Page 16 (1/2)

66

Afterward, looking back and esti times, it would appear that Baley had remained unconscious not less than ten minutes and not ht have been anything from zero to infinity He was conscious of a voice He could not hear the words it spoke, just a voice He puzzled over the fact that it sounded odd and solved theit as a woman&039;s voice

There were ar hiled His head lolled

He tried feebly to straighten out, but nothing happened The woain

He opened his eyes wearily He are of being cold and wet and suddenly realized that water was not striking him And it was not dark, not entirely There was a diht and, by it, he saw a robot&039;s face

He recognized it "Giskard," he whispered and with that he reht And Giskard had reached him first; he had found hiht contentedly: I kneould

He let his eyes close again and felt hiht - yet definite - unevenness thatThen a stop and a slow adjust quite warm and comfortable He kneas the seat of a car covered, perhaps, with toweling, but did not question how he knew

Then there was the sensation of s of soft absorbent fabric over his face and hands, the tearing open of his blouse, cold air upon his chest, and then the drying and blotting again

After that, the sensations crowded in upon him

He was in an establishment There were flashes of walls, of illus) which he sa and then when he opened his eyes

He felt his clothes being stripped off methodically and made a few feeble and useless atteorous scrubbing It went on and on and he didn&039;t want it to stop

At one point, a thought occurred to hi him "Giskard! Giskard!"

He heard Giskard&039;s voice, "I am here, sir"

"Giskard, is Daneel safe?"

"He is quite safe, sir"

"Good" Baley closed his eyes again andHe felt himself turned over and over in the strea like a war like this had happened to him since he was an infant and he was suddenly sorry for the babies for who was done and ere not sufficiently conscious of it to enjoy it

Or did they? Was the hidden memory of that infant luxury a deter now just an expression of the delight of being an infant again?

And he had heard a woman&039;s voice Mother?

No, that couldn&039;t possibly be

Ma in a chair now He could sense as much and he could also feel, somehow, that the short happy period of renewed infancy was co to an end He had to return to the sad world of self-consciousness and selfhelp

But there had been a woman&039;s voice - What woman?

Baley opened his eyes "Gladia?"

67

It was a question, a surprised question, but deep within hi back, he had, of course, recognized her voice

He looked around Giskard was standing in his alcove, but he ignored his first

He said, "Where&039;s Daneel?"

Gladia said, "He has cleaned and dried hi He is surrounded by my household staff and they have their instructions I can tell you that no outsider will approach within fifty meters ofit at once Giskard is cleaned and dried as well"

"Yes, I can see that," said Baley He was not concerned with Giskard, only with Daneel - He was relieved that Gladia see Daneel and that he would not have to face the co the matter

Yet there was one breach in the wall of security and a note of querulousness entered in his voice as he said, "Why did you leave hi in the house to stop the approach of a band of outside robots Daneel could have been taken by force"

"Nonsense," said Gladia with spirit "We were not gone long and Dr Fastolfe had been informed Many of his robots had joined mine and he could be on the spot in minutes if needed - and I&039;d like to see any band of outside robots withstand him"

"Have you seen Daneel since you returned, Gladia?"

"Of course! He&039;s safe, I tell you"

"Thank you!" Baley relaxed and closed his eyes Oddly enough, he thought: It wasn&039;t so bad

Of course it wasn&039;t He had survived, hadn&039;t he? When he thought that, sorinned and was happy

He had survived, hadn&039;t he?

He opened his eyes and said, "How did you find me, Gladia?"

"It was Giskard They had come here - both of them - and Giskard explained the situation toDaneel, but he wouldn&039;t budge until I had promised to order Giskard out after you He was very eloquent His responses with respect to you are very intense, Elijah

"Daneel remained behind, of course It made him very unhappy, but Giskard insisted that I order hiiven Giskard soot in touch with Dr Fastolfe and, after that, we took my personal airfoil"

Baley shook his head wearily "You should not have co sure Daneel was safe"

Gladia&039;s face twisted into scorn "And leave you dying in the stor taken up by Dr Fastolfe&039;s ene that happen No, Elijah, I ht have been needed to keep the other robots away froood in most ways, but any Solarian can handle a mob of robots, let me tell you We&039;re used to it"

"But how did you find me?"

"It wasn&039;t so terribly hard Actually, your airfoil wasn&039;t far away, so that we could have walked it, except for the storm We - "

Baley said, "You mean we had almost made it to Fastolfe&039;s?"

"Yes," said Gladia "Either your airfoil, in being daed sufficiently to force you to a standstill sooner or Giskard&039;s skill kept it going for longer than the vandals had anticipated Which is a good thing If you had cootten you all Anye took my airfoil to where yours had coot out - "

"And you got all wet, didn&039;t you, Gladia?"

"Not a bit," she replied "I had a large rain shade and a light sphere, too My shoes got ot a little damp because I didn&039;t have time to spray on Latex, but there&039;s no ham in that - Anyere back at your airfoil less than half an hour after Giskard and Daneel had left you and, of course, you weren&039;t there"

"I had tried - " began Baley

"Yes, we know I thought they - the others - had taken you away because Giskard said you were being followed But Giskard found your handkerchief about fifty meters from the airfoil and he said that you must have wandered off in that direction Giskard said, it was an illogical thing to do, but that huical, so that we should search for you So we looked - both of us - using the lightsphere, but it was he who found you He said he saw the infrared gliht you back"

Baley said, with a spark of annoyance, "Why wasto do?"

"He didn&039;t say, Elijah Do you wish to ask hiestured toward Giskard

Baley said, "Giskard, what&039;s this?"

Giskard&039;s impassivity was disrupted at once and his eyes focused on Baley He said, "I felt that you had exposed yourself to the storht you here sooner"

"The other robots otten to me first"

"They did - but you had sent them away, sir"

"How do you know that?"

"There were many robotic footprints around the doors on either side, sir, but there was no sign of dampness within the airfoil, as there would have been if wet ared you would not have gotten out of the airfoil of your own accord in order to join the sent them away, you need not have feared they would return very quickly, since it was Daneel they were after - by your own estiht have been certain that I would have been back quickly"

Baley muttered, "I reasoned precisely in that ht help further I did what seemed best to me and you did find me, even so"

"Yes, sir"

Baley said, "But why bring me here? If ere close to Gladia&039;s establishment, ere just as close, perhaps closer, to Dr Fastolfe&039;s"

"Not quite, sir This residence was soency of your orders, that everyDaneel&039;s safety Daneel concurred in this, though he was most reluctant to leave you Once he was here, I felt you would want to be here, too, so that you could, if you desired, assure yourself of his safety firsthand"

Baley nodded and, said gru his illogicality), "You did well, Giskard"

Gladia said, "Is it important that you see Dr Fastolfe, Elijah? I can have him summoned here Or you can view him triain He had leisure to realize that his thought processes were blunted and that he was very tired It would do hiood to face Fastolfe now He said, "No I&039;ll see hih And then I think I&039;ll be seeing this man, Kelden Ah official - what d&039;you call him? - the Chairman He will be there, too, I suppose"

"You look terribly tired, Elijah," said Gladia "Of course, we don&039;t have those erms and viruses - that you have on Earth and you&039;ve been cleaned out so you won&039;t get any of the diseases they have all over your planet, but you&039;re clearly tired"

Baley thought: After all that, no cold? No flu? No pneu on a Spacer world at that

He said, "I admit I&039;m tired, but that can be cured by a bit of rest"

"Are you hungry? It&039;s dinnertime"

Baley "

"I&039;m not sure that&039;s wise You don&039;t want a heavy ood"

Baley felt the urge to siven the proper circumstances she sounded exactly like art Earth-woman He suspected that this would be true of Aurorans as well There are sos that differences in culture don&039;t touch

He said, "Do you have soup available? I don&039;t want to be a problem"

"How can you be a probleh to prepare any reasonable item of food on short order - Now you just sit there and tell me, what kind of soup you would like It will all be taken care of"

Baley couldn&039;t resist "Chicken soup?"

"Of course" Then innocently, "Just what I would have suggested - and with lumps of chicken, so that it will be substantial"

The boas put before hi to eat, Gladia?"

"I&039;ve eaten already, while you were being bathed and treated"

"Treated?"

"Only routine biocheed and anted no repercussions - Do eat!"

Baley lifted an experimental spoonful to his lips It was not bad chicken soup, though it had the queer tendency of Auroran food to be rather spicier than Baley would prefer Or perhaps it was prepared with different spices than those he was used to

He remembered his mother suddenly - a sharp thrust of ht now He re his "nice soup"

She would say to him, "Come, Lije This is real chicken and very expensive Even the Spacers don&039;t have anything better"

They didn&039;t He called to her in his, mind across the years: They don&039;t, Mom!

Really! If he could trust memory and allow for the power of youthful taste buds, his mother&039;s chicken soup, when it wasn&039;t dulled by repetition, was far superior

He sipped again and again - and when he finished, he muttered in a shamefaced way, "Would there be a little more?"

"As much as you want, Elijah"

"Just a little , "Elijah, this- "

"Yes, Gladia?"

"Does it ation is over? Do you knohat happened to Jander?"