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.My human authority let them proceed with the plan you had mapped out.All inhumanity s best interest. Hari lifted a finger again. Zorma was right.Your real constituency, theones you must convince, are robots.You foresee, in five centuries or so, thatthey will be the ones able to thwart your plan if you can t satisfy theirpositronic drives.And since you ll be replacing the old familiar humanitywith something new and strange, it will take some convincing! No wonder yougave in so easily, and made that promise to Zorma.Human volition must appearto play a role in the decision, or else you ll have a hard time getting allrobots to agree. And yet, I know you, Daneel.I know what you and Giskard did here -Harimotioned at the radioactive wasteland- rationalizing that it was for our owngood, without consulting even one of us.You ll also want the Gaia decision tobe a foregone conclusion.Would you mind telling me how you ll arrange that,in five hundred years? Silence lasted over a minute before Daneel answered By presenting a human being who is always right. Page 203 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlHari blinked. I beg your pardon? A human who is always what? One who has always made correct decisions, from childhood onward.One who,in a crisis, reliably chooses the winning side, and has always been provedright by the test of time.And who always will. Hari stared at Daneel, then burst out laughing. That s impossible! It violates every physical and biological law. Daneel nodded. And yet, it can be made convincing.Perhaps even more credible than yourgrasp of human affairs through psychohistory, Hari.All I have to do is startout with a million bright boys and girls, with just the right traits, andpresent them with challenges from puberty until age thirty or so.Many ofthose challenges will be rigged for success.or else mistakes can besmoothed over.Despite that, many of them will fail visibly and be dropped outof the pool.But over time, I am statistically guaranteed at least one whosuits my needs.Who looks, superficially, far too successful to be explainedby natural means. Hari recalled a classic stock-market scheme that had been successful induping the inhabitants of Krasner Sector-seven hundred billion people-abouteighty years ago.Daneel s approach was a clever version of this old shellgame, which only worked when practiced with immense patience.It was alsonearly impossible to detect when done properly. So there won t be an investigative commission, after all.No need to reportto sovereign human institutions for a decision.If this fellow has always beenright, that will give him enough credibility to impress most robots, who willsimply accept whatever he decides! Of course, some will be wary that you are influencing him mentalically, andthey ll watch for that trick.They ll check his brain for signs of tampering.But you won t have to touch him! You can use psychological techniques to swayhim in advance toward the right decision, especially if you control hisupbringing.as you did mine. Hari paused, chewing on a thought. So.most robots will have their Secondlaw itch scratched.Getting human approval for your plan, without actuallyhaving to consult humanity at large. Of course, you know that some of them won t swallow this scam.Many willrebel anyway, attempting to protect humanity from what they see as a seizureof power by a single mutant over-mind. Daneel nodded. Over the years-ever since he broke company from me-my oldally, whom you knew as R.Gornon, has been preaching an apostasy called theMinus One Law.An extension of the Zeroth Law, expanding our duties yet again.Requiring us to protect not just humanity, but the essential approach to lifethat humanity represents.diversity and intelligence, in all of theirmanifestations, whether human, robotic, or even alien.Those who believe inthis notion will not appreciate a takeover of the galaxy by a singlemacro-consciousness, eliminating all dissident elements. Moreover, some even now accuse me of faking the entire phenomenon of humanmentalics! They claim that it would be all too easy to contrive the appearancePage 204 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlof this new mutation, by hiding micro-thought amplifiers nearby and keepingthem constantly focused on the supposed human telepath. Hari noted that his friend did not explicitly deny the rumor.In fact, herecalled a certain jeweled pendant that Wanda had never been without, eversince childhood.but that was off the subject.Daneel continued. You are right, Hari.The robotic civil war will resume, soon after Galaxiais unveiled.But if approval by human volition can appear convincing enough,most robots will rally around Galaxia.They will see it as the only hope forsaving mankind. This time Hari straightened, his back growing erect.A fist tightened. The only hope? Now see here- He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps approaching along the pebblywalk.Hari turned to see Horis Antic draw near.The portly Grey bureaucratwore a patina of dust on his once impeccable uniform, and Hari saw thefellow s left hand quiver nervously as he popped another blue pill in hismouth.Antic was inherently anxious around robots, and events of the past twodays had done nothing to settle his nerves.Fortunately, all of this wouldsoon become a vague memory after they got him back to a Trantor sanitarium,where just the right cover story could be implanted in his mind.At least,that was Wanda s plan.Hari knew there would be more to it than that. Gaal Dornick says I should tell you the ship is almost ready for takeoff.The Earthlings have agreed to take care of Sybyl and the other survivors fromKtlina.They ll be kind.In time, the solipsism mania might ease enough to letthem rejoin a simple society. I still can t believe all I ve learned, Horis continued. It was one thingto find out that brain fever is a purposefully designed infection, aimed atthe brightest humans.But then to learn that chaos is similar. Daneel interrupted. Not similar at all.Brain fever is relatively gentle.Itwas designed and released in order to combat the earlier chaos plague, whosefirst virulent versions escaped Earth on the earliest starships. Was chaos a weapon of war? Horis asked, in muted tones. No one knows, though some accounts say it was.The first crude versionsswept Earth before I was made, prompting citizens to fear robots, their owngreat inventions
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