Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Embryo Culture Center

For a moment, Bailey felt his heart go cold.The positron robot is a symbol that the people of the outer world are superior to the people on the earth. As long as there are such weapons, the people in the outer world will definitely be better than the people on the earth. He said with all his might, "It's an economic weapon. It's very important that Solari World supplies advanced robots to the other Outer Worlds. So the Outer Worlds won't invade Solari World." "Everyone knows this," Kuimat said indifferently, "it is because of this that we ensure our independence. But what I think of is something more subtle and more related to the universe." Kuimat looked at his fingertips , obviously his thinking has left the topic just now.

Bailey asked, "You're thinking of your other sociological theory?" Kuimat had an unconcealable proud look on his face, but it made Bailey, a native of Earth, almost couldn't help laughing. "That's right. And as far as I know, it's my own theory. If you take a close look at the population data of the Outer Worlds, it's clearly correct. What I'm trying to say is that since Since the invention of positronic robots, they have been used with increasing frequency everywhere." "Earth doesn't," Bailey said. "Hey, Interpol, although I don't know much about the earth, as far as I know, robots have already entered your economic system. You people on Earth live in underground cities, so the surface of the planet is mostly uninhabited areas. May I ask you , who is helping you take care of the farms and mines?"

"Robots," Belley admitted, "but since you mentioned this, Doctor, it was Earthlings who first invented positronic robots." "Really? Are you sure?" "You can check it out, it's absolutely true." "Interesting. But Earth is the place where robots are the least prevalent," mused the sociologist. "Maybe it's because the Earth is overpopulated, so it takes a little longer. Yeah... But there are robots in your cities, too." "Ok." "And more so now than fifty years ago." "That's right." Bailey nodded impatiently.

"That's right, it's just a matter of time. Robots will eventually replace humans. The robot economy has only one indicator. The more robots, the fewer people. I have carefully studied population data and made them into graphs and extrapolated statistics Yes." He suddenly showed a surprised expression, "Oh, this is a way to apply mathematics to sociology!" "Yes." Bailey said. "There may be some truth to this approach, and I'll give it a second thought. In short, these are my conclusions. I believe that its validity is unquestionable. In any economy that accepts robotic labor, No matter how the law restricts the ratio of robots to humans, the number of robots will continue to increase. Although this growth rate will slow down due to legal restrictions, it will never stop. At the beginning, the number of humans increased faster, but the number of robots The number increases faster. Then, when the critical moment comes..." Kuimat paused, "Let me think about it. I'm not sure whether this critical moment can be accurately expressed in numbers. This is nonsense Now on to the math you said."

Bailey moved his body uneasily: "What will happen once this critical moment comes, Dr. Quimate?" "Huh? Oh, the number of human beings will start to decrease. At that time, this planet will achieve real social stability. The world of Aurora will definitely be like this, even your earth is no exception. Maybe it will take centuries for the earth to go away on this road, but it's inevitable." "What do you mean by social stability?" "As is the case in the Solariworld at present. Humans are the only leisure class, and need not fear the other outer worlds. Perhaps in another century, the Outer Worlds will all be like the Solariworld. I think , that will be the end of human history, at least humanity has fulfilled its mission. Finally, everyone can get what they need and want. I seem to have heard a saying, it is about the pursuit of happiness."

Bailey cautions: "The Creator has endowed to all men certain inalienable rights . . . and these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "That's the sentence. Where did you know it?" "In some ancient document," said Baley. "Can you see what kind of changes this will bring about in the Solari world, in the entire galaxy? There is no need to pursue it anymore. Human beings will inherit the three rights of life, liberty and happiness. That's it. Have happiness." "Perhaps," Bailey sneered, "but one person has been murdered in your Solari world, and another may die as well."

As soon as Bailey said the words, he immediately regretted it.Kuimat seemed to have been slapped, and lowered his head and said in a low voice, "I have answered your question as best I can. What else do you want to know?" "That's enough, thank you, sir. I'm sorry to bother you while you're mourning the death of your friend." Kuimate slowly raised his head: "It's not easy to find another chess friend. He is the most punctual when we meet with me, and his chess skills are also very good. He is a good Solari." "I understand," Bailey said softly. "May I use your VCR to contact one of the people I want to visit?"

"Of course you can," said Quimart. "You can use my robot. I'm leaving you now, and the viewing is over." Less than thirty seconds after Quimart disappeared, a robot appeared in front of Bailey.Bailey couldn't help but wonder how these robots were controlled.All he saw was that Kuimat touched a touch button before disappearing, and then a robot appeared. Maybe what the touch button conveys is just a very general signal, which means "do what you have to do".Maybe robots have been listening to human conversations all along, and have always known when humans need service.If the robot's mind and body were not designed for the service, a radio network linking all the robots would communicate with each other, ordering actions for the robots that could do the service.

For a moment, a scene flashed through Bailey's mind.Solari World is like a net woven by robots. The mesh is very small. When humans fall into it, the mesh will shrink and shrink, trapping people in groups.He remembered what Kuimat said, all the outer worlds became Solari worlds, nets one after another, each shrinking and shrinking mesh, even the earth was not spared until— — His thoughts were interrupted, the robot that just entered the room said softly respectfully: "Master, I am ready to serve you." "Do you know how to get in touch with where Rachael Dahlman used to work?" Bailey asked.

"Yes, master." Bailey shrugged.He never learns to avoid asking unnecessary questions.Of course the robot knows, is there even a need to ask?He discovered that to operate a robot effectively, you had to be an expert, and you had to be an expert in something like robotics.Can the average Solari really handle a robot that well, he wondered?Maybe it's just so-so, not so good. He said to the robot: "You contact the place where Dahlman works, and find his assistant. Whether this person is there or not, you have to find a way to find him." "Yes Master." The robot turned and was about to leave when Bailey called him: "Wait a minute, what time is it where Dahlman works?"

"About 0630, Master." "Morning?" "Yes Master." Bailey once again had an unknown passion for this planet controlled by sunrise and sunset.That's the downside of living on the surface of a planet. For a moment he couldn't help thinking of Earth, but then he tried to push the thought away.Homesickness would destroy him when he had to concentrate on the task at hand and he had to see it through. "Anyway, you'd better contact the aide and tell him it's a government job," Bayley said. "Also, call a machine guy to get something to eat, just a sandwich and a glass of milk." Bailey munched on his sandwich.This sandwich has what looks like bacon in it.He thought Daniel must think all food was suspicious since what happened to Grue, and Daniel might be right. He ate the sandwich without feeling anything out of the ordinary (at least not immediately), and he drank the milk.Although the meeting with Kuimat this time did not give him the information he wanted to know in advance, it was also rewarding.He checked the results one by one in his mind and found that he still learned a lot. Of course he got very little for the murders, but he got a lot for other, bigger things. The contact robot returned: "The assistant accepts the meeting, Master." "Okay. Are there any difficulties?" "The assistant is still asleep, master." "Are you awake now?" "Yes Master." The assistant suddenly appeared in front of Bailey, sitting on the bed, looking very angry. Bailey took a quick step back, as if hitting a barrier wall without warning.Once again, he was kept in the dark and did not obtain this important information.Once again he didn't ask the right question. Nobody told him that Rachael Dahlman's assistant was a woman. Her hair was darker and thicker than the bronzed hair of ordinary outsiders, and she had an oval face with a round nose and a large chin.She had messy hair and scratched her side.Bailey remembered Gnadia's casual attitude when she first met him, and couldn't help but hope that the bed sheet on the woman in front of her would not fall off. That disillusioned look seemed a little ridiculous to Bailey, and it was ironic.People on Earth think that women from other worlds are beautiful, and Gnadia has indeed provided a strong proof for this assumption, but now, the illusion is shattered.The woman from the outer world in front of her was ugly even by the standards of the earth. She said, "Hey, do you know what time it is?" Her voice was low and charming, much to Bailey's surprise. "I know," he said, "but I'm meeting you, so I thought I'd remind you first." "Meet? Are you kidding me—" She opened her eyes wide and scratched her chin (Bailey noticed that she was wearing a ring, which was the first personal jewelry he saw in Solari World) "Slow Now, you are not my new assistant, are you?" she said. "No, it's not. I'm here to investigate the death of Rachael Dahlman." "Oh? Okay, let's check." "What's your name?" "Clorissa Gantoro." "How long have you been working with Dr. Dahlmann?" "Three years." "I think you are at the place where you work at the moment." Bailey felt that it was a bit strange to use this uncertain word, but he didn't know how to call the workplace of the embryonic engineer. "If you mean whether I'm in the training center, of course." Clorisa said unhappy, "I haven't left here since the boss passed away, and it seems that I can't leave until I get an assistant. .By the way, can you arrange this for me?" "Sorry ma'am, I have no influence over anyone here." "Forget it." Clorisa naturally pulled the sheet back out of bed, and at the same time reached into the V-shaped seam on the chest of the one-piece pajamas. Bailey said quickly: "Wait, if you are willing to see me, we will be fine now, and you can change clothes in private." "Privately?" She pursed her lips and looked at Bailey curiously. "You're picky, just like my boss." "Will you see me? I want to observe this training center." "I really don't understand why you want to see me, but if you want to see the training center, I can show you around. But you have to give me a little time to wash my face and clear up. I'd be happy Change your routine a little bit." "I don't want to see it, I want to see it with my own eyes." The woman tilted her head and looked at Bailey with sharp eyes, with professional interest in her eyes: "Are you a little abnormal? When was the last time you underwent genetic analysis?" "My God!" Baley groaned. "Hello, my name is Elijah Baley. I'm from Earth!" "Earthlings?" Clorisa exclaimed, "What are you doing here? Stop joking!" "I'm not joking. I was invited to investigate Dahlmann's murder. I'm a detective, a detective." "You look into this? Doesn't everyone think his wife did it?" "No, ma'am. I still have some doubts in my mind about this. Please promise to let me meet you and see your training center, okay? You know, I'm from Earth, and I'm not used to using video with others Meeting, it would make me uncomfortable. I have permission from the Director of Security to meet with some people who may be able to help me. I have the permission papers here, you can take a look if you want." "Then show me." Bailey showed the official license documents in front of her through the video. Clorisa shook her head: "Just kidding! Meet? How dirty! But then again, I've already done such a dirty job, so it doesn't matter if it gets a little dirty? Hey, you have to stand far away from me then, Stay away from me! We can speak at the top of our voices, and if necessary, through robots, you understand?" "clear." Her pajamas slipped from the V-shaped seam, and the image disappeared in time.Bailey heard her mutter a few words before the end of watching the movie: "Earthlings!" "That's close enough!" said Clorisa.She was eight meters away from Bailey. "It's a good distance, but I want to get in the house sooner," Bailey said. The process of meeting this time wasn't bad, he didn't care so much about flying, but he also didn't want to spend more time outdoors.Bailey refrained from tugging on his collar to let himself breathe easier. "What's the matter with you?" Clorisa's eyes were sharp. "You look so tired." "I'm not used to being outside," Bailey said. "By the way, people on Earth should stay in a closed place." She licked her lips, as if she had tasted something strange, "Then come in, but let me stay away first. Okay, come in." Clorisa now wore two thick braids coiled around her head in an intricate geometric pattern.Bailey didn't know how long it had taken her to do this hairstyle, but it immediately occurred to him that it was probably done by the delicate fingers of the robot. Her hairstyle matched her oval face, making her look less obnoxious if not prettier.She didn't have any makeup on, just casually wore a dark blue dress with a pair of long lavender gloves that didn't match.Obviously, this is not her usual attire.Bailey also noticed that her gloves were bulging from the ring. They stood in two corners of the room, looking at each other. Bailey said, "You don't like this meeting, do you, ma'am?" Clorisa shrugged: "Why should I like it? I'm not a beast. But it's within the range I can tolerate. When you're dating—" She paused, then raised her chin, as if she decided not to Concealed to say what she had to say, "If you do things related to children for a long time, you will become cold." She made the word "child" very clear. "Judging from your tone, it seems that you don't like your current job?" "This job is very important, and someone must do it. However, I don't like it." "Does Rachael Dahlman like it?" "I don't think he liked it either, it's just that he never showed it. He's a good Solari." "And he's picky too." Clorisa looked surprised. "You said it yourself," Bailey said. "When we met by video, I told you that you could change clothes in private, and you said I was as picky as your boss." "Oh yes, he's really picky. He's not casual at all, even by video. He's always been very polite." "Is this considered abnormal?" "It shouldn't be counted. Of course, it's better to dress neatly when meeting, but now everyone doesn't care too much, and they are very casual. Anyway, I don't see each other with my own eyes, so what does it matter? You understand? I meet with others by video It's very casual, except for the boss, I have to wear formal clothes to meet him." "Do you admire Dr. Dahlmann?" "He's a good Solari." "You said this is a training center, and you mentioned children. Are you raising children here?" "All the embryos in Solari World will be sent here from one month old." "Embryo?" "Yes." Clorisa frowned, "We will take out the embryos from the mother after a month of pregnancy. Does this make you feel embarrassed?" "No," Bailey said. "Can you show me around?" "Okay. But please keep your distance from me." Bailey looked down at the long room below through the glass, his long face as serious as a stone.He knew that on the other side of the glass, the temperature and humidity were perfectly controlled and absolutely germ-free.Rows of incubators are lined up there, and each box is filled with a nutrient solution with precise ingredients and ideal ratios, where each little life thrives. He saw something smaller than half his fist huddled up.Their skeletons protrude, their limbs resemble flower buds, and their tails are slowly disappearing. Clorisa asked, "How are you feeling, detective?" She was about five or six meters away from Bailey. "How many embryos do you have?" "A hundred and fifty-two as of this morning. We receive fifteen to twenty embryos every month and release a similar number of babies to live on their own." "This kind of institution is the only one in Solari World?" "Yes, this is more than enough to maintain a stable population. The life expectancy of each person is about three hundred years, and the total population is 20,000. The building has just been built, and Dr. Dahlman personally supervises the construction. He also supervises our operation process. Many modifications were made. Our embryonic mortality rate is close to zero." There are many robots shuttling in the room.Every time they passed a box, they stopped to check each controller tirelessly, and looked at the small embryos in the box. "Who operated on the mother?" Bailey asked. "I mean, who took these little things out of the mother's body?" "Doctor," Clorisa replied. "Dr. Dahlmann?" "Of course not. It's the doctor. You wouldn't expect Dr. Dahlmann to stoop to—well, never mind that." "Why not use a robot?" "Using a robot to perform surgery? Interpol, based on the first law, it is very difficult for a robot to do this. If taught properly, a robot may be able to cut out the cecum to save his life, but if it is not repaired afterwards , I doubt that the cecum will be of any use. Cutting up human flesh is a traumatic experience for a positronic brain. As a human doctor, after getting used to it, he will become indifferent, even if he has to personally and He will not care if he touches people." "I noticed that the embryos are being cared for by robots," Belley said. "You and Dr. Dahlman won't do the work?" "Sometimes when something goes wrong, we have to intervene. For example, if the embryo has a developmental problem, we can't just sit by and watch. We don't trust robots to judge things that are life-threatening." Bailey nodded: "Well, it is indeed dangerous to let a robot do this kind of thing, and it may even ruin a human life in vain." "You are wrong! Just because human beings are supreme in their minds, they will instead overestimate the value of life and mistakenly save some lives that should not be kept." The woman's face looked very serious, "Mr. Bailey , as embryonic engineers, we must make sure that the children born are healthy and free of defects! Even if the parents of the children have undergone the best genetic analysis, there is no guarantee that their genes will be inclined to favorable transformation combinations, let alone mutations Possibly. We are most afraid of encountering mutations , although we have reduced the probability of this to less than 1 in 1,000, which also means that we will make an error every ten years on average. " Clorisa motioned for Baley to walk along the stands, and Baley followed her. "I'll show you the nursery and toddler dormitories," she said. "They're far more troublesome than embryonic rooms, and there's only so much we can rely on robots for." "why?" "Mr. Bailey, if you've ever tried to teach a robot the importance of disciplining children, you'll understand. The first law makes it almost impossible for them to accept the fact, and don't think that children don't know anything, they're very young." Knowing this, the trouble starts when they can talk. I once saw a three-year-old yell at a robot: 'You're going to hurt me, I'm hurting!' Don't dare move. Only a highly advanced robot would know that the child might be lying." "Can Dahlman control these children?" "Most of the time." "What's he going to do? Run and spank them?" "Dr. Dahlman? Touch them? Just kidding! Of course not! But he can talk to them, and he can give special commands to the robot. I once saw him look at the image of a child and order the robot to spank the child's ass repeatedly. It lasted fifteen minutes. As long as this was done a few times, the child would not dare to take the risk of being naughty with the boss. The boss was very skillful in doing this kind of thing, so the robot ordered to beat the child only needed to make routine adjustments afterwards. " "What about you? Will you run into the children's pile?" "Sometimes I have to do it, and I'm not like the boss. Maybe one day I can do it by remote control. But if I try to be the boss now, I'll destroy those robots. You know, controlling the robot is a kind of thing. Art. But whenever I think about going into a crowd of kids, it makes me sick. These little beasts!" Clorisa turned her head suddenly, looked at Bailey and said, "I don't think you care about meeting them." "That's not a problem for me." She shrugged, her eyes full of curiosity: "Earthlings!" She continued to walk forward, "What are you doing all this for? In the end, you will definitely decide that Gnadia Dahlman is the murderer. You must You have to accept that fact." "I'm not sure about that," Bailey said. "What else can you be sure of? Who else could be the murderer?" "There are many possible ones, ma'am." "For example, who?" "For example, you!" Clorisa's reaction was far beyond Bailey's expectations. Clorisa laughed. The more she laughed, the louder she was, her face flushed with laughter, and she opened her mouth to breathe desperately.Finally, she leaned against the wall and gasped for air. "No, don't you come closer—" she pleaded, "I'm fine." "That amused you?" Clorisa was about to answer, but laughed again.After some difficulty, she whispered, "Oh, people on Earth are still people on Earth. How could I be the murderer?" "You know Dahlmann well," said Bailey, "and his habits. You could have planned all this beforehand." "You think I'm going to meet him myself, get close to him and hit him on the head with something? If you think so, you know nothing, Mr. Bailey." Bailey felt himself blushing. "Why can't you approach him, ma'am? You used to practice hanging out with—uh—people." "Merking with the kids." "With this kind of experience, there will be a chain reaction. For example, now, you seem to be able to bear me standing in front of you." "It's still six meters away." She said arrogantly. "I just interviewed a man. I just stayed in front of him for a while, and he couldn't stand it and almost collapsed." Clorisa said calmly: "It's just a difference of degree." "I think that difference is enough. You can get used to seeing the child, and of course you can see Dahlman for as long as you can bear it." "Let me explain, Mr. Bailey." The smile on Clorisa's face has completely disappeared, "it doesn't matter whether I can bear it or not. Dahlman is a strict person. He is almost the same as Libby. Even if I He can bear to see him, and he can't bear to see me. The only person he can possibly tolerate in his sight is his wife." "Who's Libby?" Bailey asked. Clorisa shrugged: "It's that old genius, I don't know if you understand what I mean. He used to make robots with the boss." Bailey made a mental note of this, and then returned to the original topic: "You still have a motive for killing Dahlman." "What motive?" "Once he dies, you will be the supervisor of this unit, and you will have status." "You call this a motivation? Just kidding! Who wants this kind of position? Who wants this kind of status in Solari World? No one would envy his job, it's a talisman that won't shed a single hair on him! You better try harder, earthlings." Bailey scratched his neck noncommittally.He could see that what she said made sense. Clorisa said, "Mr. Bailey, have you noticed the ring I'm wearing?" As she spoke, she seemed to want to take off her gloves, but she held back after all. "I noticed," Bailey said. "I suppose you don't know what it stands for?" "I don't know." (There's a lot he doesn't know, Baley thought sullenly.) "Then how about I tell you something?" "All ears," Baley snapped, "if only you can help me figure out your damn world." Clorisa smiled slightly: "I think we are in your eyes, just as you are in our eyes. Hey, there is an empty room here, let's go in and sit-no, this room is not big enough. Well, you sit over there Go, I'm standing here." She walked down the aisle, making room for him to walk into the room, then walked back to stand in the corner opposite him. Bailey was a little embarrassed, but sat down anyway.He stubbornly thought: Why not?Just let this woman from the outside world stand. Clorisa's strong arms hugged her chest: "Gene analysis is very important to our society. Of course, we don't analyze genes directly, but each gene controls an enzyme. We can analyze enzymes. Understanding enzymes can understand the body Chemistry, you know the chemistry of the body and you know the human being. You know that?" "I know," said Bailey, "but I don't know how to apply the theory in practice." "That's what we do here. When the baby is at the end of the embryo, we do blood sampling, so we can get an initial idea of ​​what he will look like when he is born. Ideally, we will be able to find all the mutant genes at this stage. and judge whether it's worth the risk of having him born. But in reality, we still don't know enough about it to eliminate all possibilities for error, and maybe we will someday. In short, after the baby is born, we continue to Get a smear and a fluid test on him. Before our little boys and girls are adults, we'll know exactly what they're made of." (A nursery rhyme naturally came to Belle's mind: You're honey, you're spice, you're made of the best things, little girl...) "In the past we had to wear code rings to reveal a person's genetic make-up," said Clorisa, "and it was an ancient custom, an early custom that came down before the Solari practiced eugenics. As of today, each of us is healthy." "But now you're still wearing the ring, why?" Bailey asked. "Because I'm special," she said without embarrassment, rather conceitedly. "Dr. Dahlman took a long time to find an assistant, and he needed someone special. This person must be quite intelligent, dexterous, and industrious." , and to have stability like no other, the most important of which is stability. He needs someone who can hang out with the kids and not have a nervous breakdown." "He can't do it himself, can he? Does that mean he's not stable enough?" "You can say that," Clorisa said, "but his level of instability is generally acceptable. You know how to wash your hands?" Bailey looked at his hands. His hands were clean. "Yes," he said. "Okay. Let's put it this way-I think his level of instability is like a person who can't bear to get his hands dirty. Even if the situation is urgent, this person can't use his hands to clean the oily machine. However, in daily life In life, this reluctance to get his hands dirty keeps him clean, so that's a good thing." "I see. Please continue." "It's over. I'm third in the world for Solari in terms of genetic health, so I'm wearing this ring. I like to wear this symbol with me." "Congratulations." "You don't have to laugh at me. This may not be my skill, it's just caused by the blind gene exchange between my parents. But it's quite proud to have this kind of mark. In short, no one will believe that I will commit murder. Such perverted behavior. My genetic makeup makes it impossible for me to do this, so stop wasting your time accusing me." Bailey shrugged and said nothing.The woman seemed to confuse genetic makeup with evidence, as presumably all Solaris do. Clorisa said, "Would you like to see the children now?" "Yes, thank you."