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.There was something wrong with you.I amcertainly as susceptible to feminine allure as Pelorat is--more so, I shouldthink--and you are an attractive woman in appearance.Yet not for one momentdid I feel the slightest attraction. You devastate me.Trevize ignored that.He said, When you first appeared on ourship, Janov and I had been discussing the possibility of a nonhumancivilization on Gaia, and when Janov saw you, he asked, in his innocence, Areyou human? Perhaps a robot must answer the truth, but I suppose it can beevasive.You merely said, Don t Ilook human? Yes, you look human, Bliss, butlet me ask you again.Are you human?Bliss said nothing and Trevize continued. I think that evenat that first moment, I felt you were not a woman.You are a robot and I couldsomehow tell.And because of my feeling, all the events that followed hadmeaning for me--particularly your absence from the dinner.Bliss said, Do you think I cannot eat, Trev? Have youforgotten I nibbled a shrimp dish on your ship? I assure you that I am able toeat and perform any of the other biological functions.--Including, before youask, sex.And yet that in itself, I might as well tell you, does not provethat I am not a robot.Robots had reached the pitch of perfection, eventhousands of years ago, where only by their brains were they distinguishablefrom human beings, and then only by those able to handle mentalic fields.Speaker Gendibal might have been able to tell whether I were robot or human,if he had bothered even once to consider me.Of course, he did not. Yet, though I am without mentalics, I am neverthelessconvinced you are a robotBliss said, But what if I am? I admit nothing, but I amcurious.What if I am? You have no need to admit anything.I know you are a robot IfPage 293ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlI needed a last bit of evidence, it was your calm assurance that you couldblock off Gaia and speak to me as an individual.I don t think you could dothat if you were part of Gaia--but you are not You are a robot supervisor and,therefore, outside of Gaia.I wonder, come to think of it, how many robotsupervisors Gaia requires and possesses? I repeat: I admit nothing, but I am curious.What if I am arobot? In that case, what I want to know is: What do you want ofJanov Pelorat? He is my friend and he is, in some ways, a child.He thinks heloves you; he thinks he wants only what you are willing to give and that youhave already given him enough.He doesn t know --and cannot conceive--the painof the loss of love or, for that matter, the peculiar pain of knowing that youare not human-- Doyou know the pain of lost love? I have had my moments.I have not led the sheltered life ofJanov.I have not had my life consumed and anesthetized by an intellectualpursuit that swallowed up everything else, even wife and child.He has.Nowsuddenly, he gives it all up for you.I do not want him hurt.I will not havehim hurt.If I have served Gaia, I deserve a reward--and my reward is yourassurance that Janov Pelorat s well-being will be preserved. Shall I pretend I am a robot and answer you?Trevize said, Yes.And right now. Very well, then.Suppose I am a robot, Trev, and suppose I amin a position of supervision.Suppose there are a few, a very few, who have asimilar role to myself and suppose we rarely meet.Suppose that our drivingforce is the need to care for human beings and suppose there are no truehumans beings on Gaia, because all are part of an overall planetary being. Suppose that it fulfills us to care for Gaia--but notentirely.Suppose there is something primitive in us that longs for a humanbeing in the sense that existed when robots were first formed and designed.Don t mistake me; I do not claim to be age-old (assuming I am a robot).I amas old as I told you I was or, at least, (assuming I am a robot) that has beenthe term of my existence.Still, (assuming I am a robot) my fundamental designwould be as it always was and I would long to care for a true human being. Pel is a human being.He is not part of Gaia.He is too oldto ever become a true part of Gaia.He wants to stay on Gaia with me, for hedoes not have the feelings about me that you have.He does not think that I ama robot.Well, I want him, too.If you assume that I am a robot, you see thatI would.I am capable of all human reactions and I would love him.If you wereto insist I was a robot, you might not consider me capable of love in somemystic human sense, but you would not be able to distinguish my reactions fromthat which you would call love--so what difference would it make?She stopped and looked at him--intransigently proud.Trevize said, You are telling me that you would not abandonhim? If you assume that I am a robot, then you can see foryourself that by First Law I could never abandon him, unless he ordered me todo so and I were, in addition, convinced that he meant it and that I would bePage 294ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm
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