Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Robots

At dinner, Trevize seemed lost in thought, while Bliss focused on the food. Only Pelorat seemed eager to talk, pointing out that if this world really was Aurora, and if it was indeed the first colonized world, it should be fairly close to Earth. "It might be worth doing a blanket search of the nearby sky," he said. "A round trip to a few hundred stars at most." Trevize replied in a low voice, searching aimlessly is the worst policy. Even if he finds the location of the earth, he should first collect relevant information as much as possible before attempting to approach it.His answer stopped there, and Pelorat was obviously poured cold water, so he had to gradually shut his mouth.

After dinner, Trevize still didn't take the initiative to say a word.Pelorat asked tentatively, "Are we going to stay here, Grant?" "It's going to be overnight," Trevize said. "I need to think about it." "Is this safe?" "Unless there's something worse than wild dogs around," Trevize said, "we're pretty safe in the spaceship." Pelorat said, "If there is something worse than wild dogs nearby, how long will it take to take off?" Trevize said: "At the moment the computer is on launch alert, and I think we can take off in two or three minutes. And if there is any accident, the computer will warn us immediately, so I suggest everyone sleep for a while. Tomorrow morning , I will decide what to do next."

Easy to say, Trevize thought to himself as he opened his eyes wide in the dark.He was curled up in a ball now, with only his jacket off, lying on the floor of the computer room.It was uncomfortable, but he was sure not even his bed would help him sleep at this point.And staying here, if the computer sends out a warning signal, he can at least take immediate action. He heard footsteps, sat up without thinking, and bumped his head carefully against the edge of the table.Although he was not injured, he still couldn't help frowning and reached out to rub it for a long time. "Janov?" he asked vaguely, tears welling up in his eyes.

"No, it's Bliss." Trevize stretched out one hand from the edge of the table, slightly touching the computer, and the room was filled with soft light.Immediately he saw Baoqisi standing in front of him, wearing a light pink wrap robe. Trevize said, "What is it?" "I went to your quarters to look for you, and you weren't there. I can't mistake your nervous activity, though, and I followed right up here, and you were obviously still awake, so I walked in." "Okay, but what are you going to do?" She sat down against the bulkhead, bringing her knees together and resting her chin on them. "Don't worry, I'm not trying to take your last virginity away."

"I have no such illusion." Trevize retorted, "Why didn't you sleep? You need sleep more than us." "Believe me," she said in a low, sincere tone, "this episode with Dingo is exhausting." "I believe so." "But I have to come and talk to you while Pei is sleeping." "About what?" Bliss said, "When he mentioned robots to you, you said that would change everything. What did you mean by that?" Trevize said: "Can't you see? We have three sets of coordinates in total, representing three forbidden worlds. I plan to visit all three to learn as much as possible about Earth before I prepare to march on Earth."

He leaned sideways towards her slightly to lower his voice, but Yi suddenly backed away. "Listen, I don't want Janov coming in here looking for us, I don't know what he's thinking." "It's unlikely. He's sleeping, and I made his drowsiness a little stronger. If he can't sleep well, I'll know—go ahead, you plan to visit all three worlds, so what changed?" "I don't plan to waste unnecessary time on any world. If this world, Aurora, has not been inhabited by humans for 20,000 years, it is hard to believe that there will be any valuable information left. I don't want to spend Weeks or months of groping in vain on the surface of the planet, fighting off dogs, cats, buffalo, or whatever else gets wild and dangerous, in the hope that dust, rust, rot, I found a surviving reference in . Maybe one or two other forbidden worlds would have living humans and intact libraries, so I was planning to leave this world immediately. Had I done that, we would now be in space , sleeping peacefully."

"But?" "But if there are robots in operation in this world, they may have important information we need. They are safer to deal with than humans, because I have heard that they must obey orders and cannot harm humans. " "So now you change your plans and spend your time looking for robots in the world?" "I don't want to do that, Bliss. I've always thought that a robot wouldn't last twenty thousand years without maintenance. But since you've come across a robot that's still showing signs of movement, it's clear that I'm Common-sense guesses about robots are not reliable. I can't lead people in the dark. Robots may be more durable than I think, or have some kind of self-repair ability."

Bliss said, "Listen, Trevize, and please keep it secret." "Secret?" Trevize was quite surprised, and even raised the volume. "Keep it secret from whom?" "Shhh! To Pei of course. Listen, you don't have to change your plan. You were right. There are no robots that are still working in this world, and I haven't detected anything." "You detected that one, one is equal to..." "I didn't detect anything, it wasn't working, it wasn't working long ago." "But you said—" "I know what I said - Pei thinks he sees movement and hears voices. Pei is a romantic, his life's work is collecting data, but it's hard to make a name for yourself in academia It is even more difficult. He is deeply eager to have a great achievement of his own, and the name Aurora was indeed discovered by him, and you can hardly imagine how happy he is because of it, so he desperately wants to discover more things."

Trevize said, "Are you telling me that he wanted to find out so much that he thought he'd encountered a working robot when there wasn't?" "All he encountered was a piece of rust, which possessed no more consciousness than the rock beneath it." "But you support his claim." "I can't bear to take away his illusion, he is so important to me." Trevize stared at her for a good minute before he said, "Can you explain why he's so important to you? I want to know, I really want to know. He must seem like a Poor old man, no romance at all; he's an isolator, and you've always despised isolators. You're young and handsome, and there must be some part of the gay, handsome young male carcass if you're with them , the carnal relationship must be able to reach the peak of joy through the dumb resonance. So, what do you like about Janov?"

Bliss looked at Trevize seriously. "Don't you love him?" Trevize shrugged and replied, "I have a crush on him, and I think you could say I love him, in a non-sexual way." "You haven't known him long, Trevize, why do you love him in a way that has nothing to do with sex?" Trevize found himself smiling unconsciously. "He was such a queer fellow that I honestly believe he never thought of himself in all his life. He was ordered to go with me, and so he came, without a single objection; he meant me to go to Trantor, but He didn't argue with me when I said I was going to be dumb; and now he's following me on a mission to find Earth, though he must know it's very dangerous. I can definitely believe that if he has to do it for me—or for Others—sacrifice their own lives, he will be willing, and he will not have any complaints."

"Will you die for him, Trevize?" "I might, if I don't have time to think about it. If I have time to think about it, I will hesitate, and the result may be to escape. I am not as kind as he is. It is because of this that I have a strong urge to try my best to protect He, let him keep a kind heart. I don't want Yinhe to teach him badly, do you understand? And I especially want to beware of you. God knows what you like about him. If that doesn't attract you anymore, you will Possibly throwing him off, I can't bear the thought of that." "Yeah, I knew you'd think that way. Didn't it occur to you that Pei was in my eyes as well as in yours—even more clearly because I had direct access to his heart? I acted like that." Is it like trying to hurt him? If I didn't have the heart to hurt him, would I support his fantasy when he thought he saw a robot in action? Trevize, I'm quite familiar with your so-called kindness, because Gai Ya We don't know or understand any other principle of conduct than that a part is always willing to sacrifice for the whole. We give up nothing in that, for each part is equal to the whole, but I don't expect you to understand that. And Bae It's different—” Bao Qisi no longer looked at Trevize, as if talking to herself. "He's an isolated being. He has no selfishness, not because he's part of some higher self, he's not selfish simply because he's not selfish. Do you know what I mean? He can lose everything and gain nothing , but he just has that kind of heart. He makes me ashamed, I am so generous without fear of any loss, and he can still have that kind of heart with no hope of gaining anything." She raised her head to look at Trevize again, her expression extremely serious. "Do you know how much more I know about him than you probably do? Do you think I'm going to hurt him in any way?" "Earlier today, Bliss, you said, 'Come on, let's be friends,'" Trevize said. "And I said, 'As you please.' My reaction was reluctant. , because it occurred to me that you might hurt Janov. Now, it's my turn to say, Come on, Bliss, let's be friends. You can go on pointing out the good things about the Gaydumb galaxy, and I might still refuse to accept it, But even so, let's be friends." With that, he held out his hand. "No problem, Trevize," she replied, and they shook each other's hands tightly. Trevize smiled silently at himself, an inner smile because the corners of his mouth didn't move in the slightest. When he used his computer to search for the stars marked by the first set of coordinates (not sure if there were any), both Pelorat and Bliss watched intently and asked many questions.Now, they stayed in the dormitory and slept—or at least rested—and left all the work to Trevize. In a way, he was quite pleased with this, because Trevize felt like they accepted the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing and didn't need any supervision or encouragement.In this regard, Trevize had gained enough experience from the first stop, knew that he should trust the computer more, and felt that even if it needed supervision, he didn't have to keep an eye on it so closely. Another star appeared - bright and bright, but not recorded in the map of the galaxy.Compared with the stars around Aurora, this second star appears brighter, and it is even more intriguing that it has no record in the computer. Trevize couldn't help marveling at the wonders of ancient legends.In human consciousness, centuries may shrink a little bit, or even disappear completely, and many civilizations may be completely forgotten.But among the countless centuries passed and so many civilizations, there will still be one or two things that have been handed down intact, such as those sets of coordinates. He mentioned this to Pelorat not long ago.This, Pelorat told him at once, was what made the study of myths and legends so fascinating. "The trick," said Pelorat, "is to find out or decide which elements of the legend represent history and truth. It is not an easy task, and different mythologists are likely to choose different elements, usually depending on which is just right. in line with their own interpretation." In any case, one of the coordinates provided by Deniado, corrected for time, is exactly where the star is today.Now, Trevize is willing to place a bigger bet, betting that the third star is also located on the coordinate point.If this is the case, he is willing to go a step further, considering that the legend that there are fifty forbidden worlds is correct (although that is a suspicious integer), and he will also start to study the location of the other forty-seven worlds. Next, he discovers an inhabitable world - the Forbidden World - surrounding the star.This time, its presence didn't stir a ripple in Trevize's heart. He was absolutely sure it would be there.He immediately steered the FarStar into its low-speed orbit. The clouds are fairly sparse, and the surface can be seen quite clearly from space.Like nearly all inhabitable worlds, this one is watery, including one uninterrupted tropical ocean, and two full polar ice oceans.On one side, in the mid-latitudes, there is a long strip of land that winds round the world, flanked by bays that create several narrow isthmuses.In the middle latitudes of the other hemisphere, the land is divided into three parts, each wider from north to south than the land in the other hemisphere. Trevize regretted that he didn't know much about climatology, otherwise he would be able to infer the approximate temperature and seasons based on what he saw.For a while, he had a naughty idea to let the computer solve this problem, but the weather didn't matter at all at this time. One of the important things is that the computer did not detect the radiation caused by the technology.Looking down through the telescope, he saw that the planet did not look old, nor did it show signs of desolation.The ever-receding surface is green land of different shades. There is no sign of the urban area on the day side, and no lights can be seen on the night side. Could this be another planet full of life of all kinds, but lacking humans? So he knocked on the door of another sleeping cabin. "Bliss?" he called softly, and knocked again. There was a rustling sound in the room, and Bao Qisi's voice: "What's the matter?" "Can you come out for a moment? I need your help." "Please wait a moment, I am inconvenient to see people in this state." When she finally showed up, she looked as good as ever before.But Trevize felt annoyed, because he didn't have to wait, it made no difference to him what she looked like.But since they were friends now, he had no choice but to suppress his irritation. She smiled and said in a very cheerful tone, "What can I do for you, Trevize?" Trevize waved to the video screen. "You can see that the world is 100 percent healthy from the surface we're passing through, and the land is covered with fairly thick vegetation. However, there are no lights in the dark night area, and there is no technological radiation of any kind. Please listen carefully and then Tell me if there is any animal life. At a certain point, I think I seem to see a group of animals grazing, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'm desperate to see something, and I have a hallucination." So Bao Qisi began to "listen", at least, a special expression of concentration appeared on her face. "Oh, yes—animal life is abundant." "Mammal?" "definitely is." "Human?" She seemed more focused now, and a full minute passed, and then another minute before she finally relaxed. "I can't make out very well, and every once in a while I seem to detect a wisp of elusive intelligence, strong enough to be representative of a human being. But it's so faint and flickering, maybe because I'm trying desperately to sense it too What, a hallucination. You know..." She suddenly fell into deep thought, Trevize urged her: "How?" She added: "Actually, I seem to have detected something else. It's not anything I'm familiar with, but I don't believe it could be anything else..." She began to "listen" more attentively, and her whole face tightened again. "How is it?" Trevize asked again. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Besides robots, I can't think of any other possibility." "robot!" "Yes, and if I can detect them, of course I should also be able to detect humans, but no." "Robot!" Trevize repeated, frowning. "Yes," said Bliss, "and I can conclude that the number is quite large." After Pelorat heard it, he also responded with a "robot!" The tone was almost exactly the same as that of Trevize just now.Then he smiled lightly and said, "You're right, Grant, I shouldn't doubt you." "I don't remember a time when you doubted me, Janov." "Oh, man, I didn't think it should show. I just thought, in my head, that it would be a mistake to leave Aurora, where we had a chance to meet some surviving droids. But apparently you knew , there are more robots here." "It's not like that at all, Janov. I didn't know it at the time. I just wanted to try my luck. Bao Qisi told me that judging by the mental field of these robots, they seemed to be in a normal state of operation, and I felt that if there were no human care And repairs, they can't possibly be in good working order. However, she couldn't detect any signs of humans, so we're still looking." Pelorat inspected the display screen thoughtfully. "It seems to be all forests, doesn't it?" "Mostly it's forest, but there are a few areas that are clearly grasslands. The problem is I can't see the city, and I don't see any lights in the dark areas, and there's been no radiation other than thermal radiation." "So there are no humans at all?" "I'm skeptical. Bliss is trying to concentrate in the galley. I've drawn a prime meridian for the planet, which means the computer has drawn the latitude and longitude for the planet. Bliss is holding a small device , when she came across an area where the robot's mental activity seemed particularly dense—I don't think you could use 'nervous activity' on a robot—or any faint message of human thought, she'd press a button. That device was hooked up to a computer, and the computer The location can be determined by latitude and longitude, and then we let it choose a suitable landing place from those locations." Pelorat looked a little uneasy. "Is it wise to let the computer make the choices?" "Why not, Janov? It's a very capable computer. Besides, what's the harm in considering computer options when you can't decide for yourself?" Lorat was happy again. "That makes sense, Grant. Some of the oldest legends catch the ancients throwing cubes on the ground to decide things." "Oh? How is that done?" “Each side of the cube has a different decision inscribed on it: do it, don’t do it, maybe do it, postpone it, etc. When the cube falls to the ground, the words on the side that happens to be facing up are seen as decisions that should be followed. Sometimes they In another way, let a small ball rotate on a circular plate with many grooves. Different decisions are written in each groove. Which groove the ball ends up in depends on what is written in that groove. Some mythologists argue that such activities are really a game of chance rather than destiny, but to me they are pretty much the same thing.” "In a way," Trevizes said, "we're playing a game of chance by choosing where we land." Bao Qisi came out from the kitchen cabin, just in time to hear the last sentence."It's not a game of chance," she said. "I hit 'maybe' a couple of times and an absolute 'yes' and that's where we're going." "Why is it certain?" Trevize asked. "I caught a glimpse of human thought, very sure, absolutely unmistakable." It must have rained here just now, for the grass is very wet.The dark clouds in the sky passed quickly, showing signs that it was about to clear up. The Farstar landed lightly next to a small clump of trees (as a precaution against wild dogs, Trevize thought half-jokingly), and what appeared to be pasture all around.Just now, Trevize seemed to see some orchards and fields at a high altitude with a better view and a wider view; but now, many genuine herbivores appeared in front of him. However, there are no nearby buildings, nor are there any man-made objects.Only the neatly arranged fruit trees in the orchard and the neatly divided boundaries of the field look artificial like a microwave power station. However, is this level of artificialization done by robots?Without any human involvement? Trevize silently fastened the holsters on the weapons. This time, he made sure that both weapons were ready and fully charged.Suddenly, he met Baoqisi's gaze, and immediately stopped moving. She said, "Go ahead, I don't think you'll ever use it, but I thought so last time, didn't I?" Trevize said, "Would you like a weapon, Janov?" Pelorat shuddered. "No, thanks. Between you and Bao Qisi, your physical defense combined with her mental defense makes me feel that there is no danger at all. I know it's a coward to hide under your protection, but thinking of myself There is no need to use force, and I am not grateful enough to feel ashamed." Trevize said: "I can understand, but don't act alone. If Bao Qisi and I separate, you have to follow one of us, and you can't go to another place by yourself out of curiosity." "You don't have to worry, Trevize," said Bliss, "I'll keep an eye out." Trevize was the first to step out of the spaceship.There was a brisk wind blowing outside, and the temperature after the rain was slightly cool, but Trevize felt very pleasant.The air before the rain can be hot and humid, which must be unpleasant. He took a few breaths, surprised that the planet smelled so good.He understood that each planet had a unique smell, and that those smells were always strange, and usually not pleasant—perhaps just because of strangeness.Can't unfamiliar smells be pleasant?Or are they just in time for the season, and it just happened to be raining?For whatever reason... "Come out," he cried. "It's quite comfortable out there." Pelorat came out, and said, "Well, that's a good word for comfort. Do you think it smells like this all year round?" "It makes no difference, and within an hour we get used to the aroma. Once the receptors in the nose are saturated, you can't smell anything." "What a pity," said Pelorat. "The grass is wet." Bao Qisi seemed a little disapproving. "What's wrong with that? After all, it rains on Gaia!" Trevize said.At this moment, a ray of yellow sunlight suddenly poured down from a gap in the clouds, and the sunlight must have become stronger and stronger. "Yes," said Bliss, "but we know when it's going to rain, and we're prepared." "Too bad," Trevize said, "you have lost many unexpected surprises." Bao Qisi replied: "You are right, I will try not to be so narrow-minded." Pelorat looked around and said disappointedly, "There seems to be nothing nearby." "It just seems," said Bliss, "they're coming on the other side of the hill." Then she looked at Trevize. "Do you think we should go up there?" Trevize shook his head. "No, we have flown many parsecs to meet them, let them finish the rest of the distance, and we will wait here." Only Baoqisi can perceive the movement of the group of robots.A figure suddenly appeared on top of the hill she was pointing at, then a second, then a third. "I believe there are only a few of them at present," said Bliss. Trevize stared curiously. Although he had never seen the robots before, he had no doubts about their identities.They have rough human shapes, like impressionist sculptures, but they don't appear to be obviously metallic.The matte surfaces of these robots give the illusion of softness, as if covered in velvet. But how does he know that softness is just an illusion?Seeing these figures slowly approaching with slow steps, Trevize suddenly had the urge to touch them.If this place were indeed a forbidden world, never approached by ships—which must be true, since its sun was not in the galactic map—then the Farstar, and its crew, were something beyond the experience of these droids.But their responses were quite determined, as if they were going through a routine. Trevize whispered, "Here we are, and maybe we can get information that the rest of the galaxy can't get. We can ask them where Earth is relative to this world, and if they know, they'll tell us. Who knows how these things work How long, how long have they lived? They may answer based on their own memory, think about it, how rare this is." "On the contrary," said Bliss, "they may have been out of the factory so recently that nothing is known." "Or it is possible," said Pelorat, "that they know, but refuse to tell us." Trevize said: "I guess they can't refuse, unless they're ordered not to tell us. But on this planet, no one would expect us to come, and who would give such an order?" When they were about three meters away from them, the three robots stopped.They said nothing and took no further action. Trevize pressed his right hand on the pistol, stared at the robot intently, and said to Bao Qisi: "Can you tell whether they are hostile?" "You should consider the fact that I am not at all familiar with their mental workings, Trevize, but I have detected no resemblance of hostility." Trevize's right hand was off the handle, but remained nearby.He held up his left hand, palm toward the robots, hoping they would recognize it as a peace gesture.He said slowly: "I greet you, we visit this world as friends." The robot in the middle quickly lowered its head, as if bowing reluctantly.In the eyes of an optimist, it may also be regarded as a gesture of peace, and then it began to answer. Trevize suddenly raised his face, looking extremely surprised.In a galaxy where worlds communicate without hindrance, no one would have thought that such a basic need could go wrong.However, the robot does not speak the Galactic Standard Language, nor anything close to it.In fact, Trevize couldn't understand a single word. Pelorat's level of astonishment was comparable to that of Trevize, but he obviously still had a bit of surprise. "Sounds weird?" he said. Trevize turned his head to look at him, and said rather bluntly, "It's not strange, it's just gibberish." Pelorat said: "It's definitely not Chiligua. This is also the standard language of the galaxy, but it is very old. I can understand a few words. If I write them, I may be able to understand them easily. The real difficulty is pronounce." "So, what does it say?" "I think it's telling you that it doesn't understand what you're saying." "I can't understand what it's saying, but what I'm sensing is confusion, which fits right in," Bliss said. "If I can trust my analysis of the robot's emotions—or if there are robots It's about emotions." Pelorat said something, very slowly and with difficulty.The three robots nodded quickly in unison. "What does that mean?" Trevize asked. Pelorat said, "I say I can't speak well, but I'll try, and ask them to give me a little more time. My God, boy, this is frighteningly funny." "What a frightening disappointment," Trevize murmured. "Do you know," Pelorat said, "every inhabited planet in the galaxy develops a language with a special style, so there are tens of thousands of dialects in the galaxy, and sometimes it is almost impossible to communicate with each other, but they are all unified. Under the galactic standard language. Assuming this world has been isolated for twenty thousand years, its language may have grown farther and farther away from the rest of the galaxy, gradually evolving into a completely different language. But this is not the case, perhaps because it is a A society that relies on robots, and the language that robots understand is the language in which they were programmed. For many years, the world has not programmed new robots. Conversely, they stopped the evolution of language, and we are now What I heard was just a very old galactic standard language." "It's a great example," Trevizes said, "of how a robotized society can be forced to stagnate and start to degenerate." "But, my dear fellow," protested Pelorat, "it is not necessarily a symptom of degeneration to keep a language almost unchanged. It has the advantage of allowing historical documents to survive centuries, Thousands of years later, the original meaning will still be preserved, and the longevity and authority of historical records will increase relatively. In other parts of the galaxy, the language used in the edicts of Hari Seldon's time has now appeared quite archaic." "Do you understand this ancient galactic language?" "I don't really understand, Grenn. It's just that in the process of studying ancient myths and legends, I have learned a little trick. The vocabulary is not completely different, but the inflections are different, and some idioms are no longer used by us. Besides, as As I said, the pronunciation has completely changed now. I can act as an interpreter, but I can't do it very well." Trevize let out a guilty breath. "Even a little bit of luck is better than nothing. Go on, Janov." Pelorat turned to the robot, was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Trevize. "What should I say?" "We went straight in and asked them where the Earth was." Pelorat spoke slowly, word by word, while making exaggerated gestures. The robots looked at each other, made some noises, and the one in the middle said something to Pelorat.As Pelorat replied, he stretched his hands to the sides, as if pulling a rubber band.The robot answered again, as discreet as Pelorat, speaking each word slowly and clearly. Pelorat said to Trevize, "I'm not sure I made it clear what 'Earth' meant, I guess they thought I meant some region of this planet, and they said they didn't know of such a region." "Did they mention the name of the planet, Janov?" "The name they mentioned, the closest I can make is 'Solari'." "Have you heard of it in the legends you collected?" "No, it's like I've never heard of Aurora." "Well, ask them in the sky—among the stars, is there any place called Earth, and point up." After some conversation, Pelorat finally turned around and said, "All I can get out of them, Glenn, is that there is no place in the sky." "Ask the robots how old they are, or should I say, how long they've been in operation," Bliss said. "I don't know how to say 'operation'." Pelorat shook his head. "Actually, I'm not sure if I can say 'how old'. I'm not a very good translator." "Do your best, dear Pei," said Bliss. After some more conversations, Pelorat said: "They have been in operation for twenty-six years." "Twenty-six years," Trevize murmured disapprovingly, "These robots are not much older than you, Bliss." Bao Qisi suddenly said in a haughty tone: "Actually..." "I know, you're Gaia, and you're thousands of years old. Anyway, these robots don't have Earth in their experience, and they obviously don't have any data in their memory banks that has nothing to do with their operations, so they don't know much about astronomy. Nothing." "Elsewhere on this planet, there may be the earliest robots," Pelorat said. "I doubt it," Trevize said, "but ask them, Janov, if you can figure out what to say." The question-and-answer session was a rather long one, and at last Pelorat broke off, flushed with obvious frustration. "Glenn," he said, "I don't understand part of what they're trying to say, but my guess is that older robots are used as laborers, so they don't know anything. If this robot is a real person , I would say that it refers to those older robots with contempt. These three are housekeeper robots, they say so, and they don't grow old until they are replaced by other robots. They are A truly knowledgeable bunch—that's their word, not mine." "They don't know much," Trevize said angrily, "at least not what we want to know." “我现在后悔了，”裴洛拉特说：“我们不该这么匆忙地离开奥罗拉。我们若能在那里发现一个存活的机器人，它本身记忆中就会含有地球的资料。而我们一定会发现的，因为我遇见的第一个就一息尚存。” “只要它们的记忆完奸无缺，詹诺夫，”崔维兹说：“我们随时可以回到那里。若是我们必须回去，不论有没有野狗群，我们都一定会那么做。可是假如这些机器人只有二十几岁，它们的制造者必定就在附近，而那些制造者必定是人类，我这么想。”他又转向宝绮思，“你确定感测到……” 宝绮思却举起一只手制止他再说下去，她的脸上现出紧张而专注的表情。“来了——”她低声说。 崔维兹转头朝小丘望去。从小丘背后出现、大步向他们走来的，是个货真价实的人类身形。他肤色苍白，头发很长但颜色不深，头部两侧的部分微微往外翘。他的面容严肃，不过看来相当年轻，裸露在外的手臂与腿部没有什么肌肉。 三个机器人让出一条路给他，他一直走到它们之间，才停下脚步。 他以清晰而愉悦的声音开始说话，他的用词虽然古老，仍然算是银河标准语，而且不难听懂。 “欢迎，太空来的浪者。”他说：“你们跟我的机器人做什么？” 崔维兹未露出欣喜之色，他问了句有点多余的话：“你会说银河标准语？” 那索拉利人带着冷笑说：“有何不可？我又不是哑巴。” “可是这些呢？”崔维兹朝机器人指了指。 “这些是机器人，它们跟我一样，使用我们的语言。不过我是索拉利人，我常收听远方世界的超空间通讯，因此学缓笏你们说话的方式，我的先人也一样。先人留下了描述这种语言的资料，可是我不断听到新的字汇和语法，每年都有些变化。你们银河殖民者虽然能定居各个世界，却似乎无法将语文褂讪下来。我能了解你们的语言，为何使你感到惊讶？” “我不应该有这样的反应，”崔维兹说：“我向你道歉。只是刚才跟这些机器人几乎说不通，我没想到在这个世界上还能听到银河标准语。” 崔维兹开始打量这个索拉利人。他穿着一件轻薄的白袍，袍子松垮地披在肩上，双臂处有宽阔的开口。白袍的正面敞开，露出赤裸的胸膛与下方的束腰。他双脚踩着一双轻便的凉鞋，除此之外没有其他装束。 崔维兹突然想到，自己居然看不出这个索拉利人是男是女。此人的胸部无疑属于男性，可是胸膛没有胸毛，薄薄的柬腰下也没有任何隆起。 他转过头来，低声对宝绮思说：“这个可能还是机器人，不过看起来非常像真人……” “这是个人类的心灵，并非属于机器人的。”宝绮思答道，她的嘴唇几乎没有动。 那索拉利人说：“但你尚未回答我原先的问题，我原谅你的疏失，将它诿诸你的惊讶。现在我再问一遍，你绝不能再不回答，你们跟我的机器人做什么？” 崔维兹说：“我们是旅人，想要打听如何前往我们的目的地。我们请求你的机器人提供有用的资料，可是它们缺乏这方面的知识。” “你们在寻找什么资料？也许我可以帮你们。” “我们在寻找地球的位置，你能不能告诉我们？” 那索拉利人扬起眉毛。“我本来还以为，你们最好奇的应该是我。虽然你们没有要求，我还是会提供这方面的资料。我是萨腾·班德，你们如今站在班德属地上，向四面八方望去，极目所见都是我的属地，它还一直延伸到你们目力所不及的远方。我不能说欢迎你们，因为你们来到这里，等于违反了一项承诺。数千年来，你们是第一批踏上索拉利的银河殖民者。结果，你们来到此地的目的，只是为了询问前往另一个世界的捷径。在古老的时代，诸位银河殖民者，你们和你们的太空船一出现就会被摧毁。” “以这种方式对待并无恶意、又没带来任何危害的客人，实在太野蛮了。”崔维兹小心翼翼地说。 “我同意，不过当一个扩张性社会的成员，来到一个不具侵略性，而且维持静止状态的社会，就算只有初步的接触，也充满潜在的危害。当我们畏惧这种危害时，只要外人一到这里，我们便立即将他们摧毁。既然我们不再有畏惧的理由，你看得出来，我们现在愿意谈一谈。” 崔维兹说：“谢谢你毫无保留地提供这些讯息，但你尚未回答我原先的问题。我再着复一遍，你能不能告诉我们地球的位置？” “所谓的地球，我想你是指人类以及各种各样动植物——”他一只手优雅地挥动，仿佛指着环绕他们周围的万物。“——的发源地吧。” “没错，我正是这个意思，先生。” 一个古怪的厌恶神情，突然掠过那索拉利人的脸孔。他说：“如果你必须使用某种称谓，请直接称呼我班德。别用含有任何性别的字眼称呼我，我既非男性亦非女性，我是全性。” 崔维兹点了点头（他猜对了）。“就依你的意思，班德。那么，我们大家的发源地，地球，究竟在哪里？” 班德说：“我不知道，也不想知道。就算我知道，或者假使我找得出来，对你们也没有好处，因为地球已经不能算是一个世界——啊，”他双臂伸展开来，“阳光的感觉真好，我不常到地面上来，太阳若不露脸的话，我是绝不会上来的。刚才太阳还藏在云里的时候，我先派机器人迎接你们，等到云层飘走，我自己才跟了出来。” “为什么地球已经不能算是一个世界？”崔维兹锲而不舍地追问。他已经有心理准备，打算再听一次有关放射性的传说。 不过班德却不理会这个问题，或者没把它当回事。“说来话长，”他道：“你刚才告诉我，你们到此地来没有任何恶意。” "Completely correct." “那么你为何武装前来？” “只不过是防患未然，我不知道会遭遇到什么。” “没关系，你的小小武器对我毫无威胁，我不过是感到好奇。有关你们的武器，以及似乎全然依赖武器建立的奇特野蛮历史，我当然早就耳熟能详。即便如此，我从未真正见过任何武器，我可以看看吗？” 崔维兹往后退了一步。“我想恐怕下行，班德。” 班德似乎被逗乐了。“我问你只是出于礼貌，其实我根本不必问。” 它伸出一只手来，崔维兹右侧的手铳立时跳出皮套；而他左侧皮套中的神经鞭也同时向上窜起。崔维兹想抓住那两件武器，却感到双臂无法动弹，就像被强固的弹性绳索缚住一样。裴洛拉特与宝绮思也都企图向前冲，可是显然两人同样被制住了。 班德说：“不要白费力气，你们办不到。”两件武器飞到它的手中，它翻来覆去仔细检视了一番。 “这一件，”它指着手铳说：“似乎是能产生高热的微波束发射器，能使任何含有水分的物体爆炸。另一件比较微妙，我必须承认，乍看之下我看下出它的用途。然而，既然你们并无恶意，又不准备危害这个世界，你们就根本不需要武器。我能将武器中的能量释放出来，而我正在这么做。这样它们就不再具有杀伤力，除非你拿来当棍棒使用，不过充作那种用途，它们未免太不称手了。” 那索拉利人将武器松开，两件武器再度腾空而起，向崔维兹飞去，各自不偏不倚落人皮套中。 崔维兹一感到束缚消失，立刻拔出手铳，不过此举完全多余。扳机松垮垮地下垂，能量显然全被抽光，神经鞭的情形也一样。 他抬头望向班德，班德微笑着说：“你完全束手无策，外星人士。只要我高兴，可以同样轻而易举摧毁你的太空船，当然，还有你。”