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seemed trivial. It seemed obvious now that the masquerade was
something more serious.
A man could be expected to receive diplomatic immunity; a
certain courtesy and gentleness of treatment. A robot could not. But
then why did not Aurora send a real man in the first place. Why
gamble so desperately on a fake? The answer suggested itself instantly
to Baley. A real man of Aurora, a real Spacer, would not care to
associate too closely or for too long a time with an Earthman.
But if all this were true, why should Solaria find a single murder
so important that it must allow an Earthman and an Auroran to come
to their planet?
Baley felt trapped.
He was trapped on Solaria by the necessities of his assignment.
He was trapped by Earth's danger, trapped in an environment he
could scarcely endure, trapped by a responsibility he could not shirk.
And, to add to all this, he was trapped somehow in the midst of a
Spacer conflict the nature of which he did not understand.
-4-
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A Woman Is Viewed
HE SLEPT at last. He did not remember when he actually made the
transition to sleep. There was just a period when his thoughts grew
more erratic and then the headboard of his bed was shining and the
ceiling was alight with a cool, daytime glow. He looked at his watch.
Hours had passed. The robots who ran the house had decided it
was time for him to wake up and had acted accordingly.
He wondered if Daneel were awake and at once realized the
illogic of the thought. Daneel could not sleep. Baley wondered if he
had counterfeited sleep as part of the role he was playing. Had he
undressed and put on nightclothes?
As though on cue Daneel entered. "Good morning, Partner
Elijah."
The robot was completely dressed and his face was in perfect
repose. He said, "Did you sleep well?"
"Yes," said Baley dryly, "did you?"
He got out of bed and tramped into the bathroom for a shave
and for the remainder of the morning ritual. He shouted, "If a robot
comes in to shave me, send him out again. They get on my nerves.
Even if I don't see them, they get on my nerves."
He stared at his own face as he shaved, marveling a bit that it
looked so like the mirrored face he saw on Earth. If only the image
were another Earthman with whom he could consult instead of only
the light-mimicry of himself. If he could go over what he had already
learned, small as it was. .
"Too small! Get more," he muttered to the mirror.
He came out, mopping his face, and pulled trousers over fresh
shorts. (Robots supplied everything, damn them.)
He said, "Would you answer a few questions, Daneel?"
"As you know, Partner Elijah, I answer all questions to the best
of my knowledge."
Or to the letter of your instructions, thought Baley. He said,
"Why are there only twenty thousand people on Solaria?"
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"That is a mere fact," said Daneel. "A datum. A figure that is the
result of a counting process."
"Yes, but you're evading the matter. The planet can support
millions; why, then, only twenty thousand? You said the Solarians
consider twenty thousand optimum. Why?"
"It is their way of life."
"You mean they practice birth control?"
"Yes."
"And leave the planet empty?" Baley wasn't sure why he was
pounding away at this one point, but the planet's population was one
of the few hard facts he had learned about it and there was little else
he could ask about.
Daneel said, "The planet is not empty. It is parceled out into
estates, each of which is supervised by a Solarian."
"You mean each lives on his estate. Twenty thousand estates,
each with a Solarian."
"Fewer estates than those, Partner Elijah. Wives share the
estate."
"No Cities?" Baley felt cold.
"None at all, Partner Elijah. They live completely apart and
never see one another except under the most extraordinary
circumstances."
"Hermits?"
"In a way, yes. In a way, no."
"What does that mean?"
"Agent Gruer visited you yesterday by trimensional image.
Solarians visit one another freely that way and in no other way."
Baley stared at Daneel. He said, "Does that include us? Are we
expected to live that way?"
"It is the custom of the world."
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"Then how do I investigate this case? If I want to see someone-"
"From this house, Partner Elijah, you can obtain a trimensional
view of anyone on the planet. There will be no problem. In fact, it
will save you the annoyance of leaving this house. It was why I said
when we arrived that there would be no occasion for you to feel it
necessary to grow accustomed to facing the outdoors. And that is well.
Any other arrangement would be most distasteful to you."
"I'll judge what's distasteful to me," said Baley. "First thing
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