Chapter 2 Chapter 2 The Unbearable Light

Bailey wasn't quite sure what that would be, what would happen to him.He has seen the surface of the earth from several points in the city, and he has even been on the surface of the earth himself, but then he was always within the walls, or the walls were within his reach , he is always safe. And at this moment, is he safe?Now he doesn't even have the false wall formed by the night. In any case, Bailey is not willing to show weakness in front of the outside world-not even to die.He tightened his body tightly wrapped in the deceleration safety net belt, closed his eyes, and stubbornly fought against the fear in his heart.

Finally, Bailey gradually weakened.Fighting with reason alone is not enough. He kept telling himself: Humans have always lived in open places. The ancestors of the earth in the past and the people from the outside world all lived in open places.It doesn't matter at all whether there are walls or not, it's just that my head tells me that open spaces are dangerous, and that's not true. But none of this worked.Something beyond reason in him was calling for the shelter of the wall, he didn't want open space. Time passed little by little, and he thought that his struggle would not succeed.In the end he will show weakness, he will tremble with fear and show a pitiful look.When the time comes, the outsider they send to pick him up (an outsider with a filter on his nose to keep germs out and gloves on his hands to keep him out of contact) doesn't even bother to despise him, and will only treat him Felt nauseous.

Bailey struggled tenaciously with himself. The spaceship lands on the ground.The deceleration safety net belt was automatically released, and the hydraulic system was retracted into the wall, but Bailey was still sitting there.He was terrified, but he told himself he must not show the slightest sign of fear. The cabin door opened softly.Bailey turned his head away to catch a glimpse of a tall, copper-haired man entering.This is an Outerworlder, a descendant of Earthlings who are very pompous and do not recognize their traditions. The outsider spoke: "Partner Ilya." Bailey turned his head, his eyes widened immediately, and he stood up unconsciously.

He looked at that face, at the wide and high cheekbones, the eternally calm and expressionless silhouette, the well-proportioned body, and the straight-looking clear blue eyes with no emotion. "Dan-Neil?" "I'm glad you remember me, partner Ilya," said the outsider. "Of course I remember!" Bailey suddenly felt relaxed all over.Here is a man who has something to do with the earth, a friend, a comfort, a savior.Bailey couldn't help but rushed to this outsider and hugged him tightly, hugged him and laughed wildly, slapped him on the back hard, and made some silly moves like an old friend who hadn't seen him for a long time.

But Bailey didn't do it, he couldn't do it.He could only go forward, stretched out his hand and said, "I can't forget you, Daniel." "I'm very happy." Daniel nodded seriously. "You must know that as long as I'm not damaged, it's impossible for me to forget you. It's good to see you again." Daniel held Bale's hand tightly, and Bale felt a faint force, but he didn't feel any pain.Then Daniel let go of his hand. Baley wished those expressionless eyes could not penetrate his thoughts and see that he was struggling to keep from expressing the fading but not quite subdued enthusiasm of friendship in him.

After all, one cannot love this Daniel Oliva as a friend.Because he's not human, he's a robot. "I've told them to put a robot-driven ground vehicle connected to the spaceship with a gas tube—" the lifelike robot said. "Trache?" Bailey frowned. "Yes. This is a very common technology, often used in space. It allows people and matter to move from one spaceship to another without special equipment in a vacuum state. You don't seem to Do you know this technique?" "Yes," said Bailey, "I know now." "Of course, it is quite complicated to install such a device between the spacecraft and the ground transport vehicle, but I have asked them to do it. Fortunately, you and I have cooperated in this task. We have some privileges, and all difficulties will be resolved soon. It worked out."

"You were also assigned to investigate this murder?" "Hasn't anyone told you yet? I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away." Of course, there was no sign of apology on the expressionless face of the robot, "The person who recommended you to investigate this case is Han Fass Dr. Tove. You met him on Earth when we worked together on the previous case. I hope you remember him. And the condition he proposed was to assign me to cooperate with you again." Bailey forced a smile.Fastov is a native of Aurora, and the world of Aurora is the most powerful of the Outer Worlds.Clearly, the Aurora man's suggestion carried weight.

Bailey said: "A good partner should not be disbanded, right?" The joy when he first met Daniel gradually faded, and the oppression in his chest came back. "I don't know if this is Dr. Fastov's real idea, partner Ilya. From the order he gave me, I think he intends to send someone who has lived in your world and understands your weird characteristics. People work with you." "Weird characteristics?" Bailey frowned, feeling quite humiliated.It's an uncomfortable word to describe him. "For example, I will arrange for a trachea to be installed. Because I know very well that you live in the cities of the earth, and you hate open places."

Maybe it was because of the influence of the word "weird", maybe it was the training he had received all his life that he would not let go of any logical contradictions, Bailey felt that he had to fight back, otherwise he would be looked down upon by a robot .He suddenly changed the subject. "There's a robot on this spaceship that takes care of me. This robot," he said, with a hint of malice, "is a robot that looks like a robot. Have you seen him?" "I spoke to him before I got on the spaceship." "What's his name? How can I contact him?"

"He's RX—Number 2475. The Solaris are accustomed to calling robots by numbers." Daniel looked at the touch button panel near the door without any expression, "Just press this button, and he will come. " Bailey looked at the touch button.It has the word RX marked on it, so what it means does not seem to be a mystery at all. Bailey reached out and pressed the touch button.Within a minute, the robot-like robot walked into the cabin. Bailey asked, "Are you RX-2475?" "Yes Master." "You told me someone was going to escort me off the spaceship. Was it him?" Bayley said, pointing at Daniel.

The two robots looked at each other. RX-2475 said: "His ID proves that he is the one who came to pick you up." "Except for the certificate, no one told you about him in advance? No one told you what he looked like?" "No, master. But I know his name." "Who told you that?" "Captain of the spaceship, master." "Is he a Solari?" "Yes Master." Bale licked his lips, and the next question was decisive. He asked: "The captain told you, what is the name of the person you want to meet?" RX-2475 replied: "Daniel Oliva, master." "Okay, you can go." The robot bowed stiffly, then turned back. RX-2475 left. Bailey turned to his partner and said cautiously, "You're not quite telling me the truth, Daniel." "Why didn't you tell the truth, partner Ilya?" Daniel asked. "A very strange thing occurred to me when I was talking to you just now. RX-2475 told me that a 'person' would come to escort me off the spaceship. I remember that well." Daniel listened quietly, without making a sound. Belley went on: "I thought the robot made a mistake. I thought it was a human being who came to pick me up, and you replaced me, and RX-2475 was not notified. But you heard I had a conversation with him; actually, no one told him your real full name, did you?" "Yes. No one told him." Daniel agreed. "Your name is not Daniel Oliva, but R Daniel Oliva, or your full name is Robot Daniel Oliva, right?" "You are quite right, partner Ilya." "From this point of view, no one told RX-2475 that you are a robot, so it thinks you are a human. You have a human appearance, so it is not difficult to pretend to be a human." "I have no problem with your reasoning." "Then we'll keep pushing." Bailey had a savage, brutal pleasure.He was looking for clues, and while it might not have mattered, it was his forte.This is something he can do beautifully after being ordered to fly halfway through space.He said: "Now, what we need to understand is that he is just a robot, why lie to him? It doesn't matter to him whether you are a human or a robot, he is just doing what he is told. In this case, we can get A very reasonable assumption is that neither the captain of the spaceship who notified you, nor the Solari officer who notified the captain, knew that you were a robot. This is a very reasonable assumption, but maybe not the only one. Is my inference correct? ?” "I think so." "Okay, good. Now let's discuss. Why did you recommend Dr. Han Fastoff, my partner, to let the Solarians think you are human? Isn't it dangerous? If the Solarians find out At this point, they may be very angry. Why would he do this?" The anthropomorphic robot said: "Ilya partner, Dr. Fastov explained this to me. He said that if you partner with an outsider, it will improve your status in the world of Solari. Conversely, If you partnered with a robot, it would lower your status. Besides, I know your way of doing things well and would love to work with you, so it would be to your advantage to have the Solarians treat me like a human. Besides Dr. Fastoff didn't make it clear to them that I'm human and not deceiving, so it should be reasonable to do so." Bailey didn't believe that at all.People from outside the world will never consider the feelings of people on earth so carefully, even those who are as enlightened as Fastov. He thought of another possibility. "Are the Solaris known in the Outer Worlds for producing robots?" he asked. "Yes," said Daniel. "I'm glad you've been briefed on Solari's world economy." "No one mentioned a word to me," Bailey said. "I only know Solari's world to guess how it's written." "Then I don't understand why you ask this question, partner Ilya, but your question goes straight to the core, and you get to the most important point as soon as you ask. According to the data stored in my memory bank, Solari World is in Among the Fifty Outer Worlds, it is famous for producing a variety of high-quality robots, and the professional robots it produces are sold all over the world.” Bailey nodded in satisfaction.Daniel is naturally not like a human being, he will subconsciously start thinking about the other party's weakness, and he also thinks that he has no need to explain this reasoning.If Solariworld is indeed known for its expertise in robotics, it is possible that Dr. Han Fastoff and his colleagues presented their own treasures to Solariworld purely for show, unlike his Earthlings. It doesn't matter their status or safety.They want to prove their superiority by tricking the Solaris, who are good at making robots, into treating the robots in the world of Aurora as human beings. Thinking of this, Bailey felt much better.Strange to say, the fear that he had been unable to overcome before was now replaced by a self-satisfied satisfaction. It turned out that people from outside the world also had this kind of vanity and showing off, and he felt much more at ease. Bailey thought: God, we're all human; even people from the outside world are human. He said briskly, "How long will the ground transporter wait? I'm ready." Bailey and Daniel stepped out of the spaceship and into the windpipe.The material of the trachea is soft and has excellent elasticity.As soon as they stepped on it, their feet sank into the wall of the pipe and dangled.It seems that the trachea is not very useful now.Bailey thought that if they were in zero-gravity space, they could "float" from one spacecraft to another along the trachea by jumping hard at the start... As they walked for a while, the trachea narrowed, as if pinched by a giant hand.Daniel got down on his stomach and crawled forward holding the flashlight, and Bailey followed suit and crawled along with him.In this way, they climbed the last five or six meters and finally entered the ground transport vehicle. Daniel carefully closed the car door, and then there was a heavy "click", probably the sound of the trachea being pulled out. Bailey looked around curiously.This ground delivery vehicle does not seem to be a novelty, with two rows of three-person seats front and rear, and doors on either side of the seats.The part that used to be the window was smooth and opaque black.It was clearly polarized, Bailey knew. The light source inside the car comes from two yellow circular luminous bodies on the roof.What Bailey thinks is different is that there is a partition in front of the seat with a communicator on it, but there is no controller in the car. "I guess the driver sat in front of the bulkhead?" Bailey said. "Yes, partner Ilya." Daniel replied, "We can give orders now." He said, tilting the joystick forward slightly, and a red light flashed, indicating that the communicator had been connected.Daniel said softly, "We are already in place, you can start." The car made a faint whirring sound, but then fell silent.Bailey felt his back throw back, and then nothing. He asked in surprise, "Are we on our way?" "Yes." Daniel replied, "This car does not run on wheels, but slides forward along the anti-magnetic force field. Except when accelerating and decelerating, you don't feel anything." "What about when you turn?" "The car will adjust the angle and automatically tilt to keep it level. Even when going up and down hills." "It must be troublesome to operate the car," Bailey teased. "Everything is automated. Drivers are robots." "Hmm." Bailey knew almost everything the ground delivery vehicle wanted to know. "How long will it take us to get there?" he asked. "About an hour. If we take a flying vehicle, the speed will be faster, but I have to think about how to keep you in a closed space. Solari World's plane can't be like this ground transport vehicle we are taking, plus Install a closed device." Bailey was a little annoyed at Daniel's so-called "consideration" that Daniel seemed to treat him like a little baby who needed a babysitter.He's also a bit aggressive in the way he speaks to Daniel - speaking in such formal and convoluted sentences that it's easy to give away that he's a robot. Bailey looked at R. Daniel Oliva suspiciously for a moment.The robot stares straight ahead, does not move, and is indifferent to the gaze of others. Daniel's skin structure is perfect, every hair on his head and every part of his body is very well-made, and the movements of his muscles are almost the same as those of real people. This is the result of countless efforts and money.As far as Bailey had seen and understood, an invisible seam in the robot's body could be opened when it was time to reshape his limbs and ribcage.He knew that under this seemingly real skin was metal and silicon-containing synthetic resin; he knew that inside the robot's skull was a positron brain, a very advanced brain that was nothing more than a bunch of positrons.Daniel's "thoughts" are just the effects of short-lived beams of positrons flowing through the network carefully set up by the creator. However, from what clues would those experts who didn't know all this know that he was not a real human being?From his slightly unnatural way of speaking?From his downright indifferent serious expression?Or from his overly perfect "human" appearance? Bailey found himself wasting his time. "Let's get down to business, Daniel," he said. "I suppose you must have heard some briefings about Solari World before you came here?" "Yes, partner Ilya." "Okay. That's a little more thoughtful than they were with me. How big is this planet?" "Fifteen thousand kilometers in diameter. It is the outermost of the three planets, and the only one inhabited. Its climate and atmosphere are similar to those of Earth, but it has a higher proportion of arable land and a lower content of useful minerals , of course, there is less development of mineral deposits. This is a self-sufficient world, with the assistance of robotics experts, so they maintain a high standard of living." "How many people live here?" Bailey asked. "Twenty thousand people, partner Ilya." Bai Lai was stunned for a moment, and then said in a gentle tone: "You mean 20 million people?" Although he doesn't know much about the outside world, he at least knows that the population of the outside world is smaller than the population of the earth. A lot, but also millions. "Twenty thousand people, partner Ilya." The robot repeated. "You mean, the planet is only just beginning to be inhabited?" "No. This planet has been independent for nearly two centuries, and it was inhabited more than a hundred years before it became independent. The Solari deliberately maintain a population of twenty thousand, which they believe is the most ideal number." "How wide is their population spread?" "All arable land." "How big is that?" "Including the border areas, it's a total of 77.7 million square kilometers." "20,000 people need so much land?" "There are still about 200 million positron robot workers, partner Ilya." "My God! You mean there are ten thousand robots per person?" "Yes, partner Ilya. This is by far the planet with the highest ratio of robots in the Outer Worlds. Next is the world of Aurora, where there are an average of fifty robots per person." "Why do they want so many robots? What if there is a surplus of food production?" "Food is not the main product. They pay more attention to the development of minerals. The most important thing for them is to produce energy." Bailey felt dizzy at the thought of how many robots there were.Two hundred million robots!The population of this planet is so sparse, but the number of robots is so large!Robots must be everywhere here.If you look at the world of Solari from the perspective of other planets, you might mistake it for a world of robots, and you will not notice the living people hidden on this planet at all. Bailey suddenly felt that he should observe carefully.He remembered the conversation he had had with Minny before he left Earth, and the planetary crisis predicted by sociologists.Although the conversation was far away and seemed unreal, he still remembered the content of the conversation clearly.Since leaving Earth, he had faced many personal psychological problems and difficulties. The memory of this conversation was remote and blurred, but Bailey had not completely forgotten it. Sociologists on Earth had collected information from the aliens or alien robots, and now they needed direct observation, which was his job.No matter how uncomfortable the job made him feel, he had to do it. Based on this deep-rooted sense of responsibility, Bailey will not shirk his task even if he must face the open space.He inspected the roof and said, "Daniel, can this roof be opened?" "I'm sorry, partner Ilya, I didn't understand what you meant." "I mean, the roof can be opened back - see the sky?" "Yes. The roof can be opened." "Then leave it open, Daniel. I want to look outside." "Sorry, I can't let you do that," the robot replied seriously. Bailey was very surprised. He heyed and said: "Ji Daniel—" He emphasized the word "Ji", "I'll put it another way, I order you to open the roof!" He thought that no matter how human Daniel was, he was still a robot.He must obey human orders. But Daniel didn't move.He said: "I must say that it is my responsibility to prioritize your safety and not allow you to be injured. Based on my instructions and my experience, I know that when you are facing an open space, you will be greatly affected. injury. Therefore, I cannot expose you to the open space with the roof open." Bailey felt a surge of blood rushing to his head, and his face flushed and was about to explode, but he found that such anger was useless.The thing was just a robot, and he knew the first law of robotics well. The content of the first law is: A robot must not injure a human being, nor can a human being be harmed by taking an action. The positronic brain of any robot on any planet in the robot galaxy must obey this most important law.While robots must obey human commands, they do so only under a larger and more important premise.Obeying orders is just the second law of robotics. The second law is: A robot must obey human orders unless it violates the first law. Bailey suppressed his anger and said softly rationally: "I think I can bear it for a short time, Daniel." "I don't think so, partner Ilya." "I know my situation better than you, Daniel." "Partner Ilya, if this is your order, I cannot obey it." Hearing that, Bailey had to lean back on the soft back of the chair and give up the idea.There was absolutely no way he could force the robot into submission.If Daniel uses his full strength, he will be a hundred times more powerful than human power; Daniel can even subdue Bailey without hurting him. Therefore, for Daniel, if he had to choose between violating the first law and being destroyed, there is no doubt that he would accept the fate of being destroyed.But Bailey didn't want to destroy Daniel, he didn't want to destroy Daniel at all. But he also wanted to see the scene outside the car, almost obsessed with it.He couldn't let Daniel continue to treat him like a babysitter. A thought suddenly flashed through Bailey's mind.He could point a blaster to his temple, threaten with death, and order Daniel to open the skylight.He wanted to overwhelm the first law of robots with a more urgent and urgent law. The idea was fleeting, and Bailey knew he couldn't do it.It's outrageous, and he doesn't like how things have turned out that way. He said wearily, "Ask the driver how far we are from our destination, okay?" "Of course, partner Ilya." Daniel leaned forward and turned the joystick to connect to the intercom.Suddenly, Bailey followed suit and shouted loudly: "Driver, open the sunroof!" Next, the joysticks are taken over by hand. Bayley clenched the joystick tightly and looked at Daniel almost out of breath. Daniel didn't move, his positronic brain seemingly short-circuited to accommodate the mutation.But then the short circuit returned to normal, and Daniel raised his hand. Bailey had expected him to do this.Daniel will remove the human hand on the joystick (gently, without hurting the hand), switch on the intercom, and cancel the order. Bailey immediately threatened: "I warn you, unless you break my fingers, you can't take my hand away!" It wasn't going to come to that, Bailey knew.Now Daniel has only two options: one is to expose Bailey to the open space, one is to prevent him.His positronic brain had to estimate the probabilities of each situation and convert them into two relative potentials.This series of processes meant that Daniel had to hesitate a bit more. "Too late," Bailey said. He won.The sunroof opened back, and the harsh sunlight of Solari World poured into the car brightly. Seeing the sun suddenly, Bailey felt fear in his heart, and instinctively wanted to close his eyes.But he tried his best to resist this impulse, and forced his face to face the large expanse of blue, blue, green and green sky outside the window.Gusts of wind hit his face, and he couldn't see anything clearly.An unknown object flashed before his eyes. It might be some robot, some animal, or some inanimate thing fluttering in the wind.He couldn't tell what it was, it was going too fast. He only knows that there are blue, green, air, and dust outside the window... especially the flames that the spherical object sprinkles in the air, and the scorching white lights. Bale jerked his head up, looking directly at the sun of Solari's world.He looked at it, straight at the naked sun. Just then, he felt Daniel's hands grabbing his shoulders and pushing him down.All of a sudden, Bailey's feeling was chaotic, very unreal, all kinds of thoughts were churning in his mind, and he knew what he wanted.He wants to see!He wants to see as much as possible!It was Daniel's responsibility to stop him from doing so. But robots would never dare to commit violence against humans, Bailey thought, this is the most important thing, Daniel can't forcefully stop him.However, he felt the robot's hands pressing him down. Bailey raised his arms to free himself from the bloodless hands, and suddenly, he lost all consciousness. Bailey returned to the closed environment and felt much safer.Daniel's face wavered in front of him.He felt that his eyes were dazzled, and he blinked involuntarily, the black dots all over his eyes suddenly turned bloody red. "What's wrong with me?" he asked. "I'm sorry," Daniel replied, "that you were injured despite my presence. Direct sunlight is harmful to human eyes. However, the brief time you spend looking directly at the sun is unlikely to cause permanent damage to you, I am sure." I had to pull you back when you looked up. Then you lost consciousness." Bailey made a self-deprecating grimace.He wondered, did he pass out because he was too excited (or scared?), or was he knocked unconscious?He touched his head and then his chin, but it didn't hurt.He refrained from asking Daniel the question directly.In fact, he didn't want to know the answer either. "It's okay." He said. "Partner Ilya, from your reaction, I don't think this matter is pleasant to you." "Who said that?" Bailey firmly denied.The black spots in front of his eyes have gradually faded, and his eyes are not so stinging anymore. "It's a pity that I only saw so little. The speed of the delivery vehicle is too fast. Did we just pass by a robot?" "We passed a few robots. Now we're walking through a field full of orchards." "I'm still going to look outside," Bailey said. "As long as I am present, you must not do this." Daniel said, "And, I have already carried out what you mean." "I mean?" "Partner Ilya, you should remember that before you ordered the driver to open the sunroof of the car, you asked me to ask the driver how far we are from the destination. Now I can tell you that there are only 16 kilometers left, and we should be in Get there in about six minutes." Bailey really wanted to ask Daniel if he was angry at being played by him, and he really wanted to see what that perfect face would look like when he was angry.But he held back.Of course, Daniel would say without bitterness or irritation that he was not upset, and he would sit there as calm and serious as usual, without expression. "Daniel," Bailey said softly, "you know, I've got to get used to things like that sooner or later." "What's up?" the robot asked, looking at his human companion. "My God! It's the outdoors, it's full of open space!" "You don't have to face the outdoors." Daniel replied simply, as if he dismissed the topic with one sentence.Then he said, "The car's slowing down, partner Ilya. I think it's here. But we'll have to wait while they run the gas line to our base house." "No need to use the windpipe, Daniel. If I'm going to work outdoors, I'll have to live with it. There's no point in postponing this training." "You have no reason to work outdoors, partner Elijah." The robot tried to go on, but Bailey told him to shut up flatly with a wave of his hand. Bailey was not in the mood to listen to Daniel's comfort, nor did he want to hear Daniel's words that everything was fine and he would take good care of him. What Bailey really thought in his heart was to be sure that he could take care of himself and complete this task.For a long time, he had a hard time facing the outdoors, let alone feeling it.When the critical moment comes, he may not have the courage to face it at all.The result can be imagined, he will lose his self-esteem, and even lose the safety of the earth.The reason why you have to pay such a big price is just because of a small space factor. These thoughts flashed through Bailey's mind, and his face darkened.It was sooner or later he had to face the air, the sun, and the open space.