Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Designing a Game of Chess

When Bailey woke up, he took a shower and got dressed.Physically, he was ready, but he was still uneasy in his heart.It wasn't that he woke up to the pale morning light and suddenly lost faith in his reasoning, but it occurred to him that he had to face the Solarians. Could he really know their reactions?Or is he still groping for an elephant? Gnadia appeared first.Of course, this is the easiest thing for her, because she is in this house, and she can be found by using the telecommunications network in the house.Gnadia's expressionless face was very pale, and with a white robe, she looked like a cold statue.

She looked at Bale helplessly.Bailey smiled at her mildly, and she seemed to be reassured by his smile. Then, everyone appeared one by one.Acting Director of Security Artobixi appeared after Gnadia. This guy looked thin and haggard, with a big chin raised high, and a rather disapproving expression.Then there was Libby, the roboticist looking impatient and angry, with drooping eyelids that moved from time to time.The sociologist Quamat looked a little tired, his sunken eyes looked at Bailey and smiled condescendingly, as if to say that we are familiar because we met in person. Clorisa Gantoro seemed a little uncomfortable seeing so many people meeting.She glanced at Gnadia, grunted distinctly, and then kept her eyes fixed on the ground.Dr. Saul appeared last, haggard as if ill.

Everyone except Grue participated in the meeting.Grue is recovering slowly and is not strong enough to attend the meeting.Well, Bayley thought, leave him alone, let's have a meeting. Everyone was dressed in formal attire and sat in their own room, each with its curtains drawn down.Well done to Daniel, Bailey thought, and I wish Daniel had done better with what he was about to do next. He looked at the faces of these outsiders, and his heart skipped a beat.The images of these people looked at him from their respective rooms, and the light, furniture, and accessories of each room were mixed together, making people feel a little dizzy.

Bailey said: "I want to discuss the murder of Dr. Rachael Dahlman with you in terms of motivation, opportunity and method. The order of discussion is also the same as I just said—" Atobich interrupted him: "Is your speech going to be long?" Bayley snapped, "It could be long! I've been called here to investigate a murder. It's my specialty and my profession. I'm the only one who knows best how to do it." From now on, he thought, he couldn't Be subject to them again, or this whole arrangement will be in vain.Dominate them!Dominate them! He continued, as sharply as he could, "Motive first. Of the three items to be discussed, motivation is arguably the most unsatisfactory. Opportunities and methods are objective. fact-finding. Motivation is subjective and may be known by observation. For example, revenge for a known humiliation. But it may also be completely unobservable. For example, a well-behaved person has an irrational hatred for killing in his heart, but he never expresses this hatred.

"Now, you have told me almost one after the other that you believe Gnadia Dahlmann killed someone. Of course, none of you have ever suggested to me that there is another suspect. Did Gnadia have a motive for the murder? Libby The doctor provided a motive by saying that Gnadia had often quarreled with her husband, which Gnadia later admitted to me. It is common sense that quarrels can make people angry, and when a person is angry there will be Murder, yes. "The question is, is she the only one with a motive? I don't know. Dr. Libby herself—" "Be careful what you say, earthlings!" said the roboticist, almost jumping up, pointing stiffly at Bale with his outstretched hand.

"I'm just reasoning." Bailey looked at him indifferently. "You, Dr. Libby, recently you are working with Dr. Dahlmann to develop a new robot model. In terms of robotics, you are the best in the world in Solari Expert. You said so, and I believe you." Libby didn't hide his smug smile. Bailey continued: "But I heard that Dr. Dahlman doesn't approve of some of your actions, so I plan to break up with you." "nonsense!" "Maybe. But if it's true, don't you also have a motive to get rid of him before he breaks up with you, before he publicly humiliates you? I have a feeling that you can't take it lightly." Such a humiliating person.”

Bailey didn't give Libby a chance to refute, and quickly went on to say, "And you, Mrs. Gantoro, once Dr. Dahlman dies, you will be in charge of the embryo cultivation." "Just kidding! We've already talked about this!" Clorisa cried in pain. "I know we've talked, but I'm going to take that into account. As for Dr. Quemart, you often play chess with Dr. Dahlmann, and you'll probably get annoyed at losing too many times." The sociologist retorted calmly: "Losing at chess is never a strong motivator, detective." "It depends on how important you take playing chess. The motives of many murderers may be a trivial matter in the eyes of others. Forget it, it's not important. What I want to say is that only the motive is important. No evidence, anyone has a motive, and anyone has a motive to kill someone like Dr Dahlman."

"What do you mean by that?" Kuimat asked him angrily. "I'm just saying that Dr. Dahlman is a 'good Solari'. Isn't that what you all say about him? He strictly abides by all the customs of the Solari world. He is an idealized man. To such A person, who would really love him and like him? A person with zero flaws will only make others feel worthless. An ancient poet Tennyson once wrote such a sentence: "A person who has no flaws at all He who has none is full of faults.'” "No one will kill a person just because he is too nice." Clorisa frowned.

"Not necessarily," Bailey said.But he didn't explain it, and went on to another topic, "Dr. Dahlman discovered that Solari World had - or thought he had - a conspiracy to attack other planets in order to conquer the galaxy. He It is intentional to prevent this from happening, so maybe those involved in the conspiracy will feel that he must be removed. Everyone here may be a member of this conspiracy group. Of course, this includes Mrs. Dahlman, and even the security agency agent Chief Kewen Altobich is included." "Me?" Artobixi looked indifferent. "Yes. You did intend to end the investigation when Grue was murdered and you took his place, didn't you?"

Bailey took a few sips of the drink slowly (he drank it directly from the original container, and he had never let anyone, including the robot, touch it before). Taking this opportunity, he collected his breath and gathered all his strength.So far, it's been a waiting game.He was grateful that the Solari would sit there quietly and play the game with him.They lack the experience of dealing with people directly like the people on earth, and they are not good at hand-to-hand combat. "Secondly, it's about chance. Everyone thinks Mrs. Dahlman has a chance to kill because she's the only one who can see Dr. Dahlman in person and get close to him," Bayley said.

"But can we be 100% sure of this? What if, besides Mrs. Dahlman, there is another person who is determined to kill Dr. Dahlman? Since the murderer is determined to kill him, will he put such a meeting on account of this? Uncomfortable feelings are a secondary consideration? If any of you were determined to kill him, wouldn't you be able to bear the discomfort of seeing people in person and finish the job of murder? Wouldn't you sneak into Dallmann house—" "You are really ignorant about this matter, Earthlings." Atobixi interrupted him with a cold face. "It doesn't matter whether we will do this or not. The fact is that Dr. Dahlmann doesn't let others see him at all. This is One thing I can assure you. If anyone sees him, no matter how important the person is or how deep the relationship is with him, Dr. Dahlman will tell him to go away. If necessary, he will order the robot to drive the other person away .” "That's right," said Bailey, "but only if Dr. Dahlman finds out that he's seeing him in person." "What do you mean?" Dr. Sol asked in surprise, his voice trembling. "When you were treating Mrs. Dahlmann at the scene of the crime," Bailey stared straight at the questioner. "Until you actually touched her, she thought you were taking care of her through the image. She told Mine, I believe her too. And I'm used to meeting people, so when I first came to Solari World to meet with Security Director Grue, I thought it was him I saw. Then the meeting ended, I was very surprised when Grue suddenly disappeared. "Conversely, suppose a man who has met people only in images all his life, and has never actually seen anyone except a few times with his wife, suddenly, one day, someone (not his wife) walks up to him , wouldn't it be natural for him to think that it was just an image? Especially if the man called the robot and told Dahlman that the image connection was connected?" "It's absolutely impossible," Quemarte said. "The same scene behind him would give him away immediately." "Perhaps. But how many of you are paying attention to what's behind each other now? It will be at least a minute or two before Dr. Dahlmann realizes that something is wrong, by which time his friend—whoever he is—has approached." He raised his stick and hit him down." "Impossible!" Kuimat still insisted. "I think it is possible," said Bailey. "I think chance should be ruled out. To prove that Mrs. Dahlman was a murderer, chance is not absolute proof. She had a chance, and so did others." Bailey stopped again and waited.He felt sweat dripping from his brow, but if he wiped it, they would think he was weak.He must completely control the entire meeting process, he must severely suppress the person he is targeting, and make that person feel inferior.It is not easy for people on earth to treat people from other worlds like this. Bailey looked at the people in front of him.So far, things have been going satisfactorily.Even Artobixi showed concern. "So," Bailey said, "we now come to the method. This is the most puzzling factor. The murder weapon has never been found." "We know that," Artobich said. "If it weren't for this, we would have already decided that Mrs. Dahlmann was the murderer, and we would never have called for an investigation." "Perhaps," said Belley, "then let us analyze the method of the murderer's murder. There are only two possibilities: one is that Mrs. Dahlmann was the murderer, and the other is that the murderer was someone else. If the murderer was Mrs. Dahlman, then, unless someone later removes the murder weapon, the murder weapon must remain at the scene. My work partner--he is not here--Mr. Oliva of Aurora has reminded me that Dr. Sol has removed The chance of the murder weapon. Now I ask Dr. Saul in front of everyone, did you do this? Did you remove the murder weapon while examining the unconscious Mrs. Dahlman?" Dr. Sol was trembling with fear: "No! No! I swear not! I can withstand any questioning, I swear I haven't moved a single thing." "Now, does anyone think Dr. Saul is lying?" Bailey said. Everyone was silent.Libby looked at something that Baley couldn't see on the video, and muttered something about wasting his time. Bailey said: "The second possibility is that the murderer was someone else and took the murder weapon. If this is the case, we must ask why. Taking the murder weapon is tantamount to declaring that Mrs. Dahlman is not the murderer. If the murderer is otherwise man, wouldn't this man know that the murder weapon had to be left beside the body in order for Mrs. Dahlmann to be convicted? Unless he was a complete imbecile. So either way, the murder weapon must have been left at the scene, but It was not discovered." "Do you think we're idiots or blind?" Altobisch fumed. "I took you as Solaris!" Bailey said without changing his face, "so you don't recognize the special murder weapon left at the scene of the crime as the murder weapon." "I can't understand a word you said." Clorisa looked frustrated. Even Gnadia, who had been motionless throughout the meeting, looked at Bale in amazement. "It wasn't just a dead husband and a comatose wife, there was also a robot that had been destroyed," Belley said. "So what?" Libby said angrily. "After eliminating all impossible factors, although the remaining factors are not very likely, they are still possible, and they are obviously true. The robot at the scene of the crime is the murder weapon! Everyone, because you have been tortured by yourself The training is restrained, so none of you will recognize it as the murder weapon." Everyone immediately chattered, only Gnadia looked at Bailey silently. Bailey raised his hand: "Okay, be quiet! Let me explain!" He told the story of Grue's poisoning again, and mentioned the methods that the murderer might have used to poison Grue.This time, he also added that he was almost murdered in the training center. Libby looked very impatient: "After talking for a long time, I just asked a robot who didn't know that he was using poison to apply poison to an arrow, and then told another robot that you were from Earth, and then called him Give the poisoned arrow to the kid. And the second droid doesn't know there's poison in the arrow—is that your idea?" "Approximately. Both robots are just doing what they're told." "It's a stretch," Libby said. Kuimate's face was pale, as if he was about to vomit at any moment: "It's impossible for the Solaris to use robots to harm people!" "Maybe!" Bailey shrugged. "But I must point out that robots can be manipulated and used. You can ask Dr. Libby, he is an expert in robotics." "That theory doesn't apply to Dr. Dahlman's murder. I told you yesterday. Who can arrange for a robot to smash a human head?" "Can I explain now?" "You can explain it if you have the ability." "Dr Dahlman is testing a new type of robot," Belley said. "Last night, I was talking to a robot and asked him to pull me out of a chair. I said, 'Give me your hand.' Until At that time, I discovered the key point. The robot looked at his hand with a dazed expression, as if he didn’t know whether he should really take the hand off and give it to me. Therefore, I found that I couldn’t communicate with him in everyday language. To speak, I had to repeat my order in clear words. This incident reminded me of something Dr. Libby said to me that day. He said that someone was conducting experiments on robot limb replacement. "Suppose the robot Dr. Dahlmann is testing is one that can use various limb forms for a particular job, and suppose the murderer, knowing this, suddenly says to the robot, 'Give me your hand.' The The robot then took the arm off and gave it to him. This removed robot arm is a good murder weapon. It can be put back on the robot after Dr. Dahlman dies." When Bailey said this, the frightened Solaris voiced their objections.Amidst the din of voices, Bale's last words were shouted and yelled, but even so, his voice could not be louder than theirs. Atobixi stood up, blushing and took a few steps forward: "Even if what you said is true, Mrs. Dahlmann is still the murderer. She was at the scene, she quarreled with him, and she noticed her husband's work on testing robots She knows that robot limbs can be disassembled and replaced—but, by the way, I don’t believe that robot limbs can be replaced. Earthlings, no matter what you say or do, everything points to her.” Gnadia began to sob softly. Bailey didn't look at her. "On the contrary," he said, "it just shows that whoever killed Dr. Dahlmann was not Mrs. Dahlmann." Jordan Libby suddenly folded his arms over his chest with a look of contempt. Bailey looked at his expression and said, "You will assist me, Dr. Libby. As an expert in robotics, you know that it takes great skill to manipulate a robot to cause this kind of indirect murder. Yesterday I was in order to protect a certain Personal safety, trying to put him under house arrest, I gave orders to three robots in great detail. It was a very simple thing, but I am not good at controlling robots, there are loopholes in my orders, and the result My prisoner has escaped." "Who is that man?" Altobich demanded. "That's irrelevant," replied Bailey impatiently. "The point I'm making is that a layman cannot effectively operate a robot. How much does Gnadia Dahlmann know about robotics, for instance? What do you think, Dr Libby?" "What?" The roboticist's eyes widened. "You tried to teach Mrs. Dahlmann robotics. How is the student? Has she learned anything?" Libby looked around anxiously. "She doesn't..." He didn't go on. "She's a hopeless student, isn't she? Or do you not want to answer that question?" Libby said awkwardly, "She's probably pretending to be ignorant." "As an expert in robotics, Mrs. Dahlman is the kind of person who is skilled enough to manipulate a robot to cause indirect murder?" "How should I answer such a question?" "Then let me put it another way. Whoever tried to murder me in the embryo culture center must have used the communication network between robots to find my whereabouts. Because I didn't tell anyone where I was going, only The robot responsible for sending me from station to station knew. Even my partner Daniel Oliva found me with great difficulty later, but the murderer obviously found me easily, because he not only Knowing where I am, can arrange to poison the arrows and shoot them at me before I leave the training center to go elsewhere. Does Mrs. Dahlman have the skills to do these things?" Ke Wen Artobixi leaned forward: "Earthlings, who do you think has this skill?" "Dr. Libby considers himself the best roboticist on your planet," Bailey said. "Are you accusing me?" cried Libby. "Exactly!" Bailey yelled at him. The anger in Libby's eyes faded slowly, but he didn't calm down, followed by a suppressed nervous expression.He said: "After the murder, I studied Dahlmann's robot. The limbs of that robot cannot be replaced. At least, its limbs can only be disassembled and installed with special tools and expert skills. Therefore, this robot is not used. The murder weapon that came to kill Dahlman, your argument cannot stand." Bailey said, "Who can guarantee that you are telling the truth?" "My words cannot be doubted!" "You will be suspected here. I am not accusing you of lying because no one can verify your judgment about the robot at the scene of the murder. Of course, if someone else can prove you, that is another matter. There is another point , you quickly disposed of that robot, why?" "There's no reason to keep him, he's completely wrecked and scrapped." "why?" Libby shook his hand at Bailey and said angrily, "You already asked me, earthlings, and I answered you. This robot was scrapped because it witnessed a murder and was unable to stop it." "And you told me it was bound to break him completely, you said it was a general rule. But when Grue was poisoned, the robot that gave him the poison just went limp , slurred speech. At that time, he was actually the murderer rather than a witness, but he was able to remain conscious for questioning. "In this way, the relationship between the robot at the scene of Dahlman's murder and the murder must be much deeper than that of the robot in the Grue incident, otherwise why would he be completely scrapped? In my opinion, the robot at the scene of Dahlman's murder This robot, his arm was used as a murder weapon." "Bullshit!" Libby gasped excitedly, "You know nothing about robotics!" "Maybe," Bailey said, "but I'd like to ask Acting Chief of Security Artobisch to seize the records of your robot factory and repair shop. Maybe we can use this to find out whether you have made removable limbs. robot. If so, did you send one of these to Dr. Dahlmann? If so, when did you send it?" "No one can touch my records!" Libby yelled. "Why? If you are innocent, why don't others see your information?" "Why should I kill Dahlman? Tell me! What motive do I have?" "I can think of two motives for you," said Belley. "You and Mrs. Dahlmann are too nice. Solaris are human, after all. Although you've never had sex with women, But that doesn't save you from-- shall we call it animalistic? You saw Mrs. Dahlman--sorry, I mean you saw her in the video--you saw her clothes Not neat, and..." "No!" Libby yelled in pain. Gnadia also whispered, "No!" "Perhaps you have no conception of this feeling at all. You despise yourself for your weakness, and perhaps hate Dahlmann for having her. You did ask Mrs. Dahlmann to be your assistant, and you did it in this way." Compromise with your instinctive impulses. She refused your request, which deepened your resentment towards her. So you killed Dr. Dahlmann and put the blame on Mrs. Dahlmann. You used this plan to kill two birds with one stone!" "Who would believe the nonsense of a worthless, third-rate detective like you?" Libby asked in a rough voice. "It might be possible to replace it with you earthlings or a beast. But the Solari would not do this kind of thing." thing!" "I don't infer from that motive alone," Bayley said. "I think that motive exists only in your subconscious mind. You have another, more obvious motive for murder, and you must get rid of Dr. Dahlmann because he thwarted your plans." "What plan?" Libby demanded. "Your plan for the conquest of the galaxy, Dr. Libby," said Baley. "This earthling is crazy!" Libby turned around and shouted to everyone, "Isn't this a lunatic, what is it?" Some looked silently at Libby, others at Baley. Bailey did not give them a chance to judge, and immediately continued his words: "You know whether I am crazy, Dr. Libby. The reason why Dr. Dahlman intends to disown you is that Mrs. Dahlman thinks it is because you refuse to marry. but I don't think that's the case because Dr. Dahlman himself is planning the possibility of artificial reproduction in an attempt to create a future for humanity that doesn't require marriage. Dr. Dahlmann works with you and he knows what you're doing He knows more than anyone else, and he can speculate better than others. If you want to carry out some dangerous experiments, he will not only know, but also prevent you. He has hinted at this to Grue, but did not elaborate, Because he didn't know the details yet. But, you obviously found out that he was suspicious of you, so you killed him." "Crazy!" Libby cursed again, "I don't care about this!" "Listen to him, Libby!" Artobich interrupted unexpectedly. Bailey bit his lip to avoid looking smug.He was quite pleased with the decidedly unsympathetic voice of the acting chief of security. "Dr. Libby," Belley went on, "you talked too much when you mentioned robots with replaceable limbs and spaceships with positronic brains. Do you think I'm just an Earthling who doesn't understand robotics or what it involves? Or are you freaking out and talking nonsense because I threatened to meet you in person? Regardless of whether you're What do you think, in fact, Dr. Kuimat told me long ago that Solari World’s secret weapon against the outside world is the positronic brain robot!” Surprised by the utter surprise that Belle was quoting him, Quymart jumped up and cried, "I mean—" "You mean to look at it from a sociological point of view, I know," said Bailey, "but you've given me a lot to think about. Let's compare a spaceship with a positronic brain to a A human-piloted spaceship. A human-piloted spaceship cannot be fought with a robot. A robot cannot destroy an enemy spaceship or a human on an enemy planet because he does not understand the difference between friend and foe. Of course, you can Tell the robot that there are no people on the enemy's spaceship, or tell him that he is going to bomb an uninhabited planet. But it is not easy to deceive him. The robot can see that there are people on his own spaceship, and he can also tell him that he is going to bomb an uninhabited planet. Knowing that his own planet is inhabited, he will presume that the enemy spaceship is as inhabited as the planet. In this case, only you, Dr. Libby, and only a true expert like you, can properly control the robot .In the entire Solari world, there are not many robotics experts as good as you. However, I think that a spacecraft with a positronic brain itself would be more than happy to attack the spacecraft it is designated to attack.It would be natural to assume that there are no humans on the other spaceships, because you can easily build a positronic spaceship that can't detect if there's a human on an enemy ship.Through the direct control of the positronic brain, this spaceship with both force and defense will be easier to control than any spaceship piloted by humans.This kind of spacecraft does not need to provide space and supplies for the driver, and does not need to provide water and air filters, so it can strengthen its equipment, carry more weapons, and make it have stronger force. Therefore, it is more powerful than ordinary ships. The spaceship is more invulnerable.Just one spaceship with this positronic brain device is enough to defeat many ordinary fleets, am I right? ' Bailey asked Libby. Libby jumped up from his chair, looking like he was going to have a stroke—whether it was anger or fear.He just stood there, frozen. He didn't answer Baley, and if he did, it was so quietly no one could hear him. There was sudden chaos and everyone was yelling at Libby like crazy. Clorisa's face was like a Fury's, and even Gnadia stood up, shaking her tiny fists as if to punch someone. Bailey breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes, and tried to relax the tense muscles and nerves. His approach worked, and he finally hit the right button.Kuimat compared the robots in the Solari world to the state-owned serfs in the Spartan period. He said that the robots cannot rebel, so the Solari can rest assured. But what if someone were to teach a robot how to harm a human being, in other words, to rebel, what if someone were to pose that threat? Isn't this a heinous crime?In this Solari world where there are 10,000 times more robots than humans, as long as someone is suspected of letting robots harm humans, will everyone let him go?Can he avoid public outrage? Altobich yelled at Libby: "You're under arrest! You're absolutely not allowed to touch your records until the government checks—" he yelled incoherently, his voice almost lost in the commotion. A robot approached Bailey: "Master, Master Oliva has a report for you." Bailey took the report seriously, and then he turned and said loudly, "Everyone be quiet!" His voice had an almost magical effect, and everyone turned to look at him gravely.Except for Libby who was dumbfounded, everyone else looked at this earthling with rapt attention. "It would be foolish to ask him not to touch those things until the authorities send someone to get the records, so my partner Daniel Oliva left for Libby's business before this meeting," Bayley said. I have just had his report that he is now there and will soon see Dr. Libby and have him in custody." "Detention!" Libby howled like a frightened animal, his eyes wide open like two holes in his skull. "Anyone coming here? In person? No! No!" His second "No" was It screamed out. "He won't hurt you," said Bailey coldly, "if you cooperate." "I don't want to see him! I can't see him!" The roboticist knelt down, seemingly not knowing what he was doing .He clasped his hands together in a begging gesture: "What do you want? Do you want me to confess? Well, Dahlmann has a robot that can replace limbs. Yes, yes, yes! I arranged to poison Guruer, I arranged to shoot you with poisoned arrows. I also planned those spaceships you are talking about. I didn't succeed, but yes, I planned it. Please tell that person to go away, don't let him come, tell him to go open!" He went on inarticulately. Bailey nodded.He hit the right button again, extorting a confession in person was more effective than torture. Suddenly, the image of Libby seemed to turn his head away from something they couldn't hear or see.He opened his mouth wide and raised his hand to block something. "Go away!" he pleaded. "Go away! Don't come! Please don't come! Please—" He scrambled and scrambled to the side to avoid it. Suddenly, he reached into his coat pocket and took out something, and quickly stuffed it into his mouth.Then, he shook his body and fell straight down on his face to the ground. Bailey almost yelled: You idiot!What comes to you is not a human being, but a robot you love so much! Daniel Oliva rushed into the imaging area and stared at Libby who fell on the ground for a long time. Bailey held his breath nervously.If Daniel found out that Libby had been killed because he was too human, it would be a shock to his mind enslaved by the First Law. But Daniel just knelt down and examined Libby's body with his delicate fingers, then he picked up Libby's head, touched it as if it was infinitely cherished, and rocked him gently in his arms. His perfectly formed face looked at the others and whispered, "This man is dead."