with real feeling, she responded sharply and instantly, "Which do you want - the truth or nation? I won&039;t lie for you U S Robots can take care of itself Don&039;t turn coward"